New Video This Afternoon

I recently worked up the "Introduction to Entrelac" video, trying to get people to try machine knitting Entrelac, and promoting my book of round yoke sweaters, Wear Your Diamonds. 
This technique looks a lot more difficult than it really is.  I got a number of emails from people who made the pillow, and were pleasantly surprised at how fun and easy it is.
I made a little pile of samples on my way to a simplified pillow that could be squeezed into YouTube format. I kept glancing at one sample, partially knitted from chocolate brown and ivory heather yarn, and wondering what it could become.  I finally realized that it would make a cute tote if I added some blocks to each side to build up triangles...kind of like a hobo handbag.  Then I edged it with idiot cord and knitted a little more cord for a handle. 
Here's my finished tote!  It took less than two balls of worsted weight yarn (one of each color).  Don't you think totes look cuter with some skeins of yarn peeking out?
This tote uses the technique in Wear Your Diamonds, the circular (seamless tube) method that uses waste yarn. 
If you have made projects from Wear Your Diamonds, or if you've made the little pillow from YouTube, you're all set with just this short video showing the finish-up.  However, if you need those first videos showing how to make the pillow, click here.

And here's the new video:

NEW - Diana's Shaped Entrelac Book "Wear Your Diamonds"

Lots of machine knitters have realized that Entrelac is easy to do on the machine.  All you need is a sensible, straightforward method and you're off and running.  In fact, Entrelac is habit-forming!

If you love round yoke pullovers, this book is for you.  The round yokes are shaped Entrelac, easily made by changing the size of the blocks.  They are knitted using a seamless technique and waste yarn.  The only triangles you have to do are at the top and bottom of the yoke.  For most of the yoke, you only have to deal with a few needles in the center of the machine at a time!  And, there is very, very little counting. 

The yokes are knitted first, starting with waste yarn, and then the body pieces are knitting working from the yoke down the sleeve or down the body to the hem.  There is a special technique to make a beautiful transition from stockinette stitch to Entrelac.  It's easy and it looks terrific, even up close, even though the Entrelac diamonds are a radically different gauge from the stockinette sleeves and body. 

The book contains both mid-gauge and bulky gauges and sizes for children, women and men.  The sizes run from a child's 4 to a man's 48, limited only by the number of needles on a machine.  To make it easier to follow a size, the book contains  colored size charts.  Find your gauge, then find your size, and it's easy to follow your column by looking for the color. 
The book also contains shaped Entrelac hats - an easy introduction to the technique.  These are great-looking, warm hats with an excellent smooth crown technique to join the Entrelac blocks beautifully at the top of the head.   These also come in sizes for children and adults in both mid-gauge and bulky gauges. 

Keeping to our commitment to quality products and no skimpy instructions, the set also includes detailed narrative instructions, lots of color photos, and a DVD with detailed, close-up video of how to knit these.

Why the DVD?  Well, our customers have been very emphatic that DVDs are tremendously helpful for following machine knitting instructions and techniques.  DVDs work.  We can put a tremendous amount of information on one 2-hour DVD, and we do!  This one not only shows how to knit the hat and the yoke, it shows the sweater shaping and ribbing finishing.  There is even an extra section about how to knit ribbing successfully - without a ribber - at the END of a knitted piece.

SPECIAL DEAL:  Don't you think there ought to be a special, since we usually do one when we introduce a new item?  Well, let's have one!  Since Diana recently taught at two seminars, there are some nice goodies left.  With any purchase of "Wear Your Diamonds," we'll send along the Diana's Favorite Demos disk or the Triangle Machine Knitters handout booklet - your choice.  Let us know which one you'd like.  This is just until we run out of disks and books...

This book and all my other books and videos are available at www.dianaknits.com.

New Videos Today - Entrelac Introduction

I love to knit Entrelac.  It's fun, and it makes fascinating designs.  While I realize not everyone is an Entrelac nut like me, I think most people would enjoy knitting it - a lot - if they'd just give it a try. 

Now that I've demonstrated it live a few times, I've watched the reaction most knitters have - they're surprised at how easy it is.
I've got a video up today with a little project especially for people who have never tried Entrelac. 

There are two basic methods of machine knit Entrelac that I use.  There's the "no waste yarn" method which I used in "EZ Entrelac." The "no waste yarn" method uses needles in hold and stitches on a stitch holder.  After lots of experiments, I hit on the idea of using a fine gauge circular needle for a stitch holder.  This is fast, and it works so well, I wrote a pattern book to teach it.  That book has 2 hours of hi-def video with it, and I needed it all to show how to do the blocks, triangles all around, and making up of the project, which is a lined tote bag. 

