preparing some files

for a km project.betty is ready for upload.

this fellow is ok as well although it shows wonky here due to enlargement. these are 30x30 pixels and i could get  5 repeats across in 150 needles. envisioning contrasting  acid colors.

neki desu 

 

life made easier

new toys :seven prong trasnsfer tool. you hook up 7 stitches and transfer them instead of at the most 3.

and if you really want to embrace 21st century here's a10 prong one.contrary to intuition, a ten prong one is easier less hassle to operate than a three prong one with which i've had countless problems   ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

( and that clause sounds weird)

 the best news about the prongs and some needle replacement extras that i bought is that they came from germany. no more getting fried at customs with brokerage fees when buying in the uk.

i have discovered  many european  on line venues . life made eassier.oh and no currecny change either

(￣ω￣ )

back of the garment. the yarn looks pretty ok when knitted. it is the color blanket i knitted last summer and it turned out on the upper eschelons of BLAH.

working on the front but taking it easy due to the heat. northern spain and in the 30s  ⋋__⋌  

neki desu 

 

pride and prejudice

it's been a long spring,too many visits, some complicated guests,too intense. enjded taichi last wednesday mentally tired.now getting ready for summer,but still have to clear some domestic bs and set the doctors appointmnts.

want to have mental time to study; studt japanese, study weaving,study dyeing.

have been struggling all through the month of may trying to knit something simple such as a tabard.

no luck, have spent more time unraveling than knitting. even after spending big bucks on a knitting program. wearables are not in my league, my league is made of curved balls ಠ ಠ 

however this has becomme a matter of pride; i will persevere until i get it even if it takes me the rest of my life.said she.

addendum: google keeps telling me that u analitycs are gone and i need to switch to the new gizmo. i did but i cannot find how to verify if the switch has been done. not that i care that much bcse i am not monetizing the blog. something they are encouraging. their next move will be to wiupe out all the non moneticed blogs aka free. no ticket,no laundry.

neki desu 

  

the fourth one was not the charm

 jumped off the needles on the third decrease.(>人<) i keep performing acts of discipline because this one is not going to conquer.but frankly i'm bored. it was written on the stars  that i could knit artsy fartsy stuff, but not garments.the list of unraveled pieces  is infinite, not even with the help of  a program that does the calculations for me. ಠ ಠ  

neki desu 

 

whose the fairiest?

with a wonky row? doing a fairisle attempt . want a top using this silk bourette yarn  which was dyed to disappointment.as a stand alone it was beyond BLAH, but combined with a dark cotton yarn it's not bad as there's a subtle color stripping effect. as ever i noticed the offending row at the end, but given the texture of the bourette yarn it was too cumbersome to unravel. better to start anew and will use some downtime to unravel and recoup the yarns.

neki desu

 

how long?

the outcome, pretty chuffed with it. 3 color double bed jaquard 10/1 cotton. 

the process:

photo from a textile wall piece in finlandiahuset in helsinki.

some processing done 

yet some more, it's beggining to rock

then after more hours at the computer the image is file is ready to upload to the k machine.

 now the knitting can begin.asking an artisan how much time it takes to make someting is utterly pointless. and rude if i may say.

neki desu 

 

rip van winkle

in order to learn and develop skills in a yarn craft you need to burn yarn.use yarn with abandon and then spend time undoing all those ill fitting sweaters, failed projects and full size samples. if not you'll never learn. been spending more time undoing and rewinding than doing lately. with a couple of surprise will be able to recoup one or two  projects now that i have become a bit more skilled.

neki desu 

 

pixels as an absolute truth

pixels are pixels no matter the e- device. years ago we were taught, via the book the liftplan connection

by alice shlein, how to doodoowap with photoshop to work with pixels and create liftplans threadings and the rest. the book was a sequel to her woven pixel book  a seminal book, directed towards creating images for jaquard weaving.

invaluable info which has aided in making me more than functional preparing file images for the knitting machine.wish that all the struggling knitters could get hold of the book and ease their lives into no hassle jaquard knitting.

the above is a sample for an upcoming knitting project.

neki desu

 

chuffed

terrible photo, sumimasen,  m(_ _)m

but after 3 tries the fouth one was sucessful.  thanks to alessandrina and im2track's tanya cunningham who provided insights to my woes  in the facebook group.

 no major issues except one of the selvedges.

now i do not get anxious when the display changes color numbers and i am far from the color changer 

and i learned bless them girls, what to do when i turn off the k machine.

this has given me a push to tackel a more complex project. the mythical backburner needs a second floor.

