Diana natters on... about machine knitting

Old Photos of Celebrities

2012-02-01T19:55:00.002-06:00

Amazing. Check out George Clooney, girls!

Great Stuff at Several Blogs - Look!

2012-02-01T19:23:00.001-06:00

Great web browsing tonight on Blogger. I'm reading everybody else's blog! Happy wandering - check out some of my favorites:

Ozlorna is making fantastic chemo hats - "hairy" ones! So clever and so kind!

Adorable child in intarsia Elmo sweater - too, too, cute - at Rhythm of the Needles. (Maybe if I pray really hard, I can get a cute grandchild, too?) Natch, grandma was finishing it the night before.

More baby and doll goodies over at Right & Wrong! I enjoy the other crafts at her blog, the sewing and crocheting, as well as the knitting.

New pattern of the month over at Needles to Say! I especially like this one, because it's lovely lace.

Lovely HK modular vest over at Knitting Up a Storm.

Update: Oops, missed one, the Spock Hat at Yarn Floozies.

Exercising

2012-01-31T21:59:00.000-06:00

For a number of years, my exercise consisted of walking around at work, walking my dog, and household chores. I suppose pushing a knitting machine doesn't count. I had a treadmill, but needed something with lower impact. I love to swim, but that's inconvenient and expensive.

I "read" a great many books, and always have, but for a few years now, I read even more by listening to them on Kindle. I listen while I commute to work and run errands, and I listen while I knit or put away laundry. I get ideas from the books, and one idea I got recently was to get a low-impact exercise machine, the Gazelle. I know they've been sold with infomercials, but I don't watch infomercials and had never heard of it. This is a fun gadget - I'm finding that I can use it quite a while without getting particularly tired, that I can get my heart rate up into the target range, and that I can do it in the evening after supper (really, the most convenient time for me). I've been building up and am at a half hour. The thing is almost silent, so I can listen to my Kindle (and go through more books and get more ideas! Tonight I was listening to a book about ruthless decluttering.)

The exercise in the evening is not keeping me awake, but it does perk me up for the rest of the evening so I'm less sluggish. That is very helpful because I'm a true "morning person" and slow right down at 8 p.m. So far, I haven't lost any weight with it, because I need to watch what I eat, but I did cut the sugar out of my diet after the holidays. I was disgusted with all the sweets we'd been knocking down through December.

The only thing I don't like about it is I can't do it while I knit. I guess you can't have everything!

Inspiration at Karla's blog!

2012-01-31T21:42:00.001-06:00

Wow. Gorgeous machine knitted Entrelac sweater:

http://karlaknitsknatters.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/delving-into-entrelac/

Never Not Knitting

2012-01-31T20:23:00.000-06:00

This song is about a poor, misunderstood lady who doesn't even have a knitting machine. Sigh.

Fraggle Rock Knitting Video

2012-01-31T19:00:00.000-06:00

I loved Fraggle Rock when my kids were little! Probably more than the boys did.

Here's a video where the Doozers do a knitting song:

Pattern Testing Volunteers for Shaped Entrelac - Please Email Me

2012-01-29T15:19:00.000-06:00

I have the bulky patterns drafted for the "Wear Your Diamonds" book. It's a book of shaped Entrelac round yoke pullovers like the one I'm wearing in the photo. I would appreciate emails from those of you who wanted to volunteer to test the patterns.

I am seeking a few folks who will provide honest feedback about the clarity and accuracy of the written instructions. The patterns, written for Japanese bulky machines, include adult sizes 34-48 and kids 2-12.

Please email diana_knits "at" sbcglobal "dot" net. Let me know what bulky you use. I will need your full name and snail address (snail address means your street address). I can't find you if you contact me by commenting here or inviting me to Ravelry or other sites - I really do need a mailing address so I know who I'm dealing with and can send you the pattern.

Thanks! Y'all are awesome!

22 Years Ago Today...

2012-01-28T08:48:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday, Steven!

Our son Steven was born on a Super Bowl Sunday in San Bernardino, California, considerately fast and early so his grandparents didn't have to miss the game and his parents didn't have to hang out in the hospital for long.

He grew into this happy, social young adult. We'll go see him today at Texas A&M.

Steven is so much like his dad that sometimes they say the same thing to me in unison - they both make me laugh! Love ya, kid!

A Great Way to Reduce Stash

2012-01-28T08:31:00.000-06:00

Over at Knotty Knits, check out Tracy's charity knitting accomplishment:

http://tracykm.blogspot.com/2012/01/yarn-confession-time.html

Inspiration at Phil's Blog

2012-01-28T08:28:00.002-06:00

His latest two projects, very nice:

http://phil1987.blogspot.com/2012/01/ff-here-are-some-photos-of-what-have.html#comment-form

It's having a community of online knitters that helps keep a lot of us going - many of whom are nowhere near a dealer or a club. So thank, Phil!

Pile Knitting at Alex's Blog

2012-01-27T20:13:00.000-06:00

Hmm, I've been wanting to try this - and I love his edging:

http://alexsmachineknitting.blogspot.com/2012/01/pile-knitting-on-360.html

One More Unusual Knitting Video

2012-01-26T21:09:00.000-06:00

Inspiration at Marzipan

2012-01-26T20:11:00.002-06:00

Darling baby sweater - great use of lively sock yarn!

http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2012/01/machine-knit-baby-sweater-using-sock.html

More Knitting Art

2012-01-24T21:05:00.000-06:00

Giant "knitting Nancy"

Garter Carriage Repairs

2012-01-24T20:03:00.000-06:00

Does anyone out there have a dead garter carriage motor that they'd be willing to send us for John to play with?

John is researching the motors and gears needed for our garter carriages and would like to have one to study. We know that these motors are increasingly rare, that they need replaced eventually on every garter carriage (we've had to replace a couple ourselves, but didn't keep the dead ones).

All my GC knitter friends and I are very fond of our garter carriages and want to keep them going! Isn't it horrific that this little motor wearing out could be THE END? John and I hope to find a source for the motors and necessary gears and stock them.

Pictured: a good one, our only spare, and we don't want to put it "under the knife."

"The Knitting Machine" Video

2012-01-23T21:02:00.002-06:00

Check this out...

What's a Mid-Gauge Machine, Anyway?

2012-01-23T19:18:00.000-06:00

For years, the only mid-gauge machine I had was an MK-70. This is a fascinating, fold-up, portable machine manufactured back in the 80s with an 18-stitch punchcard. It's a 6 mm machine.

I wanted an LK-150 for several reasons. One, I believe it is the most widely-owned of the midgauges, so I ought to write patterns and teach on something lots of people have. Two, it's 6.5 mm, a much more common size. Three, it seems like an absolutely ideal beginner's machine to me, since it's much easier to use than the Bond and has a lot more features, while it is still more reasonably priced than most Japanese machines.

I am nearly finished with the bulky part of the Entrelac book I've been working on. I had made some gauge swatches with the MK-70 for a mid-gauge section of the book, but of course, once I got my hands on the LK-150, I made more swatches so I could compare the gauges. I certainly want my Entrelac sweaters to be practical to knit on both machines.

Check out the difference in gauge between the machines, using a sport-weight yarn:

My MK-70's tension 10 is about the same gauge as my LK-150 tension 3!

My MK-70's tension 6 is about the same gauge as my LK-150 tension 2!

The next thing I noticed was that, even though turning up the gauge dial on the MK-70 had a fairly subtle effect, turning it up on the LK-150 had a huge effect:

Dial set at #2: 6.4 stitches and 10 rows = 1"
Dial set at #3: 5.7 stitches and 8 rows = 1"
Dial set at #4: 5.3 stitches and 7.3 rows = 1"

That's a lot of change in stitch size for just one number on the dial! There is just one click between numbers, so there's going to be less fine-tuning opportunity with gauge, but you can influence it a little by changing the upper tension dials. Seems to me that this machine will take a fairly wide range of yarns.

I think #4 is too loose for this yarn, so I stopped trying out bigger settings.

