Plastic Pipe (CPVC) Swift

I recently embarked on a project to reclaim laceweight cashmere from a commercial sweater. I quickly realized that I had no interest in skeining approximately 3500 yards of yarn onto my niddy-noddy. Matt to the rescue -- with plastic pipe of course (other plastic pipe projects to his credit include a woodwind instrument, a laundry airer, the niddy-noddy, a footstool, and a yarn rope maker).



I used the swift to skein the yarn directly off the sweater, which was a fabulous boon. While this swift was inspired by the need to make yarn into skeins, it also works well for winding yarn off of skeins.

After Matt made this swift, I thought to search online for other PVC swift projects, and found this one. It's very nice, and superior to Matt's in some ways: it is easier to load with a skein of yarn and it may not require a clamp to hold it in place. But Matt's swift folds up smaller for storage, has a handle, and adjusts easily to different skein sizes, all of which are important features to me.

Here are Matt's write-up and project pictures. They're not a step-by-step tutorial (I certainly couldn't build a swift from them), but if you know your way around a workbench, they should get you headed in the right direction.

Matt's notes

I built this in about half a day. I had most of the parts on hand, though I did have to make one run to the store.

Dimensions and skein size range

When opened out so that the verticals form a square, the sides of the square are about 12" long and the diagonal of the square is about 17". The smallest skein it will accommodate (with the arms all the way closed) is about 3' in circumference. The largest skein it will accommodate (with the arms opened out all the way) is about 6' in circumference.

This is about as big as you'd want to make the swift out of 1/2" CPVC. Under tension the arms twist a little, allowing the verticals to lean inward slightly. This is inelegant but has not proved to be a problem yet.

Materials

• 1/2" nominal CPVC pipe (5/8" O.D.), fittings, and pipe cement
• 2x4 and scrap wood
• self-adhesive felt (found at the hardware store alongside the furniture casters and glides)
• all-thread rod, machine screws, washers, and wing nuts (see below for specifics)
  

Central pivot

I drilled a 5/8" diameter hole through the 3 1/2" dimension of a 2x4 and inserted a CPVC pipe axle through the hole to make the pivot. I did not oversize the hole because I didn't want the finished swift to wobble. The fittings on either end of the axle are cemented in place to prevent it falling out. I lubricated the axle with a little petroleum jelly. It turns smoothly and easily without wobbling.

Adjustable arms

I used a drill and a file to make corresponding slots in the fittings at the hinge locations, through which I inserted #6 machine screws with wing nuts. Once the arms are adjusted to the desired angle, the wing nuts are used to compress the fittings and hold the arms in place. To use, loosen the wing nuts, set the arms where you want them, then tighten the wing nuts enough to resist the yarn tension. Re-tighten the wing nuts if the arms start to fold inward as you wind yarn onto the swift.

Verticals

One of the four verticals is longer than the others and serves as a handle. The other three verticals have tee fittings on top which are not glued on. The tees keep yarn from riding up past the ends of the verticals. They are removable to make it easier to put a skein on or take it off the swift.

Clamp

The goal was to use the materials I had on hand to make a clamp that would work on the 2" edge of a typical counter or on any tabletop less than 2" thick . All I can say is, it works. It's big and ugly, but it's strong and stable. If I make another swift I'll probably try adapting a commercial clamp of some kind (here's an interesting example).

The lower jaw has a slot in it rather than a hole, so that its angle can change as the clamp is adjusted. The chunk of dowel keeps the wing nut and washer from lodging in the rough-edged slot. If I'd had something smaller than 1/4" diameter threaded rod or if I'd made a neater slot, the chunk of dowel wouldn't have been necessary. The self-adhesive felt prevents the jaws from marring the table or counter.

Possible improvements

Skein Loading
To put a skein on this swift you fold the arms in enough to pass the skein over the vertical pipes, then open the arms out enough to put some tension on the skein, all while managing the skein itself -- a somewhat fussy proposition, because if there isn't enough tension the skein falls down. One solution would be to extend the horizontal pipe members out past the verticals by 2-3" to give the skein somewhere to rest while you're fiddling with the adjustable arms. You might want to make the extensions removable so they don't get in the way while you're turning the swift.

Handle Placement
With the handle as currently configured, short persons winding miles of laceweight will get tired of reaching for the handle at the far end of its circuit. With the swift opened out to its maximum circumference, reaching the handle while standing clear of the arms is awkward for anyone. Rather than having one of the verticals that carry the yarn do double duty as a handle, you could mount a separate handle closer to the pivot point (you could even allow it to slide along one of the horizontal members so that its distance from the pivot was adjustable). This would reduce the distance between the user and the far end of the handle's circuit. Just don't place the handle too close to the pivot point, or it will be difficult to turn the swift smoothly.

Prize-Winning Poetry

Matt recently won a poetry-writing contest on Bent Objects with a sonnet about underpants. If you are not familiar with Bent Objects, go visit - it's one of our favorites. (In general, it has nothing to do with underpants). I had two hours before Matt got home from work to create a cake to celebrate his achievement. This is what I came up with:

Red devil cake from the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts with white frosting and licorice whip accents. The basic concept is sound and ridiculously easy. Bake a circular cake, cut it in half and layer it. Frost with white icing. The execution was not up to my usual standards given the time constraints. If I were to do it again, I would make a whiter, more spreadable frosting (and enough of it!), probably a whipped cream or a cream cheese frosting. I would also freeze the cake for a bit, so that frosting the cut side wouldn't be such a crumby experience. If I were going whole hog, I would apply a crumb coat (thin layer of frosting to trap the crumbs) to the cut side and then put more frosting over it.

