MADELEINE'S HEP HERD

Last Saturday my knitting machine guru came to visit. We spent two hours going through the basics of how the Passap makes stitches and looking at all the bits that came with the basic machine.  I'm so grateful for the confidence this has given me.  I'm giving some thought to an appropriate reward - John Lewis vouchers seem a bit lame. Having practiced some plain rib and fisherman's rib in basic Shetland yarns, I decided to try out some of the more exotic yarns in the stash.  In the picture you'll see 4-ply baby alpaca in grey and a fine lace weight silk merino mix in cream. Both are knitted in plain rib - the only change to the settings is the stitch size.  The alpaca was a struggle to knit and dropped a couple of stitches.  I think it might be at the limit of what the machine can handle.  The lace weight yarn knitted much more easily and I only stopped because the yarn caught in the tension wire and broke - otherwise I might be wearing as a scarf now. ...

After failing to find much online help about troubleshooting the Passap Duo80 I went back to the studio on Saturday afternoon and loosen a few screws.  I tugged and shuffled the locks and suddenly everything was moving again.  So I tightened the screws again and changed the needle that broke to release it all. Luckily I had been given a massive box of needles along with all the other gadgets and add-ons I've yet to figure out.  Also luckily, changing a needle is very straightforward and much like it was on the Toyota machine I had 30 years ago. With a sigh of relief, I cast on with my practice yarn and knitted a fairly scraggy bit of lambswool rib. That's proof it will work once I work out what I'm doing.  We'll see what happens over the next few weeks - there might even be some prototypes and samples ready by Open Studios Weekend 2&3 August.

The Rolls Royce of knitting machines (Passap Duo 80) arrived in my studio last night.  I've got it clamped to it's stand and done the equivalent of crashing the gears already.  Got the locks stuck while sliding them on for the first time because some needles had been pushed up into working position without me noticing. Now they're tangled together and I can't take the locks off to start again from scratch.  Any advice is welcome - except giving up!

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was nuts about animals. She went to the zoo and the museum regularly and lived round the corner from the veterinary college. From about the age of 2 she wanted to be a vet and work at the zoo. She collected plastic animals and memorised lots of facts.  She also loved plants and did the same for them, visiting the botanic gardens and leafing through her father's textbooks.  Then she went to school and it all went wrong.  How it went wrong is long and complicated, took 50 years to work out and doesn't belong in this blog post.  The little girl never went to vet school.  The college round the corner eventually moved to an out of town site. The old college buildings have become a wonderful arts venue in the heart of Edinburgh.  After a twisty turny careery thing, the little girl realised she had been a textile artist all along. At last the girl and the college have come together and the arts centre is home to her t...

Over the last 30 or more years I've been collecting yarn. Travel souvenirs, online bargains, local sales, charity shops and abandoned projects have all contributed.  In December my brother christened it the European Wool Mountain! So I've decided to start mining the wool mountain.  So far I've discovered Noro Furin and Silk Garden Natural Dye Studio cashemere alpaca and silks Rowan cotton chenille, tweed and some of their R2  "street" yarns Debbie Bliss tweeds Colinette in all sorts of colours and yarn styles 1980s mohair on cones vintage Bernat Klein cotton and a matching skirt and jumper pack of turquoise tweed fabric and 4-ply yarn from the Isle of Skye I've developed a few ideas for simple yet dramatic pieces that will turn things found in fairly large quantities into an interesting collection for Open Studios events.  A couple of them are pictured below in Rowan Kidsilk and Noro Furin. I love the way the stripes end up at right angles and are ve...

Today was light up day for Decorate Edinburgh and that means a full reveal of the Transreal Fiction   tree I've been decorating with mathematical knitting and crochet. Decorate Edinburgh is a fund raising project for local charities. Around the city, small businesses have given money and received trees to decorate in return. Their Tree Trail leaflet lists all the participants so you can see how they've all gone about decorating Edinburgh for Christmas. I volunteered for the decorating without much persuasion. This seemed like the perfect reason to finally knit Norah Gaughan's  stellated dodecahedron. After all, her father, Jack Gaughan , illustrated science fiction books and magazines. So now my version of her design top of Transreal Fiction's Christmas tree. (Want to make one too? the pattern is here and it's free www.berroco.com/patterns/celestine ). So much for the tree topper but what about the rest? Well, having started with a mathematical idea I figur...

In spite of trying to take it easy this year I have very full December so you lucky people can see (and even buy!) my work. First up is the geekiest project so far - knitted mathematical Christmas decorations for a charity tree in a science fiction bookshop! Transreal Fiction asked me to help out with their Decorate Edinburgh contribution and and you can see the resulting Fibonacci series of baubles and garlands in the shop at 46 Candlemaker Row until the end of the month. This knitted stellated dodecahedron is on top of Transreal Fiction's Christmas tree. (Want to make one too? the pattern is here and it's free www.berroco.com/patterns/celestine ) Next up is the Craft Reactor Winter Exhibition , 3 December to 7 January in Hula Juice Bar and Cafe 103 West Bow Edinburgh. I'll be taking part with lots of my crafty chums. Pop in for a look and some coffee and cake! Coburg House Open Studios is next. Come and see what everyone's been up to since August. We...