I'm Back

2012-01-21T19:49:00.000-06:00

I've been rather busy this week - insanely busy, really, and just got back from out of town. Things are crazy at work with lots of computer issues and year-end tasks, and I had a two-day TSCPA event to attend out of town. John and I just got back.

I've got some blogging to catch up on and will try and get some machine knitting posts up soon. I purchased an LK-150 the other day, and plan to film some of my shaped Entrelac work on it. It's a very nice plastic mid-gauge from Studio, and very popular, as well. I also picked up a Studio 560 and all the possible accessories while I was off on my business trip. We have just lugged it all into the house, but the books didn't go to the knitting room yet. I've been poring over them.

Note that over at http://www.vannaschoice.com/, there's a contest you might want to enter. You'll need to photograph and describe a project made with their yarn.

Great Idea

2012-01-21T19:44:00.002-06:00

I've heard of this, just haven't actually done it - purchased an extra ribber comb to cut into two new sizes so I'd have a much bigger variety.

Check it out at Machine Knitting is My Life:

http://machineknittingismylife.blogspot.com/2012/01/ribber-cast-on-combs.html

Sylvia's Hobby Room - Rolling, Folding, and Creating!

2012-01-15T16:20:00.000-06:00

Sylvia's craft room pictures are especially interesting because most of us have other crafts and hobbies besides knitting. Sylvia is a seamstress and embroiderer, and needs space for her sewing machines, computer, printer, and cutting space. She also has multiple knitting machines and sewing machines. Her beastie sewing machine isn't even in these pix - it's a professional embroidery unit that almost needs its own room!

Sylvia has wall cabinets to stretch space, and also plastic boxes on top of the cabinets. According to the organizing books I've been reading, you put the things you use the most often at hand, and things you use less often farther away.

Sylvia has her knitting machines on wheeled platforms, so she can pull out a machine she's using and push it back when she isn't using it. Once the machine rolls away from the wall, there's more elbow room for extension rails.

Sylvia has a drop-leaf sewing worktable in the corner of the room. It's on wheels, and she can either flip up one side and use it where it is, or roll it into the middle of the room for a bigger work area.

Another view of the room shows two sewing machines and a serger, ready to go, with bulletin board space and thread racks on the wall.

Closer shot of the computer work area, and then one showing her Toyota KM, which is under a cover. The Toyota is also on a rolling platform.

One more way to go on up the walls with storage - bins on a high shelf.

Jo Ann's Great Organizing Idea

2012-01-15T08:14:00.000-06:00

Here's a good pic from Jo Ann - using an office paper holder for cast-on combs:

Great Video - The Russian Join

2012-01-15T07:56:00.000-06:00

I picked up the link to this wonderful video at the new "Fun With Big Brother" Yahoo group. This is a group for us folks who love bulky knitting machines (in general, not just Brother), and so far, I like it very much.

If you're hesitating to join Yahoo machine knitting groups, well, I think you're missing out. You don't have to write anything, you can lurk, and nobody minds. The groups contain a wealth of information and are stunningly, almost free of negative behavior (most of them are moderated, too). Knitters just seem to be nice people! They are very accepting of both newbies and varied opinions about the craft.

Here's the link to Fun With Big Brother.

This video is the best explanation I've seen showing how to do the Russian join, where you can put together two ends of yarn. I won't go on about the Russian join - watch the video, because she does such a good job explaining its purpose and how to do it:

Look at these hand knit lace patterns

2012-01-15T07:46:00.000-06:00

Article: Pattern Lust over at Feather and Fan

http://featherandfan.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/pattern-lust/

Article on Yarn Shortage Anxiety at Needles to Say

2012-01-14T19:00:00.000-06:00

Mary Anne Oger has some good ideas about what to do when you think you may not have quite enough yarn to finish your project, here.

Cute Baby Jacket at Knitting Up a Storm

2012-01-14T07:46:00.000-06:00

http://knitting-up-a-storm.blogspot.com/2012/01/project-complete-ribbed-baby-jacket-2.html

Greta's Slipper Sox

2012-01-10T22:10:00.000-06:00

Greta knitted these using my pattern and video.

These are warm, and we're finally having some cool weather (Greta lives in San Antonio). This is a quick little project, nice for times you want to knit but aren't up for a big time commitment.

Marge Coe's Knitting Room

2012-01-08T19:17:00.002-06:00

Marge was kind enough to send her knitting room pictures, and they are chock-full of fantastic storage ideas. She said it's a small room, about a 9-foot square, and look how cleverly she's used the space!

Marge, you have no idea how much I enjoyed your photos. I'm amazed at what you did with your space and how neat and handy everything is!

This first picture is the view upon entering the room. Okay, what great storage ideas do we see here? First of all, I'm fascinated by the shelves behind the machine on the left and the way she stacked an extra machine underneath. There are tighter shots of these later. I think she's setting a good example for us by keeping her knitting machines covered when not in use.

Marge's second picture was labelled "behind the door book storage. I love the way she's got her books and magazines organized into binders and holders. I've been meaning to do that. I've been watching for deals on the magazine holders.

Next photo - Marge's punch card files. I am so impressed with her organizing them by type into the hanging files. I used to stick them in notebooks with pocket pages, but I like this better.

This one was labelled, "Behind hall door." Now here's a great idea. It's an over-the-door organizer, and lots of different ones are availabe for shoes, accessories, and so forth. This is on my shopping list!

This is her pegboard. Look how she used the pegboard to store her long objects, like garter bars and combs.

And here is her picture labelled, "Below Pegboard." More books in magazine holders. Little plastic drawers. Boxed items. Books. We machine knitters store a lot of odd-shaped items.

This one is "Cupboard under TV" and I like the way she has a television on a corner shelf and then tucked additional storage underneath. You have to put those ribber weights on something sturdy.

Next, a closeup of those little shelves behind her 360 knitting machine that we saw in the first photo. Super handy storage for small items.

Here's what's under the 360 - another machine packed in its box and sitting on the table braces plus a cone holder with some yarn currently threaded. I use cone holders - they keep the cones from tipping over and an workworker might make one for you!

Here's another little storage spot in a corner.

Shelves of coned yarn.

LK-150, set up for knitting.

And, below the LK150, Marge has equipment stashed in boxes.

This yarn tree is sometimes called a "double" yarn tree - it holds more than a tree with just one pole up the center. At my house, I have a single and a double in my bedroom. My double looks just like Marge's - and mine rotates, so hers probably does as well. I have a lot of cones of yarn that were given to me and didn't come with clear plastic bags, and I was able to find some rolls of small wastebasket bag liners at a big box store, which I use to cover yarn that didn't come with a plastic cover.

Here's Marge's bulletin board. This is a good idea - a place to tack up idea, swatches, and general things to think about or things in the works. I have tended to leave them lying near my machines, which gradually just creates a mess.

Inspiration at Yet Another Canadian Artisan

2012-01-08T19:00:00.000-06:00

Check out the wonderful scarves knitted for the Special Olympics (by two machine knitting clubs):

http://cutlermac.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/a-job-well-done/

Trying on the Entrelac Sweater

2012-01-07T13:28:00.000-06:00

It fits. In worsted weight yarn, it is very warm. I have the charts done for the mid-gauge, so maybe that's next, but I was going to do a toddler-sized one first.

There is some "bubbling" in the yoke on these; the Entrelac is a very three-dimensional, textured look, and the stockinette body, in contrast, is flat. I prefer the 3D look, but you could block the whole thing flat. If you did that, you need to block the swatch as hard as the sweater, or else you'd get a nasty surprise trying to make it fit.

I was going for a coming-out-of-nowhere look for the Entrelac on this one by using the main color at both the beginning and ending rows of the yoke. Some of my sweaters were done this way, and the others have a light color to begin the yoke trials for a distinctly round look to the yoke.

Deferred Gratification

2012-01-07T11:16:00.000-06:00

This one's mine.

