The Spooling - Part 3
Feedback, more materials and additional tools have forged the next set of small-gauge knitting spools.
Spool 8
This one is based on the suggestion from jaxomsride, to use a metal comb.
* metal comb
* black hot-glue for metal
I used strong pliers to bend the comb, because it was quite stiff. I had to be careful, though, because the metal was hard temper, which means it was prone to snap if it was handled too much. I cut off one of the teeth so that the end would overlap, then glued it with black (for metal) hot glue, with my new glue-gun (one of these). I decided to add glue all around the bottom as decoration. I clipped off the top pointy bits of the teeth, then filed the ends (but not very well). Then bent out the tops of the pins.
The picture shows the style of comb I used, as well as the end result and a sample of knitting.
Turned out that gluing the ends was pointless, because the overlap was too small and it came un-glued; but it didn't matter because the whole thing was stiff enough to keep its shape even while I was using it. However, it really wasn't very nice to use. The pointy ends were still too pointy, and the "leaf" shape of the pins were really not suited for spool-knitting - it would have been better if they had been the same width all the way down. The unevenness of the pins meant that the stitches were either too small or too big, and that made it more difficult to knit with.
FAIL.
Spool 9
* Aluminium pipe
* Cotter pins
* black hot-glue for metal
While the spools made with craft sticks were fine, I realized I wanted something more sturdy, since the craft-stick spools were just a little wobbly. So I used a bit of scrap pipe I had, which was messed up at the ends - I'd hammered it wrongly - but it was still okay for this purpose. I used my un-bend-and-re-bend manipulation of cotter pins to make the pins as I had with previous spools. I also used one brass pin to be the "marker" pin. (I had bought some more pins, including some brass ones) The brass pin was thicker and harder to bend, but I managed it. Then I marked around the pipe with permanent black pen, with the marks measured by a representative pin. That gave space for nine pins. Then I glued the pins to the pipe with black hot-glue. Then glued over the top to cover the pins to make them more secure.
More sturdy, definitely! Unfortunately, I was so worried about making the pins stick out too short, that I made them stick out too long, I think. I mean, it's okay, but it would have been a bit easier to knit with if they had been shorter. Still, not bad.
Spool 10
* brass pipe
* Cotter pins
* black hot-glue for metal
This was like Spool #9, only with a smaller brass pipe. There was only room for seven pins on this one. This time I marked the pins themselves, at about half their length, so that I would align them to the top of the pipe using the mark, so they would hopefully be more even, and so that they wouldn't stick out too much. I also marked a line under the spacing-marks on the pipe, so that I wouldn't glue all the way to the top. This was so that there would be a little platform behind the pin to make purling easier. More black hot-glue, both underneath the pins and over them.
Yes! Yes! This one worked very well! Solid like #9, but the pins were more securely attached than with #9, because there was more of the pin that was glued to the pipe. Easy to knit with; though the purl-platform was a little too small to be helpful, it wasn't bad. Nice dense and close and small knit, just what I was looking for.
SUCCESS.
Spools Next To Each Other
Anticipating a request for spools-and-a-scale, here are the three of them next to rulers. At the top is Spool #8, at the bottom is Spool #9, and Spool #10 is in the middle.
Light-Tent
The photos were taken using my "new" light-tent, which was devised from household materials!
* White cloth pop-up washing basket (bought specifically for this purpose, but if it hadn't worked, I would simply have had an extra washing basket)
* Spotlight (yes, I had a spotlight lying around in my cupboards)
* oval trivet/place-mat thing
* white cloth
The basket was set up sideways on my side-board, with the spotlight sitting beside it. Initial tests were done just with the washing basket, but I realized it would be better to hide the side of the basket because it wasn't featureless, so I wrapped the cloth around the mat and put it there.
The picture shows the first test, taking pictures of a trivet I'd made. I think the light is a little yellowish, is there anything I can do about that?
Now I have to figure out what to do with the not-so-good spools that I don't want to use any more. Throw them out? They're too crappy to give away - the pins are too uneven, even with the best ones. But it feels wasteful to throw them out.
