Marg's Bias Ripple Afghan

Very interesting - check this out!

http://margsknittingplace.blogspot.com/2013/05/bias-ripple-afghan-finally-done-with.html

Inspiration at Yet Another Canadian Artisan

Love the doll clothes out of self-striping yarn!

http://cutlermac.wordpress.com/

Come to Seminar!

I spoke with Karen Saunders today, and she said that there is still some space at the Mahoning Valley Machine Knitting Seminar in Canfield, Ohio, September 21.

Here's the information, cut and pasted from their flyer:

Mahoning Valley Machine Knitters Proudly Present

Diana Sullivan

Diana Sullivan can be found on YouTube and her blog address is diananatters.blogspot.com.
   

We are so very excited to have Diana demonstrate machine knitting and we hope you will attend our seminar.
 

     Where:  Rotary Community Building at 320 Oak Street in Canfield, OH 44406 

     When:  Saturday, September 21, 2013  

     Time:  9:00 – 4:00 with registration from 8:00 a.m. -9:00 a.m. 

     Cost: $35.00 and this includes a wonderful hot lunch! 

     Questions or concerns:  Please leave a message for Judy Locklear at 330.679.2432 or Karen         Saunders at 330.301.0662 or Betty Leskovac at bleskova@zoominternet.net 
 

Please return the bottom portion with payment. *************************************************************************************

 Mail registration by Sept. 13, 2013 and a $35.00 check c/o:

 Louise May      550 Ohio Ave., Apt. 101 McDonald, OH  44437-1857 

   
    Name:

    Phone number:

    E-mail:                                              

    Phone: 

    E-mail address:

    Amount due:  $35.00
 

 

If you haven't attended a knitting seminar, here's an excellent opportunity to try one.  I'm fairly certain you'll like the handouts and information, which I have planned to be useful with a wide variety of machines and include quite a few patterns and techniques.  This seminar is so inexpensive, especially if you're within driving distance, that it's worth it just to get acquainted with other MKers! 

While there are some spaces left, get your registration over to Louise. I hope to see you there!

Inspiration at Machine Knitting Fun

I call it "wriggle lace."  A very cute top, wonderful color and fit:

http://machineknittingfun.blogspot.com/2013/07/very-berry-ripple-top.html

Interesting Curling Edge Fix

Hmmm...I haven't tried this.  What do you think?

http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2013/07/tame-those-curling-edges.html

Monroe Machine Knitting Seminar

I just got back yesterday from the Monroe, Michigan Machine Knitting Seminar.  I had a wonderful time and I really believe the attendees did, too.

My sweetie John and I arrived midday on Thursday and were treated to lunch by Cathy and Larry, our organizers (along with their friend Chris, who was busy working while they picked us up from the airport).  We had a chance to set our classroom up the day before, always nice, and John and I had it put together in nothing flat.  Such luxury!  A college room with comfy student chairs and professional sound and video!  We had brought one suitcase of clothing and personal items and three big suitcases with books, DVDs, and many, many samples.

We met Frank and Cathie Sanders, who were in the next classroom over and were setting up her things.  They had driven to the seminar, and were setting up their classroom, which looked great with Cathie's gorgeous knits.  In addition, Frank, who repairs machines, had set up shop and fixed quite a bit of equipment for folks who would otherwise have to ship their machines for repair. 

At some point we got another ride from Chris to the Quality Inn, where we had a comfortable room. We'd already met some knitters who were there for the seminar, and six of us headed to Cracker Barrel for supper.  When we got there, Frank and Cathie were already there, so we pulled some tables together, feasted and talked knitting.

When we got back to the hotel, another group of knitters had gathered in the lobby to socialize.  We joined in the fun, and as tired as we were, I hated to leave.  Knitters simply tend to click, to enjoy each other, but after gabbing and laughing we decided we better sleep.

The morning program began with a meeting in a big room with tables, announcements and the like, then we went to class, where I tried to get as much done as possible from the beginning of my handouts.  We got the hang of the camera and lights, and by the end of the seminar, I firmly believe that the participants could see the knitting needles better than I could!  I announced that I had my new book for sale, and John promptly sold all we had with us.  We had to ship two more after we got back.  It's a book of tips, and I'll do another post in a few days and offer it on the blog.  It's kind of large and heavy to ship, weighing in at 109 pages, so we may charge more for shipping and cut you a deal if you don't mind "media mail" or order two items or more.  But I digress...I am happy with the new book, but never am sure whether people actually want whatever new book I've produced.