John was with me when I purchased the yarn, and he questioned the wisdom of combining the rose and the mouse brown, but I told him it would be fantastic - just wait and see. (I am good at combining colors. I am terrible at arranging furniture; everyone has these mental differences.) I got the yoke done pretty quickly, but then the holidays were upon us. Steven got home and admired the shaped Entrelac sweaters (he usually doesn't say much about my knitting).

So - my project waited while I knitted Steven's sweater, wanting it done before he went back to college and usable in this winter's cool weather.

When I finished Steve's, he remarked on the neck rubbing in front. He didn't really mind, but it would be better if it didn't ride high in front. Oftentimes, round yoke sweaters are the same back and front, but I knew that was not really the best way to do it. I didn't want a loose, gappy neck, either, on such a warm sweater. I thought, as I hurried around working and doing Christmas tasks, that I ought to rechart the sweater with the whole yoke moved so the front neck is lower than the back.

So - it waited while I recharted the sweater and all the sizes, modifying front, back, and both sleeves to accommodate the change.

Next, it waited while we celebrated Christmas.

I rehung the yoke and knitted sections downward, getting some of the knitting done on holiday days off, and realized I didn't have enough yarn to finish the brown sections.

It waited until I could get to the store for more yarn. I lucked out - you cannot tell where the wrong dye lot yarn is. Don't try this, darlings! Every other time I've made this mistake, I've been sorely disappointed in the finished project. In fact, I often study balls of so-called "no dye lot" yarn to make sure I'm getting the same dye lot. The yarn shop helpers might suggest you buy one extra ball, but I like to buy two extras! I often return the unused yarn, but that doesn't save any money, because I usually purchase more yarn on the return trip.

Then, it waited while we set up the knitting room (ah, I'm still on a high about that, what a glorious luxury to have my own knitting space!).

This morning, I finished sewing it up. I couldn't resist snapping a picture, even before I do some light steaming on the transition area.

And it's mine!

The color scheme is terrific - in fact, Francesca, who works for us on Thursdays, told "Mr. John" that she loves the sweater, especially "los colores!" I think Francesca has wonderful taste, so I was flattered; and even though it still had horrible contrasting waste yarn all around the yoke, it caught her eye and she admired the color combination.

Note that, to avoid my pulling it on backwards, I sewed a few chain stitches inside the back of the neck with the rose yarn.

I told Barbara that I'll demonstrate shaped Entrelac at the Knit Natters meeting on the 14th. I'm going to work up some sort of simplified pattern and knit some samples partway, plus show my friends all my samples. This will be a dress rehearsal for one demo I plan to do at Knit Knack shop in the spring. I wonder if I can squish the demo down enough to make a YouTube.

Keep On Keepin' On

2012-01-04T20:37:00.000-06:00

Each evening this week, I'm coming home and working on the mess I created moving everything all over the house to make the studio. Yesterday, I helped put our little office back together. You couldn't walk in there, because the small room needed serious rearranging once we put the twin bed in there instead of the Brother knitting machine.

Tonight I moved more small things to Steven's own room and got more knitting stuff out of my bedroom and into the studio. He's supposed to turn up tomorrow, and he has a bedroom with all his clothing.

I am facing up to the space shortage, and here is a fantastic Singer 9000 knitting machine (a Superba design with elaborate electronics, a motor, table, and its own little TV set for pattern design), if anyone is looking to buy one. You'd have to pick it up reasonably near Central Texas. This wouldn't ship easily; would require a number of containers and I'm afraid to risk damaging such a rare machine. I did a brief video showing the machine's basics some time back.

Let's Share Studio Ideas

2012-01-03T21:44:00.000-06:00

I was thrilled with some of the feedback I got from friends and readers about my studio project. Marge wrote and said her knitting space is a small room, maybe 9 feet square, and she has three machines set up with other machines underneath and pegboard on the walls. Marge, I would love to see photos of your space.

Tom, in the past, sent gorgeous pictures of his studio with real cabinets and marble countertops. Tom is a neatnik who says he's getting some clutter now. "Some" clutter - gee, I think my clutter is terminal! I have dug through my email and can't find those pictures now, hint, hint, Tom.

Sylvia wrote and sent a picture of the rolling platform her husband Doug devised, which lets her pull out the particular machine she's working on. The platforms only roll forward and back, so the machines don't move around with the sideways knitting pressure. Sylvia uses the platforms to hold tools, as well.

Alex suggested an umbrella stand for cast-on combs. I did a web search for umbrella stands, which aren't as common here in Texas as on his side of the pond, and discovered that you can get very attractive ones, some of which are oblong and would give you plenty of space for lots of combs. Totally cool idea.

Greta suggested stacked coffee cans for a wonderful cast-on comb holder. She took the bottoms out of #10 coffee cans, stacked them and taped them, then covered the thing with contact paper, and says 4 tall works great. I had heard about fancier ones made by gluing various lengths of big PVC pipe. I am thinking about drilling holes as needed and hanging the nasty tangly things.

Greta was describing a shelf her neighbor made her that sits behind her machine. She says it's moveable. I couldn't picture it, and asked for a photo of that.

You probably noticed my little rolling carts. They are quite nice for small items like measuring tapes, calculators, transfer tools, pens and tablets, and ribber weights. I took the wheels off one of my carts to make it short enough to fit under the motor frame on my Brother motor.

John and I got into a discussion about pegboard. I used pegboard at my shop, and it's just wonderful for tools and miscellany. I went over on Amazon found this terrific-looking pegboard system for craft and sewing rooms, which comes in a whole bunch of fun colors. Of course, if you search over there for pegboard, you find galvanized steel and all sorts of heavy-duty peg systems. When I had the shop, we purchased the big, cheap sheets of pressboard pegboard and John put them up with spacers and an electric drill. Then we rolled beige paint on them and added an edging around them (it was some plastic stuff that we just pushed on, very easy to do). It looked perfectly nice and enabled me to display all those zillions of little packages of needles, hooks, hoops and so forth neatly. We didn't have trouble with that pegboard warping or wearing out, because the items weren't all that heavy.

So - here's an appeal - email me photos of your cool, works-for-you studio ideas to diana_knits "at" sbcglobal "dot" net, and I'll post them! Please don't be too humble - we all love great knitting space ideas.

I always wanted a knitting studio - and today, I got one!

2012-01-01T19:04:00.000-06:00

I am so happy that I finally got my knitting studio! We worked hard on this today, and it feels so good that I'm blogging about it even if it is quite boring.

This bedroom was my son's. It's a fairly large room, and to the right where the beds are, there's some wall space. On the left, there is very little wall space - there's a closet and a door into a "bonus room," which is like a walk-in closet. There is enough room for a desk in the corner.

The room has good light and was only being used when Steven was home from college. He told me during Christmas week that he didn't mind if I took it over for a knitting studio, as long as I got the knitting stuff out of the guest room, which will be his room. The guest room has a much more comfortable mattress, which suits him fine.

I am not particularly good at arranging furniture, but John and I took a crack at this today. The dresser went to the guest room and the beds got put back together (they're a trundle thingie) and put into the den. We will probably get rid of the beds, which were comfortable for kids but not so great for bigger people. At that point, we have to figure out another guest bed that is comfortable for adults.

I didn't want to spend money at this point, just see what we could do by rearranging. I don't want a big modification of the house, because we will probably sell it in a few years, and this would be purchased for a bedroom. Most people who buy in our neighborhood are raising children.

The Passap came from our bedroom, the Brother 270 from the guest room, and the Brother 965i came from our office. The contents of two closets had to be swapped so Steve has a closet where he sleeps.

This second photo shows it in quite a mess, with John taking a break to answer the phone and junk lying all over the place. See my cute little dog, who sneaked into the picture? He's a mutt, a chihuahua-terrier mix.

And, finally, the finished room, with a mid-gauge by the door (I don't plan to leave that there), around the corner, the Passap E6000, against the wall under the picture, the Brother 965i on a motor stand, and with a chair pushed up to it, the Brother 270.

