Alex's Santa Vest Project

This is such a cute gift for a young nephew:

http://alexsmachineknitting.blogspot.com/2011/10/finished-finally.html

Video of LK150 Doing Intarsia

Here's a nice video from fixthissite showing how intarsia is done on the LK150:

Alex's Version of Goldilocks Scarf & Mittens

Check out Alex's gift projects at his wonderful blog:

http://alexsmachineknitting.blogspot.com/2011/10/knitting-for-holidays-already.html

Dallas Ft. Worth Seminar

Barbara and I spent the day at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Seminar!  We have finally figured out that if we put the El Fenix restaurant, which is on the same parking lot but facing a different street, into the GPS unit instead of Stacy's Furniture, we can navigate to the place.  This should end our tradition of wrong turns as we try to find Stacy's.

It's a nice-sized crowd, about 25 knitters. and the teacher is Carole of Carole's Country Knits and Rocking Horse Farm, near St. Cloud, Minnesota.  Carol's home page is Rocking Horse Farm and they have pretty much a full-service knitting machine dealership.

We were obviously delighted to find books, yarn and tools for sale. 

Barbara, Rose, Mary and I from Austin were so happy to see all our DFW buddies!  There really is something special about the camaraderie among knitters.  I got Carole's permission to blog about her and proceeded to take copious notes.  What a wonderful day!  Those of you who don't attend seminars are missing out.  It's even worth it if you have to travel.  Barbara and I drove about four hours last night to come to this one, and we're having a fantastic time.

Photo is a pretty red hat made on the Passap that is one of Carole's samples.

Carole's first demonstration segment was all about tuck stitch.  Carole has a whole series of scarves, tops, vests, shawls and sweaters utilizing a very pretty single bed tuck technique, complete with a little scalloped edge that stays pretty even after washing.  Of course, I had to buy that book, Versatility Tuck, and Barbara had to get one, too.  A lot of Carole's things have simple shaping and yet are very wearable and classy.

Pictured:  A delicate tucked cap-sleeve sweater in lavender.

Carole is a warm, genuine, funny, practical down-to -earth demonstrator who gives a lot of interesting tips.  She knits items to sell, and has some good ideas about that business; in addition, she has lots of machine tips to share.  She gave us great handouts - a folder of goodies for everyone - and she explains how things were made in some detail. 

We had a wonderful potluck lunch and lots of fellowship.

After lunch, Carole showed us some socks she knitted.  She likes to knit them flat and put a seam along the inside of each foot.  Carole knits her heels and toes a little tigher than the rest of the sock.  Here's a typical Carole tip:  if you can break the yarn with your hands, it's probably not going to wear well unless you add something to it to reinforce it. 

Carol demonstrated her Infinity Scarf with ribbed edges.  She demonstrated her yoked shadow-lace skirts, and I especially found her blocking procedure interesting.  She demonstrated a nifty wriggle-lace vest, and showed us a great many more samples of fun things to knit.  My favorite afternoon session was her discussion of how to take care of a garter carriage so it will hold up for a long time.

Here's a closeup of Carole's tuck stitch knitting - check out that scalloped edge -

When you go to seminar, you get to see the other knitters' pretty garments - check out Linda's beautiful coat (with an amazingly perfect set-in zipper).  She did Kool-Aid dyeing to make the yellow/orange/red yarn!

We had seminar until about 5 p.m., then Barbara and I met my son and his fiance (my son lives in Richardson, so I always try to see him when I'm in Dallas for any reason) and we had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden. 

I'll put up more pictures tomorrow!  The slow internet connection at the hotel is challenging my patience.

Goodies for Our Troops - Please Help, and Kudos to Laura

My colleague Laura wanted to help out with our "knit for the troops" project, where we send a little love and warmth to guys and gals being deployed to Afghanistan from Fort Hood, Texas.  Laura doesn't knit, but you don't have to knit to help!  Look what Laura made:

Laura sews and crafts, and these are thick fleece scarves that she made with a rotary cutter!  The edges are lovely, and they won't fray because fleece is knitted.  I wrinkled them up on my desk at work to try to show how long they are in the photo.  They're about 60" long (5 feet), but sometimes she makes them 72" long.  It just depends on what she can find.