We took morning break, with homemade cookies and beverages served. I was dieting, and Cathy and Larry went out of their way to accommodate me.  In fact, I observed how hard they work to make the seminar a great experience for everyone, whether you need vegan food, or have allergies, or need to sit close, or want to be in the group with your buddies!  We got back in the room and I promised to knit fast and talk faster, again doing as much as I could.  I was rippin' through my best garter bar tricks, best cast-offs, the sew-as-you-go tam and lined slipper, and didn't get to Entrelac. The knitters were split into two groups, and in the afternoon, I taught the same things to the second group.  This way, everyone gets to attend every topic.

We went to Cathy's mom's house for pizza and relaxation with Frank, Cathie, Cathy, Larry, and Chris, and they had a salad for me.  I had such a good time getting to know everyone. 

On day two, I attacked the standard gauge machine, talking and knitting quickly again, but we really couldn't get through all the curriculum.  Cathie couldn't get through everything she handed out, either.  Frank did a class on cleaning your Brother, and my John slipped out and attended that, bringing me back a copy of Frank's book on that subject. 

You always try to put more in the handouts than you can do, and that happened this time.  I believe knitters can generally follow my very detailed handouts.  We also gave out my relatively new bonus disk with a lot of recent demos to all our customers.  We met some amazing people, and we saw a number of familiar faces from previous seminars.  We did quite an assortment of things, including the Entrelac I'd skipped.  I knew I couldn't do it all, so I asked my class, and Entrelac prevailed.

Lunches during Monroe seminar were wonderful.  Aside from the terrific chef, there was a cone of yarn for everyone - what a way to set the table!  Then there were lots of door prizes, an amazing lunch, introductions and chatter.  I loved some of the knits people were wearing.  It was terribly hard for everyone to stop having so much fun and concentrate, but this group certainly does it, and we had a great second day.

Attendance was terrific.  We had a whole contingent from Canada who had not attended before, and other knitters as well. 

I had shared that John is using up all his vacation days, and Chris approached me to offer to help me in Ohio in September.  Chris and Cathy are both coming, they'll help me so I can focus 100% on teaching and getting to know knitters, and we'll have a lot of fun.  You see, they work so hard putting on this Monroe seminar that they don't get to attend any of the classes.
 
Are you attending seminars?  You would be very happily surprised at the reasonable cost, the friendly and helpful seminar culture, the fun, and the volume of information you can pick up, not just by listening to teachers, but by visiting with the other knitters.  I hope you'll consider attending the Ohio and North Carolina seminars I'm doing in September and October, and I hope you'll do some web searches and look into the other wonderful seminars happening around the country.  I didn't realize how many great opportunities are around. 


I didn't take pictures, but I already have a couple generously forwarded to me by attendees.  Here's a picture of Barbara, myself, and Leola - they were among the Knitting Paradise Canadian contingent. 

Next picture:  Joan from Flint had already made a pair of the no-sew lined slippers by the time I got home from the airport.  It's very exciting to see someone dive right in and make a project right after seminar.

Well, gotta run.  I'm emailing a person I met at the seminar who has found a source for mylar for the Knit Leader.  We've received new information from Richard Croucher (Anne's Richard in England) about the 970 CB backlight, and John's already done quite a bit of research and ordered a first sample replacement light panel so he can try a repair; I'm trying out some different sponge bars Tom Panciarello told me about, and will report; I found some other wonderful tools and will report.  I'm obviously behind on my blogging, but will try and get busy. 

