The Simpleframe

Ever seen a Simpleframe manual knitting machine? 

Simpleframe knitting machine

Unless you're reading this in the U.K., probably not. Manufactured and distributed by Frame Knitting Ltd., Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, the company appears to have gone out of business in 2009. Here is a double bed with 48 needles on each bed. The frame is very well made and can comfortably sit lengthwise on your lap. 

According to blogger and researcher cleveroldstick, it was invented by Dr. Patrick J. Reilly in 1982 after watching his daughter using a Knitting Nancy--you know, those spool-like holders with 4 nails that you probably used to make cord when you were a kid. 

I was doing a lot of weaving and knitting and Kris was somewhat interested. After the Simpleframe was selected as a finalist in the “Prince of Wales Award Scheme for Industrial Innovation and Production" and featured on the BBC television program, Tomorrow's World, I bought one for her.

A query to the Machine Knitting Monthly helpline, notes that when that magazine was launched, it included a Simpleframe supplement with two  patterns a month, hints and tips, news and letters. 

CAD drawing of Simpleframe yarn tensioning parts

I never knit on it and I'm pretty certain that Kris didn't either. The double-bed machine sat in its original bag with the original manual along with a supplement with lots of patterns. I wanted to share it with my knitting machine guild because no one had heard of such a thing. I borrowed it but when I pulled it out, it was missing a couple pieces and one was chewed up. Child, dog, or cat, no one knows.

First order of affairs was replacing the pieces. I found a Simpleframe for sale on eBay, but the bids were too high for  couple of pieces. I checked out 3D printers, but don't have a CAD program to draw to spec. Then I went to the Garden State Sheep and Wool Festival and found Metis Industries. The were using a small 3D printer to make drop spindles. (Full story, here.) Ari was confident he could make replacements. He did! 

Next: Assembling and knitting on it.

Yarn immersion

A family tradition

Exhibition of past Vogue patterns re-imagined

I don't know how many years it takes to make a tradition, but for the past several years, Kris and I have gone to Vogue Knitting Live New York for two days. This year Lauren joined us and it became even more special.

Call it time away from the daily routine. Call it education. Or just call it a fun two-days living and breathing yarn. Whatever it's called, it's fun and an opportunity to  learn new skills, gather ideas, be inspired, and spend time with loved ones.

Learning curve

Kris and I have discussed the learning curve associated with any classes like these. If you're a beginner, the learning curve can be daunting and overwhelming. So much to learn. So little time. But for the more experienced, a foundation of knowledge exists so expectation must be tempered. At this point, learning comes in increments. Not leaps.

We agree that if we get at least one really good idea, inspiration or experience from a class, it was successful. I took two classes that added incrementally--one about knitted edgings with Melissa Leapman and another on pattern writing with Deborah Newton. A success!

Marketplace opens with lots to entice

Marketplace fun

Then there is the Marketplace. I prefer to visit on  Friday evening to Saturday, when the crowds are greatest.
I wasn't a big buyer. I needed a skein of royal purple worsted-weight yarn to make a hat to wear this weekend to the Women's March on New Jersey in Trenton. I found it at Dragonfly Fibers!

My only other purchase was a stemless wine glass from Annie & Co with etched "Three Sheeps to the Wind" just for fun.

And when I have a glass of wine from my fun wine glass, I'll remember the time together with special loved ones.

Hats to go

Pussyhats go to Washington.

Hats bound for Washington, D.C.

I first heard about this initiative through my machine knitting guild, which meets at the Unitarian Church in Lincroft, N.J. A group of 100 people is going to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 21 and the plan was to donate hats to them in gratitude for hosting the guild. 

I immediately downloaded the Pussyhat Project pattern and went to A.C. Moore. I did not purchase the yarn in the pattern as I wanted to donate as many hats as possible and the outlay would be a bit high. The pattern is worsted weight yarn. The color? Pink, of course.

I bought three skeins of Caron Simply Soft yarn and one of Lion Brand Landscapes and went home to figure out how to knit these up as quickly as possible. My main knitting machine isn't suitable for yarn at worsted weight. 

First, I set up the Simpleframe and knit the first  hat. Because I was learning how to use the little manual knitting frame, the ribbing tension was awful on the first section. You won't see that hat because I frogged it. 

