29 January 2007

Computerized Lace and Cocoa Alpaca


This so-called 'Radical Lace' reminds me of one of my favorite Yarn Arts things I've seen this year--Laura Splan's virus doilies. They are so striking! Being a bit of a technophile, I really want to understand more about computerized sewing- and knitting-machines. I'd love to experiment with it but have no idea where to get my hands on equipment without spending a fortune.


In the meanwhile, while I wait for a robot to do my knitting for me, I am using this lovely super-soft pale-cocoa-colored yarn from alpacas raised by friends of my parents (it was an xmas gift) to make the delightfully simple Irish Hiking Scarf (with thanx to Amy for the suggestion). You can put me firmly in the Ralph Wiggum camp of B2A--I'd never cabled before and had to restart once or twice but I'm psyched about how it's turning out.

4 comments:

Max said...

Did you see David Demchuk's article about knitting technology in the most recent Knitty? He talks about taking some modest steps with machines, specifically the Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine (sounds like it should fit in a shoe and release poisonous fumes when needed): http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/FEATwin06KLM.html

Max said...

Oh, PS: that scarf is beautiful! I want to TOUCH IT.

Emily said...

cool--thanx for the tip!
I'm most keen on doing intarsia work via computer, so the electronic knitting machines he refers to (that are presumably in a more astronomical range) is probably what I'd most be into.

But I'm thinking I might try the low-low-rent version fer kicks:
http://www.allbrands.com/products/abp09732-1341.html
tho I'm sure you get what you pay for.

Max said...

Yes, I'm sure you do get what you pay for - but low-low-rent is probably the place to start.