Swatchless

Have you been asked that question before?  I never know how to answer.  The truth is, in my free time, my hands are rarely without knitting, weaving, or spinning.  When asked why I’m NOT knitting, my first instinct is to pull out my knitting project from my bag, or desk drawer, or trunk of my car, and start an intense conversation about the intricacies of turning a heel, or working fairisle colourwork.  Eyes often glaze over pretty quickly.

Tonight, I showed a lot of restraint, and stopped myself before I entered into such an eye-glazing conversation.  I was really excited to share my ideas about my latest project, but I don’t know that people were ready to listen to all the details.  You see, I’m a bit of a geek.  I’m currently knitting a model of DNA[Ravelink], and toying with ideas of how to join the knitted base pairs so that the proper pairs fit together, and that the DNA strands can unzip to show the replication process.  Eyes glazing yet?

photo credit: Kimberly Chapman

Right now there is not much to show for all of my knitting.  I have started one of the twisted tubes, but since I’ve run out of stuffing I’m taking a bit of a time out.  I’m taking a break from knitting, and spending my time catching up on all of the other things that often get put on the back burner.

So….here’s a question for ya….

So, why aren’t you knitting?

Looking for a way to use up some odds and ends of handspun?  Why not weave a scarf!!

My handspun was dyed in rather vivid colours using food colouring and other commercial dyes.  There was not enough of it to make into mittens or a hat, but the perfect amount for the weft of a scarf.  I chose a black warp (Cascade 100% wool), which toned down the other colours quite a bit.

shuttle

I chose to do a plain tabby (over and under) weave to show off the colours of the weft.  I love watching how the colours blend into each other, and how there is no real pattern, but since it was all from the same dye lot it all blends anyway.  My loom is a Leclerc 4 shaft table loom.  I got it second hand a few years ago, and have made a few scarves and placemats.

To start weaving, I’d recommend contacting your local weaver’s and spinners guild and asking about their class schedule.  If you are interested in simple weaving you can consider a rigid heddle loom or knitters loom.  This allows you to lift and lower selected threads to create the weave structure.  There is only one heddle/shaft that you manually raise/lower.

rigid heddle loom

table loom

For more complex patterns, a 4 shaft table loom offers more variety in patterns.  Depending on how the loom is threaded, more complex patterns are available.  The heddles/shafts are raised and lowered by pushing the levers on the right side of the frame.  These looms often cost more money, but if you check craig’s list, kijiji or e-bay you can get a good deal on a used loom.

any guesses?

A colleague had mentioned a while back that after cancer surgery her arm is getting swollen, particularly in the warm weather.  As lymph nodes had been removed, some of the lymph fluid pools in her arm instead of following the usual path around the body.  In a conversation she mentioned that she wanted to suspend her arm from something while she sat at her desk….that got the wheels started.

Note:  All loops or noose-like ideas were rejected, as were things that could injure you if you accidentally ran into them.

The end product of my brainstorming was this contraption (any ideas for a name?)

Here are the instructions (if you’d like to make one)

Cut a pool noodle into a ball (about 2.5 inches in diameter).  This will be the core of the device.  We chose pool noodle foam because it is light and flexible and easy to cut with a box cutter or exacto-knife.

Choose your favourite sock yarn and needles.  I used Kroy, and 2.25mm needles.

Cast on 6 sts.

INCREASES

Row 1: knit into the front and back of each stitch [12 sts]

Row 2: *kfb, k1* 6 times

Row 3: *kfb, k2* 6 times

Row 4: *kfb, k3* 6 times

Continue to increase (adding stripes if you wish) until there are 90 sts. total

Knit for 1 inch (graph a pattern for yourself if you are interested)

DECREASES

Row 1: *K2tog, K13* 6 times

Row 2: *K2tog, K12* 6 times

Row 3: *K2tog, K11* 6 times

Row 4: *K2tog, K10* 6 times

Insert ball and knit around it.  Continue to decrease (adding stripes if you wish) until there are 6 sts remaining.

Knit a 6 stitch i-cord for 1 meter.

Hang this device from the ceiling.  We tied it around the supports for the ceiling tiles.

as seen from below

I’m not sure if it works this way for people of any height, but fortunately for my colleague, this device can be suspended in the correct position to grasp from a seated position, but when the force of the hand is removed, the elasticity of the i-cord raises the very light ball up above the height of her head when she is standing.

If using material that is heavier than foam, be careful–it could give you quite a goose egg if you run into it.