Blog Admin Bookend the Second

As I explained below, I've just been posting a bunch of stuff, already available on the sidebar, so that I can keep it stored here on Blogger instead of on my home server.

One of these days soon, I'll also finally - after years of not getting around to it - update, correct, and make printable the list of Russian knitting terms, and whatever addresses I can dig up for yarn stores in Moscow and Petersburg (and for that matter, Ivanovo). I can't do it just yet, but I swear it's on my agenda. Those of you who may have emailed me about it (or about anything else for that matter) - I hear you, I'm thinking about it, I know I'm really bad about answering email, and I swear I'll do something about all the requests one day soon.

Random Picture:

Knitting is for Grandmas

Because knitting is for grandmothers, here are some of my grandmothers, most of whom must have knitted, though I can't say for sure of the ones who died before I was born (some of them looooong before). A fine bunch of Dutch ladies, except the one in the middle (actually caught in the act of knitting), who's Russian.



(Click on the image to see the bigger version)

The Chevy

Car Talk: Get to Know My '57 Chevy



This is the 1957 Brother Knitting Machine I bought on Ebay, now and forever after nicknamed "The Chevy." What a beautiful excuse to invest in some WD-40*, Liquid Wrench, an air gun, and steel wool -- all the sorts of things it's comforting to have around (though as a grad student in NYC I never exactly had a direct need for before). Anyway, with abovementioned tools in hand -- and those that came with the machine --I spent a blissful day or two reeking of oil, and managed to get it in sparkling, working order, except for one minor detail now in the process of being taken care of, known in its original form as the FELT BAR**. More on that below. I'm pretty proud of myself, as it arrived with the carriage sturdily jammed on a bunch of bent needles, though I otherwise have no complaints about the Ebay seller, who truth be told gave it to me for a song, even including shipping (the one downside to this beauty being its weight - it lives up to its nickname).



It came with only one missing part that I can detect, and even that I'm not sure of, as it isn't listed anywhere in the lists of parts in the instruction manual, so I'm deducing its presence on the original from the pictures and one mysterious reference to "gate pegs" mentioned nowhere else.



Speaking of the instruction manual, it's an entertainment unto itself. (NB: I do have it in PDF form, now, and can happily mail it upon request, although not necessarily right away, as I'm working from internet cafes while I'm in Russia. Special note to the person who wrote me about this many, many months ago and never received anything! I'm sorry! The planets were not aligned: my first couple mailings to your address bounced, then my laptop got stolen. I lost the original PDF and your address. But I re-scanned it and now have it, so please email me again!)



This photo, taken by the seller for Ebay, shows my baby before I scrubbed it to an even greater shine.



I don't know if Brother still makes them like this, but this baby is definitely a beaut. It came with extra needles still in their original paper envelope, but even the needles that got jammed in the carriage (for god knows how many years), eventually came out and even unbent right back into their original perfect condition with the help of a mere nudge from a needle-nosed pliers. With a little steel wool and a few drops of oil*, they, and the rest of the machine and accessories, look like new.

Now, I have just one remaining problem and a handful of outstanding questions. If you're on this page and have read this far, I'm assuming you must have some sort of abiding interest in knitting machines, may even own one yourself. Perhaps you can help.

**The problem: The FELT BAR (in later models known as the Foam Bar, as I learned from the kind folks at School Products, Inc[LINK], a store in NY that specializes in knitting machines and supplies) sits under the front of the needle bed and holds the needles firm, so you can pull them out to the knitting position and keep them there while you cast on. Or so I gather. You see, the Felt Bar wears down and needs to be replaced occasionally. The one I pulled out of this machine clearly was in need of replacement at least 40 years ago. Digging out the old felt and glue with a screw driver did some damage to my hands, let me tell you, but I'm left with a perfectly clean and serviceable metal bar in need of some felt. Or foam. My first trip to the hardware store resulted in some stuff that was too sticky and not nearly firm enough, but I have high hopes for the second trip to be taken soon. However, as this problem is going to come up again, I would much prefer to discover somewhere a lovely source of ready-made felt bars that would fit this machine. School Products showed me that the new models have a wider bar that won't work. Anybody out there have any leads or suggestions??

Answers to Outstanding Questions:

NEW: *This fact just in: Never ever use WD-40 on your knitting machine! Not sure why, but I have it on good authority that it can damage it very seriously. Damn!

This also just in: window insulation foam, available in strips at any hardware store, works very nicely as filler for the felt bar.

PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH ANY OTHER ADVICE OR SUGGESTIONS:

aastrikke AT yahoo DOT com



Above you see a scan of the first knitted swatch made on my knitting machine. Casting it on took over an hour, but knitting it took mere seconds! Until, that is, I started losing stitches and the carriage got caught mid-row and I gave up and decided it was a good time to learn to cast-off. The cast-off edge is the one you see at bottom in the photo - the large loose stitches on the top are the ones I cast on and knitted by hand, then placed on the machine's needle. There are seven rows of successful machine knitting.

