A "New" Knitting Machine

 I had three knitting machines: 

• An LK150, purchased new a few years ago. That's a midgauge and it handles sport weight yarn. All patterning is done by manual manipulation.
• A Knitmaster Empisal Thimmonier 323. It is a standard gauge machine for finer, sock yarn. This is the machine I bought in 1974 or 1975. I know I had it well before my eldest child was born in early 1976 because I knitted many of her baby clothes on it. It is a punchcard machine, meaning patterning is done by means of a 24-hole-wide punch card that determines whether to knit, tuck, slip or insert a second color, depending on the lever's position on the dial. It has a ribber, which is a second bed of needles that connects to the front of the main needle bed and, as its name suggests, it serves to do ribbing and much more.
• A Brother 950. It is also a standard gauge machine. It was produced in the mid-1980s, but I bought it four years ago. It is an electronic machine, meaning patterning is done by means of a program and a 60-stitch-wide mylar sheet. This increases patterning capability. It also has a ribber.

At one point, I also had a Brother 260, a bulky gauge, punchcard machine with a ribber, but within a year I resold it because I determined that I really do not knit really thick yarns that much. In fact, as far as machine knitting goes, I do not really knit very much. I'm still family-oriented and knit pretty much for the family, only. 

The Knitmaster and Brother machines are old and parts are hard to come by, so when I saw an ad for a Knitmaster (no model number) at a recycling center for €80, I thought I should take a look at it and see if it might be good for spare parts. I wrote the shop and found that the recycling center was an hour's drive from E's place in Tarn-et-Garonne. It is closer to Toulouse, straight south of Gaillac (good wine). We were at E's for our vacation, so on a Thursday we drove down to Caraman to the recycling center after I confirmed that the machine was still available. Surprise! It was 50% day! At €40, I was sure I'd buy it. I mean, even recovering the needles was worth that.

We put our masks on and entered the shop, which must have been an old garage or factory. One of the volunteers at the shop went to get the machine. The case was in very good condition and when I opened it up I discovered a Knitmaster Empisal 324 -- a slightly more recent model than what I already had -- in filthy, grimy, but otherwise good condition. Then, the woman said she had to go back to the stock to get the rest! She came back with the ribber. And she went back and came back with another box of accessories. Needless to say, I bought the lot for €40.

This week I cleaned it all. 
Before starting, I ordered a sponge for the sponge bar, officially known as the needle retention bar, and the side racks, which had disintegrated. Total expense for that, including postage, was about €18.

First job was to clean out the disintegrated sponge and replace it with the new, which I did as soon as the new sponge came.
Then, I had to take out the 200 needles of the main bed and put them in a jar with white spirit for a good soaking.

Next, I went to the hardware store and got some petroleum cleaning fluid to soak the carriage. The carriage is the part that rides over the needles, selects the ones to be knitted, or not, and places the yarn in the right place for the needles to catch it. I had to take apart the carriage (See the AnswerLady's husband Jack) because the plastic parts should not soak in the petroleum. That also allowed me to see that all the springs were there and that the parts that are supposed to move moved, even though they were gummed up. I put the soaking pan outside and let the carriage soak overnight. 

In the mean time, I washed the plastic bits. This machine must have been set up behind a sunny window because the plastic is quite discolored, almost orange. I got as much lint out from under the needle bed without dismantling it and then I cleaned the surface of the bed. 

The next morning, I wiped off each needle, checking for rust and making sure the latches moved freely before putting them back; I wiped down the carriage and made sure I got all the lint and collected dirt out before I put it back together. 

I tried it out: 

And this morning, I cleaned the ribber. I just finished putting back all the needles. 
Now, I really must decide to sell one, maybe two, of the standard gauge machines. 

Taxes are done and on the knitting front...

