Knit a Little Every Day

Machine Knitting Fun: Day 25 "25 Days of Diana"

Inspiration: Lovely Sweater at Marzipanknits

Marzipanknits: Machine Knit UFO morphing to FO

New Videos - Bulky Mittens (Ultimate Sweater Machine)

I finally got the mitten video finished!  This is a match-up for the scarf and hat made on the Ultimate Sweater Machine.  As you do this mitten, you will practice:

• The double e-wrap cast-on
• Latching up ribbing
• Decreases
• Increases
• Gathered cast-on for thumb
• Mattress stitch steams
• Latched trim

This is not a fancy or expensive machine, and yet, look what nice things we were able to make, and how quickly!

December 24, Luke 24

Here's Luke 24 for Christmas Eve.

Winding Yarn Before Knitting

I keep seeing discussions about rewinding yarn on the various lists, and thought I'd share some thoughts on rewinding yarn:

1.       Yarn fed into a knitting machine should not have any resistance at all until it goes through the tension mast; therefore, it should always be coned or rewound.  You can strip it (pull it out of the skeins and pile it loosely, in order, into a container), too, but you'd best use it right away.

2.       This is incredibly true with sock machines.  People who skip the rewinding step suffer with many more problems; some of them “get by,” but I like to be relaxed and confident as I work. 

3.       IMHO, cones are best, rewound second-best.  (Some circular sock knitters use paint rollers, and I consider them very unacceptable.)   Yarn feeds best from down on the floor, too, not up by the machine.  

4.       It takes extra time to wind yarn loosely enough.  I often wind my wool sock yarn twice, trying for an extremely loose “cake” of yarn. 

5.       I NEVER store a tightly wound ball of yarn.  If I ever receive a tightly-wound ball of yarn I rewind it more loosely right away.  It’s amazing how fast tight-winding can stretch and crush yarn so it loses its springy, fluffy attributes.

6.       I prefer freshly-wound yarn for knitting because as it sits around it become more “sticky,” tangled and difficult to feed.  We noticed in our shop that the longer skeins sat around, the more tangled they were when finally used.  Commercial skeins might have been wound a while ago in the factory, then handled as they were packed and shipped and unpacked, handled when picked up by customers and also handled each time we’d straighten the shelves.  Some ball shapes are more prone to tangling than others, as well.

7.       I’ve taken to using a jumbo yarn winder for even my small balls of yarn.  It’s not only fast, but the center core is bigger.   When you pull it off the winder, the yarn fills in the center which makes it looser.  

8.    I do often use "cakes" of yarn and pull from the center, but for really difficult yarn, I leave it on the winder core and pull from the outside.  

December 23, Luke 23

Luke 23 for today.

December 22, Luke 22

Here's Luke 22 for today.

Ultimate Sweater Machine: Videos, So Far

If you're an Ultimate Sweater Machine knitter, or a bulky knitter, you might like to be able to find all the USM videos quickly.

These are in the order you would probably want to knit them.

Intro to the USM

The scarf videos 

Photos of the scarves and various notes

Hat, to match scarf and written hat directions

Worsted Weight Tam on the Ultimate Sweater Machine

Cast-On Rag on USM

December 21, Luke 21

Here's Luke 21 for today.

Inspiration: Ozlorna's Knitting Blog: No Boring Bits Machine and Hand Knit Projects

Ozlorna's Knitting Blog: No Boring Bits Machine and Hand Knit Projects

I especially like the climbing vine project, in which she combined two machines with hand knitting to make a beautiful sweater.

Machine Knitting Fun: Day 21 "25 Days of Diana"

Machine Knitting Fun: Day 21 "25 Days of Diana"

December 20, Luke 20

Here's Luke 20 for today.

Raining Teddy Bears

Here's a very fun video of a local hockey team having a teddy bear drive for their childrens' hospital:

Machine Knitting Fun: Day 20 "25 Days of Diana"

Machine Knitting Fun: Day 20 "25 Days of Diana"

Adorable Childrens' Hats at Rett Og Vrang

rett og vrang: "Bamselua" i mange varianter, størrelser og farger

December 19, Luke 19

Here's Luke 19 for today.

Ribber Scarf & Tam Set - One More Colorway & Instructions

I think this is my last Patons Lace tam hat and scarf set.  The whole set, including a 6-foot scarf, only requires two balls - there are almost 400 yards on a ball.  Now that I've seen it knitted, this is my favorite "colorway."

To make this scarf, I modified a pattern in my Beautiful Ribber Scarves book to take it from a patterning bulky machine to a 965i.

Following the Cream Tuck Lace scarf pattern, convert to Stitch World 291 for the 965i to get that pattern chart (Stitch World numbers change from machine to machine).  Increase the stitches to 65 stitches, make sure racked into full pitch and zeroes lined up, 1x1 rib, end needles on ribber, 4 rows for edge, T4.  Then the pattern starts by putting selected stitches from the ribber to the main bed: L6, 12, 18, 24, and R1, 7, 13, 19, and 25.  Do selection row, T6, then set for Tuck. Knit 650 rows, end with 4 rows 1x1 ribbing T4 and bind off.

Your machine's ribber, your most-expensive accessory with its complete needle bed, might sit unused because of the effort required for mastery.  The ribber is ideal, though, if you've got to do some "production" knitting, that is, a lot of items for charity, for gifts, or for sale!  Your ribber makes thick, fluffy, fancy things that lie flat, and you'll save so much time in finishing that it's well worth investing time in mastering the ribber.  For instance, the only finishing required for this scarf is binding off and a light steaming to eliminate curl.

I am so passionate about persuading people to master the ribber that I've filmed an entire free ribber course, here.

Teaching Teens to Machine Knit

A fantastic post over at Machine Knitting Fun.  Here's what we REALLY need to do to popularize machine knitting!

Machine Knitting Fun: Evil Plan Times 5

Machine Knitting Fun: Day 19 "25 Days of Diana"

Machine Knitting Fun: Day 19 "25 Days of Diana"

December 18, Luke 18

Here's Luke 18 for today.