Finding a rhythym

Using a knitting machine is rather like trying to memorize a new lace pattern.  You have to get the "rhythym" of the stitching...Two rows knit, 6 rows lace, 2 rows knit, 4 rows lace, 2 rows knit... Slowly building the pattern repeats over and over.  It's easy to get mesmerized.  Kind of like driving to Dallas.  By the time you get to Waxahachie, you have totally zoned out and can't remember the last 50 miles lol!

It's relaxing, in the same way that ironing or strolling around the pond is relaxing... two rows knit, 6 rows lace, 2 rows knit...

This sort of rhythmic, let-your-mind-wander activity is especially dangerous for me, because before I know it, I'm doing 10 rows lace and oops! Wrong carriage!  I'm not nearly savvy enough to back up 4 rows of machine knitting.  I was successful at backing up one row of plain knitting after I got hypnotized by the knit carriage, but I'm scared to try backing up the lace. 

Anyway, here's the final project, blocking on the floor:

And here's what happens when the hypnosis takes over and you forget to change the settings on the lace carriage:

So those are nice eyelets.  They don't belong there, but it was too scary for me to try to fix them.  I decided I can live with a row of eyelets. 

I have a plan now.  I'm going to use Brother Henry for stash busting.  This scarf was made using commercial, big box store yarn.  I have an overly large stash of yarn like this.  Once I've made a big dent in it, I'll start using my own handpainted yarns.  And zone happily away in a state of hypnotized bliss! 

A day in the life with ADHD

Today is a typical day.  I've got yarn on the stove, the tunic (see earlier posts) on the needles, my first tentative lacework on the knitting machine, a video game, and the blog...all going at once. This is how my days usually go.  It's normal for the attention deficit crowd, of which I'm a lifelong member.  Oh, and my lunch has been in the microwave for an hour, because I've forgotten to eat it.

My new-to-me knitting machine has a name now.  It's Brother Henry.  The manufacturer is Brother.  And Henry just came to me.  Here's what Brother Henry and I are working on today:

This is attempt number five at using the lace carriage.  I keep having stitches hang up on the gate posts.  Not sure why.  I did reduce the weight, a lot, which helped the stitches hop the gate posts.  Now I'm down to one error every other row instead of four per row.  Improvement!

The knitting machine is a good fit for the ADHD, because (at least using the lace carriage) you have to keep switching your attention from the knit carriage, the pattern display, the lace carriage, and the needles.  The pattern display tells you which setting to make on the lace carriage.  You run that for a few rows, checking the needles every time to make sure the stitches made it securely. Then you have to keep an eye on the pattern display, because it will tell you when to run the yarn across with the knit carriage and for how many rows.  It's very satisfying.  Except for the error part. 

Well, I'm off to knit a tunic, or dye some yarn, or make some lace, or shoot some zombies.  Enjoy the cosmos!

Boiling a frog!

I had a "boiling a frog" experience.  First, here's the metaphor, in case you haven't heard it before:

If you take a frog, and put it in boiling water, the frog isn't stupid - it will jump right out!  HOT!  However, if you take a frog, and put it in frog-temperature water, and sloooooowly raise the temperature, it won't notice that it's too hot until it's too late. 

 And that is how you boil a frog.  (Don't try this at home, please! - It's a metaphor. I don't actually boil live frogs!)

So, this is how I became a boiled frog: I want to continue growing and expanding as a dyer, so I began investigating how to make different kinds of gradient effects.  One method, that affords the dyer a lot of control over the outcome, is to start with a knitted panel of undyed yarn, then paint that.  When you unravel the knitting, the yarn can have any number of delicious patterns that will unfold as you knit the socks, shawl, or cardigan that you make out of that yarn.