The desk is still in the corner left of the shot, only we moved my "knitting computer" to it. That is an old computer that I only use for Design A Knit software and typing out patterns. It is so old and so slow that nobody wants it for anything else. I do most of my blogging from a laptop, and most of my bookkeeping from another computer in our office, and now that DAK has a version for the newer operating systems, I can ditch the antique. John and I think the beat-up old desk can go and that I would be better off with a folding work table, where an oddball machine (mid-gauge, USM, or 970) can go for temporary use and where I can use my laptop. Another change I will probably make is the addition of shelves along the long wall, at least partway up the wall, and behind the machines.

Did I get the knitting supplies out of the rest of the house? NO! There are still cones of yarn in two other rooms, a big machine downstairs, and two circular sock machines downstairs. Maybe with some serious cleaning out of the adjoining bonus room, I can get everything together in one general area. There are even a couple of machines around here that I probably won't keep. I am trying to stick to owning the most common, most popular machines that my readers likely use.

What did I learn from this exercise today?

The machines are bigger than they look. You need room to work around them, too, and you need to be able to get to the plugs to unplug them (we have big thunderstorms here sometimes). My girlfriend lost a Passap to lightning last spring, so now I'm finally more careful.
I still need to de-stash quite a bit. I found myself moving things I really don't use.
I need a tall wrapping paper canister or something like that for all the cast-on combs. I have them in cardboard mailers now, and am tired of that.
I am thinking about some pegboard. The machines aren't pretty anyway, and pegboard is fantastic for odd-sized items.
I still love putting spare parts in the machine lids, which are sitting on the back of the stands. The wooden stand is better for a machine with no lid, which is the case with my mid-gauge.

Inspiration at Rhythm of the Needles

2012-01-01T19:00:00.000-06:00

Check out this adorable little guy in his brand new sweater!

Doesn't this cute sweater get you thinking about knitting some fun kids stuff, using bright stripes. You could not only use odds and ends (I'm getting some very fun scraps from the color schemes for Entrelac where I only use about half of each ball of yarn).

Happy New Year! And, Best Blog Entries, 2011

2012-01-01T09:10:00.000-06:00

It's a beautiful New Year's Day here in Austin, Texas! After another whole year of machine knitting blogging (and almost all my posts are about knitting, not my husband, dogs, kids, job, or whatever), I've had a good look back through the year. When you write a machine knitting blog, there's not much danger of losing track of what you knitted last year!

Here are MY favorite posts of 2011. I'm not sure what YOUR favorite posts are, so chime in if I missed a good one.

January: A Baby Blanket video A fast, short-rowed, 2-color pinwheel baby blanket in worsted weight yarn that you could easily whip out in an evening for a baby gift.

February: I refilmed and reedited a Mattress Stitch Video, determined to make it ridiculously clear and simple. I even got one angry commenter who said it was too slow and I must be assuming people are stupid! I took that as a compliment, since mattress stitch is really a little difficult to learn, but so worthwhile, and I wanted to make it completely clear for all the beginners out there.

Also in February, I wrote Click! A Small Big Improvement in Machine Knitting. It was basic, but several knitters found it helpful.

In March, I wrote an article about what to do when you can't get gauge - that is, how to rechart the project. It's my personal fave for the month, but I was prolific in March. Don't know if it helped anyone else, but I wrote an article about starting and maintaining a knitting club. Then there was my Do a Better Cast-On article and my Rippit article.

April was the month I went to Colorado and taught. How fun! Also, I wrote an article about yarn weights and my heart-broken report on my dear friend's house getting hit by lightning and her knitting machine ruined.

In May, I was playing around with old notes, looking for a demo for club, and retried a trim that I liked so well, I made a video of it: Easy Ruched Heart Trim. I also wrote a piece with lots of photos about measuring a gauge swatch.

My favorite June item is a pattern from Barbara Deike, an afghan to knit for the troops.

In July, Tom sent me the recipe, detailed instructions and photos of his Amazing Machine Transformation. This is a safe way to take the yellow out of your old plastic machine, and his before-and-after pictures will blow you away. It appearss that July was the Tom Month, since the other don't-miss post was a video of how to make Tom's seamless hat for the troops.

In August, I designed a fast slipper pattern to knit for the soldiers, and here's the video.

In September I wrote Things the Ribber Manual Didn't Tell Ya, an article about gun oil for machine knitting, and published my microwave brownie recipe, which is about proper nutrition for MKing, I suppose.

In October, I wrote an article about the upper tension unit.

In November, I did some "time lapse" pictures of a shaped Entrelac project. I'm still working on that book, and I'm knitting them from the neck down now. But check out the photos!

Who has time to blog in December? I did it anyway. I wrote out instructions for Knitting a Necklace. I re-ran all the old project videos that I thought would make great, fast gifts in a pinch: child's sweater, bulky lined slippers, very quick afghan, warm child's hat, socks, hand knit dishcloth, felted slipper, and mitten.

Inspiration at Fruitcake Knits

2011-12-31T19:00:00.002-06:00

Go nuts over the incredible hand knit lace at Fruitcake Knits!

Stupid Mistake

2011-12-30T20:27:00.000-06:00

I am knitting the brown/pink Entrelac yoke sweater (to fit me) and I know for certain that I will run out of brown yarn, since the front took a ball and a half and there are only three more balls sitting here. What a boneheaded mistake, not buying enough of the same dye lot. Hmm. It looked like a big pile at the time.

Tomorrow I'll go to the store and hope for another ball or two of the same dye lot. I do love a day in the house, but it's time to leave the cave. A little fresh air away from the computers and knitting machines will be nice (weather here is spectacular), plus, eventually we will run out of groceries. You can't eat leftover Christmas goodies forever. Someone might start to crave some protein.

Today was my last vacation day of 2011, and I spent it charting the sweaters for the Entrelac book. Why, it wasn't that different from yesterday in the office, when I was sitting at the office computer balancing bank accounts. Either way, I'm sitting at a computer, either at home or work, playing with spreadsheets. Who knew knitting was so much like accounting?

Since I finally have settled on the knitting method, I sat down and worked out all the sizes. I even did the extra calculations to move the yoke higher in back than front for an ideal fit and slant the sleeve tops to match. Of course, there's a chasm between little charts covered in numbers that nobody can read but me (and I won't even make much sense to me, either, once they're stale) and a narrative that folks can actually follow.

Plus, I have to solve the size problem, that is, how to put all the sizes in the book and still have a readable book. The charts are for multiple kids and adults sizes. I am thinking about doing my colored chart thing (you pick a color for your size and then fill the numbers from that color into the instructions) but there will be chunks of instructions and then little blocks of chart. Of course, I might do it some other way...

I also want to mark the patterns with where to increase or decrease the length. For my son and I, we both wanted a little extra length in the arms, and details like that make a huge difference in whether it ends up being a favorite sweater or a denizen of the back of the closet.

Inspirtion at Ozlorna's

2011-12-30T20:00:00.000-06:00

Check out the beautiful handknit cabled sweater project at Ozlorna's blog, along with an excellent description of how to make a pattern work in different (thinner) yarn.

Gnomes! At Rett Og Vrang

2011-12-27T19:00:00.000-06:00

Check 'em out! So, so cute:

http://rettogvrangstrikk.blogspot.com/2011/12/en-nisse-her-og-to-nisser-der.html

Steve's sweater - ON

2011-12-26T16:11:00.000-06:00

It was Christmas, and I finished...

2011-12-26T11:07:00.000-06:00

this!

This is the pile of purple waste knitting, removed from Steven's sweater, and the red basting yarn, removed from Steven's sweater, and a lot of very long blue orts. (An "ort" is a little piece of yarn left from sewing - for instance, when you do needlepoint, you collect little piles of wool orts.) My orts for Steve's sweater are especially long, partly because I knitted one sleeve three times and the other, twice. When I basted it together and had Steve try it on, the sleeves just weren't right. He liked it so well that he wanted me to forget it and sew it up, but the sleeves were too narrow and I figured I better fix it. The first time I re-knitted one of the sleeves, I dropped a stitch and didn't see it until later. I re-re-knitted that out of sheer stubbornness, an exercise in patience, but it makes finishing all the sweeter.