Then, in the book "Wear Your Diamonds" uses another method - the waste yarn method.  This method is popular, and I use it in certain situations.  You'll love this method for very large projects that won't fit across the knitting machine, and also for knitting Entrelac without side seams (a big tube), which is basically what the circular yokes are.  The waste yarn is not the mess you might imagine - you keep recycling the pieces.

"Wear Your Diamonds" teaches shaped Entrelac, where you vary the size of the blocks to change the shape of the knitting, and it teaches a special transition from stockinette to Entrelac which conquers the gauge problem (Entrelac is super wide).  It has a cute hat project, where you learn the technique, and then you dive into the circular, round yoke pullovers. 

I re-edited the hat video, which is the simplest Entrelac project in that book, and couldn't get it down to less than 3 YouTube videos (10 minute limit). 

So, I came up with a new project.  I'm using the waste yarn method because it's the fastest to demo, and I'm just making a square pillow.  Bulky yarn.  Simple, simple, and not a huge time commitment to knit (I made two of them in three knitting sessions).  This video was short enough, under 14 minutes, to split into two brief videos.

Newton's Knits Spring Fling - Next Week!

I'm teaching at Newton's next week!  The event looks just fantastic.  Here's a bunch of information at this website:

http://www.newtons.com/

At this big seminar in Anaheim, California, you can choose from an assortment of teachers and classes.  Here's a description of my ten classes:

Happy Feet:  In this class, I will feature two slippers from the slipper and sock book, which has patterns in twelve sizes for standard, bulky, and mid-gauge machines.  I'll demonstrate my moccasin pattern, which has so many essential techniques for your repertoire - a picot hem, an eyelet row, full-fashioned increases, short-row shaping, and a sew-as-you-go round cord edging and drawstring.  

I will also demonstrate her sew-as-you-go slipper.  Here’s a technique that results in a good-looking, comfortable seam and avoids tedious hand-seaming of socks. Yes, you can learn sew-as-you-go seams without fiddling with hairpins or other marking methods!

These two slippers can be made on any flatbed knitting machine, because no ribber is required, and the handouts include both patterns in a women’s medium. 

Make it Fit:  In this session, I'll explore strategies to knit garments that become favorites because everyone loves a great fit.  First, I'll share fitting tips based on years of experience helping knitters succeed with their garments.  Next, I'll demonstrate the “practically perfect gauge swatch,” an easy-to-measure, washable swatch marked permanently with your tension dial setting. 

What do you do when you can’t get a pattern’s gauge?  Learn the simple formula that you can use to correct knitting patterns to work with your gauge – with your yarn and your machine!  The handout includes the formula and explanation for your reference later.

Finally, I will talk about the Knit Leader, the low-tech, inexpensive, practical charting device that helps you make just about anything for which you can get a sewing pattern!  

Skill Builders Session One:  In this class, I will go over the best cast-ons and cast-offs for different situations.  Do you know how to make your binding-off look exactly like a skilled hand knitter’s cast-off with a smooth chain edge?  Do you know how to make your cast-off match your e-wrap cast-on exactly?  Do beginnings and endings just seem to take too long?  Come to this class for some great tips.  Then I will do my students’ favorite garter bar techniques, including the basic flip for garter and Quaker stitch, increasing, decreasing, and speed ripping!

 

Fast and Fun on the Bulky:  I have several fun pattern books focused on bulky machines, and in this class, I’ll teach two creative patterns.  Whatever machine you have, get the most out of it!  These inventive patterns do not require a ribber or a fancy patterning system.

First, we’ll see how to make the Latched Watch Cap.  This pattern has a shaped crown that fits smoothly, with no lumpy gathers, and doesn’t require any waste yarn or re-hanging of the knitting.  For warmth, this hat features an attractive latched ribbing technique with a stretchy rolled edge and a latched cable for deep texture.

Have you ever experimented with diagonal knitting?  My Diagonal Striped Gift Bag will surely spark some ideas for diagonal designs in your mind.  This is a brand new pattern that is not yet in her books or videos.

