Knitting: New "Cool Tool"

I've mentioned in the past (interruptions: Come out and play!) my love of Cool Tools. Yes, I LOVE gadgets.

My newest LARGE Cool Tool is the Silver Reed LK 150 knitting machine.

Men and (other) women may love talking about 0 to 60 in however many seconds, or horse power under the hood, but me? I'm thrilled by words like "tension" and "150 needles" and "row counter."

To many others these may be words of a foreign nature, and tension merely states the feeling after work each day, or needles just remind you of your last trip to the doctor's. But to me? Ahhhhh....sweet drippings of nectar into my mouth.

I understand it may look like nothing much to you, but let me tell you about it! If you have ever used a sewing machine or done any hand knitting or crocheting, you will understand "tension." Without correct tension being held the stitches will be all wonky and uneven, but with tension? A whole new world of precise, beautifully matched stitches one after the other after the other.

I have been using The Ultimate Sweater Machine by Bond for the past few years with a decent amount of success (pictures of projects at the link above. And any of you who know me can totally accept that I had just that look of happy pride the lady at the top right of the box has. HAHAAHAHA! There were some great moments of frustration.

 

See those cute antennas on the first photo, the Silver Reed? Those are part of the aforementioned Good Tension. Notice the antennas on the Sweater Machine? No? That's because there are none! And yet I managed to make some decent projects on it. So I am pretty much guaranteed success on the new one, right?

I purchased the Silver Reed LK150 at That Yarn Store in nearby Dublin, CA. Lessons are included in the purchase price, so yesterday when I picked it up I had my first lesson. The owner teaches a lot of classes on a variety of levels of machines and in a variety of needle arts. She has taught classes on my first love, the Sweater Machine, and told me I should be very proud if I was able to turn out projects. My first lesson on my new love (no, I am not fickle, I just love them all) was to get me used to the machine set-up and get me over any fear of the machine and the usage of it and the yarn.

I just get all warm inside when I think about it! I even bought a very cool metal case that looks like I'm carrying a rifle--so very American of me to appear to be "carrying." :-)

Skimmer's Recap: Julie got a cool new toy. See Julie smile.

See what bags the old bag is making.

i don't know if you saw my friend Limbolady's comment about my bags she saw when she was at my house the other day. But i commented back that i'd put pictures up. So, as promised, whether you care or not, here are the bags i've been making! Please tell me what you would pay for something of the sort. i didn't measure them when i took the pictures, and now i'm sitting all cozily in my warm bed with coffee, so i'll guesstimate for you.
Above are all of them, made with square bottoms, as yet unlined, but i plan to line all but one of them.

Above, starting from the top one: this one is about 8 inches wide by 10 or 11 inches high. It's made with a variegated blues and greens yarn topped with a light green double folded 2 inch strip (to be stronger and more durable.) i've made eyelets to run a knit-cord of the variegated yarn through for a long strap. This way it can be thrown over your shoulder to be hands-free. The squared bottom means it holds more than you'd think.

Second are the two felted wool bags. The top one was made with a super chunky textured yarn in shades of pink and blue-grey. The top and entire back are made from a light denim wool, the heavy knit-cord is made of the variegated deep pinks. There's a button and loop closure on this one. It felted down more than i thought it would, so it's a smaller 10 wide by 6 or 7 inches high. So, it's cute but one of those "live and learn" projects! i tend to not use patterns as i love planning the pattern as much as making the project, so they're all some sort of learning adventure!

The bottom felted wool bag is the first one i made, and it has a variety of blue wool yarns making a subtle striping. It has a squared bottom, but i blocked it flat for the rounded bottom shape. It's about 12 inches wide by 9 or 10 inches tall. The straps on both of those bags would measure somewhere around 15 inches, i suppose.

Last but not least--i love this one--is my market bag. Made of cotton yarn for strength, durability, and not stretching as much as regular yarn, it's a larger bag made to throw over your shoulder at the farmer's market, grocery store, or simply to carry your multiple items on a shopping trip at the mall. The top is doubled for strength, and the straps are made in two pieces of more densely knit fabric tied together. The size on this one is more like 18 across by 15 tall, and hangs nicely from the shoulder. i've already washed this one once and it did great. i still want to take it on a test run. i have some organic cotton coming to try out on this pattern too. The bottom is squared off to about 4 or 5 inches deep. This is the only one that will remain unlined.

So, what do y'all think? (A southern "y'all" nod there to cousin Lea Ann.)

Oh--Skimmers. Sorry, i should have said you could just look at the pictures and ignore the rest. Anyway, hi hubby honey, and hi, Melimbo, if you skimmed this far.

;-)

Ahead of myself.

i'm not sure why i do it, but i tend to get ahead of myself. The one cool thing about that is the potential of having nice things come out of it--like this prayer shawl i knit on my Ultimate Sweater Machine.

The main way i get ahead of myself in craft type things is rather than going through all the carefully planned learning steps in a craft, i start learning and then go "OOH! This would be fun!" and "OOH! i bet it would work this way too!" and off i go on my own little bunny trails.

i had told hubby when i got the machine at Christmas that my plans were to work my way through the projects in the book that came with it, so i could learn the skills in a building-up sort of way as i got more familiar with it. That thought lasted through the first scarf (which i didn't like and took apart after) and the hat (took that apart too.) It reminded me of my school sewing class where i ended up in the group who had to make a lined wool skirt since we never had. Well, i never had because i didn't want a lined wool skirt, not because i couldn't. And so my (very polite) rebellion began.