The News

After a spell of not blogging much, I've got a lot going on knitting-wise again now. I was out of action because I had two trips back to back, the Baltimore seminar and then a CPA meeting in Las Vegas. A week after that, I picked up a very nasty head cold and just didn't get much done for at least a week. Here's my latest knitting news:

Monroe Machine Knitting Seminar (Michigan) is THIS COMING WEEKEND, so I am literally packing my bags with a very few personal items and then gobs and gobs of knitted samples, books and DVDs! John is coming with me, and I'm teaching two days at a very nice environment at a college. We'll have a sound and video system, the organizer is fantastic, and I understand the food is absolutely delicious (including homemade cookies). There's another machine knitting teacher, as well, with classes arranged so you get each of us for a full day. It's two days of inspiration and information at a very low price. I don't know if the seminar is accepting any more enrollees, but if you're interested, email Cathy at monroeknitseminar@att.net right away.

Diana's new book:  Okay, I have mentioned that I have a new book, and yes, I actually do.  The title is "100 Ways to Improve Your Machine Knitting" and subtitle, "Get more knitting done, while having more fun!"  This one is all narrative, with no DVD, and is a big compilation of tips and basics.  It has taken a long time to write all those essays, add photos and diagrams and proofread it.  John's proofing today was incredibly meticulous, making every effort to catch every mistake, which isn't quite possible, but certainly worth the effort.  We're printing some copies this week and will offer the item for sale at the upcoming seminar, then next week (hopefully) here at the blog. 

Joan's Entrelac Hat

Joan, who attended the seminar in Sandy Springs Maryland last month, sent me a wonderful picture of the Entrelac hat she made, from my book, "Wear Your Diamonds."

5-Stitch Full Fashioned Decreases at Anna's Site

So you don't speak Russian?  Neither do I, but you'll enjoy Anna's video where she's doing a sleeve cap and putting in wide full-fashioned decreases to very good effect:

http://www.art-machines.ru/2013/07/blog-post_5.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ArtMachines+%28Art+Machines%29

New Video Today - Vertical Buttonholes

Look what my neighbor and I did to an Estee Lauder tote!

This evening, my neighbor Teresa came over.  Our kids grew up together, and her older daughter Victoria is in San Francisco doing her medical internship.  Teresa wanted me to help her mend a couple of sundresses for Vicki to wear when she's here (it's so, so hot here in the summer).  Teresa, who is a pharmacist and interested in absolutely everything, is a fun, enthusiastic lady.  She doesn't have a sewing machine and does whatever mending she has by hand.

After we fixed the sundresses she went home and got a very cute hot pink. orange and white Estee Lauder tote (brighter than is showing up in the pix).  She'd gone to the fabric store and purchased a zipper to install along the top to make it more useful for Vicki.  Teresa matched the colors perfectly, and the fabric store clerk suggested she install the zipper by hand, and Teresa was wondering what I thought because I had told her the Bernina sews through heavier fabrics well.

The tote is a very firm fabric, and this was actually an easy job once I got it started.  Finally, I pulled a piece of ribbon through the skimpy little zipper pull to make it easier to grab.  After stitching it down all the way around along the original tote topstitching, I topstitched again on the bottom edge of the zipper tape to keep it down against the lining.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out that I took a couple of pictures:

Happy 4th of July

John and I did some sightseeing in Baltimore when we were there for the last seminar.  We learned about the 15-star flag, which flew over Ft. McHenry in 1814.  After invading Washington and burning the White House, the British sent warships into the Chesapeake and shelled Baltimore. The warships stayed back about 2 miles from Ft. McHenry to stay out of the fort's cannon range, and after 25 hours of pounding Baltimore, withdrew. 

Frances Scott Key was held on a British ship, and after observing the attack and then seeing that the enormous 15-star flag at the fort was flying in the morning (each stripe was 2 feet tall, and could be seen far across the water), wrote a poem intended to be sung to a well-known tune.  Shortly afterward, it was given to the local newspaper.  The song spread across the country rapidly, became the national anthem, and we'll sing it again today.  This point in our history marked the Stars and Stripes becoming the symbol for America's "land of the free and home of the brave."

At Ft. McHenry, you can listen to ranger talks, look at interactive exhibits, listen to many versions of the song, watch flag ceremonies, and walk around in the earthen fort.  As we strolled, we could imagine how terrifying it must have been to know the capital city had burned and to be shelled by so many ships for such a long time, the soldiers wondering whether they'd survive, whether the fort would hold, and whether this was the end of the American venture.

Happy Fourth of July!  We're going to be grateful, picnic with friends and watch fireworks.  Hope you have a wonderful day, too!

