The Year 2014 in Review!

Mile Markers

• I kept up my dedicated effort to encourage and teach knitters using this blog, my YouTube channel, the Knit Natters club, and my seminar schedule.
• Slimmed down, and maintained the loss so far, after many years of struggling with overweight.  The story is in this "I Got Slim" blog post, and since them, I've responded to dozens of emails with additional information about the group that helped me.  I still love being small - wearing pretty clothes, having more energy, feeling great, and getting around more easily.
• Published my newest pattern book, "Best Baby Blankets," after working on it many months.  I tried to cover as many machines as possible and produce both easy and innovative projects, well worth knitting and awesome for gifts.
• From December 1 to 10, we took a Holy Land tour with our church, an inspirational and joyful experience all around.
• December 21 was our 40th Anniversary!  John is a wonderful husband.
• I taught at a number of knitting seminars in 2014 and have several planned for 2015.  Because I work full-time as an accountant, I only do four or five at most in a year.  I hope to see you at one of mine in 2015!  So far, I'm booked for San Francisco, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Michigan. 

Video Content Posted in 2014

• Good-looking tapestry needle bind off technique.  Get an ending bind-off to match your beginnings made with e-wrap.
• The Faster, Flatter Mattress Stitch video shows a very seldom-taught and super easy and useful seaming technique.  Try this - it isn't the typical Mattress Stitch.
• You can use this Mitered Ribbing to go around all kinds of edges.  This is also great practice to improve your ribber short-rowing skills.
• Do you know what industrial ribbing is?  Here's a little piece teaching Knit 2, Purl 1 Industrial Rib.
• Here's an interesting dropped stitch fabric, Wavy Dropped Stitch Lace.  Combining dropped stitches with ribber fabrics gives a great, three-dimensional texture.
• Talk about 3-D textures - try out the warm Waffle Stitch technique.
• The easy Ruched Cable is knitted separately from your garment, attached either by hanging as you knit or by sewing into position.
• Here are Two Diagonal Trims to spruce up edges.
• If I had only put up one video in 2014, this fold-over edging would be it! I probably got the most comments about it being just what knitters need.  You can put this around a project (like I did), covering all your frizzy little yarn ends and making the edges lie beautifully.  I saved lots of time by applying it on my baby blankets with a sewing machine on one side, then just hand-sewing the other side.
• Here's a cabled edging, while we're on the edging kick.
• Winding up the year, here's my Knit 2, Purl 2 Drop Lace video.

Best Blog Posts in 2014 - Okay, so the videos are always the "best," but here are some others worth consideration:

• A story about how I knitted a round yoke sweater with almost no seams on a Bulky 8 (which doesn't do any automatic patterning) using a hand knitting pattern.  Good grief, I moved the yoke stitches with transfer tools!  When I was young and fearless...
• A Sewer Drain Pipe for Mother's Day is about a storage idea.  It's worked out rather well for my tall skinnies like extra sponge bars and long cleaning brushes.
• Tips to Eliminate Wavy Ribber Edges is a little how-to essay with a few of my edge fixes.

Dianaknits Knitting Channel on YouTube

• I now have 2.7 million views and 8.7 thousand subscribers.  I am encouraging knitters to subscribe for convenience; that way you get the new videos as soon as they're up.
• This year, I put up five playlists covering special areas, like project videos and my courses.

New Video - Knit Two, Purl Two Drop Lace

Well, better late than never on the December video:



This is another variation on drop stitch lace using the ribber.  Obviously, I love these stitches, which are three dimensional, easy and interesting.  It would make a good scarf or shawl, if you've got a luscious fluffy yarn, and the hand knitters will certainly wonder how on earth you did it.

I hope you'll try this one!

Under the Weather

I promised I was still around, right?  I'm afraid not much is getting done around here, though, on the blogging or knitting front.  But that's okay, right?  You're probably not doing much knitting either just now.

I've been a bit under the weather.  When we got back from our trip, I was starting to feel a little ill, and by the next day, I had a fever and the usual yucky flu symptoms.  The doctor gave me Tamiflu and I drooped around all that weekend.  This last week I managed to work all week, but still didn't feel very well, so went back to see the doctor on Friday, and he started me on a round of antibiotics. I'm still waiting for that day when I'm energetic again, but I'm back in action, anyway.

Our sons are coming for Christmas and we had to get busy, do some shopping and start getting ready.  At this point, there is a tree, there are some wrapped presents, and the fridge is stocked.  Whew! 

Today is out 40th anniversary!  I'm so grateful for my very own nice guy.  John and I had a good day.

I do pray that God blesses you with a beautiful, meaningful Christmas season, that you and your loved ones are well and in harmony this week.  May all the lights sparkle, the holiday meals turn out yummy, and everyone keep a sense of humor!

Photo Knitting

At Marzipan Knits, Mar shares a wonderful photo-knitted project, and she explains how she did it using DAK and Photoshop.

http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2014/12/machine-knitting-designaknit-experiment.html

Inspiration at Stephanie's - Leg Warmers

We're certainly getting into leg warmer weather:

http://stephaniesyarn.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-legwarmers-are-really-in-this.html

Fisherman Rib Scarf at Machine Knitting Fun

Check this out at Machine Knitting Fun:

http://machineknittingfun.blogspot.com/2014/12/double-rib-english-rib-fishermans-rib.html

Inspiration at Machine Knitting Fun - Cute Machine Knitted Wreath

http://machineknittingfun.blogspot.com/2014/12/machine-knitted-wreath.html

This is a really cute knitting Christmas wreath, and she did some interesting and effective problem-solving with it, too.

Hello....I'm still around!

Say, I haven't blogged, and I thought I better at least give a quick update.

John and I just got back from a marvelous Holy Land tour.This was a church-sponsored tour with fascinating Bible history teaching.  I absolutely treasure this incredible experience we had. 

We got back last Wednesday, quite worn out, and on Thursday, I woke up with a bad fever and body aches.  My doctor put me on Tamiflu, I rested all weekend, and now I'm just starting to feel better.

Of course, now that we're back, we're into the middle of the Christmas busy-ness. 

I am considering putting my photos of the trip and some highlights on the blog as a Christmassy, non-knitting series of articles.  Is that interesting to anyone?

Wonderful rescue job at Carissa Knits

Check out this clever repair of a damaged sweater:

http://www.carissaknits.com/2014/11/sunday-sew-day-holey-moley.html

Enchanted Edgings On a Blue Ribbon Blanket!

Look at all Rita's gorgeous knitting, including a blanket with one of my automatic lace edgings around the edge:

http://machine-knitting-in-raleigh.blogspot.com/2014/11/machine-knitting-entries-in-nc-state.html

Smart, huh, the way she curves the edge?  I think it's a sophisticated look, plus you don't have to deal with any right-angle corners.

Rita in Raleigh Does It Again!

Rita's got marvelous photos of many charity hats on her blog just now:

http://machine-knitting-in-raleigh.blogspot.com/2014/11/warmth-for-maine-2014.html

Go look!  It'll make you want to get knitting.

Refashions

I don't generally link to them, because they're not knitting-related, but I love Carissa Knits' refashioning of garments.  I sew myself, and love to fix things up myself.

Today, I had to link to this one, because she did such a remarkable job on these garments:

Carissa Knits: Sunday Sew-Day: Simple Fixes

Tracy's Daughter's Knitting

Over at Knotty Knits and Naughty Kids, Tracy has a post with great photos of her daughter knitting, first a scrunchie and then a scarf:

http://tracykm.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-next-generation.html

Isn't it great to see a new generation knitting!