Caron Simply Soft hats

Hat of Lion Brand Landscapes

Then I set up the single bed LK150, which I can carry to workshops, and did tensions to figure out how to make a hat the size of that in the pattern. I made six hats from three skeins of the Caron and one from the bulkier Lion Brand acrylic yarns. 

Should you think this was a super-quick knit, don't be deceived. Faster than on needles, surely, but a real pain in the you-know-where because of the need to hand manipulate all the ribbing--as in, un-do and ladder up the stitches. 

Taking it up a notch

Single ply handspun Polwarth hat

My Passap DM-80 is a masterful knitting machine. And it is double-bed, which means it can knit rib. No. It doesn't knit all by itself. It doesn't finish itself, either, but it certainly speeds up the repetitive knitting bits.

I tried knitting a hat of my single ply handspun wool (Polwarth) and I loved it. 
Next, I ordered a one-pound cone 3/8 sport weight yarn from a Vermont company that makes hats. And I proceeded to knit! I got five hats from the cone.

Five woolen hats

Then on to finishing the hats. Minimal, sure, but still a couple of evenings seaming up the sides and weaving in the yarn ends. The seams on the sides of the hats, which are rectangles with ribbing on each end and stockinette in the middle, provide enough substance to allow the corners to stand up. As in cat's ears. Got it?

I'm out of yarn, but have 13 hats for distribution. Four are in today's mail to the church and nine go to my lovely daughter-in-law, who will distribute them among her group from Zeno Mountain Farm.  

(Full details and notations on tension, number of needle and rows is on Ravelry. And, yes, I did gauges on each of the yarns before knitting.)

Pegs and bars

12-harness broken twill sample on a dobby loom

and a dobby loom

My new old pre-AVL loom is a real gem. This12-harness dobby loom is compact and also known as the Witch Loom and the Original Folding Loom. If you missed the story of the 'find of my weaverly life,' it's here. But that story ended with the loom in the door and I promised updates so here goes. 

That first evening, our first reaction was to call in a knowledgable AVL friend, but by the time Monday rolled around, the beast wasn't looking so daunting. 

I had ordered some resources--Hand Weaving and Cloth Design, by Marianne Straub; Handloom Weaving Technology, by Allen Fannin; and Bonnie Inouye's PDF revision to the first part of her out-of-print book, Exploring Multishaft Design--to help me understand the mechanism and awaited deliveries. 

Some minor mechanical issues emerged but almost all of them were related to the disuse. There was a light rust film on the metal parts and they didn't move smoothly. I cleaned  the dobby fingers and other metal parts with a very light, non-petroleum-based oil and added some graphite to the sliding metal frame on the dobby mechanism. 

Ready to weave

When the peg wrench I'd ordered from AVL arrived, I was ready to peg bars and begin weaving!

I put on a warp, pegged some bars for tabby, and started weaving. This was key to my understanding the loom and how it worked. And it was key to seeing what was simply frozen from sitting and what needed fixed.

As I wove, I found that the Texsolv heddles grabbed and didn't slide smoothly on the harnesses. The heddles maintain the harnesses in position but need to move a little, too, so I lightly waxed the harnesses. Problem solved.

Mostly, it was me that needed to become familiar with my loom and how to make it work for me. My main challenges were how to attach the raddle and where best to sit when threading the heddles. But these challenges aren't unique. They're true for any newly acquired loom.

Dobby with bars pegged for a twill weave

Feeling more confident about the mechanics, my next goal was to figure out how to change the dobby bars more easily. They load from the back underside and I found them fiddly. I may be missing some basic know-how, but still haven't found it. I now use a nylon cord to wrap around the first bar to hold it in a depression until I could move it into working position. 

The original dobby bars use metal rings for connections. This requires needle-nosed pliers to connect bars and change configurations. M solved the connection issue with little cable ties. Perfect. Easy to put on and easy to snip off with scissors. (Visible at right between the first bar at the top and the second.)

I am loving weaving on this little gem and look forward to more exploration of multi-harness weaves! The South Jersey Guild has a study program this year--so there will be more about weaving to come.

Card tricks

Ever woven with cards? 

At the Kings County Fiber Festival in October, a member of the New York Guild of Handweavers asked me if I could do card weaving. I offered to donate cards to the cause, but that wasn't what she was looking for. She wanted someone who could help teach card weaving in a guild workshop. I agreed to help.