Entrelac Workshop:  Have you tried knitting Entrelac on a machine?  Or would you like to give it a fresh look?  I am perennially fascinated with Entrelac, and I created two Entrelac pattern books.  While there are a number of practical ways to machine knit Entrelac, my two favorite, easy ways to do this technique are featured in my books and videos.  In this workshop, you'll see the simple waste yarn technique, the method used to make the Entrelac round yoke sweaters in "Wear Your Diamonds."  I'm including the dia gonal Entrelac tote pattern in the handouts.   We hope that after the workshop, while the technique is fresh in your mind, you’ll try it.

Basic Cut and Sew Neckline:  Do you use cut-and-sew techniques for assembling your knits?  Expand your horizons in this introductory session on a basic cut and sew neckband.

Cut and Sew is a great strategy for situations where it’s extremely difficult to divide and knit the neckline of a sweater.  Consider, for instance, trying to divide and knit a neckline in double jacquard knitting, or racked ribbing, or tucked ribbing.  How would you do that?  Maybe you’ve been shying away from some of the fancier stitches because you don’t want to deal with this problem, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the good-looking neckline finishes you can do with this method.

I'll teach a typical round neckband – how to mark, stabilize, cut, and apply the neckband for a professional-looking finish.

Skill Builders Session Two:  It’s tricky to sew a good-looking set-in sleeve seam.  In this class, we'll hang a sweater armhole on the machine and then knit a set-in sleeve from the top down.  The seam forms automatically as you knit the sleeve.  You’ll like this set-in-sleeve technique both for saving time and making better-looking sweaters.

I'm also going to demonstrate a waistband dart technique, which produces a straight line for an attractive, blue-ribbon finish and improved fid for your skirt or pants.

Fabled Cables:  The book's not out yet, but in this workshop, I will teach ways to add lots of texture and interest to your knits with almost magically simple appliqué cables techniques.  I'll show the Helix cable, the easiest popcorns ever, and her easy, deeply-textured V appliqué cable.

Ribber Workshop:  Get more use out of your ribber attachment!  After all, it cost almost as much as the main bed!  Why not make more than welts?

In this class, I'll feature a clever way to use the medium Brother comb as a weight buckle, so you simply slide the comb up as the knitting grows and keep your work weighted properly.

I also included two great little gift patterns in the handouts, and I'll demonstrate the techniques for each.  One is playful knitted necklace, knitted quickly using circular knitting, and the other, a warm fingerless glove pattern.   

Lace Class:  Perhaps you’ve admired “Enchanted Edgings,” which are automatic scalloped laces.  Did you know you can also make beautiful scalloped lace projects using Brother Stitch World patterns?  I'll show how in this session.  While we’re exploring lace techniques, we’ll also learn about mirror image lace, thread lace, and how to shape lace with short rows.

Skill Builders Session Three:  Edgings!  Could you use some new edgings for dressing up your projects, stopping edge rolling, giving a beautiful finish, or even covering up yarn ends?  I'm showing how to do a bunch of my faves in this Skill Builders workshop. 

For instance, I will teach the a fold-over braid that you can apply to one side of the knitting with a sewing machine, then hand-sew the other side.   

Automatic Scalloped Lace Edges:  Come to this class and learn

how “Enchanted Edgeings,” a technique that uses the Brother patterning system (electronics or punch cards), lace carriage, and slip stitch, to create amazing lacy edgings automatically.   You do not have to keep track of the shaping or shape the edge with transfer tools – the patterning system in the machine does all the fancy work!  This is one of those things that looks very complicated, but is quite easy in actual execution.  You’ll find plenty of uses for these exquisite trims on fashion, household items, and baby things.

 

 

A Few More Thoughts About Spring Fling

Home again, late Sunday night, rather tired, and thought I'd say a few more things about Spring Fling before I move on to the Raleigh seminar mentally.

First of all, if you were there and came to my classes or purchased any of my products, thank you!  I met some absolutely lovely people and was thrilled at how quickly people caught on to such illogical things as the way that I keep track of scalloped edgings when I'm working them in Stitch World. 

I can't say it often enough:  if you aren't attending seminars, please try one.  Here are some of the benefits of the Knit Knack seminar:

Shopping:  You won't find such a variety of essential supplies and inspirational extras anywhere.  We had, after all, five teachers there (plus Charlene!), and everybody brought fun stuff to sell.  In addition, there were massive displays of tools, equipment, yarn, and books from the Knit Knack Shop.  Plus, there were folks right there - your fellow knitters plus dealers - to help you figure out exactly what would work best for you.  