An astute raveler (that's you, Knittingandroid!) pointed this out to me, but I initially resisted the notion because (boiling water! hot!) I would go bonkers knitting plain panels over and over!  But the seed was there and began to grow.  I started looking at knitting machines. (frog-temperature water)  Little, itsy, bitsy knitting machines, made of plastic that are inexpensive and all they do is panels and tubes. (frog-temp plus 2 degrees).  I watched youtube videos on what they can do. (f-t plus 4).  I tentatively joined a machine knitting group on ravelry (add a couple more degrees). Then I started looking at the lovely items people are making from the machines (temp jumped 7 more degrees, it felt so good!). Then I started researching actual, honest-to-goodness, steel-bed knitting machines (big jump here, but I was on a roll...) Eeek! $1,700 to $2,000 for a machine that knits my weight yarns... (way too big a jump.  Frog begins to notice that the water is too hot!)  But what about used machines...(ah, yes, that feels better - temp up another few degrees).  And so it went until I bid on a machine on ebay!  Bitter disappointment when I was outbid in the last few seconds :( 

Now, of course, I'm fully cooked.  I must have one. 

I feel blessed to have found the nicest person about three hours drive from here who was selling a lovely machine, at a very reasonable price.  Her only stipulation was that she was not going to ship it.  Local-area-only, customer pick up.  Well, three hours is no big deal.  (For those of you who aren't familiar with Texas, three hours driving doesn't get you halfway anywhere. We have a saying, "The sun has risen, the sun has set, and I ain't out of Texas yet!")

The seller gave generously of her time and expertise, showing all the features, sharing ideas, encouraging me.  Best of all, she is passionate about her craft, and her passion is contagious.  I came away with far more than a machine; I came away with enthusiasm and spirit.  Thank you, Karen!

So here it is! Ta Da!  My new-to-me, fully programmable, all parts included and working, Brother KH930e!!!!

Here's my first ever swatch:

I anticipate being quite consumed with this for the next few months.  There is a huge amount to learn.  So many features, techniques, and options... Oh, and I suppose I should take some time out to dye some yarn, too lol!

In other news, I gave up on the tunic. I decided to switch patterns after 16 rows. The crochet hook was fighting me and I began to find excuses to not work on it. Shame, since it is such a lovely fiber blend to work with. So, rather than see it lost in the ever-growing wips pile that will never see the light of day, I frogged it and started over with a vest-style tunic, called "Antique Lace" by Ilga Leja. I'm now halfway done with the back! So exciting to see it grow.

Someone opined that this pattern was one that made you say, "just one more row before I go to bed", and ten rows later, you're still saying that! Fact!

I'm off to play with my new toy.  Enjoy the cosmos, y'all!

Crocheting a tunic

I've started a new project.  I'll be making a crocheted tunic.  I like the fancy edging on it, so I decided to go ahead, dye up enough for the project, and cast on.  You know how this goes, right?  I start making the tunic.  Then I think, gee, this tunic requires an undershirt.  Why don't I make one of those, too? So I spend more time looking at tank patterns than actually crocheting.  Lol!

Here's the yarn for the new tunic. 

There's been so much debate on whether crochet is better/worse than knitting, etc.  I was very fortunate early on and received the following advice. I remember being at a big box store about a decade ago.  I was hunting for a craft project and there was a woman nearby who was browsing the pattern books.  So I asked her which would be better to learn - crochet or knitting.  I clearly remember her reply: "They are both good to know. They both take some practice to get the hang of, but you can't go wrong with either of them..."  So I didn't get a biased response, and consequently, I learned both without worrying too much about which was "better". 

I'll post project pictures as I progress...

Happy Leap Day!

I've got a special running in my shop for 15% off through March 4th, 2012.  Use coupon code LEAPDAY2012. 

Here's some of the shop update:

Space as an art form

All my life, I've been subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, influenced by humanity's exploration of space.  My dad was a rocket scientist (yes, I know) on the Nike Zeus team.  We lived in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a little island which had fish and the rocket program, and little else.  It was an interesting way to grow up.

NASA's been an inspiration for me since I was a child.  I remember gathering around the little wall-mounted TV in our classroom to watch the news coverage of the first moon landing.  When Voyager was launched, I wondered what aliens would think of the Bach recordings she carried.  It's now 34 years later, and, amazingly, Voyagers I and II are both still flying, still recording and sending back useful telemetry, and still steerable!  Think about it.  These delicate little spacecraft, operating on less power than a flashlight, are still working and will soon be the first man-made artifacts to leave our solar system.  I only hope my car lasts half that long.