Acts of Kindness

Look what Lynne at Machine Knitting Fun made for her neighbor's new baby:

http://machineknittingfun.blogspot.com/2014/11/newest-baby-in-neighborhood.html

Taina's Cool Idea

Taina has made the tam pattern, which has short-rowed triangles to form a circle, and now she has cleverly used this idea to cover round pillows and make soft cushioned tops for some wooden stools. 

Here's a photo - didn't they turn out cute?

Tania wrote, "As I mentioned, it's based on your tam pattern but I used 32 needles on the bulky machine, beginning with 8 needles in work. T3. Sugar 'N Cream worsted. 6 wedges. Instead of the ribbed band I just used a couple of strands of the Sugar 'N Cream woven through the outer edge as a drawstring. I may do a proper i-cord... 

My stools are 12 inches across the top, so there's room for a 12 inch round pillow on top of the wooden seat. What relief! 

Ran out of the ombre so had to use white in the second cover. I guess it took around one and a half balls per cover, maybe a titch less, working with bits it's hard to tell exactly. I think the self-striping yarn would be cuter, but this is what I had, and I'm happy. More can always be made! I'm thinking seasonal now."

 

Blast From the Past: Machine Knitting a Scrunchie

I'm just doing a little routine checking over and working on my YouTube channel, which I've been trying to make a little better, and I ran across this blast from the past:



This video is four years old, and today the Princess is a preteen.  She speaks like a young adult now, is getting quite tall, attends middle school, and guess what - she's still knitting!  I think it's so fantastic that her grandmother, her "Mimi," has kept on working with her patiently to help her with her knitting skills, but even more wonderful, the Princess continues to knit, enjoy it, attend knit club meetings, and even turn out amazing quantities of knitted items for charity.

Oh, yes, kids can knit! 

This was a very challenging video for me to make, absolutely one of the most difficult.  At the time, I only hoped I had done it adequately, since Princess and I had to do lots of "takes" to try to get everything filmed clearly.  I think we both got worn out!  Then I had to go home, edit, and hope that I could put together a coherent video. As I was engrossed in getting the video done, it was so easy to focus only on the technical side of things, but as I watch it now, I feel quite sentimental about her charm and enthusiasm.  She had just taught the project to our club, and you can see in the video how she understands exactly what steps to demonstrate for us so we can make the project. 

Knitting Idea Attacks

Does anybody else, besides crazy me, ever get a knitting idea and then can't sleep?

Facebook buddies gave me an idea, through their discussion of socks yesterday, that I know I will absolutely have to knit.  I woke up at 5:30 with the idea pretty much mapped out in my mind and that wired feeling you get when the adrenalin hits.  This is a much better version of wide-awake-at-once than hearing a noise and wondering if you have a burglar!  Just the same, I was wide awake and that was the end of sleep.

I call these episodes "knitting idea attacks," and they happen the most at nighttime.  While my brain is supposedly resting, and I am snoozing, it's busily working on its little puzzles. 

However, I couldn't knit right away, because DH John was sleeping soundly and the knitting room is right across the hallway..  And now, I'm blogging when I should be making breakfast.  I hear him moving around up there...at least there's coffee, sugar.

We have a day trip today, but I still think I can get to this knitting idea before the weekend's over.

Inspiration at Knit Flix

Isn't this sweater cute!

http://knitflix.blogspot.com/2014/10/hkf_31.html

Jet Set Craziness

Today, I caught an 8 a.m. flight to Dallas, attended a TSCPA committee meeting from 10-3 at a hotel near Love Field, then caught a flight home in late afternoon.  The flight home was late.  I ended up home and grabbing my evening meal at about 7:30 (a little harder, for someone like me, who has to be careful what I eat.  I don't overeat any more, so I hate having to eat late because I'm actually hungry by then).

I don't do things like this much; of course it's expensive, and if I spend time traveling, I'd like to stay a while.  I needed to attend this meeting, though, and Dallas is just far enough for it to be a little easier to fly, but not much easier than driving.    It takes 45 minutes to drive to the airport, you have to show up early, and the flight from gate to gate is roughly an hour.  The total driving travel time is maybe 3-1/2 hours each way.  The main reason to fly is that it's just too exhausting to drive it alone.

I like that committee.  It was a nice day.  My flight home was delayed an hour, though.  I had to get back so I can work tomorrow.  We're in budget season.

Then, after work tomorrow (here's where it gets knitting-related), my wonderful friend Barbara and I are meeting and driving to Grapevine (right by Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport) for the two-day seminar that the DFW machine knitting guild is having.  With two of us, it's definitely better to drive.  We can split the driving, stop for a meal, and do that for the cost of gas.

Ilene Levy is teaching, and I've never been to one of her classes.  The DFW ladies are terrifically nice, and we have a group of friends coming from Austin, too.  My son and his wife can probably meet Barbara and me for dinner Saturday, and it's always enjoyable to kick back in a restaurant with them and just spend some time together.

I am looking forward to this so much!  It doesn't matter whether you're a beginner or an expert, you get something from a seminar every time!  At the very least, Barbara and I will enjoy seeing our buddies and get inspired by what they're knitting.  I get a kick out of participating in a seminar as an attendee, not always as a presenter.

October's New Video: Cabled Edging

Machine knitters need edgings for projects, and in the course of this year of putting up a YouTube video each month, I've put up several.  The October video is a cabled edging that you can use for a finishing touch to dress up projects:



I thought this would make a nice partner for this other technique, a nifty cable you can use to join panels.  You can also use the cable join to add colors or different yarn to your project:

Changes At My YouTube Channel

I've been working on my channel at YouTube, trying to make it a better experience for viewers.

It bugs me that it's hard to find a specific video over at YouTube.  So, I started organizing my many videos into Playlists.  So far, I've put up one with the Beginner Course, one with the Ribber Course, one for trims and edges, and one for lace. 

Click here to have a look at my playlists!

https://www.youtube.com/user/dianaknits/playlists

Inspiration at Yarn Harlot

Well!  Look at the adorable little owl baby hats:

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/2014/10/if-a-knitter-has-a-minute/

More Inspiration at Simple Knits

You really must explore this site if you like hand knits and crocheted items! Her work is just beautiful, including this baby hoodie:

http://simpleknits.blogspot.com/2014/09/baboodie-baby-hoodie-to-knit.html

Adorable at Marzipan

Super cute little hat at Marzipan Knits - isn't it generous of her to share such cute patterns!

http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2014/10/machine-knit-flower-hat.html

Inspiration at Yet Another Canadian Artisan

Simple, elegant, and made with high-quality materials:

http://cutlermac.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/more-mohair-lace-scarf-or-double-loop-cowl/

Very cute scarf

Look at this vintage pattern over at Yet Another Canadian Artisan.  Isn't it cute?

I saw this pattern made up at the Fingerlakes Machine Knitting seminar a couple of weeks ago.  It's very pretty, drapey, good on both sides, and nicely flat.  These scarves are especially pretty in a slow-patterning yarn like Magicolor (sigh...sure wish that one were still available!).   With the slow color changes, you get lovely diagonal coloration.  Magicolor was nice, too, because being a little on the thin side, it was such a silky scarf.

A nice variation is to switch direction halfway through.

Hmm, gotta get busy and knit this one.

