little stitches

nimble hands.
have a great weekend!





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robe compressè

 a dress from muji

poor girl's miyake issey















a relief from knitting.




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controls

and you thought it was an exaggeration on my part. this is the machine's control panel. buttons to select and i'm not doing manual input -think of blackening squares in a draft before  weaving design programs.

then there's the main carriage. all those buttons are for different functions. forget one and the best that can happen is that the carriage gets jammed.

and  there's the ribber carriage with more buttons and functions. forget to set one and at worst you can break a needle.

then there's the nightmare where you forget to click the button in the color changer and the color sequence goes wonky.the best that can happen is that you get a line of sold color. the worst is that you realize it after you finish the knitting and you can't read  the image.

but the worst of the worst comes with no button. this is when the yarn doesn't catch in the carriage

and the whole piece lands on the floor with a loud thud. this usually happens when there are 4-5 rows to the end.

it's not about learning curve, it's about concentration. let your mind wander and you're.....

the good news is that i don't need mind training games to keep  the mind nimble and the german gentleman away.

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on blocking

or the fine art of re-shaping.would you believe this is a photo? pleased that i am finally getting there albeit slow.

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hiatus

brief stint in madrid. back on monday. be good.

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so many buttons to control

all my respect to machine knitters.weaving is a lot easier, once you warp and thread you're set to go.

in knitting you have to change the setting to cast on, to start knitting, after you transfer the pattern etc.

and there are two carriages to set so  given all the  permutations the possibilities of errors are pretty much endless. it's a real learning curve especially when you're interested in working with processed images.

not only yarn tension, but also the yarn grist has to do with image definition.

 in this sample thicker 12/2 cotton was used.

compared to the one above in 20/2 cotton  there is a difference.

although the 20/2 cotton was knitted in a loose tension i really don't think it would improve much knitting it tighter. the ideal would be sample , but i am running against the clock  with this due in february.

god i dislike working against deadlines!

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thanks for the stardust

enjoy the longer days. have a good weekend!









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the difference

between good and bad is the end needles. have spent a week getting bads. yesterday in desperation i sent an SOS at the machine knitter's group and they came through with the answer. within minutes. ain't technology great! now that i have the correct placement of needles for 3 color dbj i can get on with the project. seems that the first successful sample was sheer beginner's luck.






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elegy

and the stars look very different today........

planet earth is blue and there's nothing i can do.

1947-2016

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GRRRR

full size sample, not enough contrast in the design nor colors.tension could be tighter looks too ribby. back to photoshop. need to finish something by the end of the month for a submission due in february.


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first complete

3 color double bed jacquard.minus one or two dropped stitches it's ok. scaled down the mage to 40 pixels and lost all figuring detail,but at this stage that's not important.
what i've learned so far :
two color dbj is easy
weights, weights and more weights.
keep an eye on the yarn feeders in the color changer
3 yarns working together need to be 20nm or less. less is more.
tension has to be evaluated according to yarns.  tension charts are extremely iffy. sample sample.
go slow passing the carriages.
try to let go the breath & enjoy.

now on to bigger pieces with more detail.back to the workhouse.



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hmmmm, what if?

Programmable Textiles from Self-Assembly Lab, MIT on Vimeo.

have a good weekend.enjoy the longer days!

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an epiphany during epiphany

the magi came and left bringing help from ravelry and an epiphany.

i am trying to tame the ribber beast and was doing ok until unexpectedly the ribber carriage started disengaging from the main carriage in mid pass.woe and woe and woe.

sensed it had to do with height alignment but wanted at all costs to avoid dismounting it.

sosed on ravelry and the folks there confirmed my hunch.it's an adjustment that can be done with the beast on, but being nº1 in the kludz championship i went ahead and unhooked it from the main bed.

fine and dandy, but i need an 8mm spanner which will be bought today to finish the job.i also need some leds to follow the next unit of the arduino course i'm doing.shopping day ahead.

this is going to be a year of studying: arduino, dbj knitting, learning to use my new digi cam, a composition course and whatever else comes around.

i don't make new year's resolutions but this looks as if applied myself.

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of acronyms

dbj does not mean anything except to machine knitters. that's what i'm trying now.

here's the first sample in all its holey glory. what's really happening here is that i'm learning the ropes of the color changer as well as the ribber. there's tension to control, keeping track of the color changes, reading the machine panel to see which row am i on and which color is knitting, interpreting the manual and freaking out because i don't find the place or part, only to realize that the drawing was made to confuse and not to illustrate.and most important reading and analyzing the instructions on how to knit images and of course once again blinded by ambition i am doing 3 color knit. 

the good news, actually excellent news, is that i have acquired a lot of practice doing  the full needle rib used  for  casting on/off.

if you've read so far i'll let you in: dbj stands for double bed jacquard. expect complex images.

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more answered prayers

i was hesitant, i must confess, because first it came from a french  natural health company and most of the times they are pure bogus; then it sounded too good to be true.

researched the company and they do not offer anything that cures cancer, score 10 points!

i am very food conscious. at home the only processed foods we have are tomato sauce and canned tuna, we have meat once a week and all the baked goods are home made. but even with a good balanced diet it is difficult to meet the daily vitamin& nutrient requirements.

 so i jumped in. 

it is a powder which is dissolved in a glass of water,the taste is pleasantly lemony and it's taken daily.

the pharmacist instructed me to take it for 3 months then rest one and back again. the results would  visible after three months. she also mentioned that i could rest during the summer and get back to it in october. 360 grams  is a month supply.

what i've noticed after the first month:

no morning or posture stiffness

no more cracking joints

no more  occasional muscle cramps-magnesium!

improvement in muscular tone

stronger and non splitting nails

stronger hair

skin is less dry; looks and feels suppler

higher energy level

for pennies. and unlike costly face creams it does good inside where it really matters.

if you're over 30 this is a good way to go.

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when in doubt just sample

happy& prosperous new year to ya'll!

testing wool stainless steel yarn in warp, not the whole layer though.it is a lo less stressful to warp with than expected.  white is botany wool 13 turns x cm. woven with botany wool 32turns x cm. now this is a task winding it in bobbins!

this will take long as i moved to the other side of the studio, towards the k-machine.sampling there as well.

we are technically still on holidays, kids anxiously( and noisily) waiting for the magi on epiphany.

as for myself, axious to get back to my daily routines.haven't gone walking for 2 weeks now.



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