Beautiful Spring Jacket At Vanda's Blog

Take a look!  Vanda's Spring Jacket

Vanda and I have exchanged thoughts and patterns, her knitting is impeccable, stylish and elegant.  I enjoy how refined her finishing always is.

From One Blog To Another...Penny Candy Tee

Was reading through Riverside Knitting Blog tonight (Blonde's blog) and ended up clicking on the links as I was admiring Blonde's hand knot socks (Blonde is a great hand and machine knitter).  I ended up at "Yarnings" blog:

PENNY CANDY TEE

Take a look at the great looking Tee's Jennifer has hand knit.  She will also have this pattern on Ravelry.  They are trimmed with lace and knit with sock yarn.  This would be an easy conversion for us machine knitters!

On another note, I could not make it over to Newton's Spring Fling to shop and visit with Diana Sullivan.  Work had it's grip on me and I needed to be here in Las Vegas.  Diana, so sorry I couldn't make the 4 hour drive....I'll surprise you someday!!! 

V-Neck Button Down Vest - The Knit Leader Way

I really like using my knit leader.  If you've got one take it out and get to know it again, it can be your best friend.  Mine is used almost solely for sweaters, vests and similar garments.

Have you ever read through a written pattern and thought this is simple and I can do this?  Then, only to find out somewhere during the project (usually at the end) there were typing errors or you missed something?  Not hard to skip a line when the phone rings, dog has to go out or any other unplanned interruption occurs.  With the knit leader you are simply following a road map row by row, increasing, decreasing and short rowing & etc.  the way you are comfortable with for the results you want.

You are following a drawn pattern one row at a time, if you stop and walk away your place is held for you.  Another nice thing is you can use pre-printed knitting patterns which are similar to sewing patterns.  Caution!  They aren't sewing patterns.  You can use "knit" sewing patterns just eliminate the seam allowance when tracing onto your mylar sheet.

Here, below, is one I just charted out, no tracing of a pattern, instead I traced from two different garments.  Yes you can take a favorite sweater or other item, lay it flat and trace away!

Button Down Vest

I didn't place the edge (center) of the vest on the center line.  This was done intentionally, more on that in another post.  Note how only one half of the project needs to be traced!  The front halves are in the dark blue and the back in orange.  Up the middle is the front band (rectangle) in green which I calculated to be 21 sts wide and 172 cm long.

My friend, Diana Sullivan has a great 2-DVD set she put together on the knit leader, she refers to it as a GPS for machine knitting.  You can check them out and order here:  Diana's Knit Leader Course

Knitting Words

A reader posted a question on my blog post: Electronic Machines Have More Than 555 Built In Patterns

The reader asked how to program in the letters to form words, here is how I do it.

There is no space programmed in between the letters and there is no extra row of plain knitting to indicate you have completed the pattern.  If you are watching the knitting you will see when the letters are finished knitting.  Letters must be programmed in one at atime, you will want to use the letters only in "isolation" knitting.  You can make them double wide and double high.  Words can be programmed in using the isolation setting to form the words.  Remember to test out your programming and see where you need to wrap stitches to avoid holes.

I like using the Garter Carriage for letters, they are subtle, classy and no holes or floats to worry about.

Grafting Or Kitchener Stitch

I do like grafting stitches (Kitchener Stitch) even though I am not crazy about seaming a project.  Guess regular seaming can get to the point or boredom for me.  So, I trained myself to seam projects when there is something on television or I'm listening to something I enjoy, then, the boredom does not happen.

Since I do many socks, seaming is minimal as is grafting.  Not sure what it is but I truly like grafting stitches.  Guess I enjoy the rhythm and accuracy of it.  Both seaming and grafting give me a sense of satisfaction when impeccably finished.  When stitches are grafted so perfectly you can not see where the machine left off and the grafting is makes me feel proud.  Seams that are invisible, flat and smooth also make me proud of my work, ESPECIALLY since it's a bit of a chore.

Grafting...easy!

Starting on the right, from the back of the loop (stitch) go through the first loop in front then into the loop to your left (follow the yarn) close to where needle eye is.  Then into the back stitch (where the needle tip is).

Then from the back, go into the new loop (stitch) to the left on the back, then through the same loop (stitch) in the front.