Our French tax declaration is due on June 11. It's all done on line, with most of the lines, for most people pre-filled. All you have to do is check they are correct and modify if they are not. We have non-pension, non-salary income that we have to enter manually. The instructions are pretty clear and almost everything get automatically updated in the main form. Except, not everything. And that's where I had a problem, which I think I managed to correct. There's a zone at the end of the procedure to write a note and or questions, so I wanted to detail what I did, what information I couldn't get on to the form, and the fact that I am an Americans and the treaty allows.....
The directions on the text zone specify that one should not copy/paste. You have to type out everything and I had a lot to type. It wouldn't accept it. The message said no special characters and no tabs, so I got rid of the tabs and the € sign and typed in EUR. No go. I took out the =, the ( and ), and even the -. Still no go. I kept making the whole thing less and less legible in French. Still no go.
In the end I deleted my text and wrote that I was sending an email with the details. Even that got rejected until I switched all accented letters for unaccented ones and removed the apostrophe in "J'ai".
I can't imagine how the French administration created a site that refuses to accept standard French punctuation.
At the end of procedure, once the declaration is submitted, there's a prompt to do a survey and make a remark. I did. Then, I sent the email with all the details I couldn't put into the online form. But it's done.
And my US tax declaration went off last month. I have to have all the French info, which is sent to us or put on line in May, in order to prepare the US taxes.

Taxes are done!

I have made my first yoke sweater on the knitting machine. Usually a yoke is made on circular needles in one piece. On a knitting machine, it's in two pieces. Fortunately, the pattern I was using (by Irene Woods, in the Facebook group Machine Knitting Round Yokes) is calculated so that the seam joins are not noticeable. 

I used left over self-striping sock yarn for the fair-isle pattern, making sure that I started each piece at the same point of the pattern repeat. I really like the effect. 

I love this blue merino yarn from Yeoman's. It's for next winter for S. I hope it's not too big, then. I'm sure it's too big now. It'll look great with his eyes!

In May, I made a sweater for C, 15. (There are too many names in the family that begin with C and Ch!) It's a lovely cotton/acrylic blend in a nice shade of green. It did require hand manipulation on the front and sleeves for the lace and lines of purl stitches. I sent it off to her along with all the things we had in stock to take to the UK on our cancelled March trip.
The work on the bathroom is almost finished -- yes it has taken 3 weeks, so far! There's still some finishing touches -- like sealing the bathtub, hooking up the sink and sealing. And the toilet we ordered is now delayed until mid-August!
France started de-confinement on May 11. The second phase started on June 2. We are no longer restricted to a 100 km radius from home. Restaurants in the green zones (everything except the Paris area for mainland France) could reopen and so on. Restaurants in Paris could serve outside. There are strict distance rules, but whereas some countries recommend being 2 meters (6 ft) apart, in France, it's 1 meter. I've had my hair cut and I've been to some delayed medical appointments in the neighborhood. Other than that, though, I still haven't gone out much. Tomorrow, though, I have an appointment in Paris. Of course, I'll be masked up. In the neighborhood, though, there's no point in putting on a mask until I get to the boulevard. People are just not out.
I would have gone to Paris, yesterday, for the sit-in that was planned near/in front of the US embassy, but the organizers did not get the permit. I imagine there are plenty of reasons for that, but the one mentioned in the news report I read, was that outdoor crowds of more than 5000 were currently not allowed because of Covid-19. I'm pretty sure that the location was also a factor. I don't know if it went ahead, anyway. There was an unauthorized demonstration earlier in the week about a French case of police brutality and racism. It's not an exclusively American problem. I am wary of unauthorized manifs (demonstrations) because there's more risk of them being infiltrated by troublemakers. Look what happened to the Gilets Jaune demonstrations last year.
We've gone ahead and made our reservation for the hotel in Najac for mid-July with the grandchildren.