Inspiration at Vanda's

Adorable embroidery on a baby blanket:

http://ilmiomondodilana.blogspot.com/2014/09/copertina-culla-cicogna.html

Hmm, while I'm thinking about it, did you know you can use counted cross stitch designs on your knits?  Here are a few things in mind, from my playing around with it:

1.  Generally, one cross stitch goes over one knit stitch, or V.  Or, you can work duplicate stitch, your choice.

2.  Knitting rows are a little shorter than stitches are wide - so patterns will be squished a bit, that is, wider than they are tall.  Either use a tuck stitch and go over two rows and lengthen the pattern a little, or choose a pattern where it won't matter.

3.  If you plan to use embroidery floss, check it for colorfastness first.  Just take a snip, put it on a white paper towel, spray it with water and let it sit so see if any color bleeds onto the paper.

Inspiration at My Blue Heaven Knits

Blue ribbons at not just any fair, but the phenomenal Los Angeles County Fair:

http://myblueheavenknits.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/ribbons-won-at-the-los-angeles-county-fair/

Saturday Knit Natters Club

Our Austin/Central Texas machine knitting group, Knit Natters, is meeting on Saturday.  We can’t meet in the usual church building, which is unavailable this week, but are carpooling to Mary’s ranch in Burnet.

 

Barbara’s doing a Passap demonstration, but sorry, I don’t have details yet.

I am planning to teach grafting (Kitchener stitch)of ribbing.  Why would you want to do that?  Well, it comes up commonly with button bands and edgings, and I’ve seen it in circular sweater patterns recently.

 

This demo will be for knit one, purl one, ribbing, “bottom to top,” and I’ll explain a little later about the “bottom to top” business.  I do my grafts using waste knitting, not the typical knitting needle method, because I can get the tension so perfect that the grafts vanish.  I have some video plans in mind, and have been working through different ways to teach it.  The club ladies are going to be my test audience, and we’ll see if they like my method, what the typical questions and issues are, and how I can improve the teaching of this rather tricky technique.

 

Not only do other knitting teachers teach needle grafting for ribbing, they usually provide lists of what to do for each stitch, sew knitwise, or sew purlwise, or slip off, or leave on…that’s all fine, but I’m trying to teach the underlying concepts so you can SEE what to do next without following a detailed cheat sheet.  At least, you can visualize the procedure after some practice. 

 

Now about the “bottom to top” business - Grafting ribbing is a tricky business.  If you graft the open stitches at the tops of two pieces of knit one, purl one ribbing, you get a very unsatisfactory result with a definite demarcation row and all the stitches in the graft row off by a half stitch.  That’s because graft stitches – Kitchener stitches – put the two pieces together offset by a half stitch.  This doesn’t show a bit with stockinette or even garter stitch, but with ribbing, it’s a problem.  There’s another way to graft two tops that looks fine, though.  It’s not what I’m teaching this weekend unless things go swimmingly and we have lots of time to do a second activity.

 

However, if you graft the open stitches from the top of a piece of ribbing with the loops at the bottom of a piece of ribbing, everything can match up beautifully for an invisible graft.  This is true whether it’s knit one, purl one, or knit three, purl two, or any other combination of knits and purls. 

 

Last night, I knitted a pile of swatches of ribbing for Saturday’s workshop.  Everybody gets a swatch, 20 rows of the main yarn, 10 rows of scrap, then 20 rows of the main yarn, some yarn to sew with, and a yarn needle.  I knitted it all in a long strip with a single row of contrast yarn in between the swatches that I ripped out later to separate the pieces.   There was no blocking to do, because it’s ribbing!  I have my dozen swatches done, and asked for RSVPs so I can have enough, but in a big pinch, I could run some more at Mary’s house, I suppose   I need to tuck a few stockinette swatches in the bag in case we have someone who needs to learn ordinary Kitchener.  It’s going to be great not to have to lug a machine to knit club!  All I have is a small bag of samples.

 

November will be different – Barbara and I are demonstrating at the Kid ‘n Ewe all day Saturday, and we usually have members who go and check out the shopping, demonstrations, classes, and animals. 

 

December’s meeting is different, too – our annual Christmas party.  Everyone pitches in, and we have wonderful parties.  I imagine we’ll do some planning for that this Saturday.

 

 

 

Inspiration at Simple Knits

Very cute hand knit cape:

http://simpleknits.blogspot.com/2014/10/escape-cape-to-knit.html

Something New at My YouTube Channel: PlayLists!

Say, have a look and tell me what you think!  I have created two PlayLists on my YouTube channel.  One of them is the Ribber Course, and the other is Cool Projects.  I have 28 project videos on there, most of the ones where I taught a whole project start to finish.

Here's how to see them:

Navigate to my channel, here.  https://www.youtube.com/user/dianaknits

Just below the peach lace strip at the top, it says Home - Videos - PlayLists - etc.  Click on Playlists, or click here:  https://www.youtube.com/user/dianaknits/playlists

I'm going to wait and see if people like this, and if so, make some more playlists to organize my content. 

Hi, All! All Kinds of Updates

It's a Saturday morning, and I have my coffee and the weekend break from my busy office. 

Well, I haven't blogged in just a little while, and yes, I did miss y'all.  Here's what I've been up to -

I was very excited to finish "Best Baby Blankets," which I featured on this blog.  Initial sales are good, as is early feedback.  I did a "baker's dozen" really good baby blanket patterns, with lots of gauges (bulky, mid-gauge, standard), ways to use scraps, and new techniques and time-savers.  I had to finish this sucker - John was after me to have it done, because at seminar, people were picking up the multicolor tuck stitch blanket made from scraps and asking for the book!

Last weekend I taught at the Fingerlakes Machine Knitting seminar in Cortland, New York.  They hold a big seminar at a nice hotel and a good-sized crowd of knitters attend.   I believe everyone, from beginners to wizards, felt welcome and had a good time.  Charlene Shafer, Michael Becker, and I taught, plus they had a study group working through Cheryl Jiles' videos.  I keep telling ya, if you haven't attended a machine knitting seminar you are missing something wonderful!

Highlights of the seminar for me: 

• An INCREDIBLE people's choice fashion show with so many entries and so many professional-looking items, that it was hard to vote.  An extremely talented beginner, Francis, won second prize for a gorgeous light green sweater with a lace yoke. 
• Raffles and prizes for knitters.
• Incredible shopping - lots of terrific yarn, a bunch of nice machines for sale, and plenty of hard-to-find machine knitting tools and accessories.
• Hanging out with some of my favorite knitters.

On Sunday afternoon, after the seminar was finished, John and I got into our rented car and headed for Niagara Falls, which I had never seen before.

Now, you have to understand, our kids call John the "Uber Tourist," because he has to go everywhere possible and see everything possible when we travel.  Of course, we went up the Cave of the Wind decks on the side of the falls and got soaked!  Of course we rode in the Maid of the Mist boat right up to the middle of Horseshoe Falls.  Of course, we stood in the front of the boat and got drenched!

I am very happy to report that now that I'm slim, I was able to hike all over at Niagara Falls, have lots of energy and no pain in my feet!  It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I did get a pink nose.  Read about me getting slim here, and if you want more info, email me (there's an email icon on the left-hand side of this blog, but scroll down a ways). 