Each loop (stitch) will have two threads of yarn in each.  If you pinch your work together the stitch size you're creating should be perfect, just don't pull the yarn tight (firm up the yarn thread without pulling too tight).  You want to replicate the tension of the project.  At the end I go through the very last loop twice and hide the yarn end by weaving it in.

Sheepishly Sharing

I happened on this knitters site quite by accident.  She is in love with the circular knitting machines that we have all seen, Addi Express.  Her name is Margaret Olander, she possess a unique sense of humor too.

She knits some interesting items "in the round" which can be made on the Japanese machines when you knit circular.  Check out her whimsical scarf ideas.

You can click here to visit her site:  Sheepishly Sharing

I'm Knitting....Stress Away!

I find machine knitting a way to relax and work off life stresses.  Moving needles and carriages back n forth seems to transport me into another place.

When "that mood" arises I usually rely on socks.  Socks only take about 40 minutes or so for me to make and I don't need to think about the next step or maneuver.  It's programmed into my brain so I can lose myself in the moment.  Knitting a pair seems to relieve my stress as the socks fly off the machine.  January found me making several pair of socks.

This hasn't always been the case knitting socks.  Years ago I made every mistake any of us could; it took me a week to make my first one from start to finish.  Each step and technique I conquered brought me closer and closer to a finished sock.

Here is one of the many stress relievers I've done recently:

Some new sock yarn (ready to relieve stress) and a great lavender yarn:

With some luck the remainder of this month will find me making less socks and a more intriguing project or two.

I promised to meet the owner of a new Yarn Store located in a design studio here in Las Vegas.  The owner is interested in having me teach machine knitting classes.  More on that as it develops.

Hope you are well and happy knitting...

Nyann, What Talent!

Not machine knitted but you have to admire her talent and patience!

Sponge Bar Replacement & KRC1000 Set-up/In Action

One of my favorite machine knitters (Nyann Goro in Japan) who knits beautiful items also does YouTube videos.  There is no narrative on her HD videos, the way she films them you don't need narration.

Below is one of her recent video's on how she replaces a tired and worn out sponge bar.  Not sure I would leave the original nylon ribbon in but it seems to work for her.

And another of her great videos, this one on installing and using the Brother KRC1000.  I could not embed the video, just click on this link:

Brother KRC1000

What Have I been Up To...

Hi and hope you had great holiday's, Happy 2014!  All was quiet here in Las Vegas and luckily the weather has been fantastic.

Here are a few recent projects...

I whipped up this pullover simple cable sweater on request, used Tamm Bebe.

Then did matching fingerless mitts, used my own pattern for these Men's medium (kept it basic but could have done cable or other stitch pattern).  The thumb gore is knit "set in" style after the body of the mitt is made.  So easy!

This past weekend I made a few pair of socks, this pair is a bit "crazy" made in some Hobby Lobby "Walk Away" sock yarn I had in my stash (from a long ago sale).  Ribbing is 2x2 in a 2x1 needle arrangement.

This vest I made out of another stash coned yarn, an acrylic from  Caron (yes it's been in my stash a while) "Heirloom".

The vest was worn once and when washed it ended up with a pair of black jeans which bled all over the vest, staining it.  I tried everything I had in the house to get out the stains, no luck.  Then, I remembered I had purchased laundry "sheets" not that long ago that had remarkable claims on their efficiency.  I took the stained, damp vest and tossed it into a basin of cool water.  Threw in two of the laundry sheets and within 5 minutes the dye was gone!  Close call indeed...

I've lots of projects in mind for 2014 and more yarn just arrived (I really have too much).  With that in mind, I encourage all machine knitters to "just knit" - live outside the box a bit and don't worry if you make a mistake.  It's only knitting.  You can rewind the yarn and start over.  Don't fret if you end up with a row or two more/less (no one will know), don't worry if the carriage is on the wrong side, so what if you have one less stitch than you should at the end; it's only knitting and it really does not matter.

If you haven't the courage or expertise to knit something intricate, just do it.  When you are finished you will have the skills and a whole new level of courage.  Think of your family recipes that are a handful of this and a dash of that, why not do that in your knitting?  Being self taught, I've made my mistakes but I truly learned from those and they have made me a good knitter.

What matters is for you to enjoy your knitting and produce beautiful items that you and others will cherish.

Wishing you a peaceful new year!