Balloon Stitch Scarf Swatch

Several months ago I was intrigued by a stitch pattern I saw over at Anna's blog, click:   Art Machines

It was in my head and just didn't get around to giving it a go.  This past week I made a beautiful full needle rib lace scarf for a co-worker in some single strand "Krinklespun" yarn.  Knitted about 750 rows, blocked it and when ready to go I placed it on my piano so I could grab it on my way to work yesterday.  When I walked back in the room my dog (still a puppy) had decided to play with it and had it in shreds.

My fault, I should have known better.

So, this morning I took out some leftover yarn (who has that?  LOL) and decided to give the "Balloon Stitch" (my name for it) a try.  The needle arrangement is fairly simple the change I made was some 1X1 ribbing on each end for a stronger edge.  The tension I used was 6, I may drop it a bit; once I decide on the yarn I will do another swatch.  Below swatch is directly off of the knitting machine:

Open & Lacey

Nice Dimension

This (Above) was done with some leftover silk blend yarn, I'm thinking mohair would be nice...this was to fine and a bit stiff.

Click the link above and check out Anna's work, she does some amazing things.

What's on your needles...?

Inspiration From Diana Sullivan - Of Course!

I've been playing nurse to a friend who had some surgery this past Monday and in between my patient being knocked out (from the heavy duty drugs) I decided to knit a few E A S Y & FAST items.

So, slippers and socks were first then I had some inspiration sitting on top of the piano ready to be mailed out.  You see, recently Diana Sullivan asked for some knitting jokes as she was celebrating her 1 million YouTube views.  Yup, ONE MILLION what a huge accomplishment.  So I sent her a very corny one I had read years ago on line.  Whoever she received a joke from she sent one of her DVD's and book to.  I have test knitted recently for her upcoming book and we have been emailing each other (sharing knitting and life stories) for quite a while; so, did not expect a gift to be sent.  Diana emailed asking what I wanted.  I then thought of a friend who had just returned to machine knitting and would truly appreciate one of Diana's books.  Diana sent me her "Beautiful Ribber Scarves" DVD and book (if you don't have this you should!).

This morning (while my patient was sleeping) , I decided to make a scarf.  This took less than an hour from start to finish and is a silk/rayon blend done in "full needle rib tuck" - 600 rows:

In Natural Sunlight

Close-up With Sunlight Peeking Through

Thanks Diana for the inspiration!

Want to see more about my inspiration? Click here: Diana's Beautiful Ribber Scarves