The other reason I have such a large pile of orts after hiding the ends is that I have a longstanding habit of leaving long ends when I start and end each piece of knitting. I use them for sewing later - I must avoid adding even more ends to hide! Well, with all this re-, re-, re-knitting, I ended up working from several small balls of yarn and had lots of extra long ends (left long out of automatic habit) to hide.

So - how did the actual sweater turn out? I think it's just great. I am finally satisfied witth the order of knitting, the transition triangles, size and shaping, and I checked the fit by doing a basting and trying on. That means I can finally start getting the patterns together. This one has gone on forever!

I don't get to have a picture of him wearing it yet. He's lucky he went off to sleep over at a friend's apartment near U.T., or else I'd have probably dragged him semi-conscious out of bed to try it on. He'll turn up later today and I'll get my pix.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:28:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Sullivan Family!

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Ah! Christmas Eve.

2011-12-24T07:47:00.000-06:00

The house is decorated and our son is home. It's cold outside, and we're warm inside. This is a moment to pause to appreciate the lovely holiday. It's a time to think about each far-away family who sent us a card. A time to bake a last batch of cookies, to wrap a couple last-minute gifts. Later today we'll attend a beautiful Christmas Eve service, look around at the adorable little excited children in attendance, spend a little time thinking about Emmanuel, God with us, and light a candle.

For many of my bloggy friends, it's already Christmas Day, but it's Christmas Eve here in Texas.

Best wishes for a beautiful, beautiful holiday season, and a prosperous and loving new year.

December 24, Luke 24

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 24

December 23, Luke 23

2011-12-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 23

Yoke for Steve's Sweater

2011-12-22T20:32:00.000-06:00

I got some knitting time the past few days. Since I'm doing the yokes first now (going to knit the sweaters upside-down, rehanging the yoke), I knitted my son Steven's yoke and showed it to him:

I'm very happy with the speckled yarns, which I think add interest and a masculine flair, but I'm less happy with the self-striping yarn that I used for rounds 3 and 5. While the colors are perfect, I think that "ombre" or "spaced dyed" yarn with quick color changes works better for Entrelac, since the overall design is already busy. One of the most enjoyable parts of this project has been choosing all the colors.

The body of the sweater is going to be the denim blue I used for round #4.

Steve likes it. (He also just loves the green I used for my first sweater in shaped Entrelac, so now I know about another color he really likes.)

The neck is great, goes over the head easily and isn't too tight or loose. We discussed how he wants it to fit, and I took some measurements so I can get it right. If I do mess up the fit, it can be unraveled without disturbing the yoke, as long as I leave the waste yarn in place until the sweater is basted together and Steve tries it on.

December 22, Luke 22

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 22

Inspiration - Crochet dress from Tathy's site

2011-12-21T20:00:00.000-06:00

Whoa! Who says crochet can't be sexy! Check out this flippy mini-dress on Tathy's blog -

http://tathy-tricoecroche.blogspot.com/2011/12/juliana-paes-e-o-seu-croche.html

Tathy has a "Google Translate" gadget over on the right hand side of her blog, so you can see it in English. This is generally a good blog to follow - very active, lots of pictures of beautiful handmade items. I follow two Brazilian blogs, hers and Irma's and they are both a treat.

New Free Patt at Needles to Say

2011-12-21T19:00:00.000-06:00

Mary Anne Oger has a garter bar project for your midgauge at her blog - a nice, dimensional blue scarf:

http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2011/12/garter-bar-practise.html

I view of the popularity of the LK-150 mid-gauge, I've decided to get one. I actually have an unusual mid-gauge machine, the MK-70, which is 6 mm spacing, and there's no garter bar is available for that, as far as I know. I like to teach on machines that lots of knitters have, an the LK-150 certainly qualifies for that. Mary Anne used an LK-150 for this pattern. She used to run lots of very nice mid-gauge patterns in KnitWords magazine, and did her share to popularize hand-manipulated work.

Notice how she's got you not only turning the work but occasionally moving every other needle for an eyelet lace? That can be done with the garter bar, too. Check out my lessons on how to do that:

Lesson 9 - Eyelets (2 Parts) Move ONLY Selected Needles!

Part One

Part Two

I admit this technique, where you move only the stitches on certain needles and all the other stitches stay put very securely, takes a little study and practice. Once you practice it, though, you'll really like the efficiency of doing a whole row of eyelets so quickly and accurately on a machine where no lace carriage is available.

Oh, if only, if only the LK-150 or something similar were widely available in the everyday hobby stores and big box stores! Maybe one of these days. We'll all have to keep teaching new people to machine knit and bring the demand on up. People are certainly paying for fancy sewing machines, so let's turn them on to KMs, too.

Fascinating Seaming Technique at Machine Knitting Is My Life

2011-12-21T07:30:00.000-06:00

Sheryl's got a very interesting seaming technique, which I don't think I've ever tried. Hope to try it out this weekend. Check out her site:

http://machineknittingismylife.blogspot.com/2011/12/charity-knitting-thick-wool-socks-how.html

BTW, thanks for the kind wishes re our anniversary. What a lovely day we had!

December 21, Luke 21

2011-12-21T07:00:00.001-06:00

Luke Chapter 21

Our Anniversary

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

John and Diana Sullivan

Married December 21, 1974

Still crazy after all these years...

Smokin' Hot Socks at Smoking Hot Needles

2011-12-20T20:00:00.000-06:00

Cute hand knit Christmas socks:

http://yarnloopie.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-socks.html

I follow a lot of hand knitting blogs and see lots of beautiful projects. I like to hand knit, but obviously am short on time. Whenever I get whiny about not having enough knitting time, I think about some of the hand knitting bloggers who get SO much done!

Adorable Free Pattern at Marzipanknits!

2011-12-20T07:00:00.001-06:00

Mar's got a terrific site and I always keep an eye on it.

Now she has a baby Santa hat for you to knit, complete with instructions, at her site:

http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2011/12/free-machine-knit-pattern-for-baby.html

December 20, Luke 20

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 20

December 19, Luke 19

2011-12-19T07:00:00.002-06:00

Luke Chapter 19

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2011-12-18T21:45:00.000-06:00

We finally decorated our Christmas tree this afternoon. This lovely cut tree had been sitting there, carefully set up in its stand since last weekend, but we didn't find time or energy to do the job.

But it's up now, and sparkling. We always do an old-fashioned, mixed-up tree, and I always enjoy pulling out the old ornaments; for instance, Steven's picture on a juice can lid with lace around it, the "Baby's First Christmas" ornament my mom needlepointed for John, the plastic doves from our wedding cake, the tiny stuffed teddy bears we bought when we were first married, and some of the wonderful knitted, tatted, and porcelain ornaments my knit club girlfriends have made for me.

As I sit here, contemplating a weekend where I didn't do a lick of knitting and feeling a little guilt because I've got some lovely projects lined up, I read my mail and a friend sent a link to this fun video of dogs decorating a Christmas tree:

http://www.wimp.com/christmastree/

Enjoy. And I'll enjoy my finished tree!

December 18, Luke 18

2011-12-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 18

December 17, Luke 17

2011-12-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 17

Best Gifts for a Machine Knitter

2011-12-16T20:00:00.000-06:00

I was thinking today that maybe there's a Santa-baby out there who is looking for excellent gift ideas for a beloved machine knitter.

Here are some of the accessories that machine knitters absolutely love - and I've included links:

1. Replacement ribber comb wires - these are so vastly better than the ones that come with the Brother ribbers that I think absolutely everyone who uses their ribber more than once a year needs a set! Purchase from Helen Griffiths. Be a hero for less than ten bucks! Bulky wires, long $2.50; standard wires long $2.25; and medium for bulky and standard same size $2.00.

2. Terrific garter bars from Kris Krafter. A little expensive, but quality U.S. construction and one of the most useful accessories to ever hit machine knitting! Contact Kris if you aren't sure about the sizes. And buy a stopper, for heaven's sake! I'll throw in a plug for my own garter bar course, if you know a knitter who has one and doesn't use it much.