100 Things About Me (Revised)

I deleted the version of my 100 Things About Me that was here for two reasons: 1.) I was bored with it and 2.) It has been increasingly dawning on me how many weirdos there are out there, and I'm in the slow process of removing or revising all the personal-ish information about me that I have control over.

So. Here's a new version. More vague, still accurate, and with the extra-added advantage of being shorter.

1. I'm a member of the MTV generation. I remember watching MTV the very first year it aired. I'm still a little nostalgic about the original VJs.

2. I grew up in the tulip capital of the U. S. of A.

3. My favorite color is red. Sometimes I forget to notice that other colors can be nice, too, which is one of the reasons that I like to read knitting blogs.

4. I can't cook.

5. I can't sing.

6. I can't dance.

7. And I am extremely clutzy.

8. I read and write a lot, and always have. Those are two things I'm good at, and like most people are with the things they're good at, I'm picky about them.

9. I'm a historian. I like and/or am interested in pretty much anything that's old.

10. The converse of that is that I'm often not interested in things that are actually going on right now. Unless they have potential for historical interest, later. I'm weird that way.

11. I also like pretty much anything that's foreign or new to me. I get bored easily, which I consider a character flaw.

12. But my love for all things new-to-me means I'm good at learning. Not so good at following through, though.

13. I learned to knit while living in Norway as a high school exchange student.

14. I've tried most crafts at least once, but the only one I've really stuck with over time and keep going back to is knitting.

15. I think because, for me, it's just the right balance of interest and mindlessness, creativity and simplicity, aesthetic pleasure and convenience. I don't really know, though - any analysis doesn't really encompass how I feel about it completely.

16. I recently learned to spin and I *love* it. Love.

17. I can't explain why that is, either, and I'm not sure it would stick if I didn't get a spinning wheel. But I'm so totally going to get a spinning wheel!

18. I let my driver's license lapse years ago and would love to never have to get one again. Hate cars.

19. I've been living in New York City for grad school and now I'll be working there in the fall and into the indefinite future.

20. I saw a New Yorker cartoon with a guy walking down the street wearing a t-shirt just like the "I heart NYC" ones except it said "I have mixed feelings about NYC." That's me.

21. I travel to Russia every few years, usually for a longish stay, for research purposes.

22. I'm right-handed, and apparently also right-brained. This was total news to me, when I did on online test recently.

23. I haven't had TV since the final episode of Seinfeld aired. I watch DVDs and the internetz.

24. This is largely because, when I do see TV, it raises my blood pressure and, in the end, leaves me feeling like I've wasted my time and probably killed a few brain cells.

25. I've become something of a moderate foodie in recent years. It happened under the influence of my husband. His reasons are completely about health and taste. I'm also concerned about environmental and animal cruelty issues, though not so much that I made very many changes on my own, before meeting my husband.

26. I have tried playing the violin, the flute, and the bassoon. These were not successful experiments.

27. I have a tin ear.

28. I hate being the center of attention. Can't stand it.

29. I'm an Aries.

30. My Jungian type is INTJ.

31. I'm a Ravelry addict.

32. I remember browsing the web with a text-only program called lynx.

33. That kind of crap makes me feel really old.

34. Biggest pet peeve: willful incompetence.

35. Favorite thing in the world: Time spent with my husband and/or a handful of dearest friends, preferably with access to tea, books, and yarn at the same time.



Aw, heck, I can only think of 35 things. Oh well.

Blog Admin Bookend the First

I'm going to "post" a few things that have already been available for a while from a link on the sidebar. The point of this is that these are small text files that had been sitting on my home server, and I want them sitting on Blogger's server, instead. Believe it or not, blogger is more reliable than my home server, so I'm trying to have everything on there. Right now, most of my images are also on my home server, so if occasionally they won't load, you know why. Blogger seems to be having trouble letting me upload images, but I'm working on that, too. (by posting them all from PhotoBucket, which rocks, so far). Anyway, the point of this post is to say - skip the following few posts; they're just here so I'll have a permalink to them.

Herewith a random cool picture because I have no relevant knitting picture to post:

7 Things Meme

There's little blogworthy knitting to present today - working on socks tends to lead to that, doesn't it? Unless you're doing gorgeous, big, challenging Fair Isle ones, like Grumperina. I'm not. Mine have an inch or two more than they did yesterday. Ho-hum. Did some edge stitching on a handbag, too. Blocked the oh-so-boring scarf. Played with my diss chapter - not clear yet whether it helped. Blah. Have to do the dishes now.

So here's a pretty picture and a meme.

Something to keep us cool:



(This picture was taken in rural Russia, not by me, but by a friend. I was there, though.)