The blue one was made from 60" yardage.  Laura says she got 5 scarves out of a yard of fabric, cuttiing so the 60" is the length of the scarf.  (If you frequent fabric stores, sometimes you can find wonderful remnants, too.)  After she cut the blue scarves, she used the rotary cutter to make the fringe.

The pink scarf was made from a throw she found on sale around Valentine's Day.  It was already die cut along opposite ends with the cute scallops and tiny hearts, and with the size of the throw, she was able to make 7 scarves.

And here's Laura, modeling the scarves she made for the troops!  I think in the photo with Laura, you get a better idea how thick and cushy the scarves are.

Video about my mid-gauge model

This excellent YouTube video by thewoolendiva is absolutely my favorite explanation of this very unusual mid-gauge machine.  I have one of these, and used it for the Entrelac child's hat in pink:

http://youtu.be/CDn0aJa6wzc

I bought this little machine so I'd have a midgauge handy, and it can go with us to seminars for use in a hotel room, as well!

Ways to Improve Your Knitting - Get the most out of the upper tension unit!

Yep, I'm talking about that rabbit-ear thing.

Machines that have a proper upper tension unit are much easier to use than the ones that need the yarn hand-fed or only have a short post and eye to hold the yarn.

Imagine trying to sew without the tensioning device that approaches the needle.  It would be a disaster, wouldn't it?  I don't know about you, but my machine has been threaded wrong a few times, and having poor tension on the incoming thread makes the job impossible.

Your knitting machine's upper tension unit has a very similar function to the tensioning device in the treading area above a sewing machine's needle.  It has the following important jobs:

• Hold the yarn up high enough so that the yarn travels a long way from the cone or ball.  This distance helps the yarn to feed well. 
• Feed the yarn through a pressure dial to apply a little even tension to the yarn.  These are the little tension wheels at the base of the rabbit ears (take-up springs).  You can tighten or loosen the tension here.
• Provide an device to apply some wax to the yarn.  (I use wax to knit most of the time.  I cut up candles and make my own disks.  'Nother blog post, 'nother day.)
• Feed the yarn through the take-up spring, which swoops down as you pull the carriage across and pops up at the end of the row.  That popping up is critical - it helps to avoid the dreaded edge loops!

Okay, so I exaggerated - edge loops aren't exactly the black plague, but they aren't fun, either.  I get lots of emails about miserable edge-looping problems.  Once you have looseness at the side of the knitting, you've got yarn catching on the brushes and getting tangled up, you've got dropped stitches and all sorts of frustration. 

So, what can you do to make your upper tension unit work better?

• Observe the yarn traveling through the unit.  Tighten the tension enough so that the take-up springs (previously disrespectfully referred to as "rabbit ears") have a little tension on them, but not so much that the yarn doesn't feed smoothly.
• Consider replacing your take-up springs.  I have replaced mine when they lost their bounce, and the difference in the functioning of the machine was just wonderful.  As knitting machine parts go, the cost wasn't terrible.  Check with a dealer about getting new springs. 
• Clean out yarn fuzzies that get caught in the springs or tension unit.
• Use yarn in cones or rewind your yarn properly.  To me, it's done right if there is virtually NO tension on the yarn when you lift some out of the ball.  It also means that I am careful to not wind knots into the ball - I untangle anything that needs untangled as I wind, and I cut the yarn if I get to a manufacturer's knot.
• Do use wax.  Almost all the time!  I put the yarn in place first, so it runs over the wax holder, then set the wax on top.  The wax ring rotates as the yarn goes over it and applies a little wax as you knit.

Well!  I'm off to pack for the DFW seminar.  I'm so looking forward to the weekend, to seeing my friends, to seeing a teacher I haven't seen before.  My girlfriend and I are leaving right after work tomorrow, so I need to be completely ready tonight.  The girls will have fun, and our hubbies will probably eat pizza.

Inspiration at Art Machines - Plated Hat

I like the very subtle color scheme of this hat.  The ribbed plating is just enough variation to look interesting.  In the past, when I've played with it, I thought it was funky-looking, but I was using yarns with too much contrast, i think.  Anna's is rather elegant. 

http://art-machines.blogspot.com/2011/10/plating-rib.html

Ways to Improve Your Knitting - Use a Better Table

Did you know that the wrong table or stand can cause you a lot of aggravation?