3. For the beginner in your life, the Beginner's Course from my own products. The fact is, most of the machine knitters I know haven't had the opportunity to get a lot of personal lessons, and here is a big, fat assortment of video lessons in meticulous detail, enough to take anyone who practices them a little bit well out of the beginner stage.

4. A Jumbo Yarn Winder is a great thing for almost any knitter to have. I used to be a big fan of the regular small winders, but the Jumbo winder holds so much more yarn and winds so quickly that now I'm hooked on that one. Here's one from Amazon.

5. A new sponge bar. These things wear out, and once they're flat and yucky, the machine won't knit properly. I put in a link to the Knit Knack Shop, which has quite a lot of different sizes and is a great, fun place to browze for MK gifts.

6. Your knitter needs triangle weight hangers! This is an accessory that I use constantly. I carry them from machine to machine. These weight hangers work well in many different situations! This link is to Custom Knits and Manufacturing. She has a lot of fun things at her site, too.

7. A subscription to Country Knitting of Maine or Machine Knitting Monthly! Either of these magazines will give your knitter hours of enjoyment and inspiration.

I can easily think of two dozen other great gift ideas, and maybe some of my readers will chime in with great gift suggestions. Here are a few more: a yarn tree for storing lots of cones of yarn; The Prolific Knitting Machine, a wonderful book; Make Your Knitting Machine Sing, a book on tuning up your machine; or how about some luxurious cashmere yarn?

Quick Gift - Mitten

2011-12-16T19:00:00.002-06:00

How about knitting a mitten? These bulky mittens are really fun to make:

http://diananatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-videos-bulky-mittens-ultimate.html

Quick Gift Idea - Easy Felted Slipper

2011-12-16T19:00:00.000-06:00

I knit a lot of slippers and invent slipper patterns because I love to wear slippers. Some of them are nice for a bed slipper, some of okay for warmer times of the year, and then there are some that are intended to keep your feet warm in the coldest weather.

These felted slippers, are definitely in the cold weather category. Once they're felted and shrunk, they're amazingly thick and padded. Warm hairy things, a coordinating accessory to go with a bearskin rug or maybe to accessorize the hunky caveman who keeps you warm. Oops, I digress.

If you have never done a felted project, try these. These are rather entertaining to make. You have to watch them as they felt and shrink in the washing machine - because they change sizes pretty quickly. I actually was fishing them out of the Maytag and trying them on repeatedly (wet and nasty!) or getting lucky old John (what a good sport) to try on the mens' version, as they felted in the machine. They shrink and shrink until they fit someone or other!

December 16, Luke 16

2011-12-16T07:00:00.001-06:00

Luke Chapter 16

Gift Idea - Flower Dishcloth to Handknit

2011-12-15T19:00:00.005-06:00

I designed a whole assortment of hand knit round dishcloths, and haven't published it yet. This one is a great favorite, and I put the pattern on the blog.

There are plenty of people who absolutely love good cotton dishclothes, and they make a nice small gift with handmade sentiment! Let's face it, a really beautiful round dishcloth is a 'way cooler gift than an ordinary square one.

If you're adept at hand knitting, this can be done in an evening while you watch (well, listen to) your favorite holiday movies:

Pattern is here: http://diananatters.blogspot.com/2010/10/star-flower-dishcloth.html

We watched "Elf" last night. I laughed and laughed; from now on, when I see Bob Newhart, I'll be visualizing Papa Elf and when I see Ed Asner, I'll be seeing Santa.

December 15, Luke 15

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 15

Quick Gifts - Sew-As-You-Go Socks

2011-12-14T19:00:00.000-06:00

Need a sock pattern that doesn't require a ribber or a genius at sewing seams? This is a readers' favorite pattern that I wrote for making low-rise gym socks.

For best results, use a good hand knitting sock yarn. In particular, I like 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon. My sock recipients absolutely love the colorful self-striping sock yarns, which are available in all the local yarn shops as well as Joann's, Hobby Lobby, and Michael's.

This sock project is a little education in sew-as-you-go technique. Watch the video closely and then take your time on the first couple of these socks. Once you master the seaming technique, these are fairly fast to make.

December 14, Luke 14

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 14

Inspiration from Phil - Reindeer Sweater

2011-12-13T19:00:00.000-06:00

A wonderful traditional fair isle sweater with a cut-and-sew neckline:

http://phil1987.blogspot.com/2011/12/well-reindeer-sweater-is-now-complete1.html

Quick Gift Idea - Warm Child's Hat

2011-12-13T13:35:00.000-06:00

Here's another quick gift idea, the Warm Child's Hat. I worked out this pattern for a charity drive for warm clothing. It doesn't take much yarn, and hats are a very satisfying small project.

December 13, Luke 13

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 13

Fast Gift Idea - Very Quick Afghan

2011-12-12T19:00:00.000-06:00

Do you need a quick afghan? No seams? Wide enough without making panels? Here's an offering, the Luxury Throw, which I originally made in a thin chenille.

What you want to make this project, the Luxury Throw, go very, very fast is a big cone of smooth, easy yarn. You could make it on just about any machine with a ribber. The secret to the pattern, which is a sort of striped reversible English Rib, is I have the "front" side of the work on the ribber for a while, and then on the main bed.

December 12, Luke 12

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 12

Fast Gift Idea: Bulky Lined Slippers

2011-12-11T19:00:00.000-06:00

For the bulky lined slippers, you'll need two skeins of worsted weight yarn in coordinating colors. Easy, I promise. Oh, and Bond knitters have made this, too.

December 11, Luke 11

2011-12-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 11

Fast Gift Idea - English Rib Child's Sweater

2011-12-10T19:00:00.000-06:00

Link to all the information (videos, patterns) for the English Rib Child's Sweater

Crazy for Christmas

2011-12-10T11:06:00.000-06:00

There's a moment during the holidays when the pressure hits me - Bam! Zap! Pow! Biff! Just another mom felled by Christmas pressure. But I'm doing well this year, with my strategies of online shopping plus taking vacation hours to get things done.

I'm not one of those folks who plans 'way ahead. If I do, by the time I get to the holidays, I don't think the gifts are good enough any more. I am not a confident gift-giver; I'm downright neurotic about it. One person I know thinks everything she gave anyone is absolutely wonderful, even if it's totally lame, and nobody tells her differently. I wish I were more like her. Instead, I think stupid thoughts like, will he ever wear it? Is that really a color she likes? Doesn't she have enough fragrance? Will he think I didn't make an effort if I send a gift card?

My father-in-law, whom I still miss terribly after 22 years, used to grin at me and say, "Buy them something they don't want and don't need."

Some of my friends follow another strategy - keep some boxes of chocolate on hand in case old friends drop by. In case of a serious emergency, unwrap and eat the chocolate.

We also have several birthdays and our anniversary this month, before Christmas.

Last week, I sat down one evening and ordered all the out-of-state gifts (I have a pretty good list to do), drop shipping from Amazon. I already had Amazon Prime so I'd get the free fast shipping, and I have their blog deal where I get a little commission on items purchased through the blog. The last couple of years, I've purchased books, gift baskets, garden goodies, small electronics (well, Kindles - I'm a Kindle lover, which is how I turned into an Amazon nut), toys, and so forth from Amazon. Amazon even has yarn. I got all the out-of-state packages ordered in one evening, and they even have gift wrap available for many items. I would put some photo of the really cute items I found for my sibs, if only I were sure they didn't read the blog.

John and I also took yesterday afternoon off (vacation time) and shopped for each other, purchasing practical things that I'll wrap up. As of now, I've got gifts purchased except for two people, and I have a plan for those.

Earlier this week, my John had a sore throat and fever, my colleague at work fought it all week, and two other co-workers were fighting a nasty sore throat earlier on. Several Knit Natters members have begged off today's party because they aren't feeling well. I haven't actually gotten sick, but I was feeling off and tired, so I deliberately got some extra sleep this week.