Rita in Raleigh's Knitting Charity Hats

Have a look!

http://machine-knitting-in-raleigh.blogspot.com/

Las Vegas

If anyone is wondering why my blog is so quiet, well, I've been traveling again.  I came to Las Vegas to attend TSCPA's annual board meeting, and we've had a wonderful time.  Some of my friends headed home this afternoon, but a few of us don't leave until tomorrow.  The TSCPA has most of its meetings in Texas, but every year or two, they'll go out of state for a meeting. 

It's 121 degrees here, apparently a record-breaking heat wave!  I'm excited about getting to meet Tom P. who has been such a huge friend to machine knitting, and to me.  Tom lives here in Las Vegas, works at the airport and is working today, coping with the chaos that sizzling high temperatures cause for the airlines.  I hope none of the guys working on the tarmac get heatstroke. 

Tomorrow, we'll have lunch together, and once again, I'll get to meet someone terrific I've gotten to know in the knitting machine cyber community.

Tom has helped me with my work, giving me lots of great suggestions and feedback on "Wear Your Diamonds," and now he's reading through "100 Ways to Improve Your Machine Knitting."  I haven't made any progress with the book this last week or two, with the seminar last weekend, then work, then this trip.

I haven't been to Las Vegas in quite a few years, and never stayed at Caesar's Palace before.  My general impression riding here in a shuttle from the airport is that the strip has built up tremendously.  This hotel alone is the size of a small town.  Our meetings were held here.  This hotel has 4,000 rooms, and everything is so large that my friends and I were all complaining about sore feet.  Last night, we explored only part of a mall inside the hotel complex (in the "Forum"), walking and browsing for hours.  The shops contain absolute luxury goods, so expensive it's hard to imagine they can sell enough to keep the doors open.  Rolex watches for $30K, purses for $4K, leather jackets for $6K!   I did treat myself to an inexpensive, whimsical silver and glass frog necklace. 

One of my friends remarked this morning that this whole incredible complex (I wonder how many tons of marble was installed in this place) was built with money that people lost gambling.  She's right.  Of course, there's a whole other side to Vegas, ordinary neighborhoods, families, churches.  Maybe I can find a nice yarn shop.

Many of my CPA friends don't understand my knitting hobby at all, but some of the women find it interesting.  A very sweet friend said she is intrigued by it, would like to come along to a seminar sometime and help me, and she'd like for me to show her daughter a machine and how it works.  What I really ought to do is whip up some shawls for the lady accountants to wear in the chilly meeting rooms.  It doesn't matter where you have a conference, it's always cold in hotel meetings.  I was thinking about the electricity today - can you imagine what it takes to chill these unbelievably giant hotels in spite of the incredible heat?

Well, better run.  I promise some knitting-related posts soon.

The Northern Virginia Seminar Report

Wow!  This was a great one.  And, here's the blow-by-blow, which hopefully won't bore y'all.  I guess I'm so excited about the experience that I just need to debrief.

We flew to Baltimore Thursday evening.  We drove around a while in Baltimore figuring out the one-way streets and how to enter the hotel, which John had found and was only a block from the inner harbor area.  A friend told me to be sure and visit the waterfront and get some seafood.

On Friday morning, we wandered down to the visitors' center on the waterfront and asked what would be fun on our one-day check-out-Baltimore project.  They suggested a guided trolley tour and a speedboat ride in the bay.  On the tour, a nice, long route with lots of fascinating history and highlights of the town, we were lucky to have an excellent guide.  The speedboat, on the other hand, was all about making us laugh and getting us wet!

We drove to Diana's house (our hostess) pretty well drenched, bedraggled and happy, and John and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with them that evening.  The Guenthers have three terrific teenagers, Richard is our kind of guy (a Scoutmaster getting ready for camp), and their adorable but rather humongous dog Anna was a treat, too.  Diana fed us a wonderful meal and put us up in comfort. 