In the case of my knitting machine, by project 3 in the book i started looking on the internet for patterns of things i was interested in, and trying to figure out how to change the patterns from hand knit to machine knit. For me this is a blast of a pastime. i love that kind of stuff, not sure why. And then i print off patterns, and make notes, and start little notebooks of projects--it's silly but oh so fun for me! One of my charms is that i am easily amused. It makes me a cheap date.

So, all that to say, the picture is of friend Adina modeling my prayer shawl, made mostly in one evening (till i ran out of yarn and had to wait to finish till i bought more.) It's a simple garment, but a pretty one, i think. i wanted to make something with the cool brown boucle textured yarn i'd bought, not whatever the next project from the book was. So there i went, getting ahead of myself. (It seems i could do something cool on it like edge it in some way, or put a tie on the front--any ideas?) Anyway, model Adina is pregnant and has a little tiny baby tummy. For her, the tummy you see there is bigger than normal. Mine has not been that small in decades, even without pregnancy. And yet i still love her.

Sadly though, she and hubby and adorable 2 year old Miriel are moving--THIS WEEKEND. At first it seemed like it would never happen, they would never get a buyer for their very cute two bedroom house so they could look for something more expandable. And now all the sudden they're moving in a few days. Crazy. No longer can i walk across the rainy street in my flip-flops for a nice cup of tea. No more can she just come across to our house for a movie and company when she's got a cold and is lonely. These are disturbing losses. It has nothing to do with me and my crafty shortcomings, i don't suppose, but since i like rabbit trails, there ya go--wanting a picture of my shawl for the blog, i flip-flopped (shoes, ladies, i mean my shoes--) across the street in the rain for tea and a model. This brings up the fact that i won't be able to do that after this weekend.

And if i simply add to those last couple of sentences that the shawl i wanted modeled came as a result of my shortcutting sins, the Skimmers among us have the Reader's Digest version of the post.

Proud O' Me.

Check it out! They're square, but they aren't potholders!! No, they are pillows, and i made them. And i'm proud.

After thinking i was surely too stupid to enable the Ultimate Sweater Machine to make even the most basic Ultimate Anything, i had a breakthrough. i realize that word is generally saved for moments where a mathemetician reaches an understanding of anti-gravity, or a patient has an epiphany during therapy, but this counts. i went from muttering unspiritual words under my breath as i tried to untangle each newest yarn foible, to a nearly spiritual state while knitting successful row after successful row. And voila! After only one (really long) short week (me being one of those who apparently would not find it easy to learn) i have created 2 small pillows!

The colors in the pictures aren't too true to the beautiful and outstandingly crafted pillows themselves, but the colors are a dark mossy green and a light mossy green along with a chocolate brown and a splash of dark red. i could probably buy something of the sort at Ross-Dress-For-Less for 15 bucks, but who can really put a price on accomplishment? Or pride? Or this amazing ache in my shoulders from spending all those hours determined to succeed?

This is only the beginning. i'm sure there are many more pillows in my future, and possibly a dog sweater or three. i'm not quite ready to tackle a sweater for myself yet. My neck needs to heal.

The Ultimate Sweating Machine.

The thing i asked hubby for this year was the Ultimate Sweater Machine. As advertised:

The Ultimate Sweater Machine® is the fast, easy way to knit!

Learn today, make it tonight, wear it tomorrow!

They lie.

i've been sweating over it for most of a week now, with my success vs mess-ups ratio at about 50/50. For as the lady on the dvd says, "for some of you, this will come easily, while for others of you...." --here her voice fades out, and the voice in MY head says, "it will be a total b***ch!"

i decided early on, given those odds, i would rise to the challenge and allow myself time to become familiar and perhaps even proficient on said Sweating Machine. i've had moments of sheer brilliance, where row upon row sang sweetly. i've also had looong moments of sheer frustration, where numerous stitches were skipped, leaving me pitchy and tuneless. But i'm gaining on it. The Machine and i are developing a relationship.

Before the arrival of my gift, i imagined myself knitting "600 to 1200 stitches per minute!" while whipping out sweaters with clever cables and perhaps making "a sweater or afghan in two evenings." (That's what the ad says.)

Currently i'm imagining myself completing a potholder in reasonable harmony.

Seriously though, once The Machine and i become true friends, i believe we can do beautiful things together. Until then i have resigned myself to the fact that i fall into category 2, the one for whom the road to success is roughly paved. i have a mental picture of a category 1 long, leggy Swedish model sitting down to her knitting machine and casually (and with perfect teeth and posture) beginning to make a beautifully fitted sweater on her first try. At the moment i am the stubbier and sweatier hausfrau to her right, yarn and hair in tangles, wild-eyed and giggling insanely over her machine.

i'll give myself a few more days. i'm going to master it, really i am. i'll keep you posted.

OH--Skimmer's Recap--

Ultimate Sweater Machine, harder than it looks. Leggy Swedish model (HAH! Got your attention there, didn't i?) with smooth road. Me, old fashioned cobblestones with potholes and too many analogies. (Metaphors? Whatever.)