neki desu

 

everything in life can be related to yarn tangles

and the amount of satisfaction you derive from undoing them.the activity ranks second to growing your own food in terms of satisfaction points. yes, i can tell i'm a fully grown adult  v (^o^)v

 mere introduction for this. had consultations with my guru as the way the image uploaded in the program could possibly not yield the correct order of colors.

after much deliberation her advise was to trust the program .which i did. being a weaver aka member of the full sample club i set up the 150 needles to knit.the result knitted well except that above the line an operator error occured.looking at it i do not totally dislike it.as a result i am contemplating the possibility of change.

and sure, i am recuperating the yarn and starting over, hence the tangles.tomorrow i'll be cranking up.

neki desu

 

mythical card nº1

yo! with it you can tuck, you can slip, you can fairisle.you can create vertical rows!

but it's like a kept secret that nobody wants to talk about it.

when you begin knitting with  great struggle you think that,unlike you, all those people out there are terribly smart.

so years pass and you discover that it's mostly about card 1.

look ma, i can do vertical rows now   (￣ω￣ )

and that cute seed stitch in two colors too.

 any questions?

neki desu

 

here wqe go again

more sampling to knit a linen top  ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ what is the girl to do? top is  2 color fair isle then tuck and the last two one stitch. most likely will go along wit the two color fairisle.

once you start sampling might as well continue trying yarns  . same punchcard , the famous brother #1 also done in tuck and slip stitch. this time tow linen, one of  the oldies  in my stash. this is punch card #2

 there is a mistake in the middle of the bottom sample 

one of those lucky accidents worth exploring.

there are visitors coming next week therefore i'll be away.  

be good and be well.

neki desu

 

making space

i spent all Easter week clearing the obscene number of knitted samples i've accumulated. all  textile practices rely on sampling ,but unknitting is a lot easier than unweaving. dyeing is all together  another story . actually most of what i unknitted were  fup projects , those which fall off the machine or have unmendable runs.

i cleared a lot of mental space in the process and as a result i am thinking new possibilities.

 not so much shelf space .the cottons are quite cramped again.

neki desu

 

creatures of sampling

a bigger sample of the eyelet-fairisle technique. once you get the hang of putting half of the needles on hold and bringing the other half to work its not complicated, yet it entails a great deal of concentration.

as ever the technique was introduced and explained in detail by alessandrina, my knitting guru. her generosity fills volumes.

a sample with the yarns that will be used.

the black one is merino subject to  felting and the red wool wont felt at all.

a strange creature results.

 a bigger stranger creature. this is a full scale piece, not a sample.it comes with glitches which will hopefully be solved with the felting.

i am pleased in  that i have two projects that i have been working on and these could be future entries to exhibits.i do not like working for exhibits if what i'm working on fits a show, great. if not pass.

neki desu

 

white mohair

have wanted to work a white mohair fishline combo for some years now.

the starting point:alessandrina's

 post explaining meshes. her blog is a repository of machine knitting knowledge which i keep going back to.

another take. i prefer the top one because it has more entity. it is a slow process as one has to select the groups by hand and it is quite a feat  for a somewhat dislexic person when the sequence needs to be reversed.

slowly but surely one gets there. more to come.

btw where did august go? ಠ ಠ     

neki desu 

 

revenge is colored

 have been waiting to try this technique of eyelets + fairisle .last week there was a false start bcse the second  yarn  was a varigated many colors one.this one is two distinctive colors and the tripe effect is noticeable.being slightly dislexic it is a brain killer when the instructions say ok,now reverse and repeat what you've done.the second group presents many errors bcse of that. if i repeat it fifty times it is bound to come out perfect. developing muscle memory,says richard sennet. thing is that he says a hundred repetitions are needed  ⋋_⋌

turning a page  have been practicing photo editing in affinity the new kid in town.

not so very new actually, but new in thmy realm.down with the image program monopoly!for a miser 50€ you get a legal copy of a program with free updated for life. howzat? as with everything it comes with a learning curve, but it's not more difficult than its competitor.

neki desu 

 

boring bored

a friend has asked for these. cotton mitts to keep hands from getting sunburned.i'm ok with that except this is the third pair.luckily this will be the last pair as i am running out of blue yarn and she wants them blue.my respect goes to all of you who work in prpduction.making the same items over and over is beyond me.to add misery we're going through the second heat wave.during the day is 29-30ºc but luckily nights arecool 13-16º

should not complain bcse the rest of the country is literally frying.

 on another note still looking for an adequate table for my computer, can't wait to go back to my photo editing program. apologies for the blah photos.   m(_ _)m

neki desu