On Saturday, we made a good, early start, but when we arrived at the museum where the seminar was going to be held, we encountered a delay getting into the building.  We started just a little late, and I simply started teaching while my John and a couple club members finished setting up.  In typical knit seminar fashion, we had an incredible potluck lunch and then dove in again.  On Saturday, I did everything on a bulky machine with a camera and projector rig so folks could see.  I had a big handout book and was determined to finish all the demos I planned for Saturday so we could get through everything Sunday.  I taught some cast-ons, cast-offs, increases, decreases, gauge adjustments, garter bar flips and stitches, fancy garter bar work, edgings, floatless vertical fair isle, laid cables, and some cute projects.

In addition to having lots of demos to work through, we also had a dealer offering many of the essential machine knitting supplies on Saturday.  This was quite a blessing for folks who came a long way and needed sponge bars, hand tools, mylar sheets, and the like. 

Saturday night, we  consumed some amazing chicken that I believe Georgia prepared.  We had been  able to leave things in the museum room for Sunday morning. 

I felt nervous Sunday morning about whether I could work through all the more complicated stuff effectively in a single day.  We had a standard gauge with ribber set up, and started with scalloped lace edgings, mirror image lace, Enchanted Edgings, and then went on to ribber cast-ons and bind-offs, mitered ribbing, tucked ribbing, quilted ribbing, release stitch lace, bubble wrap stitch, ribber circular sock techniques, vertical buttonholes, set in sleeve technique, and other fun miscellany.  I actually got the sense that our group enjoyed the more difficult stuff on the second day and were rather energized.  Everyone was very appreciative of my stuffing gobs of information into the seminar.

I like putting the beginners right up front - behind me, if they want - and getting volunteers from the audience to try things.  This was a rather advanced group, as was San Diego, and I picked up some great ideas just listening to their discussion.

At seminars, you meet people who do many other interesting fiber arts like weaving and dyeing.  Knitters, generally, are "kindred spirits" and every group is a treat.  The Maryland/Virginia/DC area has some incredibly dynamic fiber lover groups. I got a tip to visit a local yarn shop on Monday before we caught our plane.

Diana G. took John and I out to an Irish pub Sunday evening, where we consumed Fred Flinstone-sized platters of food and then took packages of desserts home.  After we got back to her house, she gave me a spinning lesson and a drop spindle and fleece care package.  Fun!  I seem quite clumsy with spinning, but the colors, textures, and the fascination of what happens to give us yarn captivated me.

We were sad to leave Diana's house Monday morning.  We drove to the yarn shop I'd wanted to visit, though, where John actually encouraged me to fill the empty spaces in my luggage, so I purchased some gorgeous mink-colored mohair, which I plan to use for a certain gift item, some lively teal mohair for me, and some really fun, bright sock yarn. 

After that, we toured Fort McHenry, where US soldiers in the War of 1812 held off the British navy, who bombarded the fort for 25 hours.  The sight of the stars and stripes the next morning inspired Frances Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner."   Next, off to the waterfront for more yummy seafood, and finally, we used our remaining time we visited a lighthouse museum.

I'll say it again:  if you get the chance to attend a machine knitting seminar, you ought to try to go!  Ladies carpool to these things, stay with friends, find fun things to do, and leave inspired. 

All Pumped About Northern Virginia Seminar

Tonight, I'm packing to go to the seminar in Northern Virginia.  Diana Guenther, the organizer, has told me that we have about 32 signed up.  The handouts are written, the samples and tools are tucked in the bags, and I'm very excited about the trip.

This may be my best handout book ever, as I keep adding goodies and not taking much out.  I put in lots of patterns and techniques, more than I can possibly cover in the two days...but you never know!  I managed to get through all my material in San Diego, and shocked myself.  It just depends on how advanced the group is, how well they manage their time, and whether they have special requests.

I also packed up my new 2013 Demos disk as a freebie for the seminar customers.  This was great fun to make - I simply picked out a bunch of fairly recent videos and compiled it.  I make my videos in high-def, then put them on YouTube, which makes them into smaller, less detailed files and shows them in a little window.  I took those original high-definition ones to make the disk, which will play nicely on a TV or a computer.

I have such cool projects in the works!  I won't have the new book with 100 tips to improve your machine knitting in time, as I am still photographing samples and making diagrams for that book.  I am also working on the hand knitting book again - I think I'll call it "Snowflakes" because it's a book of lacy and geometric round dishcloths, seamlessly grafted. 