We hurried to the airport to catch a flight home and got caught up in that air traffic control problem where nothing was getting through Chicago.  Our plane, which came from Chicago, arrived almost three hours late, but John and I got lucky.  Our flight home, which was a two-hopper, Rochester to Baltimore and then Baltimore to Austin, did not involve a change of airplanes.  Most of the other passengers got off in Baltimore and had no connecting flight because of the mess.  They had to spend what was left of the night in Baltimore and fly out in the morning. 

John and I had dinner with one of our church's pastors, John Harrington and his wife Angela, this week and talked about Hill Country Bible Church's new project, "One Mission."  This excites me tremendously, because we are going to reach a whole lot more people in our growing city, plus Christ Together network (churches with different denominations in big cities teaming up to promote the gospel), and also to support global outreach.  Our fellowship has gotten humongous, so one of the big ideas here is to have "satellite" fellowships, that is, churches in local neighborhoods with their own staffs but who worship with us. 

John and Angela are also our bus leaders on the Holy Land trip John and I are taking in December. I have always, always, wanted to visit Israel.

In October, a group of us Austin knitters are going to the Dallas-Ft. Worth knit seminar, always terrific, where Ileen Levy is teaching.  There might still be room, knitters - I don't know, but you can easily find out here.

In November, my buddy Barbara Deike and I are arranging to demonstrate machines all day Saturday at the Kid 'n Ewe fiber fair in Boerne, Texas.  This big event, held in the country at a county fair facility, has spinning, weaving, dyeing, knitting, etc., plus those fiber critters like alpacas, angora bunnies, mohair goats and sheep.  Mr. Stotts of Stotts Ranch is going to show his incredible mohair, and ol' Diana here has treated herself to a gorgeous two-pound cone of the lace weight stuff in a lovely cream color.  Mr. Stotts helped set up the demo opportunity for us Knit Natters. Believe it or not, his super-high-grade mohair is soft as a kitty.  I learned from Mr. Stotts that mohair is graded according to the size of the hair, in microns, and his goats have the really thin, silky stuff.  He even gave me some adorable goat pix.

Ah, too much running around and not enough time to knit...I intend to fix that this weekend!

September's Video - Foldover Edge Trim

I'm about to teach at the Fingerlakes Machine Knitting Seminar in Cortland, New York, but before I go do that, it's time to publish the September video:



I took September's technique out of my new baby blanket book.  This video shows how to do a very simple tuck stitch trim that I used to edge a couple of the different baby blankets.  It solves any rolling problems, and folds naturally in half so that it makes a great binding.  For the baby blankets, I used the sewing machine to put it on the purl side and then hand-sewed the knit side in place. The sewing machine stitches vanish into the thickness of the knitted binding, and I was very happy with the way it fits around corners and curves, too!

Here's a timesaving tip:  Avoid sewing down all of those yarn ends where the colors changed so many times by just knotting the yarn, cutting the ends, and hiding them inside the fold-over edging.   

It's a Book! Best Baby Blankets is Finished & Available!

Did you hear any shouting or dancing?  That was me in Texas, excited to have "Best Baby Blankets" finished. 

It wasn't really the plan to do a baby blanket book next, but my knit club was making lap robes and baby blankets, and I fell in love with the project.  I had such a good time playing with my different machines, yarns, and ideas.  I put everything in the bone pile that didn't meet my standard:  truly great-looking baby blankets, with no holes for little fingers to catch, practical to make and own, and not requiring fancy equipment.  I included plenty of options - standard gauge, mid-gauge and bulky as well as with and without ribbing attachments.  Of course, not every blanket works in every way, but I think there's something for everyone with a Japanese machine in this book.

Please consider charity knitting as you use these patterns.  A number of them are designed for speedy completion or for using donated or leftover yarns. 

The photo shows some of the blankets.  My sample bag had twice this many, but you can only get so many in one photo.  I hope this book will become one of your favorites, because it has a bunch of projects and some fun, different techniques. 

A baker's dozen blanket designs are included with this book and DVD combo:

Fold-Over Edged Blankie - for virtually any machine in any gauge, this one's a simple little thing you could have a beginner do as a very first project.  The big trick here is the edging, a simple tucked strip that you sew around the edges, hiding ends and making your blanket lie flat.  (Try this edge around a neckline!)

Baby Quillow - a "quilt" and folds into a "pillow," a fun introduction to quilted stitch using your ribbing attachment.  This is a good one for standard and bulky gauge machines with a ribber and patterning device for knitters who want to try something quite different.

Panels and Cables Blanket requires only a single bed machine.  Put your panels together with a contrasting cable stitch, edge the blanket, and you're finished.  Beginners can do this one, too, and it makes one of the best full-sized adult afghans if you want to enlarge it. For standard, mid-gauge, and bulky machines.

Short-Rowed Pinwheel Blanket for standard, mid-gauge, and bulky machines.  This only requires a main bed.  You'll be surprised how quickly you can knit a sizeable, circular colorful blanket.  Skill rating?  Easy.

Multicolored Tuck Stitch Blanket - Here's a great blanket with no ribber and no patterning device required, also an easy one.  As I've shown these blankets to knitters, this is the most-requested pattern.  I've included instructions for standard, mid-gauge, and bulky machines, instructions for doing it fast with a patterning device, and instructions for making the stitch by moving the needles by hand.

Circular Swirl Blanket - this old favorite came back, and I dressed it up, featuring it for bulky and standard gauge, and filmed it on the standard gauge with a very unusual, optional circular ruffle trim made using your ribber.  You can make this blanket with our without a ribber, though.

Long Stitch Blanket for standard and bulky machines does require a ribber to make the simple, built-in edging that lies beautifully flat.  You need to learn this edging!  You'll find lots of other uses for it.

Racked Ripple Blanket requires a machine with patterning and a ribber to knit a fascinating, puffy "ripple" stitch.  I tried this one with scraps, doing a zigzag stripe of each color and also with a planned color scheme. 

Reversible English Rib Blanket is for both bulky and standard gauge machines with a ribber.  This warm, versatile pattern stitch can be whipped up quickly.  Once you bind off and hide your starting and ending yarn ends, you're finished.

Honeycomb Blanket for standard gauge machines with a ribbing attachment uses the very popular honeycomb tuck stitch to produce a thick, thermal blanket.  You may ask, why so many ribber blankets?  Again, it's because when they come off the machine, you hide a couple yarn ends, and you're finished!.  They're all thick, warm and gorgeous.  Besides, I want you to enjoy using your ribber more. ;)

Fisherman Rib Checked Blanket utilizes the patterning device to have blocks of fisherman rib and blocks of plain ribbing, plus a plain ribbed edging for a terrific, professional-looking fast project.  I like all these tucked rib blankets best on the standard gauge machine for babies, but try them on your bulky for luxurious blankets for adults and older children!

Waffles Baby Blanket and Wiggles Baby Blanket - two more terrific thermal ribber blankets.  Waffles doesn't require patterning and can be hand-manipulated.  Wiggles stitch is really similar, but uses patterning to add some variation and make the process more automatic.

If you've purchased my products before, you know that I do full-color books with lie-flat coil bindings, include plenty of photos, avoid abbreviations, and use clear diagrams.

The book and DVD come as a set for $25.  This DVD contains three hours, twenty minutes of high definition video, that looks crisp and clear even on a humongous television screen, showing how to do the techniques, detailed, up-close views.


SHIPPING:  We mail items each weekday using U. S. Postal Service.  In the United States, we charge $3 to ship an order.  As always, when a customer orders more than one item at the same time,any additional items are shipped with no additional shipping charge. 

INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS:  Canadian orders cost $8.50 to ship, and other countries $13.75. Any additional items in the same ordered are shipped with no additional shipping charge. Using the U.S. Postal Service, it can take up to 3 weeks for products to arrive in some locations.  The USPS tracking number only tracks the order while it is in the U.S.  You are responsible for any customs, duties, or handling fees that your country charges.
 

New Video for Augus - Two Diagonal Trims

For this month's video, I'm featuring two simple main bed trims.  We machine knitters are constantly looking for good trims for machine knitting to counteract the problem of rolling stockinette stitch and to give things a professional, finished look:

Fascinating Video - Inner Workings of Brother Punch Card Mechanism

This is a must-see video if you've ever been curious how a punch card machine works:

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This one is from The Answer Lady - thanks, Kathryn & Jack Doubrley, for this very interesting look inside the machine. 

Caution:  As you watch this, you'll hear Jack warn you more than once that you would not want to take your machine apart yourself.  It sounds like great advice to me!  We do have a few terrific repair businesses in the machine knitting community, and I recommend you use one of the professionals when you have mechanical problems. 

New Video - Knit 2, Purl 2 Drop Lace

Here's another interesting drop lace stitch -

Tricks to Eliminate Ripply Ribbing Cast-On Edges

I received a question recently about how to improve ribbing cast-ons.  This knitter was tightening tension as much as possible but still getting a flared, rippled cast-on edge.  This problem is common, and how much trouble you have seems to depend on the yarn and the machine.

Why does this happen?  It's hard to get a tight tension because the yarn has to travel the distance between the ribber and the main bed, needle to needle, for the first zigzag row.  Also, the ribber comb's teeth, which are a fixed distance apart, tend to hold the edge open and make it flare. 

What can you do?  Well, there are several things that greatly improve the ribbing edges.

First of all, you could start your ribbing with waste yarn.  Cast on and knit several rows with the waste yarn, getting an inch or two of edge on your work.  Switch to circular knitting and knit 2 rows with ravel cord, which makes is easy to get the waste yarn off later.  Then set the carriages for your regular circular cast-on with your garment yarn.  The comb and weights are hanging down from the waste yarn before your "real" knitting, and your garment cast-on is being pulled together, nice-and-neat instead of sideways-and-wavy.  The difference from that strategy alone is just wonderful. 

Second strategy:  Do the broken-toe cast-on in this old video (gosh, this is from before I did hi-def videos!).  Especially check out the part at the end where I showed the nice edges.  This is great information, and so easy.



And here's one more trick to put up your sleeve:  If you're still not thrilled with the edge after your piece is knitted and off the machine, you can slip a blocking or ribber wire into that cast-on edge, gather up the edge, and hit it very briefly with steam.   Heck, if your whole project is assembled, you can still do this to tidy up ribbing edges.  Do not steam the whole ribbing, just the very edge, and briefly. 

If you did the Broken Toe Cast-On in the video, you could leave in that starter row that I pull out at the end of the video.  Pull on it to gather up the ribbing and then do the blocking trick, above.  After the piece is thoroughly dry, pull that thread out.

Surprise!  Your edge is beautiful and perfect!  In a messy life, with difficult people and broken plumbing, where so many problems are achingly complex, I get great personal satisfaction from one little perfect cast-on edge...

LOTS of Inspiration at Knit Flix

A photographic trip to the California State Fair! I enjoyed these photos of prize-winning needlework entries very much:

http://knitflix.blogspot.com/2014/07/best-day-ever-at-ca-state-fair-part-1.html

Wazzup?

I am currently working faithfully on the new book of baby blankets to machine knit - in between living life.

I decided to call it "Best Baby Blankets," because I was very selective about what sorts of patterns made the book.  I am going for easy to knit, not holey (tiny fingers, folks), not fringey or loopy (ditto, little fingers), washable, and lie flat.  I also wanted each pattern to be interesting to make, either providing an interesting technique lesson or a little different way of doing things.

John and I chose the cover theme pretty easily - a photo of the stitch pattern from a project that we took to the last two seminars can be the background.  This blanket seems to be everyone's favorite.  Knitters kept asking John which book had the pattern, and he kept saying, "She's working on it.  It's not out yet."  Naturally, John has "reminded" me a number of times to get this book finished!  This colorful blanket was made with a lot of scraps of baby pastels, and I knitted a fold-over edging that I sewed down very easily, using the sewing machine for the purl side and hand sewing the knit side.  It looks great, with all the sewing thread vanishing into the thickness of the blanket, and the knit side has cute little scallops.  You could have the nifty little scallops on both sides, if you wanted to hand sew the purl side instead of using the sewing machine.  My favorite part was I didn't have to hide all the color-change ends - I just tied them, cut them, and let them vanish inside the edging!  The edging goes around curves and corners just fine, too.

Getting a book done takes me a long time.  Even during a very busy spring with three seminars and a lot of challenges at my day job, I was enjoying working up the new designs, doing as much knitting and redoing as necessary until I was satisfied.  Next, I filmed, edited video (which isn't quite finished yet).  Next, type out the patterns, take photos, make diagrams, and edit.

This was an extremely fun project.  I went off my original plan because I just wanted to make baby blankets while my club was doing them for charity, and pretty soon I had a nice collection of interesting ones.  It's almost too much fun to stop. 

More Free Patterns at Stephanie's

Have a look at these patterns at Stephanie's Studio and Yarn:

http://stephaniesyarn.blogspot.com/2014/07/cowl-neck-scarf-and-smoke-ring-machine.html

Super Project at Marzipan Knits

Felted mittens, complete with pattern over at Marzipan Knits:

http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2014/07/mars-magnificent-minnesota-midgauge.html

New Video for July - Ruched Cable Trim

Here's a quick, easy "cable" for you to try in July:

Inspiration at Rhythm of the Needles

Adorable - and some good Intarsia advice, too:

http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.net/

I couldn't figure out how to get a date-specific link, so if you're reading this long after I posted it, you'll have to scroll down over there...

Veddy Interesting at Tom's Blog

Check out this information over at Tom Machine Knitting Guy's blog:

http://tommachineknittingguy.blogspot.com/2014/06/design-and-download-into-brother-930-940.html

Tom's Kitchener Photos

Tom did this post a while back showing how he Kitchener stitches a sock toe.  Tom's photography is so terrific that I just have to send you to this post if you're looking to learn or improve your Kitchener stitching:

http://tommachineknittingguy.blogspot.com/2014/02/grafting-or-kitchener-stitch.html

Cute Baby Hat at Regg Og Vrang

Synnove has some adorable childrens' hats, and here's another:

http://rettogvrangstrikk.blogspot.com/2014/06/salg-av-diverse.html

Skirt Pattern at Stephanie's

Stephanie's Studio Yarn Machine Knitting is featuring a straight skirt pattern today.  This is a simple pattern for the standard gauge machine with lots of sizes.

http://stephaniesyarn.blogspot.com/2014/06/knit-straight-skirt.html

I GOT SLIM

I just want to share a wonderful adventure I had this past year.

I got slim.

Oh, I know I'm not skinny.  Here I am in my bathroom taking a selfie (never thought I'd do THAT like a goofy teenager) and I'm a size eight, right smack in the middle of my target weight range for my height and optimal BMI). 

Being slim is marvelous.  I do activities I didn't do before.  I enjoy trying on, buying and wearing pretty clothes.  I can knit items for myself and have them look good (that's a sweater in the photo).