I whipped up a gift last night (not my pattern, one from Rocking Horse Farms), but I can't put the photo up until after the Knit Natters party and Christmas exchange. I am also bringing homemade bread, homemade chocolates (super easy recipe), and store-bought tamales to the party.

I will continue to put easy gift patterns up on the site. I know they're patterns I've run before, but having knitted all of this myself a number of times, I know which ones are fastest to make, which is what we need this time of year.

December 10, Luke 10

2011-12-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 10

Fast Gift: Short-Rowed Baby Hat

2011-12-09T19:00:00.001-06:00

I thought I'd run some links to fairly quick gifts. It's getting very late to make gifts, but you may find yourself needing something, running out of budget, with yarn all over the house.

Or maybe you're one of the lucky souls who is off on vacation part of this month! Anyway, here's one and I chose for this because it's my most often-viewed project video:

Short-Rowed Baby Hat

December 9, Luke 9

2011-12-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

Chapter 9, Luke.

December 8, Luke 8

2011-12-07T20:30:00.002-06:00

Chapter 8, Gospel of Luke

December 7, Luke 7

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001-06:00

Luke Chapter 7

December 6, Luke 6

2011-12-06T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 6

Adorable Little Christmas Stocking at Rhythm of the Needles

2011-12-05T19:22:00.000-06:00

With a link to the pattern!

http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.com/2011/12/itty-bitty-christmas-stocking.html

December 5, Luke 5

2011-12-05T07:00:00.002-06:00

Luke Chapter 5 for today.

Another Knitted Necklace

2011-12-04T21:04:00.000-06:00

This is another sock yarn, black with a colored thread for one of the plies, and it's the same mylar gold thread. These are all old leftovers - can't tell you brand names.

Knit a Necklace

2011-12-04T15:38:00.000-06:00

Here's my knitted necklace. I got this idea from a book cover I saw on a foreign site online; I didn't have the book, and I don't know how they made it. I thought about it for while, thought it would be fun to figure it out, and came up with my own version.

Materials:

You will need a small amount of thin yarn. I have quite a lot of tiny balls of leftover self-striping and solid sock yarn because there is always a little bit left after I knit a pair of socks. It's pretty, and I keep it, thinking one of these days I'll find a use for it. I used 15 grams, about a half ounce, of a self-striping sock yarn for my necklace. I made my necklace 36 beads long, or 30" long, a generous length. When I wear it, it goes to the center of my breastbone.

You will also need some kind of pretty thread or yarn to wind between the "beads." I was going for a spacer-bead look, and I had this mylar gold colored run-along thread. It was rather difficult to work with, but by the time I assembled my necklace, I was used to it. Next time I do this, I think I'll go for something thicker and stronger.

You need something to fill the beads and made a bead shape. I used marbles from Hobby Lobby (in the flower arranging section, $2.99 for two pounds of marbles. You need to go with a neutral color, because the marbles will show through the knitting. I purchased clear marbles. The marbles are a little heavy. You could reduce the weight of the necklace by using wooden or plastic beads. My marbles are the typical size, about 5/8" or 15 mm. I thought about stuffing the necklace with fiber fill instead, but the weight of the marbles does make it hang nicely. I wasn't sure how I'd get the stuffing where I needed it, either.

One thing I would love to try is more than one size of bead and even some long beads.

My necklace was knitted on a Brother standard machine with the ribber. I selected 7 needles in the middle of the bed on the main bed and 6 needles on the ribber. Set to half pitch and the tightest tensions and did a zigzag row. Hung a weight with a 7-weight hanger (this is only about 1" wide, and when it comes off the machine, the little tube is about 5/8" wide). Set the machine for T4 and circular knitting. Each bead is 11 rounds long, 22 rows on the row counter. I had some self-striping yarn, but if you want to change colors yourself, change colors every 22 rows. My self-striping yarn was quite lucky spacing for the project, as I got little 1" areas of a color, then black and white. I had played with the number of needles and decided I liked the way 13 needles made the black and white areas form a diagonal design.

I did 36 "beads," 792 rows. I had already knitted some samples to see what it would take to get a long enough necklace, and had realized that it gets shorter when you put the marbles in and finish it. I constantly moved the weight up, and I kept an eye on the knitting to make sure the main bed needles were knitting off okay. I quickly learned tht with steady weight on all the stitches, it knits off smoothly. The knitting went very quickly, but it will take you longer if you chang colors manually instead of using self-striping yarn. You'd have ends to hide then, too.

When it was long enough, I took it off by cutting the thread, threading a needle, and running the thread through first the knit stitches and then the ribber (purl) stitches. I knew I'd be drawing it up to close the tube later.

Now for the tedious part: You gather the bottom of the tube with a needle. Poke a marble in, slide it to the bottom. Take the gold thread, thread the needle, run it through the stitches where the color changes above the marble, tighten it, wrap around and around (I used 2 strands and 12 wraps), then tie the thread, hide the ends, and cut the gold thread. I used several back stitches to hide the ends. As I mentioned earlier, my very thin cold thread was a pain, breaking frequently and curling if stretched. Not sure I'll use it again for this purpose.

I poked in marbles one by one, used the gold thread to gather the tube above them, then wrapped with the gold thread. When I got to the last marble (a few hours later), I gathered the stitches and used the beginning and ending yarn ends to sew the first and last "beads" together. Then I did my usual winding with gold thread.

And here's a closeup. I think this would make a charming gift, especially if the wearer is a knitter! And, it was made from things I had on hand, except for the marbles.

Bond Yarn Grabbers Demonstrated at Alex's Site

2011-12-04T08:28:00.000-06:00

Alex has a clear video showing the operation of the Bond yarn grabbers. I have never seen these before, and I'm on my second Bond:

http://alexsmachineknitting.blogspot.com/2011/12/bond-yarn-grabbers.html

I enjoy Alex's site. He is quite a prolific, talented knitter, and he shares a lot of information. You might want to add him to your followed blogs.

December 4, Luke 4

2011-12-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 4

A Little Knitting

2011-12-03T10:13:00.000-06:00

I am still plugging away on the shaped Entrelac project. I'm not going very fast. It's holiday season, and there's a lot of other activity.

While I would love to stop experimenting and chart all the sweaters already, I'll know when the technique is good enough. I want knitters working from my patterns to feel that the sweaters are superb, and well worth the work. I don't want them to turn into dreaded UFOs (unfinished objects).

These are somewhat time-consuming by machine knitting standards; each trip around the yoke with a new color takes me about 30 minutes. Of course, I still think it's addictive to work on and see how the Entrelac forms with each round. I sit there, happily listening to my Kindle, as I make the blocks. They don't require tedious concentration; I can listen to a cute story and knock 'em out.

This is an adult-sized yoke, and the new transition technique has enough stitches around the bottom to allow me to pick up stitches and knit the sleeves and body upside-down.

Changing the knitting sequence to rehanging stitches and making the body later is a real improvement, in my opinion. I have been making fair isle round yoke MK sweaters for years using the Joyce Schneider method of rehanging, and I like it. The yoke job takes the most time, and you can even have some yokes done for future use (the yoke size doesn't change much between sizes). Secondly, if the person is a difficult fit, you could put the body on, baste, and try it on. As long as you leave the waste yarn on, a second try is possible.

I have also changed the yoke slightly, modifying the bottom triangles to get a shorter, more typical Entrelac angle to the top of the triangle (but keep my transition to accommodate the much narrow gauge of the stockinette in the rest of the sweater). Here's a picture where I've held the waste yarn down and put my camera into macro mode so you can see the improved shape of those triangles.

Thisyarn (Vanna's Choice) is still an inexpensive, readily available one, but it has a lot more spring and bounce than the Caron, and it like the way it makes the Entrelac texture stand out. These bulky gauge ones are thick and warm anyway, so why not have as much dimension as possible? I chose this soft rose/ivory/mouse brown color scheme for a lady's sweater. The soft rose is a gentle surprise to keep the sweater from being boring, and the rest of this sweater is going to be the dark brown.