Le cardigan -- fin, the end

English version below the photos
Le fameux cardigan est fini, enfin presque. J'ai trouvé une fermeture éclair dans ma boîte à couture qui est la bonne longueur, mais beige,  un peu terne. Je ne sais pas si je vais l'utiliser ou essayer de commander une autre. Mais le tricot est terminé.
Le modèle : c'est basé sur un cardigan bien aimé qui a 15 ans et qui est usé. Celui que je viens de faire est plus longue. J'ai développé le patron au fur et à mesure.
Le fil : Cotton Kings, Cone 500, de chez Hobbii. Il m'a fallu un deuxième cône pour finir la deuxième manche et le col.
La machine : Brother 950. N°7 sur le chariot et au milieu  sur le mât.
L'échantillon, après lavage en machine à 40°C et séchage en machine : 32.5x48/10cm2
Les côtes 2/2 du bas, chariots sur 4. C'était peut être trop serré pour ce fil. Malgré les poids, il y avait des mailles qui sautaient. Ce n'était pas un problème d'aiguille car ce n'était jamais les mêmes. La solution était de mettre toutes les aiguilles en position E (attente) à chaque rang.
Le corps est un mélange de jersey et de côtes 2/2. Le chariot principale sur 7 et le chariot de la fonture à côtes  sur 4. Il fallait continuer à  mettre les aiguilles en position E à chaque rang.
Le col, montage fermé selon la méthode de Jonathan Crafts: https://youtu.be/-kJ1QO_zSRs
Il m'a fallu plusieurs démarrages avant de trouver qu'il fallait vraiment mettre les position E à  chaque rang. C'était frustrant et fatigant.
Et puis ayant fini qu'un devant, mon épaule s'est figée. Ce n'est pas la faute du tricot. C'est l'arthrose qui a fini de s'imposer après plus de six ans de travail d'usure. J'ai eu un remplacement inversé de l'épaule à la fin de septembre. En moins d'une semaine après cette intervention, j'ai repris le tricot à la main. A la fin d'octobre, j'ai repris le tricot à la machine, mais des courtes allers-retours pour faire des tubes de chaussettes auxquelles je rajoutais les orteils et talons à la main. En Novembre, j'avais suffisamment de dextérité pour faire les chaussette entièrement à la machine. Une fois les 12 paires de chaussettes de Noël finies, j'ai fait une pause, ne reprenant le cardigan qu'en janvier.
La reprise fut plus difficile que les chaussettes. Ce fil de coton passe plus difficilement, le chariot devait couvrir une plus longue distance, et il fallait vraiment remettre les aiguilles en position E. Tout faire avec la main gauche aurait été lent et contre-productif car manier le chariot avec la main droite faisait parti de la rééducation du bras. Mais pas trop longtemps.
En février, j'ai commencé le dos et je l'ai fini -- une première fois. Mais je suis trompé dans la longueur. J'ai fait les manches. J'ai fait le dos une deuxième fois et le col et j'ai tout monté en pensant que j'allais pouvoir réparé les quelques points ramassés que je trouvais. J'ai tout esquinté. J'ai détricoté le premier dos et j'ai fait encore un dos -- le troisième. Ensuite, il fallait démonter toutes les coutures et détricoter le col. Remonter, refaire le col. Ca y est, la partie tricot est terminé!

front

back

------------------------------------------------

The cardigan is done -- well almost! I found a zipper the right length in my sewing box but it's beige,  a little dull. I don't know if I'll use it or try to order another one. That said, the knitting is done.
The pattern: It's based on a 15-year-old worn out sweater that I love. This one is a bit longer and I made the pattern up as I went.
The yarn: Cotton Kings, Cone 500, from Hobbii. I needed a second cone to finish the second sleeve and the collar.
The machin : Brother 950. Stitch dial 7 on the carriage and middle tension on the mast.
The gauge, after machine wash 40°C (104°F) and machine dry: 32.5x48/10cm2
For the ribbing 2/2 at the bottom, both carriages set at 4. This was, perhaps, too tight for this yarn. In spite of the weights, there were some stitches that tucked. It wasn't the fault of the needles because it didn't always happen at the same spot. The solution was to pull all the needles to E (hold) position for each row.
The body is a mix of stockinette and 2/2 ribbing. Main carriage on 7 and the ribber carriage on 4. It was still necessary to pull the needles on both beds to E position.
The collar, closed as shown by Jonathan Crafts: https://youtu.be/-kJ1QO_zSRs
There were several false starts before finding the solution of pulling the needles to E for each row. It was frustrating and tiring.
And then, having finished the first front, my shoulder froze. It wasn't the knitting that did it. It was the osteo-arthritis that finally finished its destruction after six years of destroying the cartilage. I had reverse shoulder replacement at the end of September. Within a week, I was hand knitting. And by the end if October, I was able to machine knit, a little, short back and forth movement to make tubes for socks to which I added the toes and heels by hand. In November, I was able to knit the socks entirely by machine. Once the 12 pairs were made, I took a break and didn't pick up the cardigan until January.
It was a harder doing the cardigan than the socks. The yarn was a bit more difficult to knit, not so smooth, the carriage had to go a greater distance, and I really had to put the needles in E position for each row. Doing it all left-handed would have been slow and counter-productive because moving the carriage and the needles was worked into my physical therapy routine. But not for long sessions.
In February, I made the back -- the first one. I made a mistake in the length. I made the sleeves and I made the back for the second time and added the collar. I sewed all the seams, thinking I would fix the little mistakes (tucks) here and there. I ruined the back. I took it all apart, knitted the back for the third time, put it back together, added the collar, again.. It's done.