At my highest weight, I was wearing a 22.  Here is my embarrassing "before" picture. I'm front left with my hands together.

I had actually reached the sad place where I thought it was probably impossible to lose my excess weight.  I really would have settled for losing enough weight to feel better and have more energy.  After all, at age 60, I required medication to keep my blood pressure down.  My feet hurt.  I was getting too old to lug all that around.  When I stood up after sitting at my desk a while, I'm gimp along stiffly the first few steps.

Over the years, life has beaten some amount of self-discipline into me.  Although I'd dieted hundreds of times before, in my late 50s, I decided to work hard and make some progress.  I faithfully attended meetings for over a year and a half at a somewhat expensive, famous commercial weight loss program, but made little headway.  I wasn't all that surprised though, since it wasn't my first rodeo.  This time, it was especially discouraging, though, because I'd been very dedicated and serious, tracking all my food and following their plan.  After losing some weight painfully slowly, I got stuck.  I showed up week after week, and my weight just went up or down a little.  Clearly, I needed to move on and do something else.

I read some recommended books - hah, as if I hadn't already read dozens of diet books in my try-to-lose-weight career - one about sugar in the American diet, and another about the activity of carbohydrates in general in producing problem weight gains.  Based on the books, I did another six months of very, very low carb dieting.  All I accomplished with that was stabilizing my weight so I didn't gain back everything I lost in the meeting-based program.  At least that was something!

Then I ran into a friend who had gotten slim, stayed slim, and looked wonderful.  I asked her how she did it.  She took me to visit an all-volunteer, non-commercial weight loss group, and I lost all my weight.

So what was it like?

• It didn't really cost any money.  I'll toss a couple bucks in the basket to help pay for meeting space and some admin costs.
• No scary stuff - no surgery, no diet drugs, and no fasting. 
• I ate a LOT of food.  My food program is managed by another person.  She told me what to have in each meal, using food categories and easy measurements.  We eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, but also grain, legumes, meat, fish, and dairy. The meals are large, but we don't snack.  If I don't like some item or have an allergy or dietary issue, I don't have to eat that because there are plenty of other things in that category.  Once I lost all my weight, my sponsor increased my amounts, so now I eat even more.
• Getting certain foods out of your system is the hardest part.  We don't use sugar or flour, and it takes a week or two to feel better after getting those items out of their diets.  I had already gone through that with the low carb regimen, though. 
• I was held accountable.  I check in regularly with my sponsor, the same lady who gave me my food plan.  I also attend group meetings and talk to other members on the phone. 
• I receive tremendous support and encouragement.  I have described this as a self-help group to people who ask me about it (I get asked a lot, because I lost so much weight), but I realize that's untrue, because this is actually a help-each-other group.
• I don't weigh very often.  At first, I weighed once a month.  I lost ten pounds the first month - lots of members lose much faster, but my sponsor was looking to take my weight down gently and slowly because of my age.  Of course, for me to lose ten pounds the first month was stunningly fast!  After that, I lost more slowly, but I learned not to worry about it because I finally began to believe that it would come off.  I lost 58 pounds in ten months, and now I'm holding at 60 pounds down.  I came into this program already down from my highest weight because of those other efforts, so altogether, I'm down about 80 pounds. 
• Less worry about food and weight.  Since I don't snack, I find more time in the evenings to do other things.  I just prepare my planned meals.  Since I know I followed the plan, I don't worry all the time anymore about whether I did something wrong and I'm going to start gaining weight again.
• You have to want this - seriously.  I am really surprised, as miserable as it is to be fat, how many people just won't bother to do this.  I guess they're not ready yet.  If you do it, it absolutely works, but you do have to show up, attend meetings, follow the plan, and be honest with yourself and others.  Gosh, I thought I'd be the one person for whom it wouldn't work, and it did.  

If anyone is interested in this, contact me for more information.  I promise this isn't a commercial program, and I won't be a pest.  I have an email icon on the left-hand side of this blog page.  Just scroll down, find the envelope, and click.  I can answer questions by email and send you to the group's website. 

Happy Knitting,

Diana

New Video for June: Waffle Stitch

I'm continuing to put up a new video each month, trying for an interesting variety of techniques, and here's the June video.

This "waffle stitch" is a warm, textured, tucked stitch made easily with your ribber.  This lies flat and is great for blankets and jackets.  I filmed the demo on the easy-to-see bulky machine, but I hope you'll try it on a standard gauge as well.  Some of these chunkier stitch patterns are wonderful for giving some heft and interest to fabrics made with thinner yarns.

Advice About Shaping Necklines

I agree with this advice over at Machine Knitting is My Life:  take the whole garment piece off on waste yarn, then knit one side at a time.

These instructions are good:

http://machineknittingismylife.blogspot.com/2014/06/shaped-necklines-when-knitting-with-g.html

However, there's one thing left out that you need to read BEFORE you knit off on waste yarn.  All machines have specific instructions in the manual explaining how to keep you place in the pattern stitch and return to that same place.  Read through those instructions, keep the book on your lap, and follow them, because you need to get back to the same spot in the pattern to knit the first side of the neckline and then again when you knit the second side.

Machine Knit Abbreviations at Marzipan Knits

A useful post with some machine knitting abbreviations:

http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2014/06/machine-knitting-abbreviations.html

Miles (Almost) of Ruffles

I've tried lots of techniques for making pretty knitted ruffles, and I'm usually disappointed.  For this project, I wanted a curved ruffle that would be full on the outer edge, but not very full on the edge by the blanket, and one that would not roll or kink on the outer edge.

Here's what I have, just a section of the blanket that I've sewed together.  I still have quite a long ways to sew, having only sewed ruffle to two of the ten pie-shaped sections..

John has been teasing me about my incredibly impractical baby blanket project.  The actual blanket knits up quickly, but he's pointed out that I knitted this long, long piece of ruffle (thousands of rows, short-rowed, and using the ribber on one edge, moving an edge weight regularly), and who will want to knit all those rows?  Not to worry, you can edge the blanket lots of ways, and I'll put more than one in the book, but I wanted to play with my ruffle idea!  Next, I shocked him when I explained that I was going to iron the ruffle.  Yep, kill it with a steam iron.  It lies rather well without the steaming, but I wanted a flowing, drape-y look.  Yup, it's a lot of time to spend on a baby blanket, but nothing compared to the time a hand knitter would spend. 

The ironing job went quite quickly, and look how nice the ruffle is, even before a final steaming of the assembled blanket!

This technique makes an excellent ruffle, and it'll be a fun lesson for the book and video.  I am determined, as usual, to make each project in my book and video a fun learning opportunity.  Consider the possibilities:  a ruffled poet's blouse; a ruffle around a tablecloth, or how about a shawl?

Inspiration at A Kitten Knits

Very, pretty colorful small projects:

http://akittenknits.blogspot.com/2014/02/more-knitting-for-yarn.html

New Video Today - Wavy Drop Lace

For the May video, here's a stitch pattern formed using the ribber and some dropped stitches:



Happy Knitting!

A sewer drain pipe for Mother's Day

Here I am with my newest acquisition, a PVC sewer drain pipe from Home Depot, 6" in diameter and two feet long.  We were at the hardware store getting a package of rivets for John when I noticed this, precut and ready to use for storing sponge bars and combs, that is my combs that don't have holes in them.  Most of my combs are hanging from Command hooks that can simply be fastened to the wall with their little peel-and-stick tapes. 