The neckband pulls in a tremendous amount. Again, it's that transition from wide Entrelac to very narrow ribbing. I tried a looser neck ribbing tension on this one, and it goes over the head okay, but I will do a slightly bigger neck for the pattern books.

December 3, Luke 3

2011-12-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

Luke Chapter 3

December 2, Luke 2

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

Today, it's Luke Chapter 2.

December 1, Luke 1

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

It's that Christmas challenge for me again, reading a chapter of Luke each day until Christmas.

Luke 1

Beautiful Scarf at Machine Knitting Fun

2011-11-30T22:01:00.002-06:00

Isn't this fun!

http://machineknittingfun.blogspot.com/2011/11/day-3-of-completion-challenge.html

Hello, December!

2011-11-29T20:08:00.001-06:00

Great Idea at Machine Knitting Fun: Lynne has a wonderful challenge for this December: 25 Days of Completion.

Each day for 25 days, she's challenging herself to work toward completing knitting projects. What a great idea! She mentions that she'd rather knit than finish, and this will lead her toward doing some finishing. And she already has a couple of great project posts on her way to 25. Go see her terrific wreath and her hats at http://machineknittingfun.blogspot.com/

Let's Knit This Month: At the last couple seminars I worked, I got on my soapbox about the importance of actually knitting. It's easy for us to talk about knitting, shop for knitting stuff, lust after one more machine, collect machines, and flip through knitting magazines, and somehow all that can get in the way of sitting down and actually knitting! I like to knit a little every day. In the evening after work, I often knit for just a half hour or so.

I come home not wanting to think too hard, so it helps me if I have some knitting already worked out and ready to do.

Let's break the habit of just talking about our hobbies or collecting supplies for our hobbies and yet not actually doing our hobbies!

Doing it Again: Last year, I had just read a book about having a more meaningful holiday season, and took an idea out of the book - read a chapter of Luke each day from December 1 to December 25. I ran a reminder on the blog each of the first 25 days of December along with a link to the passage from Bible Gateway. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have adopted it as a new December ritual that really helps center me during the holiday rush.

Blockhead

2011-11-28T21:04:00.000-06:00

John and I have been kidding around about a name for the Entrelac book that I am currently preparing. Obviously, the title should include the word "Entrelac," because that's what the book is about. I don't particularly want to call it "Shaped Entrelac" or "Round Entrelac Yoke Sweaters" because that's not very whimsical. I want a fun name.

I got a fair amount of teasing from John and Steven this weekend for being so obsessed with the projects. This is about as bad as I get. Last time I knitted and re-knitted and re-re-knitted projects, over and over, just to get each one a little better, was the Goldilocks Challenge book, when I was determined to get the absolute most out of a non-patterning USM.

Here's the latest test - a purple sweater (it looks blue on my monitor, but it really is Very Purple, thank you.) I keep thinking of some way or other that the round yokes would be just a little better. Then I change the patterns and try again. Obsessed, crazed, perseverating behavior. Good thing I'm not a homicidal maniac, because I would be relentless. We are talking about calling the book "Entrelac Obsession." I think "Blockhead" is more like it, with these little block shapes haunting my dreams, but John has vetoed that idea. Still, if the cube fits the head...

I did have a breakthrough this weekend. Over the years, I have been disappointed in transitions in garment patterns between plain stockinette and Entrelac. Entrelac makes an extremely wide gauge compared to stockinette. Typically, you get such an ugly transition that you have to hide it inside a seam or cover it with a trim.

I wanted my transition from the stockinette body to the blocky Entrelac yoke to be smooth. I wanted it almost invisible, so smooth that even if I didn't use a contrasting color at the beginning of the round yoke but kept right on going with the same color for a zigzag effect, the way I did on the purple sweater, the body stitches would run right up to the blocks without any obvious adjustment in the number of stitches. Here's an unabashed closeup of the purple yoke detail, showing the new transition idea. It really does make a nice difference.

And, with this transition, you could knit the yoke and then rehang it and knit the sweater pieces downward. With this yoke, there is one stitch at the bottom of the circle for each stitch in the body of the sweater.

Shaped Entrelac - Shaping Up!

2011-11-27T19:07:00.000-06:00

This is my crayon-colored red, purple and variegated child's sweater with the shaped Enrelac yoke. I thought it would be fun to take a photo after each major step.

On my monitor, the purple is looking blue, but it really is a rich, bright plum, not a blue.

Note that the sweater, before applying the yoke, has a gentle curve to the top of the front and back.

Ask Diana: How Can I Short-Row on a USM?

2011-11-26T08:04:00.001-06:00

When I do short rows, when doing the automatic wrap techinque, the machine tends to drop the first stitch. How can I avoid this?

Me, too. I had the most terrible time getting the USM to short-row properly! I puzzled over it, did web searches, and even phone the Bond help line. The help line person suggested I remove the foam that acts as a sort of sponge bar to the needles wouldn't pop up so much, but I absolutely could not stand the USM without that foam.

If I was going to write The Goldilocks Challenge and get people who never machine knitted before to go buy a USM, and then I promised to give them absolutely excellent, beautiful patterns so they could be proud of their work, then I had to have a work-around for the short-rowing dilemma.

So, I experimented with a number of ideas, and here's what I came up with: Bring 2 needles into hold instead of one, hand-knit through the second needle and put it back in hold, and then knit across. That way the first needle is knitted before you start across and it is holding the yarn down so the next needle will knit. After knitting across, you can put that needle back in work.

Ask Diana: About Crochet Edges & Mock Seed Stitch

2011-11-25T07:50:00.001-06:00

Another good question:

I want to make a baby blanket, and I just watched a video of a bind off that leaves holes so you can crochet an edge later. How do I make the same edge when I first put the yarn on the machine so it matches at the other end of the project when I cast it off that way ? Also, do you have a good video for a Mock seed stitch with the LK 150 ? I like the look of that and thought it would be a good blanket idea since I am new to this.

If you're going to crochet, don't bother to cast off, just begin and end on waste yarn and make sure you crochet in every stitch before removing the waste yarn. It's very easy to crochet through every stitch, and your edging options are endless. Here's a video about this.

I don't have a video on mock seed stitch, though. I also like the looks of this stitch, too! Generally this is done with a double-birdseye pattern where the second and fourth needle tuck two rows and then then first and third needle tuck two rows. Use plenty of weight. If you have to hand-pick needles, that might be a fairly slow blanket. Here's a diagram of the stitch - keep in mind that the white blocks are the stitches that tuck:

You might enjoy the Circular Swirl Baby Blanket - no patterning required for a really eye-catching blanket. This particular blanket has been popular with LK150 knitters!

Ask Diana: Most helpful items to use with USM?

2011-11-24T20:00:00.003-06:00

I got another good question the other day:

Hello Diana! I am planning on ordering the USM and could you use some help knowing the essentials i need to buy with it, some of these items are like claw waits as i think they are called and close pins. Could you supply me with a list of necessary items that would be helpful and make my knitting experience with the USM better/easier? If you could do this then that would help me greatly, thank you so much!

The thing I most wish were supplied with the Ultimate Sweater Machine is a supply of weights. I prefer machine knitting claw weights, but they aren't the only option. You can also improvise weights. My favorite method is to purchase fishing weights at the sporting goods store. Hubby was drilling a hole in a fork, bending tines, and attaching a big fishing weight, which works fine, but look what Carla did for easy weights for her USM - she hung fishing weights with a bent paper clip.

I make a cast-on rag and use that most of the time with the USM. You will quickly wear out its plastic cast-on device, if you're a prolific knitter. Besides, the cast-on rag works whether you have just a few stitches or knitting all across the bed.
I buy a spool of Omega nylon cord from Hobby Lobby, which I use for ravel cord. It doesn't cost much and is awesome.

You can get extra elastic for the cast-on at the sewing store, but you probably won't need to. I prefer to knit my own cast-on rag.

I do like the USM intarsia carriage.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2011-11-24T07:39:00.000-06:00