Friday, September 29, 2017

A year of stitches week 35

For this week,  let's mix it up.

The knit sample is a fair isle pattern.

Fair isle is best done from a chart that is either color coded or, like some cross stitch charts, symbol based.  A few more complex charts are both color and symbols.  Depending on the quality of the printing,  the colors are too hard to tell apart and symbols can differentiate between them.  Fair isle is done in all stockinette stitch. It is easiest done in the round and then steeked.

The crochet sample is also a fair isle pattern.  Like the knit fair isle,  it is best done from a chart that is either color coded or symbol based.  Crochet fair isle charts follow the same color and symbol based rules of knit charts.  The yarn is always carried on the wrong side in either case.  Crochet fair isle is done in single crochet.  Again this looks best done in the round.
This chart is for both.  One repeat in knit and one repeat in crochet.

Try this pattern in both and see how they look the same or how different they look.  Choose one band and add it to a hat or mittens (around the hand).  Or go really crazy and add this whole panel to a sweater.  Choose different colors if you don't like these.


Friday, September 22, 2017

Free apps

No, not appetizers.  I'mchecking out applications for my phone. When I had a Windows phone,  there were few knit and crochet apps for that platform.   I guess I never thought about it in reference to how many different types of cell phones there are in the smart phone arena.   No I'm not going to try to list them all.

What I AM going to be working on is a review of as many free apps as I can find.  Things I will look at is how many ads there are, ease of use, how much space it takes, if a connection is needed for use and how many functions there are in it.  This will be ongoing since I can't fit them all on my phone.
The apps I am starting with are:  needletravel,  Knitmap, Knit companion,  knit ting, all free crochet,  aprendercrochet, bee count, circular knitting tutorial,  craftsy,  crochet 1200, crochet and knit,  crochet bag ideas, crochet flower, crochet lessons for beginners,  crochet patterns and tips, crochet stitches,  crochet videos,  you knits designer, easy crochet patterns,  free knitting patterns,  granny square crochet,  just knit: stitches free, Knit crochet,  Knit tools, knitting chart maker, knitting lessons,  knitting stitches,  learn crochet quickly,  love knitting for baby, row counter, vintage knits stitch sampler.

That's all but 36 apps.  I know,  not because I counted,  but because of the way I have things grouped together.  This is a lot of things to try out and will take some time.  Sadly some are inspiration rather than educational,  but if that's what you want, then that's what you'll get.  And let's dive right in.
Two easy apps are knitmap and needletravel.  I love these.  If you travel,  you will too.  Both are free. 

Knit map is a yarn store finder for the US, Mexico,  Canada and Europe.  It's not completely up to date in the app but if there's internet connection,  the website of the same name can be checked for details.  This uses 14.4mb. 

Needletravel is a yarn store finder for the US and so much more.  Needletravel a website, app, and book.  Each entry is checked each year before reprinting.  The book reminds me of a AAA travel book.  The book (cost $12-$15) is arranged by state, then by city.  The shops have a series of codes describing the type of needlework that shop caters too, Knit, crochet, embroidery,  cross stitch, spinning, weaving,  needlepoint.  This also lists guilds, location and meeting time.  I consult them anytime I travel.  After all, I wouldn't dream of denying myself souvenir yarn. This uses 7.7mb.
I'm not sure how to categorize these first in the list.  They are all ads for yarn shops but aren't ads.  They are very easy to use.  Plug in the state and city and see what comes up.  If there isn't a listing,  Knitmap can pull listings from up to 20 miles as the crow flies from the location you indicate.  Needletravel, on the other hand, can be searched by your current location or by plugging in the city and state or zip code.  These two apps are strictly one function, to find yarn shops.  They do this very well. 

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Fleece, wool mills, and Mike Rowe

Today is Saturday. As I was eating my cereal,  I found dirty jobs with Mike Rowe. This episode was of particular interest to me. The Ohio Valley Natural Fibers was featured. OVNF is a woolen mill that is still cranking out yarn.  There was a bit of history,  some safety talks, and a lot of wooly goodness.

The machines they use (like many of the small woolen mills today, or so it seems) are turn-of-the-century.   Last century.  The point where I tuned in was when the fiber was coming out of a carding machine in that very thick fluffy roving that we have all seen in the ads for the very lush and cushy arm knit afghan.

I can imagine I probably missed seeing a sheep being sheared, the fleeces being washed after skirting.  There might have been more but maybe not. I found it just after the first commercial break. 

The machinery is huge, noisy and covered in fluff and oil or grease.  All machines need maintenance now and again.   I learned that from my husband long before we ever got married.   These are no different. Sadly though the wool fibers and the grease/oil don't work well together.  A surprisingly small clump (less than a gram from the looks of it) can stop  the machines quick,  faster than the stop button. 

It is also easy to see why there was so much child labor in the spinning mills. There are spaces that are very small for full grown adults but small children fit fine.  Thank God the machines have been redesigned. Thank God labor laws and safety regulations are in place to protect people.  While these machines are not retrofitted for safety, I don't think they are running as fast as they did when new.

But back to the yarn.  The fleeces are removed from the sheep, skirted (remove the parts that won't ever come clean and sweet smelling), possibly washed and dried possibly not.  The locks or maybe whole fleeces are placed by large armsful into the carding machine.  A very basic idea of a carding machine is the cat slicker brush we use on our pets minus the balls on the ends of the bristles. The fleeces are combed or brushed, depends on your point of view. This will align the fibers.  The fibers are then gathered into the fluffy rope of roving.  This roving was then fed into another machine that made the single plies we are familiar with.   This process was not explained well, but it appeared that the roving was divided into smaller sections of roving before being drawn out and twisted.  Each spool of singles was placed in yet another machine that spun the singles together.  Yarn is born.

How do we get the various yarns?  The amount of twist in the singles determines how fluid the final yarn will be in addition to how tight or loose the plying is.  So light twist plus very fine singles is a delicate yarn.  A high twist on more robust singles will give you a hard wearing and hard  to full yarn.