Tag: cotton

30 min series: knitting dolly

On By CarynIn Craft

I’m starting a study on how much cord I can make in 30 minutes using various techniques. The idea started with my acquisition of the Prym knitting dolly, which feels like a sophisticated version of the “spool with nails” French knitter. It has a carved crystal-like body and loops instead of pegs at the top, and comes with a needle that locks inside the body of the knitting dolly for safe keeping. Why did I acquire it? Because I don’t have one. I thought I did, a kid’s version, but it isn’t in the knitting bin or the cord bin. Hm.

Photo description: Prym knitting dolly (aka French Knitter, Knitting Spool) with blue cotton yarn

I did have a bit of trouble remembering how to use a knitting dolly, I kept doing the initial twist round as I built the cord and it took a a few minutes of puzzling to figure out why my loops were twisted. It was good data, at least.

Photo description: two cotton cords, the left one made with twisted loops (each stitch the yarn was wrapped around the post), and the right one with untwisted loops (the yarn taken across the front of the post)

I started my timing once my technique was settled. In 30 minutes I made 17” of cord with the knitting dolly. This number is for my skill set at the time of knitting (I’m sure I could improve the length per time with practice), and the 4-peg knitting dolly with commercial worsted weight cotton yarn.

Photo description: 17 inches of knitted cord created with a Prym knitting dolly with blue worsted weight cotton yarn

The resulting cord is smooth and soft, with mostly regular stitches, and 24% stretch. I calculated stretch by measuring the cord stretched, subtracting the unstretched length, then dividing by the unstretched length. In this case (21-17)/17*100. This technique can be used to make very long cords.

I plan to make 30 minute samples of other cord making methods and do a comparison of both length produced and quality.

It works!

On By CarynIn Craft

The new bearing that I made for an antique great wheel works! It is slightly longer than the original, but since the maidens adjust separately, the fraction of an inch difference doesn’t affect functionality.

Photo description: my hand holding the original bearing on the left and the new one on the right

The shaft of the bearing ended up being a little thick. It was a tight fit, but needed to be able to rotate to hold the accelerator wheel as the maiden post was twisted up or down. I used my pocket knife to shave off some of the wood so the bearing could rotate.

Photo description: bearing with the shaft narrowed held in my hand next to the maiden post, spindle visible below
Photo description: fully assembled accelerator head on a great wheel with new bearing on the left side of the picture and the original bearing on the right

I spun for about an hour, working on my yarn width consistency and testing out my new part. It worked just fine! And rotated in the socket when it came time to stop and release the tension on the drive bands. I always lighten the tension between spinning sessions so the bands don’t stretch. I don’t loosen them enough to come off when stationary, which is standard practice for spinners. I can see though, how someone coming along and turning the wheel might be startled by the drive bands coming off or the parts not moving. The bands just need to be tightened before use.

Reading shawl

On By CarynIn Craft

I did another full width (100 stitches) knitting project on my “incredible sweater machine”. I wanted to make a shawl with random purple stripes, and originally intended it to be 65” long and calculated it needed 350 rows of knitting.

Photo description: The incredible knitting machine set up on a narrow table with purple cotton yarn in four shades plus white, last row is finished and backstitched

I tracked the hours I spent at the knitting machine using a row counter app (Knitting Chart), and when I bound off I had put in 8 hours to make 350 rows, which is much faster than I hand knit. I also had better focus, this project on regular needles would have sat for long periods of time. I did put in a rib every four stitches, and hooking up the perl ladders did slow down the process, but it was worth the time to have the shawl lay flatter and add interest to both sides.

I wove in the ends my favorite way with knit: at an angle on the perl side.

Photo description: weaving in ends with a large eye needle on the perl side, going under the perl bumps at an angle

The cotton yarn knit tighter than my acrylic gauge swatch, so I didn’t make it to my desired length. I decided to crochet along the edges, a half double crochet stitch every other knit stitch, then added shell lace to the ends.

Photo description: glider chair with machine knit shawl in purples and white stripes with crocheted lace edges, showing both sides of the knit and crochet, pre-blocking

I steam blocked the shawl using a steamer and ironing board, which really helped even out the stitches and relax the curl.

Photo description: striped shawl on an ironing board, steamed areas on the counter
Photo description: finished shawl on a dress mannequin with the sweater machine in the foreground

Yarn barf

On By CarynIn Craft

I have found an exception to my rule of always taking yarn from the center of the commercial skein. The “I love this yarn” in cotton produces repeated yarn barf if drawn out from the center: clumps of tangled yarn that pop out of the skein like an angry Obscurus.

Photo description: white cotton yarn skein from the brand “I love this yarn”

For these skeins, I pull yarn from the outside. To keep the yarn from getting away as it flips around, I put it in a box.

Photo description: white skein of cotton yarn in a small cardboard box with the yarn coming off the outside of the skein.

I see why the free hanging yarn holders are popular, they are for the “take the yarn from the outside” crafters, which is a fine method for cotton yarn. There are many ways to do things, it is good to experiment to find what works for you or the particular material you are working with.

Another Great Wheel

On By CarynIn Craft

I had the opportunity to make friends with another walking wheel! I went to the Doss Heritage and Culture Center in Weatherford, Texas and met with the lovely people working there with the collections and events. They let me go down to the basement where there were two antique walking wheels, one with all the parts, albeit with some field-expedient repairs, and another missing the spindle and accelerator wheel.

Photo description: great wheel before I started
Photo description: mother-of-all with spindle and accelerator head

I took off the mother-of-all, which holds the maidens, accelerator head, and spindle, to get a good look at the condition. I’m fairly certain that this mother-of-all is not the original one that went with the wheel, or the wheel was painted at some point, but the colors don’t match. The top of one of the maidens has also been lost to time, replaced with a dowel and metal spike, which certainly does the job.

Photo description: small wood stake that goes into the mother-of-all to hold the braided rawhide straps in place

Where the last great wheel I worked with had waxed linen that held the spindle, this wheel had rawhide magic braids that were nearly as hard as the surrounding wood. I was surprised that the pegs holding the rawhide in place could still be pulled out.

After looking over the mother-of-all, I put it back on the wheel, upside down. Oops. It took me about an hour of tinkering and fussing before I figured it out. In that time, though, I gave her a new cotton drive band waxed with beeswax, waxed the accelerator band, aligned the wheel with the base, and adjusted the wheel spacing against the post. The wheel rubs against the post, so I wrapped the post with waxed cotton cord to protect it from abrasion.

Photo description: waxed cotton cord lashed around the base of the post where the wheel rubs against it
Photo description: great wheel mother-of-all and tension system set up and spinning, there is another great wheel base in the background, which has a wheel, but the hub hole has worn away and it needs refitting

I love the tensioning system on this wheel. The wood nut on the right in the picture loosens to allow the center post to rotate forward and backward, decreasing or increasing tension. I think I actually like this set up better than the double nut Great Wheel, although both are more reliable over time than a greenwood tension system that relies on the bend-ability of fresh wood.

I did put a corn husk quill over the spindle to make it easier to remove the cop of yarn. For a leader I pulled three strands from my cotton twine, and did a larks-head knot over the corn husk quill. I spun Texas grown cotton sliver for a while before time called me away.