One shopping example - I had a limited run of copies of "Wear Your Diamonds" books/disks at the seminar, which I sold there but don't have ready to advertise and sell online yet.  Folks at seminar tend to see the very latest stuff.
Repairs:  Harold was in his repair area, doing fixes, answering questions about machine issues, and generally solving knitters' issues with the mechanics of the craft.   He stocks all kinds of parts and it only makes sense to bring along your ailing gear while you are there.

Inspiration and ideas:  In addition to all the goodies the designers bring to the seminar, there are the beautiful things the participants wear and bring to share.  I could have spent the entire day taking pictures and not even gotten them all.  Of course, I would have had to start all over the second day.  It is very valuable to freshen up your creativity by exposing yourself to other people who do things differently.

Collaboration:  All around the event, I saw friends comparing notes, discussing projects, matching up colors, and planning club meetings and events.

Fun:  Most of all, we had fun!  On Friday night at the hotel, Barbara heard a lot of laughing; on Saturday night, we found a group of ladies playing a card and dice game out in the hotel lobby area and having a grand old time.  Groups went to restaurants, went shopping, gossiped, laughed, teased, and traveled together.

Okay, I'm knocking off now.  Answered a few emails, didn't bother to unpack, and am calling it quits for tonight.  Catch ya later.

I'm Back

We got home late Saturday from the Triangle Machine Knitters seminar, and Sunday was busy with all that weekend stuff - necessaries like attending church and buying groceries.  I had to do a long de-briefing with John and tell him blow-by-blow how much I loved going to Raleigh, and believe it or not, the dear man likes listening to all that talk.  How going to knit seminar is like having a whole roomful of instant friends, so that it's sad to leave, what worked and what didn't, and what a wonderful time I had on this particular seminar.  

I went promptly back to work on Monday, and what a busy week this has been! On my day job, I'm working on a number of terrific projects and feeling useful.

Now the dust has really settled and I'm pretty much back to my old routine.  I'm not worn out from seminar, not frantic, and most of the things I didn't do while I was getting ready to go and while I was gone are caught up! 

One thing to do pretty darn soon is advertise "Wear Your Diamonds" - list it for sale on the blog and on eBay.  This shaped Entrelac is SUCH an easy machine knitter's technique and yet looks so fancy!  Just making little blocks...hum de dum...and I did the math to turn the little blocks into round yokes for sweaters.  It actually is a very boring demo at seminar.  Too simple.  I like knitting it while listening to audio books, it's that mindless. 

The Diamonds books were pretty well-received at the two seminars, and it'll be fun to see how my mail order customers like Diamonds.

We have a Knit Natters club meeting coming up on the second Saturday of May.  Suzanne and Margareth are doing demos - one is machine maintenance and the other, crochet. 

John and I are trying to rent out our recently vacated townhouse in Huntington Beach. My sister Sharon, who lives nearby, is showing the place for us to lots of interested people.  It's a 2-bedroom cute little condo (houses there are much smaller for the money than they are here) on a marina with a good-sized boat slip and a nice garage. A couple of years ago my sister looked at the small patio fountain and decided that rather than have it run constantly, it'd make a pretty fish pond. She reports the fish are still doing fine after two years, and the water lily is blooming!  Sharon knows how to make a self-sustaining fishpond and always has pretty Koi and water plants. 

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.

Pattern Testing Volunteers for Shaped Entrelac - Please Email Me

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!

I've been knitting lately...

I have been taking a sample Entrelac sweater with me to seminars that doesn't fit me anymore (I made it when I was bigger).  After all this time, I finally got around to making a new one to fit me!

This is from my Wear Your Diamonds book, which has Entrelac yoke sweaters for men, women, and children for mid-gauge and bulky machines. 

As we say in Texas, this is not my first rodeo!  I knitted quite a few of these in the course of creating the book and the video, but surprise - I hadn't knitted one of these in several years, and I had to reread the instructions carefully.

This is a round yoke sweater, which is a variation on a basic raglan.  I love the look of round yoke sweaters, and these have a strong graphic design that I especially like with the contrasting colors and the changing block sizes.  This yarn is Brush Strokes, a soft acrylic with a little alpaca.

You start with the yoke, using waste yarn at the bottom, then making triangles for the bottom of the yoke, then the rounds of different sized blocks. 