Matt's success has gone to his head, and he has decided to embark on a project to write a sonnet a week. Go see his first effort in that project on his new blog, Sonnetized for Your Reflection. It is very funny.

Baby Kimono (and Serape)

The genesis of these projects was an invitation to a tie dye party. I don't much care to wear tie dye, but I'd been itching to try dying yarn. Tie dyes don't work on animal fibers, so I skeined up some Sugar 'n Cream cotton (making a 40-foot skein is non-trivial, by the way), and we came home with this.

Well, that's not quite true. Actually, we came home with this:

And this:

Everyone has some small superpower, and mine is undoing tangles and knots. But even I was sorely tested and started imagining more Gordian methods. Matt died the blue yarn very intensely and didn't tie the skein very thoroughly, so rinsing took a long time and pretty much dismantled the skein.

And here's what we ended up with:




My "serape" isn't quite done. It's in garter stitch and follows the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono pattern in Mason Dixon Knitting. Matt's kimono is in stockinette (which I think looks much better and makes the yarn go farther). It takes the kimono aspect seriously by making squared off sleeves (so much easier to seam). Only problem is that it still bleeds blue, so will be next to impossible to wash without staining itself.

Here's a closeup of the sleeves for comparison.



I stopped 9 stitches short of the cuff on my seam because I didn't see how else I could get my hand in to pull a baby's hand through. I guess you could call it a design element.

Mosaic Turbo Cebulski

a riff by Matt on Mrs. Cebulski's Famous Carrot Cake

(the riff parts are in red)

Cake

Cream until fluffy:
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil
4 eggs

Sift together and add:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 - 3/8 tsp black pepper

Mix well and add:
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts
1 1/2 - 2 ounces grated ginger root

Bake in a 13"x9" pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour (I usually spray the pan with cooking
spray).

Or two greased and waxed papered 9" round cake pans for 40 minutes (turn half way through).

Frosting

Beat together:
1 pound box of confectioner's sugar
8 oz. cream cheese
4 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

Filling

Combine in small saucepan:
1 1/2 cups raisins (packed)
zest of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbsp water

Cover and boil 1-2 minutes. Then puree in blender (stop to punch down a few times).

Topping

candied ginger, sliced thin

Assemble

Allow cake to cool. Spread filling between layers. Frost. Decorate top with candied ginger.

Niddy Noddy Quiver

Isn't that a lovely phrase?

A little while ago, Matt made me a PVC niddy noddy from instructions at www.doctordirt.com/blog/niddy.html. He says it took him 8 minutes. He is a showoff.

I wanted to make a storage case for my new toy, so I whipped up this quiver. It took considerably longer than 8 minutes, but most of that was design.

As you can see from the pictures, it turned out a tiny bit too small (I was using a scrap from the stash), but otherwise, very pleasing. And the first project to emanate from our newly outfitted sewing/guest/TV/storage room in the garage. The remodel only took 7 years to complete, so it has all our other projects beat.

Monmouth Earwarmer

I suppose this comes under "don't advertise your man," but here goes anyway. For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, Matt gave me this. (The knitted object, not the pipe wrench.)
Among its many perfections:

• It is exactly his second finished object and it's beautiful.



• It is entirely his own design, including the decorative bits.



• He neatly solved all the engineering problems I'd been struggling with in my own attempts to design an earwarmer. Plus, it's reversible.



• The present included a complete written pattern, with chart (created in AutoCad, which, it turns out, is not a particularly easy tool for making charts).



• He made it entirely in secret without ever asking advice or help from me (or at least not doing it in such a way that I noticed).




• He gave it to me, along with the remains of the skein, just as I was about to run out of yarn for my Monmouth Cap, and figured I was going to have to go buy more.

At first I thought he ought to try to get it published somewhere, but then we found a very similar object in Elizabeth Zimmerman's Opinionated Knitter. If it had to turn out to be an unvention, who better to have unvented it from? (Is that grammar?)

Details: Lamb's Pride Bulky (85% wool, 15% mohair) in M77 Blue Magic, about half of a 125-yard skein, on size 10 needles

Monmouth Cap

It seems fitting that the first entry should celebrate a first finished object. These two hats were made from the same pattern, same yarn, same needles. One new knitter (Matt) determined to strangle the yarn. One experienced knitter (Sharon) exploring Continental knitting for the very first time.

Needles: Addi Turbo US size 10, 20" (a bit too short) or 24" (a bit too long); size 10 dpns; it also helps to have another circular needle for the stitches from the provisional caston when you knit the hem

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky (85% wool, 15% mohair) in M77 Blue Magic or M03 Gray Heather; 125 yards per skein

Looser hat takes very slightly more than one skein; tighter hat takes very slightly less; to be absolutely sure, suggest seeing how much yarn it takes to complete a stitch, and counting stitches, so you can make adjustments on the fly to make sure you'll have enough.

Pattern: This pattern for a Monmouth Cap - the brim is constructed by doing a provisional caston, knitting for a couple of inches, doing a purl ridge, knitting a couple more inches and then folding at the purl ridge and knitting the two edges together before proceeding on to the body of the cap. The picture at right shows the cap just after the brim was knitted together.

Modifications: Knitted plain until hat is 5 1/2" (rather than 5") and tossed a couple of extra rows into the decreases, too. It's just too short, otherwise. Finished when there are 8 stitches on the needle - didn't make the little I-cord Jughead detail.

Sharon's looser hat is simply enormous, and will probably need to be fulled, which, fortunately, is traditional.

Notes: Very warm. Fits well. Handsome, simple, traditional and distinctive.

Additional background material:
http://www.qualitycaps.co.uk/pages/products/product-details.asp?ID=34
http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/jennifer/Monmouth.htm
http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/7998
http://genvieve.net/sca/monmouthcap.html