Here's what I look for in a machine knitting table or stand:

• Sturdy construction - forget about cheesy folding card tables, TV trays (horrors!), cheap ironing boards, etc.  You want something that will hold a heavy knitting machine plus weights and withstand  sideways forces.
• Skinny enough to hold clamps securely.  If you have to use a table that won't hold clamps, you can use rubbery non-slip shelf liner.  Lay a long strip under your machine.  However, for a machine you use often or for use with a ribber, you should clamp to the table.
• A way to put yarn on the floor.  Yarn feeds into the machine much better when you put it on the floor and let it have the extra dangling distance up to the machine.  Therefore, avoid tables that are up against a wall or so wide that the yarn has to be put on the table or slide a long ways across the top of the table.  (I've been rather crazed by the paint roller fad for circular sock knitting machines.  They mount a paint roller on their table and then let the yarn roll from the roller.  It tends to roll too far and add too much yarn, or it adds tension, and it's feeding from the top of the table, not the floor. I watch people knit with them, and they're constantly reaching out to fiddle with it.  What a nuisance!  I actually have my antique sock machine on a table with a big hole in the middle, through which yarn feeds.)
• Room for tools.  This isn't essential, but it certainly is helpful.  Metal stands often have brackets designed to hold the machine lid.  In addition to putting tools on the table, I often have a surface at the side where I put tools, as well.  I am partial to the inexpensive rolling units with drawers.

I am especially fond of stands that are designed to go from flat for main bed knitting to tilted for ribber work.

Adult Shaped Entrelac Hat

This was difficult to photograph, because it is curved (dome-shaped), and does not lie flat.  It fits quite well, and it looks nice.  I did not plan the colors, just used a self-striping worsted weight yarn, worked in circles and let the colors go wherever without any ending off of the yarn.  It looks light on my monitor, but it's really autumn colors with deep reds, greens and browns.  It's Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn."  It took less than one skein and was knitted on my Brother bulky.

This project took less than two evenings, working a couple hours each time.

Inspiration at Knit Flix

Check out the hand knit socks at Knit Flix.

Sunday - Shaped Entrelac Hat

I've been knitting Entrelac on my seldom-used mid-gauge, working out this hat shaped by making smaller and smaller Entrelac squares.  It took a little while to get the relationships right on the ribbing for a decent transition, and it took a while to get used to a different machine.  There is something hypnotic about Entrelac.  I can knit for hours and not realize time as gone by.  Of course, I'm listening to a book while I work. 



Sweaters for Penguins

Do ya wanna knit sweaters for penguins?

Warm and Soft...

Now y'all give ME advice, please?

I bought an embroidery machine.

Would those of you who do this hobby share your favorite tips? 

Finished Entrelac Round Yoke Sweater

Here's the forest green sweater, finished.

Cute Hand Knit Scarf Pattern at Rhythm of the Needles

Easy - here's one a beginner hand knitter:

http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.com/2011/10/wibble-wobble-scarf.html

And, a lovely yarn choice.

Sunday Afternoon Progress Report

Working on my prototype shaped Entrelac project.  Here it is, messy and no seams sewn yet, except for the joint between the Entrelac yoke and the body pieces. 

I worked out the neckline issues posed by the Entrelac, and now I've got the ribbed neckband attached and am quite happy with it.  It fits over the head just fine, and the ribbing is doubled, for a soft, warm stretchy band.

I expected the neckband to be more difficult than it was.

After that, I knitted two sleeves, which were also okay.  The back, however, was not good - I made a shaping error related to that challenging transition between the wide Entrelac gauge and the regular gauge. I redid it.  The front will be just like the back.

I plan to sew a trim over the edge of the yoke where it meets the stockinette stitch.  Because the Entrelac is slanted, wide, and textured, that's always a problem area.  I think a distinct edge will look nice there.

Even Prettier On

Whoa!  Look how nice this is - I linked to it before, but it wasn't on a model:

http://tathy-tricoecroche.blogspot.com/2011/10/bata-les-lis-blanc-by-tathy.html

Inspiration at Rhythm of the Needles

Nice, classic cardi - helps if you're skinny, though! Horizontal stripe alert...

http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.com/2011/10/paul-smith-cardigan-finished.html