Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

After weaving quite a few inches into the towel I thought something looked off and discovered I was missing a thread!

If you find the pin in the picture you can see that part of the pattern just looks a bit off. Follow that line up to where the thread finally is threaded and you can see where the pattern got corrected after I added a new warp thread.

#weaving

I finished tying on the new warp to the old and have started weaving the first of three towels. Beyond the different colored yarn, I also modified this design in two ways, taking advantage of the reversible nature of this doubleweave overshot pattern:

1. Since there is no "right" side to this, I reversed the color for almost 2/3 of the hem at the bottom so when I fold it, it matches the color on its own side.

2. I extended the inverted color of the pattern stripe.

#weaving #Fiberuary

Halfway through tying a new warp onto the remnants of the old. Wow this is tedious work, and there is at least 3 more hours to go, but I still think it is faster and less error-prone than re-threading it.

#weaving #Fiberuary

I'm weaving a new set of towels using the same doubleweave overshot pattern as the last set, but this time using yellow and brown unmercerized cotton.

Because the pattern is the same, I can save time by tying my new warp onto the remnants of the old warp that are still threaded in the loom. You simply use a weaver's knot to tie each individual new warp thread to a corresponding old warp thread and then wind it back on. Only about 550 warp threads to go!

#weaving #Fiberuary

More progress on my knitting clock. I've mounted all of the main components to the backer board. I also wired two buttons to GPIO pins and wrote a simple script to advance the machine forward and backwards one stitch with the buttons. I'll likely use this when I'm casting on and casting off.

The top of the clock will be where the stepper motor is. Now that I know how the pieces fit, I will cut the top so it is house-shaped, and build the sides and front of the clock.

#knitting #electronics

I knitted a shawl! Well, the flatbed knitting machine did a lot of the work, but I helped. This was the second attempt as I ran out of yarn halfway through for the first attempt and the local yarn store only had the single skein. I ended up selecting a different yarn for this attempt.

#knitting #machineknitting

All the functional pieces of my hackaday-inspired knitting clock are in place:

* Working circular knitting machine
* Spare Raspberry Pi I had lying around
* Adafruit motor control hat
* Spare stepper motor from a broken 3D printer
* Software to control the stepper motor

The next and more challenging step is to figure out the best way to attach the motor to the knitting machine and build an attractive case to mount everything.

#knitting #electronics #rpi #raspberrypi

I rotate through my set of favorite razors whenever it's time to change the blade. The Gilette Fat Boy and Slim (far left in picture) are great razors, as is the red tip (3rd from left). Yet each time I rotate to the Stahly Live Blade (center of picture) I'm surprised and impressed again at how well it shaves.

I don't know if it's the fact that it vibrates, or the design of the head, but with a new sharp blade it beats everything else in my collection. Underrated razor.

#shaving

The best way to get over the fear of messing up something you have handwoven is to put it to use right away!

#weaving

I finished weaving my pair of doubleweave overshot hand towels! I'm really happy with how these turned out.

In these pictures you can see how the colors invert on the opposite side of the towel. On one towel I experimented with inverting the colors for the stripe and I think it does add an extra dimension and visual interest to it, but I'm also curious which of the two you prefer. I also subtly modified the pattern on that one so the pattern around the stripe was symmetrical.

#weaving

Another batch of vintage Knitking magazines arrived! This is an even larger batch than the last one from the late 80s and early 90s, and spans the years 1972 through 1978. I have the full year's worth of issues in some cases in this batch.

My wife reviewed the last batch and while she found many of the pictures amusing, she didn't want me to try to make any of them. We'll see whether this batch from the `70s does any better!

#knitting #machineknitting #vintage

For the second fancy hand towel, I'm experimenting with inverting the colors for the stripe section. I like the effect but now I'm wondering whether it would be even better to invert the colors for the borders around the stripe as well. The problem is, now that I've committed to this, I can't really try that idea out on the other half of this towel without making it asymmetrical.

#weaving

I finished weaving the first in a pair of fancy hand towels. From this angle you can see how the doubleweave overshot technique makes the pattern reversible--the opposite side of the fabric has the same pattern but the colors are inverted. I also somehow leveled up on my selvedges partway through this towel.

These are for us to use and don't have to be a matching pair, so I'm going to experiment with a different stripe pattern for the second one.

#weaving

I finally started weaving the next in my series of fancy-so-you-feel-guilty-using-them household items: fancy cotton hand towels!

This project is an excuse to try doubleweave for the first time. In this case I'm doing a doubleweave overshot technique which results in a dense, thick fabric without the long floats overshot usually has.

#weaving

When I finished threading my warp, I discovered I had some unexpected threads left over. Oops. So when I sleyed the reed, I painstakingly double-checked every threading and caught a few mistakes.

In one case I had to insert temporary heddles, and halfway through I found I threaded a pattern twice in a row, so I had to shift the remaining 200+ threads, a pair of heddles at a time. After 13 hours total to measure warp and dress the loom, I'm now ready to weave.

#weaving

Straight Outta Cosby

#knitting #machineknitting

So I bought a set of vintage Knitking magazines from the late 1980s, early `90s so I could learn more about garment construction for my knitting machine and... wow...

#knitting #machineknitting

It was officially cold enough when I got to my office this morning (~5C) that I broke out my new fingerless mittens I made on my knitting machine a few weeks back. I did a pretty poor job stitching them together but they do the job!

#knitting #machineknitting

Just finished measuring out 600 2.5yd warp threads for my next project: a pair of hand towels woven with a doubleweave overshot pattern. In my enthusiasm I actually overshot (pun always intended) the thread count. I originally only needed 540 threads (16.75" wide towels), but now I'm just going to extend the warp to be 18" wide (576 threads) and have wider towels.

Why not use all 600 threads? My overshot pattern repeats at 18 and I don't want to figure out how to divide it. #weaving

The latest edition to my office is a vintage Warmink wall clock from the 1960s I got as a gift. Unlike the vintage alarm clock I tried in my office before, this has a quiet and slow tick, and a pleasant chime on the hour and half hour. Plus it tracks moon phases!

I will likely be spending the next few weeks adjusting the pendulum and minute hand so it keeps perfect time. #vintage #clocks