Parisian Winter

Winter, so far, has been incredibly warm. Not as dismal as last year, when the whole month of January was rain. This year, we've had plenty of rain, but also sunny days. There was a week of clear, cold weather in January that hit just at the right time, when our refrigerator died and we could store our food outside in a cooler, to keep it from freezing.
We bought a very nice refrigerator, but hanging the outside panel to the door is different from the old one so, in spite of it being very nice and not too expensive, it seems we are going to pass it down to E and G and get a different make and model in order to hang the panel without making any modifications. Until then, though, I'm very happy with what we got and do not see why we can't adapt the panel to the new configuration.
We are in the midst of planning our summer already. When and where do we take charge of grandchildren. It's pretty much settled. It looks like we'll be taking the Parisian grandchildren to visit with their U.K. cousins. That way they all get to spend some time together. Then, later in the summer, just before school begins, we might take them to visit E and G. That's still to be determined.

Only one side seam is sewn up

Meanwhile, I'm knitting. I'm trying to make a cardigan similar to one I bought 15 years ago that has simply been worn out. It's not easy. I started before my shoulder went out last summer. Then, last month, I did the second front piece and the back. I even hung the collar, but noticed I wouldn't have enough for the sleeves. I ordered more, but the online shop no longer had the same stock number and while waiting, I had added a pocket to the right front and could not Kitchner-stitch the ribbing that goes up the front as it should be. I ruined it! When the new cotton yarn came, I started the whole project over. I've now done the two fronts and the back. I'm ready to do the sleeves and then the collar. Since I did not waste so much yarn on swatches, I should have enough.
The complication of this sweater is that about a third of each front, which make up the center, is 2/2 ribbing and the sides are stockinette. On the back, it's the same -- the center third is ribbed and the sides are stockinette. This meant that I had to pull the needles into "hold" position for each row. I learned this, too late, on the first effort. It takes a lot of time. Not as much time as hand knitting, but it takes time and concentration. Then there are the decreases and increases, the double decreases for the armhole and back shoulder. The shoulder seam is towards the back, not at the top of the armhole. I had never formed the shoulder like that before and I had never used double decreases for the armhole, but I do like the look. I'm using the old sweater as my pattern so I have to keep measuring and calculating. This yarn is not as thin as the yarn on the original sweater and the gauge is not at all the same. In addition, after washing, it will all be tighter. It's cotton and it will shrink a bit, so the result, right now, looks too big, but it should be fine once I wash it.
The big deal about this project is that I'm using my right arm almost as I did before. It does tire out faster. I can't push or pull the carriage over the knitting bed as fast with my right arm as with my left and putting the needles into position for every row gave me a workout. But I am thrilled at the result of shoulder replacement only 5 months ago!
I saw my surgeon again, last week, and he's very happy with the result. Next appointment on the anniversary of the surgery in September. I had my x-rays with me for this visit and he took a look at the hip x-ray that my GP had prescribed. He's a knee and shoulder guy, not a hip man, but he showed me that the cartilage is almost gone on the left side and that I can look forward to consulting a surgeon in the next few years. The osteopath I go to has also seen it and agrees that the cartilage is almost gone. He hopes to help me maintain mobility in order to put off surgery. He did a good job on the shoulder for 6 years. Until then, I limp a bit.

