ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

I am reorganising the galleries and I hope that if you like free form intarsia, and some more formal intarsia that you will enjoy viewing this gallery.

 

I have finally finished the graphs for my Carbon Footprint design. Graph 1 – can be used for intarsia knitting and Graph 2 is a line by line Shadow Knitting opportunity.

It is not that the graphs themselves that have taken so long – I just have too many projects going at one time – and that snowball white Haarlem Ball Warmer keeps on beckoning.

As I said in an previous post I have purchased a digitally restored eBook which included the pattern for a crocheted bathmat with a chart to use to embroider a footprint on to the crocheted bathmat. This pattern was originally published by The American Thread Company, Star Rug Book No. 93, in 1952.

I have altered the embroidered design to make the shadow knitting work better. I am knitting the bag, and I have knitted the design itself several times and I have found that it is not essential to work with a solid light and a solid dark yarn to make this work. I have created it with variageted lightish yarn and a black mohair – and it is great.

The bag is being knitted with cream and rusty red coloured cottons. The curiosity of working with shadow knitting – is that it is not always so clear that it is working while you are knitting it. So when I finished the second wall hanging I was pleased to see that it did work (and better than the first) and my carbon footprint certainly exposed itself when viewed on the angle.

Not many carbon footprints in this world are so clear.

So from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I see that

A sphere (from Greek σφαῖρα—sphaira, “globe, ball”) is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in three dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance from the center point. This distance is known as the radius of the sphere. The maximum straight distance through the sphere is known as the diameter of the sphere. It passes through the center and is thus twice the radius.

In higher mathematics, a careful distinction is made between the sphere (a two-dimensional spherical surface embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space) and the ball (the three-dimensional shape consisting of a sphere and its interior). See the Wikipedia article here

So there we have it

But HOW to knit this spherical object – that is the question?

You need to know the size of your sphere – ball. Mine is 150cm plus a handspan (my handspan).

I began with 8 stitches, increased to 320 stitches by increasing 8 times on every 4th round (more or less). I knitted this on a circular needle and circularly – entirely appropriate for a circular object.

I am using 8 ply or double knit yarn on 4mm needles. The length from the top point to 320 stitches should be around 80cm. I have knitted the last of the top section of about 10 cm in k1p1 rib to help the cover to cling well. It is not a good look to have a baggy saggy ball warmer. There is a bit of give and take – because I didn’t knit this first half with only 8 ply (DK) yarns – I included mohair and faux fur fibres and some cotton yarns. So I needed to measure the piece for length as I knitted and adjust the increases and I will have to do the same when I do the decreases. SO this is not a formal pattern – this is a “suck it and see” piece of knitting.

Decreasing will be the increasing process in reverse – except that I will end up with around 32 stitches because the bottom half doesn’t present the full sphere to you as it is set in concrete. This half will still be created on a circular needle, but is not longer knitted circularly otherwise it will not fit over the ball. So back and forth from the centre down (more or less). I will knit the bottom half in garter stitch to assist it to join more easily – it is awkward to join the ball warmer together as I found with the first Haarlem Ball Warmer. I think I will use velcroe on this one – so that it can be joined more easily and removed more easily. It could then live another day as something else maybe.

There are lots of balls to alter very temporarily here in Haarlem, and also in Maastricht, so maybe they are everywhere in the Netherlands.

What about a countrywide exhibition of altered environments – “The Town Spheres” exhibition. Calling all knitters, crocheters, textile artists, patchworkers, basket weavers, embroiderers, felters and all others I have not mentioned as yet – to take up their needles and threads, yarns, and looms, and just do this.

If you found the lost Haarlem Ball Warmer – what could you use it for?

First you would discover that I didn’t finish all the ends properly – sorry. That was because I was really excited or nuts. So finish the ends first.

then consider the following options:

1. Cover ball 13 (the original chosen ball)
2. Hat – for big hair
3. Cape for a small person (fold in half – place over/around the shoulders, pin
4. Add handles – BIG shopping bag
5. Nest liner – for a big big bird (stork or Grey heron – You will need help to get up the tree)
6. Cut it in two around the middle – make the top half into a bag by adding I-cord handles, and the bottom half into a hat by stitching together the cut edge.
7. same as 6 – but knit an edge around it – decreasing the stitches on each row so that it will fit around your head , to make one huge slouchy hat. Felt the other half – and see just how good it will be as a beret. I am not sure that all the yarns will felt – so it will be a really artistic beret.
8. Cut a hole in the top – crochet around the top edge – a skirt. The bottom edge is needs finishing as well – it has a thread through each stitch – so some work there as well – sorry.
9. Cut armholes and neck hole and crochet around the edges of these – dress for small person.
10. Unravel – knit a new ball warmer – using the intarsia technique
11. Unravel – knit a baby blanket
12. or cot cover
13. or pram cover
14. or childs sweater
15 Dog kennel liner
16 Cat bed
17 Knee Rug
18 Find a thick tree trunk and attach the ball warmer
19 Fill it with lots beans – sew together the bottom edge, voila a child’s bean bag. It might be sensible to make a bag for the beans first – or they could leak out.
20 Make a fat cushion
21. Fill it with little balls – ball toy for large large cat
22. Felt it – stretch it into a pleasing organic shape – embellish it and you have created a wall hanging

To be continued, brain is tired now, going to bed.

