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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

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.

Monday, December 29, 2014

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!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

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!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

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

Monday, December 15, 2014

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.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

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?