And

7 Things About Me Meme

In no particular order

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:

1. Go to Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp
2. Write a novel
3. Finish my PhD
4. Spend more time in Western Europe
5. Have children. At least one, preferably two.
6. Own a home
7. Get in good physical shape and, if possible, stay that way

Seven Things I Cannot Do:

1. Sing
2. Dance
3. Act
4. Play competitive sports of any kind
5. Be patient
6. Cook artfully
7. Appreciate the alleged appeal of beer, or coffee

Seven Things That Attract Me To My Mate:

(NB: is this supposed to be about me, or him? Grammatically, it could go either way. But I've seen most people write it about the mate, and that's more fun, so that's what I'm going to do)

1. He's hot - hot
2. He's got a perfect body. No kidding. Yes, this counts as an extra beyond just that he's generally hot
3. He's brilliant
4. He's a native speaker of Russian
5. He cooks well, and cleans usually before I think to
6. He says all the right things, and means them
7. He loves, loves, loves having things knit for him
7.5. No fair - I'm out of space before I'm out of Things!

Seven Books/Authors I Love:

1. Jane Austen
2. Dorothy L. Sayers
3. Georgette Heyer
4. Neil Gaiman
5. G. K. Chesteron
6. J. K. Rowling
7. Vladimir Nabokov

Seven Things I Say:

1. "Anyway."
2. "So…what was I saying?"
3. "Whatever."
4. "That's just wrong."
5. "I'm morally opposed to that."
6. "You know what I mean."
7. "That's so cool."

Seven Movies I've Loved:

1. American Beauty
2. The Trouble with Harry
3. Sense & Sensibility (Emma Thompson version)
4. Fargo
5. Grosse Pointe Blank
6. Harold & Maude
7. Breaking the Waves

2 FOs in one day!

I finished the patchwork felted pillows - both done, down to the ties that bind them - and the Yak Scarf as of last night. Posted about them to the UFO August list. Ura! All this accomplishment is going to my head.

Here's the second pillow, front and back, not yet stuffed to show off how much worse it looks when it's deflated (er, or rather, how much better it looks when poofy, like the first one that I already showed off).





Here's the scarf, before blocking. It's about to go in the bath in a minute, which ought to flatten it out. I did it in the kind of rib that has garter between the stockinette strips, instead of reverse stockinette. Whatever that's called. It's pretty and soft, but god what a bore that was. I have a bit of leftover Yak/Merino - possibly enough for some fingerless mitts or something of that nature....



Worked a bit on the socks, too, but not enough to bother photographing. I now have a pile of cut-out felt ready to be sewn into handbags - more handbags than I could know what to do with - but I'm not in any hurry to work on them. I think I'll do them a bit at a time, as a break from knitting. The AlterKnits book (by Leigh Radford, which is where I got the idea, since Jenn asked in the comments, although I think the idea of felting machine-knit Goodwill sweaters and cutting them up for various purposes has been around a while - I'm pretty sure I've seen or heard of it elsewhere), anyway, the book suggests sewing them together by machine, but since last time I did this it was a royal pain to get my machine to sew through such thick fabric, I'm going to do again what I did then, and what I did with the pillows - sew them by hand with feltable yarn, so that the first time you wash the finished object, it felts the seams right into the fabric and makes it extremely secure.

Using yarn, the stitches do show, and of course I don't usually have yarn that exactly matches the store-bought sweater, so I usually pick something contrasting or otherwise meant to be noticed. It has more of a home-made look than the handbags Leigh Radford made, but I like it.

Oh, and btw, I noticed when I did this before that when you wash them after sewing them up, if they were really as felted as could be when you sewed them together, they don't shrink any further, and the stitches (if not right next to each other, as in blanket stitch) don't felt to each other to make the seams tighten up. They just felt ever so slightly into the fabric, making them more secure but not affecting the size and shape of the bag. Very nice. You could do the same thing by taking a felting needle to the seams, but I'm lazy so I just wait till the thing needs to be washed next anyway, and throw it in the washing machine.

Here's my work basket filled to brimming with potential handbags:



And here's what the cut-out pieces look like, all cut according to the pattern suggested by Radford.



I like this better than the monk-style bags I made before, but it really does work better if you start out with sweaters that are about a women's large. Mine were mostly young adult or women's small, and it made it difficult to get handles of appropriate length or width. So five out of these 7 (the one not pictured is the "mint choc chip" bag I showed in an earlier post), are really too small to be practical, at least for me. I like a bag to hold a book, papers, knitting, plus all the usual necessities. So they're cute, but I doubt I'll use them much, and I'll definitely give away a couple to friends or family who don't carry around as much stuff as I do....

Meanwhile, two more people have now filled out my Knit Geek Questionnaire on their blogs!!

Deede
Caroline

And Caroline had a brilliant idea for an extra question, which I've duly added to the template (link at left, or here).

PS - Thanks also to Jennifer for the suggestion to use my newly re-discovered embroidery floss collection to knit dollhouse rugs and afghans. It reminded me of the episode of Cast-On in which Sage from Quirky Nomads regaled us about miniature crochet...while I don't want to go quite as small as she did, I'm totally going to try my hand at some mini knitting....It's a good use for my tiniest DPNs, too!