The big problem with having a sweater that is part Entrelac and part stockinette stitch is that the Entrelac is very, very wide compared to the stockinette. I came up with a way to greatly reduce the number of stitches for the yoke compared to the sweater, which is done in the setup triangles.

When the yoke is done, it's rehung upside-down on the machine for the body pieces.  This photo shows the short-rowing which makes the body fit properly with the round yoke. 

The front, back, and two sleeves are all different, because to have a good fit, the front neckline must be lower than the back neckline.  The whole yoke is placed lower on the front than the back, that is, the body is modified to make the neckline sit lower. I marked the inside center back of the yoke with a few stitches of the medium gray yarn, so I can easily find the right way to pull on the sweater. 

Today I finished assembling the sweater.  I found this fabric rather difficult to sew, since the yarn has hairy strands that make it hard to see individual stitches.  I put in and removed the first seam a couple times, and then got a very bright light to shine right in my lap, which made it much easier to see the stitches.


The color shows up best on the photos of the sweater hanging on a door.  In the close-up, the flash washed out the color a bit, but I'm including it so you can see the texture.  I didn't block the sweater at all, preferring to leave the three dimensional texture of the Entrelac diamonds. 

Sewing on Christmas Eve

I had to hurry up and get this Entrelac yoked sweater sewn together so I can give it to my son tomorrow.  It's not a surprise at all.  Our Aggie likes tthe Texas A&M color scheme.  We haven't had any really cold weather yet, but it's coming.

 

If this project is familiar, it's because I worked it up for a sample in my "Wear Your Diamonds" book and photographed it as I worked on it.  When the book was finally finished and I had knitted piles of samples, this sweater was tossed into a knitting bag for sewing up later.  Much later, it turns out.

 

The back and front of the sweater are different - the neck is higher in the back, as it should be.  To make it easy for him to find the back of the neck and pull the sweater on correctly, I embroidered a little chain stitch inside the back neckline, in lieu of a label.

 

I hope you are having a beautiful, meaningful holiday, taking time to let your loved ones how much you treasure them, and especially, experiencing the love of our Savior.

 

Merry Christmas, dear friends!

Sometimes we win...sometimes, the computer does!

Greta phoned and gave me the latest installment in her figuring out mirror image lace on the 970.  Basically, the concept of mirror image lace on a Brother is that you put the lace carriage on the opposite side, flip the pattern either with a variation key or by turning over the punch card, and you can make lace that's a mirror image of the regular pattern.  This can be very, very pretty when the lace has a diagonal pattern.  Obviously, there's no point if the pattern is symmetrical.

Greta wanted to make a mirror-image shawl, but she was having a problem with the Brother 970's control box.

Not much stops Greta, and she solved her problem.  Basically, she fooled the computer by telling it that the pattern was for the K carriage.  The 970 doesn't know she's using the lace carriage and doesn't obstruct her efforts.

To do the Enchanted Edgings on the 970 (which Greta pioneered, as well - thank you, Greta) you do the same thing.  You tell the machine you're doing fair isle, but you use the lace carriage and the knit carriage both.  The whole thing is so peculiar I put up a video showing how to do Enchanted Edgings on the 970.

We also often tell the Passap E6000 fibs, just to get the knitting programmed and the job done.

I was especially happy to hear Greta beat the computer, considering that lately I've been feeling beaten up by computers.  Right now, I have the Knitnatters club site under construction.  I have put a lot of the old content back up, still have to do pictures, and plan to put up some extra demos, patterns and newer photos to freshen up the site.  Give me another couple weeks, then go have a look.  The other thing I'm doing while I'm in there is emphasizing our Yahoo group. 

Knit Natters is about to have some of the best meetings of the year.  We have the carpool to the DFW seminar coming up, then the Kid 'n Ewe coming up, and in December, our holiday party. 

Why the big, and admittedly overdue knit club website redo?  Because I messed up the old site inadvertently.  I am using Microsoft Front Page, and the software befuddled me. 

I think I am finally getting the hang of Front Page again; however, I may not use it again for some number of months and be just as stupid next time.  I hope not! 

John pointed out this evening that I don't have "Wear Your Diamonds" on the latest shopping site.  This is quite a humbling experience...oh well, a project for another day.

What's New?

Today, I did a little business housekeeping - created a new shopping site that loads fast, works great, and has my new products, Footnotes, my slipper book, and Wear Your Diamonds, the circular Entrelac book.

