Machine Knit Confetti Scarf

Wow, I see that it has been more than a month since I last posted something.  I have been knitting, but have neglected posting.  Maybe in the winter months I'll be more faithful.  Here's just one of the things I've knit lately.

 

Confetti Scarf  by MAR HECK    September, 2015

I took this to my mk guild for show and tell.  I introduced it by saying, “You’re probably going to think I’m crazy….” when I was interrupted by a dear but wonky friend who said, “Oh!  That boat has left already!”  REALLY!  We have a lot of fun in our guild mtgs, so I didn’t take it toooooo seriously.  This was from a person who made a quilt that consisted of more than 10,000 pieces.  So who’s cray cray now?

Here’s how I made the scarf.  Take a really thin yarn that you maybe can’t think of another use for and use it as your main yarn.  I used a cone of Tamm Spirit, which I doubt is made any more, as my main yarn.  The label says it’s 97% acrylic and 3% cotton.  I wonder why bother with the cotton since it’s such a minimal amount.  It looks and feels like a dress yarn.  Anyway, for the contrast yarns I took snippets, about 6 to 9“ long of seven colors of other yarns and doubled  them. (I used red, turquoise, blue, yellow, light green, purple and hot pink.)   I had a lot of cone ends that needed to be knit up.   I randomly ewrapped these snippets onto the needles in work.  The needles are pulled all the way out for the ewrapping.  I left ½”  hanging on each end and hung onto the beginning end when I pulled the carriage across .  No need to tie a knot at the beginning and no need to work in these ends.  Knitting with the thinnest yarn and a fairly loose tension makes the fabric almost lacy looking. 

Machine: any, but a midgauge or bulky seem to work best.  I used an LK150 midgauge.

Gauge:  doesn’t matter.  I used T 3 since the main yarn is so thin.

Yarn: as described in note above.  The contrast colors were Tamm Sky, Mary Lou Solo, mystery yarn, 7 colors.  A fancy novelty yarn would be fun to try too.

Skill level:  very beginner

Finished size:  for a scarf that is long enough to go around the neck and do some fancy tying, about 14” wide and 7 feet long.  Measure as you knit.   You could also make a circle scarf by joining beginning to end.  Twist or not. I seamed mine the long way so that the fringes and purl side were the public side.

Directions:

Ewrap on the number of stitches you need to get the width.  Mine was 60 stitches wide on the midgauge.  Choose a tension that knits smoothly with your yarn.  Add weight evenly distributed.  Knit 10 rows.  Grab one of your snippets, pull out some needles and ewrap the snippet doubled on as many needles as it will cover, right on top of main yarn.  If you pull out too many needles for the length of your snippet, just leave them.  Since you aren’t doing patterning, they will just knit.  If you didn’t pull out enough needles, pull out some more.  Knit 2 to 4 plain rows (or more as you wish) with the main yarn.  I knit different number of rows randomly too.   Add other snippets randomly color-wise and placement- wise across the needle bed---- as many as you wish across the row.  Don’t forget to move the weights up every 20 rows or so.  Repeat until the scarf is long enough.  The more snippets you add, the longer it will take to complete the scarf, but the more colorful it will be.  If your snippets are made of fatter yarn, you may not need to double it.

I laid out my snippets on the chair beside me so that I could make the color scheme look random.  I didn’t want too many sections of the same color. You will need a lot of them.   Trim ends so that they are basically the same length. Steam the scarf to control the edges if you’re not seaming.  It’s kinda fun to make and definitely different. 

The yarn I used:    main and fringes

 

Tutorial Brother KX 350

Replacing the Sponge Strip on a Brother KX 350

1. Study the underside of the needle bed. Notice that the needles are on top of the sponge strip from this vantage point. Peek under the braces and you will see the needles are situated exactly the same way. There is no need to unscrew the braces, though.

2. Remove the yarn mast and row counter. Push all the needles forward, and with a flat edge, close all the latches. Remove each needle by pulling up on the butt and sliding it backwards and out. If it gets stuck, it’s probably because the latch opened up. Push the needle out and close the latch again and it should come out more easily. Lay the needles out in the order they were in the machine so that when you put them back, you can rotate the outer needles to the inner part of the bed. Clean the needles with some alcohol or a soapy solution if you think they need it. Dry them well. I did a few of my needles and nothing came off them, so I skipped it.

3. Grab one end of the old sponge strip and gently pull it out.

4. Vacuum out the channels if there is any fluff evident.

5. Put some Scotch tape around the end of the new sponge strip to help guide it through the channel. Starting on the right side, coax the new sponge strip under the first bar and push it through little by little. Use a 1 or 2 prong tool and push it little by little while pulling with your left hand. After a while, I found it necessary to pull up on the right side now and then before pushing the end further.

It’s kind of a painstaking process. You need to go under each “bridge” that holds the strip in place. Going behind the metal braces is a little tricky, but do-able. When you have the sponge strip inserted the entire length, make sure the sponge strip extends a little beyond the last needle slot on the bed. The strip should be about 4 inches longer than the bed to allow for this.

6. Now return all the needles to the bed.

You’ll probably develop your own technique, but here’s how I did it. I put the needle bed on my lap vertically with the back side facing me. I leaned the bed against the table. Grasp a needle the way it will sit on the bed. Push the needle hook through the slot on the right side at a 45 degree angle. Then once it’s through and is on top of the sponge, pull back a little and insert the needle through the second hole on the back. Sometimes it helps to push down on the sponge with your left hand. The needle will softly click as it slides into place. You really can’t put it in upside down. It doesn’t fit. You have to look back and forth from front to back to get the needle into the next available slot. It’s a little tricky to get the needles inserted behind the metal braces. Maybe save those for last when you have your technique down pat.

The needles will be snug in their channels. Your knitting will go a lot more smoothly now.