Card weaving, also known as tablet weaving depending on where you live, produces decorative bands and requires little in the way of equipment. For those interested in in the dynamics of weaving, card weaving offers entry to the craft for very little investment. Weavers can make their own cards from sturdy cardboard, but they are very inexpensive. Halcyon, for example, offers 12 four-hole weaving for $4.

Historically rich

Inge Dam workshop example, MAFA2015

According to Margarita Gleba in her book, Textile Production in Pre-Roman Italy, and cited on Wikipedia, card/tablet weaving goes back at least to the eighth century BCE in early Iron Age Europe. Historically the technique was used to create starting and/or selvedge bands, to weave decorative bands onto existing textiles and to create freestanding narrow work.

Wool, linen, silk and gold and silver threads were traditionally used as threads, but there are no restrictions. Thread types and size of thread is up to the weaver. 

At its most basic level, card weaving isn't difficult and the simplest designs make beautiful belts, straps and clothing decorations. Of course, added complexity provides more intricate and beautiful designs. 

Lest you consider card weaving to be a craft of times past, consider how modern fiber artists are using the techniques--and be inspired. Master weaver and textile designer Inge Dam, for example, incorporates the cards into her loom-woven fabrics. The results are spectacular. The example at right shows a card woven band in the middle of fabric. (The cards are barely visible behind the reed in the heddle space.)

How it works

Weaving with cards/tablets combines twisting threads with securing the weaving through a shed, which is produced when the cards are turned. It's the twisted threads that add luminescence to bands woven with certain threads.

Learning the technique was a requisite in my City and Guilds of London Institute course at what is now London Metropolitan University. I still have the cards along with samples and directions as well as a definitive book on the subject, The Techniques of Tablet Weaving by Peter Collingwood.

But no investment in books is required to start these days. Online, The Loomy Bin and The Earth Guild, among others, provide clear and concise directions from setting up the cards to devising a way to tension the threads and to finishing the weaving. The Loomy Bin has excellent visuals.

A collection of finished card woven bands

I used my inkle loom for tensioning a test warp of 5/2 red and green cotton on 24 cards. It worked just fine, so I threaded a set of 16 square four-holed cards for the workshop. 

As an afterthought, I  thought I'd be able to use the six-sided six-holed card set by threading four threads on opposites. It seemed like a good idea--but it wasn't. Although the shed was fine on half the turns, the other half were bad. It worked, but on the messy sheds, I needed to pick up the threads on each card. I don't recommend it.

Color works

Fox Paws, detail of five color interaction

...or not

It all started with a scarf. The scarf, which was hanging across the aisle from the Coopworth booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool, was tantalizing for one main reason: I couldn't figure out how the design was achieved in knitting. I just couldn't 'see' it. Thanks to Kris, I was gifted the pattern and could figure it out.

The design is a popular one--Fox Paws by Xandy Peters. And it is very clever. Based on multiple increases--7, 9 and 11 stitches--and equivalent decreases, the resulting pattern is reminiscent of intricate Eastern designs. But the cleverness doesn't stop there. The five-color design rotates across several pattern sets to add depth and interest.

Five color combo

The color combination used in the pattern aren't colors I wear. Rather, I envisioned colors typical to oriental carpets. Heavy on dark blue with touches of rose, burgundy, lighter blue and gold. The pattern uses Knit Picks' Palette 100% wool, fingering weight yarn, which comes in a mind-boggling range of 150 colors. And very affordable.

Combining five colors can be tricky. It may be absolutely true that colors can't be selected from online images, but what if there is no alternative? Many people do not live near a local yarn store (LYS) that stocks a wide range of colors. 

I accepted the downside and ordered eight balls. I played with them in my hand and settled on five that worked together. And then I started knitting.

First five colors

I wasn't happy. And a larger swatch didn't make it better. In fact, the more I knit, the more I disliked it. And when I found myself planning to over dye it, I stopped. I knit for pleasure and I certainly wasn't enjoying this process. 

Setting aside the partially knit shawl, I planned colors again. The problem wasn't really the colors. It was the equal dominance of each color due to the rotation of colors. Colors that add dimension in a carpet looked garish in larger sections.

Five colors, more balanced

I was pleased with two of my starting colors--navy and burgundy--and kept them in the mix.  I added a neutral heather with a touch of gold, a muted rose and a purplish blue. Four of the five colors were heathers. I cast on and loved the combination. (The colors used are documented on Ravelry.)