This has enough size and weight to it that I think it'll work just great and my sponge bar pile will stop falling over.

It would be cheaper to purchase a long length of the stuff, cut it and split it with your friends, but getting the cuts straight with a hacksaw sounded challenging to me.  I like that this isn't much of a project.  I didn't find an end cap to fit it, but I don't think that's really necessary.

John is wiping the ink off with acetone.  It takes a while, but it does come off.  I plan to sand the ends very lightly, just to smooth out the edges where it was cut.

Happy Mother's Day!

Purls of Joy Seminar

Well, here I am in the Denver airport, awaiting my flight back home to Austin.

John and I had a fantastic weekend at Purls of Joy knitting seminar in Princeton, Minneapolis.   Every seminar is different; every group unique, and Minnesota is a very special place for machine knitters.  First of all, they have multiple dealers, talented folks who teach, design, repair, and otherwise support our craft.  They have an assortment of knitting clubs, too, and I met a lot of quite advanced knitters at Purls.

I loved the two style shows.  Quite a lot of people participate, wearing fashions they knitted.  My husband, who usually doesn't notice knitwear, grabbed me a couple of times to ask if I saw this or that particular gorgeous outfit.  Walking around the room, I saw cables, beads, laces, weaving, thread lace, ruching, on a grand variety of garments. 

Princeton is a small town, and we stayed at the AmericInn, along with many of the knitters.  With a fire in the lobby fireplace and knitters lounging around, our evenings morphed into a party and gab fest.  We ran into wonderful folks we only knew online before, and a few people we hadn't seen in years.  People came from as far away as Canada and Louisiana.  John and I ate yummy food, going to the Bakers Square twice, since there isn't one in Austin.  John got pie, while I stayed on my food plan.  Food at the seminar was great, too, along with lots of fresh coffee, chilled bottled water, and other beverages and treats. 

I was crazy busy at the event.  Since I'd never taught there, my classes were beyond filled.  I didn't take any photos because I was swamped.  At one point, I got behind schedule and taught through the break.  We probably busted the fire code, stuffing an extra fifteen or so chairs in a room intended for 50.  Over 100 knitters attended.  John ran out of several items, which we are mailing to customers when we get home.  The knitters did everything they could to help each other be able to see and hear. I did my best with my little voice, since we had a glitch with the audio and couldn't use the PA.  Some of the ladies helped me move a few chairs to the very front, which we reserved for those having difficulty hearing.  We had a fantastic camera and projector and a superb picture of what I was doing at the machine.  I ran out of handouts, and as participants email me, I'm sending .pdf files.

This seminar is held in a large church hall, complete with classroom spaces, a big kitchen, nice restrooms, and plenty of parking.   It's put on by a dealer's association, and they know what they're doing.  The door prizes were fantastic - several subscriptions to Machine Knitting Monthly were given away, a sewing machine was a prize, along with cones of yarn and many other goodies.  They even have a knitting contest, and I voted for a spectacular beaded and cabled outfit after struggling to choose just one.

Please, if anyone got some good photos, could you email some to me?

I have now finished three seminars within two months, all wonderful - Newton's Spring Fling, Knit Knack's Spring Fling, and Purls of Joy.  I'm "off" until fall, when I'll go to Fingerlakes in upstate New York.  However, I promise not to be "off," but to finish up the baby blanket book.

New Video Today - Knit 2, Purl 1 Industrial Ribbing

In keeping with the 2014 plan of a new video each month, here's April's video:




I hope that when I put up a technique video that you haven't tried before that you'll take just a few minutes and knit a sample.  This is a great way to add to your personal bag of tricks.  They make good club demos, too, for those of you who are always looking for club ideas!

I've been blogging very little lately, and I do miss you all!  Sorry!  I had the Knit Knack Shop's annual Spring Fling just a couple of weeks ago, which was awesome.  This very next weekend is Purls of Joy Seminar in Minnesota, which also has a big turnout and choices of classes each session.  Getting ready for one seminar and then the other has been time consuming.  In addition, I'm knitting the samples and making the videos for a baby blanket book with a nice assortment of pretty little projects - some bulky, some mid-gauge, some standard, some with the ribber attachment, and some without.

Make a bunny (or several!) in time for Easter

Hi, everyone!  I had a great time at Knit Knack's Spring Fling, but just got home this afternoon and no time for much of a blog post.  The knitters at Spring Fling liked the machine knitted bunny, so that reminded me it's a week until Easter, and there's still time to make some.  (These are quick! You could say they "multiply.")

Start your engines!  It's time to make some Easter Bunnies!  Here is my YouTube that shows how to make a cute little toy out of a simple square of knitted fabric.

Oh, and friends, if you come up with something imaginative, please send a photo!  I'd love to see one in stripes, or fair isle, or perhaps this little soft toy could become a frog, puppy, or some other critter.  Email pics using the envelope icon on the left-hand side of this web page (scroll down a ways). and let me know if it's okay to run your pics on the blog.

Inspiration at Art Machines

Knitted roses!

http://www.art-machines.ru/2014/03/8.html

New Video - Mitered Ribbing

Have you ever short-rowed ribbing?  Want to try it out on something easy and useful?

This mitered ribbing sample is great for a button band or an edging.  This one is easy, I promise - you will set both carriages for short rows, and you'll use the edge weight hangers to keep pressure on the needles in work.  You could do this on any machine with a ribbing attachment.

I first hand knitted it in about 1979 for a button band, and I subsequently started using it in machine knit projects.   I've demonstrated this simple technique at seminars for several years:

Inspiration at Marzipan

Isn't this beautiful?  Great example of what can be done with DAK:

http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2014/03/2002-winter-olympics-salt-lake-city.html

Inspiration at Needles to Say

Here's an adorable rainbow sweater:

http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2014/03/end-of-rainbow.html

Inspiration at My Blue Heaven Knits

The pattern for this is going in Country Knitting of Maine magazine!

http://myblueheavenknits.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/cutie-pie-top-in-mayjune-issue-of-news-and-views/

Updates

We just finished the seminar at Newton's Knits in Anaheim, California, and I'm in recovery mode (I get tired traveling and teaching). 

A thousand thanks to everyone who attended and to Norman, Helen, and their wonderful staff.  This is an incredible seminar for both demonstrators and participants, and if you can ever attend one, you ought to!

Here are a few things they do that I especially loved:

1.  They have cameras and big screens for each demonstrator so folks can really see exactly what is going on at the machine.

2.  They have fantastic shop items as well as a big parking lot yarn sale!  (Yes, I bought items; as a matter of fact, I'm having a few things shipped.  Are you kidding?  I could not resist.)

3.  They don't charge folks very much for classes, and they even get walk-ins, since they're in a big city having a parking lot yarn sale.  Boy, was I surprised when I had some people in my class who were just beginning to explore machine knitting!

4.  They have raffles every day, which the participants love, with great prizes.  Most seminars do this, but it bears mentioning anyway, because attendees enjoy it so much.

I wish I had taken some photographs, but it's a busy time, and John and I were really swamped with things that needed doing. 

I am doing three more seminars this year!

Next up:  Spring Fling at the Knit Knack Shop

April 11 and 12, I'm teaching, along with an incredible lineup of other teachers, in Indiana at the Knit Knack Shop's Spring Fling.  Learn more about it here!

I have redone all my curriculum for this year, and Newton's was my first run through it.  I think you will really enjoy the new material. 