I have some more hat ideas.  I don't know, maybe we'll have a hat book, and maybe not.  Because Knit Natters is doing hats for charity this year, I've got hats on the brain.  Hats on the brain is some sort of knitter's disorder, I'm sure. 

Weekend Updates

Knit Natters met yesterday, a small group, but we certainly had fun.  When summer sets in, attendance drops, just like any club, but we just keep on going faithfully.  I demoed the sew-as-you-go tam, and my friend Norma had seen it on the blog and said she had problems with the video.  I believe I have those problems fixed.  YouTube was giving me huge heartburn the day I put that up - it actually took five tries.  If it's still sending you to a different video, or not finishing the whole video, let me know, and I'll reload the stinker.

Barbara demonstrated a really cute scalloped edging on the Passap, which I think can be done on the Japanese machines.  Next time I go doodling around on my machine, I'll attempt it.  Barbara's Passap demos are fantastic.  Last month she showed us drop stitch lace as well as U100E lace.  Gorgeous.

We are still producing and bringing hats for charity.  The pile grows!  We started talking about our next Knit-In, probably in October.

Mary A. made a cupcake hat, which she presented to Carl.  Here's the background on this:  several years ago, when Carl, Barbara, John and I went to do my first seminar in Houston, we were clowning around on the trip home, and teasing Carl about being a tough guy.  Carl is a big man, a truck driver and a woodworker, and certainly LOOKS like he could be a tough guy, but I told him he's a cupcake.  He's a sweetie and pushover for his wife, kids, grandkids, and friends.  Pretty soon Barbara was calling him Cupcake, and now the knitting club is calling him Cupcake, too (he's always helping the club with things, including barbequing hamburgers for us when we have a knit-in).  Mr. Carl the Cupcake loves his Cupcake hat.  :)

By the way, the cupcake hat pattern is over at the DFW Machine Knitting Guild's website.

Before the meeting, Barbara and Sylvia had gone to a a craft fair at Tech Shop.  Tech Shop is a business (several locations at a few cities in the US) where you subscribe as a member and then can use their fantastic tool collection. It's mostly guy-candy like pro woodworking and machining tools, but they also have long-arm quilting machines (drool, drool...), professional sewing machines, and so forth. The club was checking it out, considering getting a booth and demonstrating KMs at a future fair, but the ladies were disappointed on their scouting mission.  There were herds of children banging nails into woodworking projects, behaving, but making an amazing amount of noise and sitting on the floor so they couldn't walk around and see things.  Hopefully, that's just a glitch and the next event will be different.  One thing our club doesn't do much is demonstrate KMs at events.  Several of us are willing, if we can find events.

 

Joe's Entrelac Throw

The technique is from my book, EZ Entrelac, and the blanket is big.  Joe previously send photos of a really cute baby blanket and set, using Entrelac and Fair Isle.

This new one is such a striking color scheme!  The variations in the repeat sequences add a lot of interest, as well.

 

Now, couldn't we make great stuff using this technique with scraps of worsted weight yarn? I can picture a neutral background and all sorts of colorful patches on the in-between rows. I don't even think you'd have to do the square-off triangles along all the edges; you could have ziggy edges and crochet or I-cord edge around everything.

Knit Natters - Tomorrow

Some club members are meeting at the Tech Shop Maker's Fair tomorrow around 10, then some are going to lunch.  At 1 we'll meet at Crystal Lake Baptist Church in Leander, as usual.  Of course, everyone is welcome, and we have plenty of space at the church.

I'm unlikely to make the fair or lunch, as I have to get some things done in the morning.

I don't know what Barbara's teaching, but she has a demonstration for the Passap.  I'm going to teach the sew-as-you-go version of my tam.  I've taught the tam before, but that was before I began routinely putting them together as I knit the tops.

Our club continues on its hats for its current charity project, and I'll bring some hats I made along.

New Video for June - Tam Take Two

I redid my original tam video, adding more titles with needle numbers and so forth, but most importantly, showing how to do it with sew-as-you-go joining of the hat to the ribbed band.



UPDATE:  Try clicking on the video now.  I think a settings change over at YouTube may have fixed the problem.