Maybe there will not be 100 ways to use a stolen ball warmer

You guessed it – it started to snow at about 9pm, I had completed the increases I had planned, so we considered – should we, or should we not go out and check the knitting against the ball?

Snowing – white knitted ball cover – Cold ball

No choice really – wrapped up warm, hid the ball cover in my bag and went to the Grote Markt (Town Square). It is Friday night, lots of people about, some hardy tourists, and the bars are quite full. Rising panic – What would happen this time? Are they waiting for us? Does everyone know? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?

nah

I lifted the white knit a little dubiously out of my bag (It suddenly seemed like a beacon and very heavy). I had to be calm and behave as though this is just normal – checking knitting against a large stark, solid, and grey stone ball in the middle of Haarlem, in the middle of the night. (well about 10pm), I laid it on the ball – and yes for all you knitters out there, I have increased the right number of stitches – so can now proceed with my hand span of straight ribbed knitting before decreasing. I love my hands, they measure and knit quite well. For this ball warmer I used Yarn Over increases and hoped to see the strong grey solid stone through the holes but it was dark of course so I have no idea as yet whether it will show / shine through the white/creamy/soft/fluffy knitting.

Unfortunately we tried the camera on a night scene setting – so the photos are rubbish.

So I guess we will have to do it again.

Or we will just install it

Options : With many yarns and colours of course

One beret created with faux fur fibres in gorgeous shades (to be decided on), with a plain wool knitted band. “A Crazy Soft Character top – and simple band”

The other should be a felted one in the wonderful turquoise, deep blue, purple delicious colour range with fancy bits included to make a dramatic statement. I don’t have a pattern for either – but will work from the two I have already created.

Remember many yarns and many colours

My brain (or is it my eyes), is seeing balls everywhere – so I have to concentrate on something sensible like my carbon footprint bag pattern and your two berets and I am glad that you like them both – and that you will go for colour explosions in both with the felted one in a variety of yarns in those rich purples, turquoises and blues.

Why oh why did I say I was creating this bag pattern – I would rather be knitting my next 1 or 2 or 3 Haarlem Ball warmers – No rest for the wicked, I will just have to do both

The sun was shining, the sky blue, the ground white, the trees black with white snow still clutching to the branches and down the sides of the trunk – so I went out and it was freezing, freezing, freezing cold -5.2c, at about 3pm. But I still went as I had decided to measure a Haarlem Ball so that we do not have take the knitting to the ball until it is time to install it.

This is because it was so very cold every night we took the knitting to the ball, and our hands froze, and we had to fortify ourselves with the local gluhwein (mulled wine), which you will appreciate was tough. I also need to test my ability to create a knitting pattern to fit a large ball. I might have to sneak it there just once so that at install time it will definitely be okay.

I arrived at the row of balls – took out the tape measure, hunkered down, wrapped it around – and a 1.5cm tape measure is too short to measure a Haarlem Ball. So scientifically speaking – the ball circumference is 150cm plus 1 hand span and I will work to that.

I have to revise down the temperature on the night we installed the original Haarlem Ball Cover, knowing what the temperature was today when I went out. On install night it must have been at least -5, plus wind chill.

I have begun my new ball covers – well I have begun sorting my yarns, checking for the various textures, thickness of the yarn, deciding if 2 or 3 threads are required to knit the same tension as other yarns and so on.

Did you know there are hundreds of white and hundreds of black. I don’t have hundreds of each (I wish I did) – but I am matching yarns – short leftover lengths and assessing them against each other and seeing if any are the same colour and type. Trouble is that I have not labelled these pieces – so have to look at each one, and decide – so that when I knit them up – I will not knit 2 yarns the same, next to each other.

As one of these ball covers will be white, I want the many whites to show as different whites up close – although the overall effect will be white. I expect the same with the black yarns.

The end view I hope will be that nothing is very clear, that is nothing is simply black or white.

You might ask – why don’t I label these short lengths of yarn – the answer of course is that there are too many. Usually when I knit with many yarns, I also knit with many colours, so I have never got into the habit of labelling my leftovers. I have never knitted with many whites or with many blacks in one piece.

I still have to measure the ball so that we do not have to go out in the freezing cold each eveningto check the progress and sizing of the knitting as we did with the first one.

It is -4c right now, the sun is shinning and there is no or little wind so no excuses – must go measure.

The knitted scarf is still on the tree.

The knitted ball cover for “The Frozen Ball of Haarlem” seems to be lost for ever. I have bought a small ball and will knit a replica cover for it – just so I do not forget.

Is this really Knit Graffiti it is quite a lot of fun, a bit challenging, and here in the Netherlands it is freezing

2 Danish Shawls – done and photographed, well one is done, the other still needs to have its 2 colour crochet edge added.

2 beanies for boys – done

Some Photographs – done, but I do wish I had a real live model. My grey mannequin – looks like she has fish skin and that her skin needs lots of moisturiser, my black mannequin doesn’t have proper shoulders, although she does looks great in hats – as long as the hat is not also black.

I have added 3 pieces to Ravelry and done some work on the setup of the Etsy shops.

And I am working on Carbon Footprint knitted Bag pattern – maybe one of my ball covers should be carbon footprints???

No I might just stick to Black and White.