I don't publish comments with links

I know it will probably do absolutely no good, but here I go again, announcing that:

1.  All my comments are moderated.  I look at them before I let them be posted to this blog.
2.  I do not post a comment with a link.  Why?  Because they are usually miserable deceptive links that might send my readers to evil websites with viruses, other malware, porn, or who-knows-what rotten content.  Do not include a link in any comment, please.

Yep, it goes without saying that I'm deleting this kind of spam every day.  I am afraid I'll miss one and let it post accidentally.

If I miss one someday, and there's a link in one of my commenters' posts, please don't click there.  Don't click anywhere unless you are certain it won't hurt your computer.

Inspiration at Vanda's

Wow, neckline treatment of the month!  Gorgeous, Vanda!  I really appreciate the classic elegance at her blog:

http://ilmiomondodilana.blogspot.com/2014/03/maglietta-salmone.html

It's For the Birds

Very cool at Rhythm of the Needles:

http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.net/2014/03/ive-never-knit-anything-like-this-before.html

Newton's Knits Spring Fling - Next Week!

I'm teaching at Newton's next week!  The event looks just fantastic.  Here's a bunch of information at this website:

http://www.newtons.com/

At this big seminar in Anaheim, California, you can choose from an assortment of teachers and classes.  Here's a description of my ten classes:

Happy Feet:  In this class, I will feature two slippers from the slipper and sock book, which has patterns in twelve sizes for standard, bulky, and mid-gauge machines.  I'll demonstrate my moccasin pattern, which has so many essential techniques for your repertoire - a picot hem, an eyelet row, full-fashioned increases, short-row shaping, and a sew-as-you-go round cord edging and drawstring.  

I will also demonstrate her sew-as-you-go slipper.  Here’s a technique that results in a good-looking, comfortable seam and avoids tedious hand-seaming of socks. Yes, you can learn sew-as-you-go seams without fiddling with hairpins or other marking methods!

These two slippers can be made on any flatbed knitting machine, because no ribber is required, and the handouts include both patterns in a women’s medium. 

Make it Fit:  In this session, I'll explore strategies to knit garments that become favorites because everyone loves a great fit.  First, I'll share fitting tips based on years of experience helping knitters succeed with their garments.  Next, I'll demonstrate the “practically perfect gauge swatch,” an easy-to-measure, washable swatch marked permanently with your tension dial setting. 

What do you do when you can’t get a pattern’s gauge?  Learn the simple formula that you can use to correct knitting patterns to work with your gauge – with your yarn and your machine!  The handout includes the formula and explanation for your reference later.

Finally, I will talk about the Knit Leader, the low-tech, inexpensive, practical charting device that helps you make just about anything for which you can get a sewing pattern!  

Skill Builders Session One:  In this class, I will go over the best cast-ons and cast-offs for different situations.  Do you know how to make your binding-off look exactly like a skilled hand knitter’s cast-off with a smooth chain edge?  Do you know how to make your cast-off match your e-wrap cast-on exactly?  Do beginnings and endings just seem to take too long?  Come to this class for some great tips.  Then I will do my students’ favorite garter bar techniques, including the basic flip for garter and Quaker stitch, increasing, decreasing, and speed ripping!

 

Fast and Fun on the Bulky:  I have several fun pattern books focused on bulky machines, and in this class, I’ll teach two creative patterns.  Whatever machine you have, get the most out of it!  These inventive patterns do not require a ribber or a fancy patterning system.

First, we’ll see how to make the Latched Watch Cap.  This pattern has a shaped crown that fits smoothly, with no lumpy gathers, and doesn’t require any waste yarn or re-hanging of the knitting.  For warmth, this hat features an attractive latched ribbing technique with a stretchy rolled edge and a latched cable for deep texture.

Have you ever experimented with diagonal knitting?  My Diagonal Striped Gift Bag will surely spark some ideas for diagonal designs in your mind.  This is a brand new pattern that is not yet in her books or videos.

Entrelac Workshop:  Have you tried knitting Entrelac on a machine?  Or would you like to give it a fresh look?  I am perennially fascinated with Entrelac, and I created two Entrelac pattern books.  While there are a number of practical ways to machine knit Entrelac, my two favorite, easy ways to do this technique are featured in my books and videos.  In this workshop, you'll see the simple waste yarn technique, the method used to make the Entrelac round yoke sweaters in "Wear Your Diamonds."  I'm including the dia gonal Entrelac tote pattern in the handouts.   We hope that after the workshop, while the technique is fresh in your mind, you’ll try it.

Basic Cut and Sew Neckline:  Do you use cut-and-sew techniques for assembling your knits?  Expand your horizons in this introductory session on a basic cut and sew neckband.

Cut and Sew is a great strategy for situations where it’s extremely difficult to divide and knit the neckline of a sweater.  Consider, for instance, trying to divide and knit a neckline in double jacquard knitting, or racked ribbing, or tucked ribbing.  How would you do that?  Maybe you’ve been shying away from some of the fancier stitches because you don’t want to deal with this problem, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the good-looking neckline finishes you can do with this method.

I'll teach a typical round neckband – how to mark, stabilize, cut, and apply the neckband for a professional-looking finish.

Skill Builders Session Two:  It’s tricky to sew a good-looking set-in sleeve seam.  In this class, we'll hang a sweater armhole on the machine and then knit a set-in sleeve from the top down.  The seam forms automatically as you knit the sleeve.  You’ll like this set-in-sleeve technique both for saving time and making better-looking sweaters.

I'm also going to demonstrate a waistband dart technique, which produces a straight line for an attractive, blue-ribbon finish and improved fid for your skirt or pants.

Fabled Cables:  The book's not out yet, but in this workshop, I will teach ways to add lots of texture and interest to your knits with almost magically simple appliqué cables techniques.  I'll show the Helix cable, the easiest popcorns ever, and her easy, deeply-textured V appliqué cable.

Ribber Workshop:  Get more use out of your ribber attachment!  After all, it cost almost as much as the main bed!  Why not make more than welts?

In this class, I'll feature a clever way to use the medium Brother comb as a weight buckle, so you simply slide the comb up as the knitting grows and keep your work weighted properly.

I also included two great little gift patterns in the handouts, and I'll demonstrate the techniques for each.  One is playful knitted necklace, knitted quickly using circular knitting, and the other, a warm fingerless glove pattern.   

Lace Class:  Perhaps you’ve admired “Enchanted Edgings,” which are automatic scalloped laces.  Did you know you can also make beautiful scalloped lace projects using Brother Stitch World patterns?  I'll show how in this session.  While we’re exploring lace techniques, we’ll also learn about mirror image lace, thread lace, and how to shape lace with short rows.

Skill Builders Session Three:  Edgings!  Could you use some new edgings for dressing up your projects, stopping edge rolling, giving a beautiful finish, or even covering up yarn ends?  I'm showing how to do a bunch of my faves in this Skill Builders workshop. 

For instance, I will teach the a fold-over braid that you can apply to one side of the knitting with a sewing machine, then hand-sew the other side.   

Automatic Scalloped Lace Edges:  Come to this class and learn

how “Enchanted Edgeings,” a technique that uses the Brother patterning system (electronics or punch cards), lace carriage, and slip stitch, to create amazing lacy edgings automatically.   You do not have to keep track of the shaping or shape the edge with transfer tools – the patterning system in the machine does all the fancy work!  This is one of those things that looks very complicated, but is quite easy in actual execution.  You’ll find plenty of uses for these exquisite trims on fashion, household items, and baby things.