I noticed a discussion about the 7-minute and 14-minute slippers over at the Fun With Big Brother Yahoo group (a terrific group).  I made a bunch of those clever slippers myself back in the day, but I think the Footnotes slippers are better, since there are now lumpy gathers.

I've been quiet lately, but I am getting back to blogging now.  I was in the throes of budget season at work, always very busy, and in the evenings, I've been working on a group of hand knitting patterns for grafted round dishclothes that are just beautiful.  I thought it would be cool to try and get more hand knitters to come over to this site and get some exposure to knitting machines - a lot of them don't even know home knitting machines exist.

Knit Natters is meeting the second Saturday in October at Crystal Lake Baptist Church, and we'd love to meet more Central Texas machine knitters!  Join our Yahoo group Knitnatters and get on the mailing list.  In late October, a group of us is carpooling to the seminar at the DFW guild, and then in November, we're carpooling on the 2nd Saturday to the Kid 'n Ewe fiber festival.

Another Entrelac Idea

Entrelac is great for scrappy projects!  Here's a picture Kristen from Germany is letting me share, showing her Entrelac beginnings, using leftover acrylic yarn.

I think this sample is using the "EZ Entrelac" method.  You could also use the waste yarn method in "Wear Your Diamonds" to make Entrelac in very wide pieces, continually using just a few needles on the machine for the single block you're currently knitting.

Wow...Spring Fling in Peru, Indiana

Barbara and I traveled today to Peru, Indiana to teach at Spring Fling at the Knit Knack Shop.  I rushed to finish packing last night and got up before 4 this morning to get on our way after not much sleep, as I was so keyed-up about seminar.

I have the "Wear Your Diamonds" books and DVDs offered for sale for the first time at this seminar.  The other teachers - WELL - Sandee Cherry, Susan Guagliumi, Marcia Hauser, and Deb Oswald - talk about a fantastic lineup!  I'm looking at the list of classes they are doing at the same time I'm doing mine, and it's awesome.   I'm looking forward to seeing some of the knitters I met at other seminars, too, especially some of the Chicago people.  The venue is wonderful, a great, big room absolutely stuffed with samples, items for sale, and demonstrators. 

Charlene is taking some walk-ins, so if anybody's on the fence, listen up and show up.  Gosh, who wouldn't want to do a class on knitted jewelry or an intarsia brush-up from these terrific teachers?

Peru is a nice town, and we have beautiful weather, although it might rain later.  I'm enjoying the coolness, since it's been so hot in Texas.  Now we're esconced at the Great Western.  I'm dropping this quick blog post and then I'm going to review my materials for tomorrow.   Tomorrow's my easy day, where I go over lots of my basic techniques and my garter bar tricks.  Then I'm going to do some of my most popular projects and the shaped Entrelac hat (which is the introduction to the shaped Entrelac sweater techniques).

Saturday, I'll hit the lace, the scalloped lace with stitch world, the automatic lace edgings, then do the circular sock, some ribber trix, and then I put together a few novelty demos to fill in with. 

Well, better run.  I need to be smart in the morning!

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."

My UFO Confession

I bet for every UFO I have, there's a reason - maybe even a good reason that it is unfinished.

I have an unfinished beige sweater that is going to be a beautiful handknit sweater if I finish it, but it will look terrible on me.  I can't wear that color; I'm so beige myself that I will look like a big beige blob.  I ordered the yarn from a small swatch and didn't think it through properly.

I have an unfinished forest green (great color) chenille handknit jacket that is going to be too small. Heck, it was probably going to be too small when I started it.  It doesn't want to unravel; the yarn wants to shred if I try to unravel it.

Last week, when I was working on the golf club covers (three good sets is enough for a while; that's 9 covers) I made some that aren't quite right.  Now a new, tougher Diana is emerging:

I threw them in the trash.

What?  You threw something in the trash!  How shocking, you might say.  Someone could use it!  It's probably better than you think!

Darn right I threw it in the trash!  Here's my new, tough-old-bird thought process:

1.  Removing the embroidery would have shredded the yarn so that it wouldn't unravel decently.  It would have taken a while, too, and my time is valuable.

2.  They aren't right.  I don't like them.  If I finish them anyway, I don't have a recipient in mind.  I don't know a golfer who would want a goofy-looking, not-quite-right set of golf club socks.  (If they were a little better, I'd have stuck them, unfinished, in the Goodwill box.  Maybe then someone else would enjoy finishing and using them, but they weren't up to snuff.  Putting trash in the GW box is very bad form.)