This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1026897.html. (Comments
) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.
Spool 8
This one is based on the suggestion from jaxomsride, to use a metal comb.
* metal comb
* black hot-glue for metal
I used strong pliers to bend the comb, because it was quite stiff. I had to be careful, though, because the metal was hard temper, which means it was prone to snap if it was handled too much. I cut off one of the teeth so that the end would overlap, then glued it with black (for metal) hot glue, with my new glue-gun (one of these). I decided to add glue all around the bottom as decoration. I clipped off the top pointy bits of the teeth, then filed the ends (but not very well). Then bent out the tops of the pins.
The picture shows the style of comb I used, as well as the end result and a sample of knitting.
Turned out that gluing the ends was pointless, because the overlap was too small and it came un-glued; but it didn't matter because the whole thing was stiff enough to keep its shape even while I was using it. However, it really wasn't very nice to use. The pointy ends were still too pointy, and the "leaf" shape of the pins were really not suited for spool-knitting - it would have been better if they had been the same width all the way down. The unevenness of the pins meant that the stitches were either too small or too big, and that made it more difficult to knit with.
FAIL.
Spool 9
* Aluminium pipe
* Cotter pins
* black hot-glue for metal
While the spools made with craft sticks were fine, I realized I wanted something more sturdy, since the craft-stick spools were just a little wobbly. So I used a bit of scrap pipe I had, which was messed up at the ends - I'd hammered it wrongly - but it was still okay for this purpose. I used my un-bend-and-re-bend manipulation of cotter pins to make the pins as I had with previous spools. I also used one brass pin to be the "marker" pin. (I had bought some more pins, including some brass ones) The brass pin was thicker and harder to bend, but I managed it. Then I marked around the pipe with permanent black pen, with the marks measured by a representative pin. That gave space for nine pins. Then I glued the pins to the pipe with black hot-glue. Then glued over the top to cover the pins to make them more secure.
More sturdy, definitely! Unfortunately, I was so worried about making the pins stick out too short, that I made them stick out too long, I think. I mean, it's okay, but it would have been a bit easier to knit with if they had been shorter. Still, not bad.
Spool 10
* brass pipe
* Cotter pins
* black hot-glue for metal
This was like Spool #9, only with a smaller brass pipe. There was only room for seven pins on this one. This time I marked the pins themselves, at about half their length, so that I would align them to the top of the pipe using the mark, so they would hopefully be more even, and so that they wouldn't stick out too much. I also marked a line under the spacing-marks on the pipe, so that I wouldn't glue all the way to the top. This was so that there would be a little platform behind the pin to make purling easier. More black hot-glue, both underneath the pins and over them.
Yes! Yes! This one worked very well! Solid like #9, but the pins were more securely attached than with #9, because there was more of the pin that was glued to the pipe. Easy to knit with; though the purl-platform was a little too small to be helpful, it wasn't bad. Nice dense and close and small knit, just what I was looking for.
SUCCESS.
Spools Next To Each Other
Anticipating a request for spools-and-a-scale, here are the three of them next to rulers. At the top is Spool #8, at the bottom is Spool #9, and Spool #10 is in the middle.
Light-Tent
The photos were taken using my "new" light-tent, which was devised from household materials!
* White cloth pop-up washing basket (bought specifically for this purpose, but if it hadn't worked, I would simply have had an extra washing basket)
* Spotlight (yes, I had a spotlight lying around in my cupboards)
* oval trivet/place-mat thing
* white cloth
The basket was set up sideways on my side-board, with the spotlight sitting beside it. Initial tests were done just with the washing basket, but I realized it would be better to hide the side of the basket because it wasn't featureless, so I wrapped the cloth around the mat and put it there.
The picture shows the first test, taking pictures of a trivet I'd made. I think the light is a little yellowish, is there anything I can do about that?
Now I have to figure out what to do with the not-so-good spools that I don't want to use any more. Throw them out? They're too crappy to give away - the pins are too uneven, even with the best ones. But it feels wasteful to throw them out.
This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1026897.html. (Comments
) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.