In July, I had the privilege of taking a two-week vacation into orbit aboard the International Space Station, compliments of NasaTV. From the pre-dawn launch of Shuttle Atlantis, until her final wheelstop, NasaTV provided a mind-numbing amount of coverage of STS-135's mission to the ISS. Atlantis, her crew, and the Station itself were mic'd and had live video feeds. If all you saw was the "edited-for-sound-bites" version on network television, you missed out. Viewers were invited to watch the docking, the mission and experimental work, the morning wakeup call, live helmet feeds from the mission's EVA (spacewalk); even to participate in a meal with the crew. It was so close to actually being there that I was surprised when I couldn't float out of my bed in the morning. Darn, no zero-g for me!

Oh, and have you been keeping up with Opportunity lately?  That's one of the twin rovers NASA sent to Mars in 2003.  The twins, Spirit and Opportunity, were initially given 90-day missions.  While Spirit was officially retired in May of this year, Opportunity is moving into the eighth year of its 90-day mission.  The little rover that could!

Okay, so I do go on about space stuff.  What does all this have to do with art?  So far, I haven't talked about art, only about inspiration.  And space IS inspirational.  It fires the imagination.  It is the siren, calling to the sailor - dangerous, untouchable, and very, very beautiful.

Galactic Core

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI
 

Spiral Galaxy M51

Image Credit:  NASA, ESA, W. Li and A. Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley), S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) 

Crab Nebula

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University)

The image used in the profile picture on this blog is of the Cat's Eye Nebula, taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. Credits to J.P. Harrington and K.J. Borkowski (University of Maryland), and NASA /ESA. These images are available to me because NASA is cool about putting stuff in the public domain, not because I’m affiliated with them in any way.  

And you thought space was just for science majors?  Hah!  My goal is to recreate these wonders using yarn and dye.  Yarn.  Nebulae.  It's all the same.  Well, except for the scale, that is. So don't be surprised when the yarn starts showing up in my store with names like:

Galaxy Centaurus A

Image Credit: E.J. Schreier (STScI), and NASA

or

Interacting Spiral Galaxies

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)

and

Carina Nebula

Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Want to see more exquisite photos of our amazing universe? Check out the links under "Cosmos" on my sidebar. 

Out of my cocoon

I’ve been in a cocoon since I retired over a year ago.  I asked some friends if they thought it was strange that I get up, knit all day, and go to bed a happy camper. One friend said no, the other said I was crazy. He is a guy, though, and knitting isn't his thing.

Yesterday, I began the journey back to the work world. I re-opened my etsy account, filed for an employer ID number, and officially opened my first home business.

It started like this. I’ve been knitting so much yarn that I have gotten a bit snobby about it. Sorry, but it’s true. I can no longer imagine a reason to buy a solid color yarn. Or an acrylic blend. Or a pilly yarn or any of a host of other minor irritations about yarn. I want long-staple, soft and cushy, hard-wearing yarn in luscious, edible colors. Only I am on a fixed income now.  Hmmm. To buy groceries or buy yarn? It’s a hard choice. And no, I don’t want those stripy-looking sock yarns; can’t you stock a nice two-toned yarn that doesn’t pool?   More hmmmm. Maybe I can dye my own.

Off to the grocery store to buy koolaid. Off to the local mass-market craft store to buy undyed yarn. What do I know about undyed yarn? Nothing. One’s as good as another. So I put the koolaid on the yarn, and voila! I’m making cute yellow slippers for my cousin!



Wow, that was easy! But it took 6 packages of koolaid. I could buy commercial dye for about that and make nicer colors. Lots of colors.

So off I went to the online dye store. And the dye class at my LYS. And reading the books and websites on dyeing. Then, I took the plunge and bought a KILO of undyed yarn.

I’ve dyed…

And dyed…

And dyed!…

I’ve dyed and gone to heaven. (You saw that one coming, right?)

I can’t knit all this yarn. But I’m dyeing to get back into the kitchen to dye some more. (ditto?)

Ok, so either I have to sell this yarn or buy a bigger house. And I can’t afford a bigger house.

Hence the flurry of business-related activities. I’ve been saving the business name “Alcidina” for a long time. (Like, almost 15 years…every since the dawn of the internet!) I knew I wanted to start a business, and every time I check, that name is not taken. Do you know how hard it is to find a nice business name that isn’t already taken? Well, welcome to the world, Alcidina!