A cape for Keepon

I first hinted at the robot project a few months ago. I had been approached, via Twitter, by Carol Reiley, a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University.  This project was going to be a surprise for Carol's friend, roboticist Marek Michalowski, Keepon the robot's co-creator, programmer, and wrangler. Carol asked if I'd be interested in designing and creating cute, knitted accessories for Keepon. After learning more about the bright, little 'bot, I became a big fan.  I said, "Yes!"

What's a Keepon?  Well... Keepon starred in this YouTube video a few years ago.

Keepon's day job, however, is working with children, especially those who are autistic or otherwise developmentally challenged.  Keepon engages children, encouraging them to make eye contact and interact.

What to knit a robot with such important work? I decided to go with a superhero theme. But not a real superhero.  Keepon would be a pretend superhero in a homemade cape of traffic cone orange. A matching sweatband, too!

Keepon's stand-in, the knitting machine, and me

Keepon is relatively small.  The work went quickly. I knitted perle cotton in a basic pin tuck stitch for the cape and a plain full needle rib for the band.

And now the reveal < drum roll >:  Keepon as superhero!

Read "Wherein Keepon fans are a crafty lot" to see other Keepon craft projects.  To learn more about Keepon, please check out this recent feature story in Carnegie Mellon Today.

Knitting ventures

I like to swatch.

Until recently, that was my complete "About Me" bio on Ravelry.  And it really does sum up what I enjoy most about knitting. I like choosing a beautiful yarn, then looping and manipulating it into intricate shapes, getting the rhythm going, repeating a motif.  I like the fact that it can be created with a single thread. Once I've made my point with the design, I like to finish it up and be done with it.

And then, there it is -- a swatch, the physical documentation of a complex idea.

Rippled mosaic, 100% perle cotton

A dozen years ago, before my knitting hiatus, my job description was stitch development.  I would knit swatches and my sales agent would sell them to knitwear designers.  The designers would use my "documentations" in interesting ways to create fashion.  It was great earning money doing what I liked.

A few months ago, not long after I returned to knitting, I learned that the industry had changed. I knew that many U.S. fashion designers now manufactured their garments in China.  What I learned was that in China the service of stitch development is provided free with the manufacturing contract. When designers must choose whether to pay extra for a service or get the service included in an attractively priced manufacturing package, well, there really isn't much of a choice.  And frankly, no one ever really needs a new stitch pattern.  Stitch libraries exist; stitch patterns are endlessly recyclable.  Needless to say, at the moment there is not much opportunity for a knitted swatch designer here in NYC!

Fancy ribs, 100% wool

There are no plans to return to the large wall pieces or sweater jackets from wa-a-ay back, before I discovered swatches as my end product. But I am very excited now to be working beyond the swatch. Yep, I am primed and ready for my new knitting ventures.  (More about these ventures soon!)

Recently, I was discussing the knitting industry with a product development manager of an industrial knitting machine manufacturer.  He told me that knitwear manufacturing was beginning to return to the U.S., because the price of manufacturing in China had risen greatly and because the turnaround time was too long for smaller U. S. knitwear designers.

Hmm....  Stay tuned.

Theme and variations

Apparently, I'm on some kind of a hat and flower jag. It started with this. Over the weekend I knitted a variation.

Summer Slouch in tangerine, same stitch pattern, new flower arrangement

Can also be worn like a cap with flower detail in back

Now, there are more hats in the works, but next time it will be different.

Honestly, I've been a little envious of the hand knitters who often make their hats in the round, without any seams, and I've been itching to try knitting a hat in the round, too. (Interestingly, the only hat I've ever hand knitted was not knitted in the round.  It was knitted back and forth on two needles, but that's another story....)

Though I love the complexity of the stitch pattern I created for these summer hats, knitting in the round on a knitting machine will involve major modifications to my design.

Swatch of Summer Slouch stitch pattern in flaxen

A double bed knitting machine was required to knit my two recent hats -- one bed of needles to create the knit stitches, a second bed to create the purls (with a few other moves carefully thrown in ;) ).  In circular knitting, one bed knits the front of the hat. The other bed knits the back.  There will be no purls in this new design; the next hat will be based on a jersey fabric.  This will be an experiment.  We'll see what happens.