I am home today after dental work, more than the dentist originally planned to do, yucky stuff I won't describe. I am taking advantage of the tooth situation to indulge in some fattening homemade potato-cheese soup.
I'm continuing work on Footnotes lately. I am knocking out a slipper or two, most evenings. For the book, I plan to add more finishing instructions, check math again, design the cover, and add the felted slipper pattern. I adore those warm, felted slippers for cold mornings with our tile floors.
With those things done, I'll have the book, but the DVD still needs more filming and editing.
Footnotes will teach a lot of techniques. I went after the best slippers I could develop, practical to knit, and they make up beautifully. I incorporated interesting methods for the best possible finishing, and I'll show all those details in the video.
At the Knit-In my friend Pat told me she had an 860 available, and I purchased it from her as fast as I could! John and I had been searching for one for a while, and this one is in wonderful shape. I have already tried it out with a pair of slippers. I have a long way to go to learn this machine, and I've got another machine I need to learn, as well, so I plan to set it up instead of my more familiar machine in the same gauge. That ought to get me to learn it!
Our lovely neighbor Amber ran into John, who was out walking our little dog. Amber ran across my blog when she was Googling information on how to whiten plastic. She plans to try out Tom's whitening recipe on a yellowed high chair.
My son Steven, who is home from college right now, suggested I finish my hand knitting book and make it available. I have a hand knitting book of round dishcloths I devised. I have no idea how to market a hand knitting book, but I guess I can put video on YouTube of how to do the provisional cast-on, graft the invisible seam, etc., and catch the eye of some of the young hand knitters.
One more goodie: Laura shared photos of the knit-in, and I'm putting up some of my favorites!
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| Barbara, Carl & Tiffany |
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| Sylvia & Doug |
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| Laura's First Slipper |
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| Doug, Sylvia & Me Setting Up |
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| Rose |
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| Mary |
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| Margareth & Pat |
Hello Diana, you kindly replied to my question a few weeks ago. I am going just great with my knitting machine. Please can you help with doing a buttonhole in a mock rib border? Is this possible, and how would you do it? Regards and thanks as always for all your super lessons.
ReplyDeleteThat's a hard one, but it can be done. The general drill is, you hand-knit three stitches or 4 stitches or whatever width you need in waste yarn in 2 places - the inside of the hem and the outside of the hem. Then you finish the buttonholes by sewing around them, putting the two layers together.
ReplyDeleteTHere used to be a great shrug generator, but now I think it's a paid pattern. It's not from "The Diet Diary/Knitting Fiend", it's from another popular MKing designer....Helen Griffiths, maybe? You might be able to find it through Ravelry. Also, the Bond website has a couple of simple shrugs that could be altered for different gauges.
ReplyDeletehttp://theanswerlady.com/snugasabugcocoonsformachineknitters.html These are for various machines, but most need a ribber.
ReplyDeleteThe Machine Knitter's Treasure Chest http://www.needlesofsteel.org.uk/index.html has tons of MK patterns listed.
So much to make me smile here tonight!
ReplyDeleteThe Kindle website is terrific, been there before, great idea for knitting. I listen to classics as I knit via CD's. You are going to love the 860, I have had one and it's all pleasure. One of my favorites that is packed away is the 891, what a smooth one!
Pass on my email to Amber if she needs help withe the whitening.
Thank for making me smile, off to knit...a sock.
for the shrug pattern allthough this is a handknitted shrug, I think it can be done easy on the machine. Pattern can be found on Ravelry here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/circular-shrug and here you can see some more pics http://2malig.myblog.de/2malig/art/2690059#lastcomm
ReplyDeleteDiana, thank you for the report on the knit-in.
Here's the link for the Helen Griffiths shrug. Just printed it off and added it to my very long "To Knit List"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.helenengusa.com/apps/blog/entries/show/3081150-the-purple-shrug
Thank you for asking this question Julia, I am a beginner machine knitter and have been looking for a shrug pattern too. I have knit from diagrams twice and think this one will be easy to follow. Thanks also to TracyKM for pointing me in the right direction.