That sweater -- again

Here's the sweater! I used a pattern generated by sweatermaker software, based on C's measurements and my gauge swatch. She's turning 4, but she'already a little bigger than a standard size 6.
She chose the main brown color and the rusty orange from my stash. I could see I would not have enough of the orange to do much, so I added the white and ripped back the gauge swatch I had of the dark yellow, so there's just a couple of yards of that yarn left. Even then, after knitting the sleeves, I could see that I wasn't going to have enough of the yellow and orange for stripes on the body section. So, I made a pocket.
The sleeves, following the pattern instructions, were too short, so I lengthened them and I lengthened the body a little. I have plenty of that chestnut purée colored yarn. Once I sewed everything up, it looks to me that the yoke is too short, that there isn't enough armhole.
Following the pattern, I knit the two yoke pieces, first, sewed up one seam, and did the neck ribbing. I followed the instructions, but the folded neck was too tight, so I undid the cast off and sewed it shut. Then, sewed the second seam. I put the required stitches from each yoke back onto the machine to knit the first sleeve, from the top, down. And the second one. I had to be extra careful to get the stripes in order -- opposite from the order on the yoke, which was knitted from the bottom, up.
This is exactly where I got to the first time. It went faster because I remembered what I was doing. I was very careful to have the right number of stitches on the yokes. Then it was time to put the body stitches on - front or back, didn't matter. I ran into the same problem as before. The yoke circumference would not stretch enough over the straight needle bed. I had to put the stitches onto a needle and hand knit several rows. I did 17 rows, in all. It was still a tight fit onto the machine, but workable and the rest of the was fine, finished in the time it took to cook the vegetables (about 10 minutes). That was the back. Before repeating for the front, I had to create the pocket so it would be ready to integrate into the front -- and the first time I did that, it was backwards. Again, I'm not used to thinking Top-Down. I had to rip out about 10 rows and put it back on the right way. Just before doing the ribbing, I had to put the bottom of the pocket on the needles, but I forgot. I had to rip out the ribbing and start that bit over.
With all this ripping out and doing over, it took five sessions over two days to do. A much faster feat than had I hand knitted the whole thing. Now comes the test. Will it fit. Especially, will it fit in the Fall and winter. If the yoke is too short, I can unknit a row and add a few extra brown rows and graft it back together by hand.
Can I trust this software to churn out the patterns correctly, or will I have to constantly correct them?

One down

The first sweater of the year is done. Claire had taken a photo of a cardigan she liked for C. and I figured out the alternating ribbing at the top from the photo. Rather, friends in a couple of Facebook machine knitting groups helped me figure it out. I have a strand of raspberry pink left -- maybe 15 cm. That's it! I have a little more of the dark yellow -- the gauge swatch I made and maybe 10 grams unknitted. In all, maybe enough to do a dark yellow trim on another sweater. As I said previously, my aim is to reduce the stash.
I did have to buy the buttons, though. I didn't have the right color or size in my button box. I'd like to reduce that stash, too.
I've reorganized the yarn. I'm taking over the IKEA closet in the room. I didn't realize I had so many cones of yarn to get through in addition to the skeins. I still have box to sort out. I've got years of yarn ahead of me!
We have made a little room in the basement. The kids took some things with them when they were here at Christmas and identified other lots for the bin. There's still tons more. The idea is to make room for the grandkids to play. Once upon a time, our kids had room to play down there.
The freezer died last week. Thirty-three years old. Luckily, I was in the "have to empty the freezer to defrost" phase, so we didn't lose too much. I made a very thick raspberry and blueberry pie. We ate some barbecue spare ribs and gave the last batch of that to the Paris Lebelles. The couscous vegetables went with the frozen chicken broth and veal paupiette sauce to make a rich soup. The only thing we had to throw out was one thawed pizza. The new freezer should be delivered by Thursday. It's a good thing we have a clear path in the basement to get the old one out and the new one in place. Before Christmas, we didn't. It's just a clear path, not really a clear space!