DIY Yarn ball winder from scraps

Here it is people.

I finally managed some time to post this craft that I made from scrap.
I was always envious of the yarn balls other people presented on the internet. So ready to knit without bouncing the ball.
As for the yarn swifter, I took my research and documented several models on the market.
Of course nobody list anything for free ( plans I mean).

So I had to do some reverse engineering based on photos and youtube videos.
I decided in the end to take the easiest way out ( the one model that involved less work).
I must state first that I live in a country where the art of DIY has been somewhat forgotten so all I had to work with are materials that I could find at a local DIY store ( I realize that it's impossible to have everything but it was the best store that carried almost all that I needed - I'm not making a commercial but if some other Europeans read this post , it's about Hornbach ).
This is what I came up with( notice that I choose the Strauch belt drive yarn winder for inspiration)

Now to state the components of my yarn winder:

1.The base is a leftover beech board from the staircase.
2.The big wheel is made of pine that I cut with a jig-saw and then carved a middle groove with a hand saw.
3.The smaller wheel is actually 2 beech wheels that I bought at the store and glued together.
4.The metal bracket was originally an L bracket with some holes in it that I had to hammer down and drill new holes to fit my needs.
5.The belt drive is in fact laundry rope with a synthetic fiber on the inside.
6.The grey rubber shaft nob that allows for the yarn spindle to rotate is a door stop.
7.The counter weight that is attached on the end of the metal bracket is a left over ball bearing from a cabinet wheel ( the wheel broke and I had the ball bearing left)
8.The yarn spindle and yarn guide is made from a broken broomstick

I added some nuts and bolts, washers of course and this is the end result.
It's not perfect or fantastic but it does the job just fine.Here you can see the results of winding a ball. A nice crosswind center pull ball ready to be knitted.

PS : After a while , Pepper doesn't seem to care about my new toy.

See the specifications and more pictures in my next posts here

Read More

A knitter without a yarn ball winder or a yarn swift

Although I've been knitting for some time now , I had never had a yarn swift , not to mention a yarn winder. So last week-end I decided to take matters into my own hands . After a thorough documentation on other posts , tutorials and pictures , I decided to start the yarn swift (it was less work than for the yarn winder) Thankfully I still had some wood in the garage left overs form previous projects so I managed to make myself a basic yarn swift , nothing fancy , but very practical and useful. Here it is.

I hope I get around to paint it one day. Since now I have a basic functional yarn swift, this week-end I think I will tackle the Yarn Ball Winder. I'll post what came out of it soon.

Read More

The restless knitter -creative process of a new pattern

If you are like me, an avid knitter , I ask you when do you find the time for all projects that MUST be knitted? For me imagining knitwear or other crafts, it's quite easy , the realization however it's a different thing. It seems that the times flies too fast and I would like to finish more and faster. This is why I keep in handy a notebook where I sketch as soon as I have an idea and make some notes regarding yarn that I could use from my stash.

Upon finishing the project that I was working I get back to my sketches and pick up one that I consider to have more potential and develop the idea. After knitting up a sample, I start the actual garment piece and continue with the notes on the sketch , notes that will help compose a pattern , or maybe some particulars for some sizes. Non the less, knitting after a sketch is not without troubles. I think it happened to you too to finish a piece and you didn't liked a part of it and you had to rethink it , unravel and pick up again, hoping that this time it would look better.

In the end if all is well,once the piece is knitted and washed, blocked, while I wait for it to dry , I start writing up a pattern that takes me some time , depending on the details and calculus that implies for other sizes as well.

When all is done, checked and double checked,arranged and presentable,only than I release the pattern so that someone else may share my knitting dream. And all knitters will agree with me when I say that knitting is not for the faint-hearted considering that sometimes you have to unravel,start over or worse, even cut it up ( seeks I mean :) )

Read More

How much does your knitwear costs

Pricing your knitting

Of course it's a topic discussed over and over again. 
I used to approximate my knitted items based on the yarn and number of hours spent knitting.
Maybe sometimes the appraisal was not in my favor but at some point I was happy to see others wearing my creation, my handwork.
For smaller objects I used to work with leftover yarn on sale, so the pricing might have been OK after all. But what to do when you do a larger project , say a cardigan or sweater , which requires more than just scrap yarn, requires all your thought into it and not to mention the so precious time.
All this discussion has a starting point. 
I recently knitted a top down cardigan with a diamond pattern on the front and back with a 2 ply wool yarn on 2.75 mm needles (US size 2). Pics below.
Since I was proud of it I decided to make it into a knitting pattern for S,M,L and XL sizes and to put it up for sale on Ravelry.
So far so good, up till the point of pricing you patterns. After researching Ravelry I found that patterns may vary from 4-5 $  up to 8-9$ .
Based on the amount of calculations and time spent into charting the pattern for all sizes and putting it together and considering also this is my first time out on Ravelry I decided to price the knitting pattern called "Pastelle" for   5 $ .

So far so good.
One day I was wearing the Pastelle sample cardigan and I received a lot of compliments for it and one person also asked me how much would I  want to make her a similar cardigan . I replied that I don't know that but I would have to think about it.  At the same time she saw also a long and large scarf I had knitted and I told her that scarf would cost her 58$ ( considering the yarn amount plus 8 hours spent knitting). The scarf was nothing fancy just stockinette on the bias in 3 yarn colors ( wool, mohair and angora) but it was large and long ( could be made into a stole).
She thought it was a fair price for the scarf.
Since I couldn't decide myself on a price for the Pastelle cardigan she said:" Well do you think double the scarf would be OK?"
I was in shock . That was definitely out of the question . OK I get that the scarf seemed like more yarn , but it was simpler to knit  while the cardigan required time and attention . It it not something that you could knit while watching a movie or the news. Not to mention that the cardigan took me a week to knit ( that includes pattern drafting, sampling) about 7 to 8 hours a day.
Now do you think that she would pay about 400 $ for it? I don't know so I left my potential customer with the reply that I will think about it.

I also encourage you to read Terri's article where I found inspiration for my pricing dilemma.

How much does it cost?

Read More