3.  When you make up something new and creative, making a poor sample along the way is absolutely normal.  Certainly, you try to solve the problems with swatching, but sometimes there's still an ugly surprise.  That's one of the great things about machine knitting - you don't have a week or a month invested.  You can play, explore, and make mistakes.  If you want to create really terrific items, you need to make some duds on the way.  (I hear there's a similar sentiment about kissing frogs, but I digress.)

4.  It's so liberating, so stimulating to move on!  There are other projects in the offing, wonderful creative things.  I have a sneaking suspicion that part of creativity is the ruthlessness necessary to THROW THE LOUSY THING OUT.  And move on.  I'm so over you, bad covers, because I finally made good covers!  When I was struggling to finish Diamonds, my sweet friend Greta said I wouldn't be able to do any other creative work until I finished the book, and she was absolutely right.  A piece of me was bogged down until I finished and could actually move on.

5.  Seeing your UFO sitting there makes you feel badly, and you don't deserve it.  Look at #3 - when creating and learning, mistakes are absolutely normal.  So why keep the mistakes forever?

Brand New Pattern - Fancy Automatically Shaped & Lacy Berets

 

Two videos are going up today because I have a new beret pattern I’m really excited about.  This first video is the automatically short-rowed beret, and the other one is the same beret with a circular lace design.

These quick but impressive little projects are great to make for several reasons:  

• They're interesting to knit with lots of useful techniques included.  
• You can use small amounts of Group 2 yarn like self-striping sock yarn or 2/12 - the adult size is the biggest, and only uses 50 grams!  
• These are also cute in scraps for the sections.  Here's a way to use the leftover pretty stuff!
• The berets are fancy and impressive, easy to fit and wear, and make beautiful gifts.  
• Lace can be quite tricky to short-row, but this technique of having the machine do all the shaping works GREAT with lace.

This first video shows you how, using a Brother or Knitking electronic knitting machine that will handle wide stitch charts, you can shape your berets automatically!  This pattern is only for those machines.  

About that:  I do prefer to write patterns for almost any machine, but this pattern takes advantage of Brother electronic machines' capabilities.  Punch card machines do not have wide enough patterns for the width of the beret.  I did not work this out for Studio electronics, since I currently don't have one and my experience with them would indicate a number of difficulties to convert this pattern.  

You can still make beautiful tams on other machines!  Check out the Tam Take Two videos to see how to do these hats manually, here:  https://youtu.be/KTc_t_SBYg0?si=yxZdumUFd0j8-R1O

I am posting the pattern charts for these two baby beret examples here to ensure you will have complete free directions to make these two baby berets.  These are standard gauge hats, and this video version is especially nice in self-striping sock yarn.

Please consider purchasing the new Berets: “Auto-Shaped and Lacy” pattern collection, a click-to-buy digital download at https://www.dianaknits.com.  This new pattern has 21 different berets – four sizes, baby, toddler, child and adult, and five designs for each beret – auto shaped without lace, plus four auto shaped round lace designs, star, heart, diamonds, and cyclone.  You can program the patterns using the charts in the pattern or you will have access to all the pattern files in Design A Knit format.

The first video has some interesting and useful technique demonstrations.  For instance, how to use two 7-prong transfer tools to move the stitches quickly to the main bed, and how the hat top is automatically short-rowed using the machine memory and the part buttons.  Doing the shaping automatically is easy, fast, and accurate. 

As the same time the hat top is knitted, the band is attached with a very simple sew-as-you-go technique.  The resulting “seam” is professional-looking.  I also demonstrate how to graft the first and last rows of the hat invisibly and how to gather the center of the circle neatly.  I block my berets using a steamer after putting them over a plate, saucer or other round object, which results is an excellent look for the band cast-on edge and an accurately round hat top.

The second video is the beret plus a lace design that goes around the six sections of the top of the beret.  These are really impressive-looking little projects, but the machine does all the counting and lace transfers!  This video shows how to make the lacy hat top in detail, but you'll rely on the first video if you need some help with knitting the ribbed hat band or sewing up the hat.

Here is the pattern chart for the automatically shaped baby beret: 

Here is the pattern chart for the baby cyclone lace:

Here's a link to the Beret patterns on my shopping cart site:

https://square.link/u/98BZgtOY