Knowing how the colors were moving, I planned the first plain knit space (most of the piece is garter stitch) but realized while knitting that I wanted to plan the ending colors, too. Another thing to keep in mind to keep the colors balanced from end to end.

Notes on knitting

Due to the large number of increases and decreases, the math for the repeats didn't make sense on my first read. I asked Xandy about it and she replied, "At first, markers seem helpful, but I actually recommend that people place them in the even rows and remove them in the odd rows while counting to make sure they have the right numbers. This way you won’t have to do the confusing movements between shaping rows."

I preferred to leave the markers on all rows, both even and odd. Yes, I needed to move the markers in many of the rows, but I knew that, for example, if I had three stitches before the marker and in an increase or decrease row, I was spot on. The markers kept me on target.

Fox Paws, as a scarf

Size. Some people commenting on the pattern, which is identified as a shawl or wrap, thought the width too wide. It isn't for a shawl or wrap. The finished width of my first piece is 18 inches. I wanted a scarf, so I simply omitted one repeat to do three repeats instead of four. My scarf is 13 inches wide and 72 inches long (and didn't quite finish the balls of yarn.)

Do note: This is not a quick knit! But the final result is worth the effort.

Ahrens & Violette No. 00129

Ahrens & Violette loom, No. 00129

I hit the weaver's lottery!

I've owned four floor looms to date and have experience weaving with jack, counterbalance, and countermarch mechanisms--but I have none--zero, nill, nada, zilch--experience with a dobby loom. Of course, I know of them. I know people who own them. One has just never come across  my path. Until now.

Last month at a guild meeting, an AVL dobby loom was posted as a giveaway. It was free because it was missing key components--namely, the dobby bars. The loom belonged to Sara Henderson, a long-time member and librarian of the Jockey Hollow Weavers. Her family was prepared to put it on the curb and, in the meantime, was offering it free to anyone who would haul it away. 

Ahrens & Violette loom identification

I said yes. Then I went home wondered what I'd gotten myself into. And then I contacted AVL Looms. Bob Kruger responded immediately. Yes, the dobby bars could be purchased and the company sells parts to older looms. I felt a little better about the acquisition. But still, this loom was sight-unseen. I knew about the dobby bars, but what else was missing--or wrong? Still, I was excited at the prospect. 

Before we headed out to pick up the loom, we studied the manual, which is available online from AVL, and I asked members of AVL groups on Weavolution and Ravelry for advice. Following their suggestions, we assembled tools and prepared for a complicated disassembly. 

All round bests for my new-to-me loom

1. Condition. Overall, the Ahrens & Violette loom is in excellent shape. The well-made loom pre-dates the company's name change from Ahrens & Violette Looms Inc. to AVL Looms so is commonly known as a pre-AVL loom. 

AVL Loom's Bob Kruger estimates the loom was made between 1980 and 1982. The number, which is on the brass plate on the castle, identifies it as number 00129. 

2. Provenance. As suggested, the loom came from a school. Specifically, F.I.T. (Fashion Institute of Technology) in NYC. The inventory label from the New York Board of Education is still attached to the castle. There is also a stamped number on the dobby base: 86400H, but I have no idea what that means. 

3. Transport. The Weavolution and Ravelry AVL communities were awesome and provided excellent suggestions for tools and how-to disassemble. Another best: We didn't have to! It fit (just) in the back of our Ford Ranger pickup with cabover.

4. Bench. One wasn't in the original photo so I expected to need one. I don't. The bench was in the bathroom. And it's a beauty!

5. Shuttle. In a box of leftover weaving tools that we left  with was a shuttle--and not just any shuttle. It is the original end-feed tensioned hand shuttle. It still has the Ahrens & Violette label and its inventory number, stamped on the bottom, is the same as that stamped on the loom, '20.'

Dobby bars, extra pegs and pirns

And the best of the best?

In the last 'look' for weaving bits before the estate clearance people came, Maurice found the dobby bars! They were in an Easter basket, along with an extra bag of pegs and two pirns for the shuttle. Up on a shelf, they'd been hiding in plain sight.

The challenging part now is figuring out the mechanism and returning the loom to working order. So far, each day brings at least one new 'Ah-ha' moment. And the clever man who discovered the dobby bars just keeps figuring out things. 

There is definitely more to come.