Ooh! Ahh! The Pantone fall color palette is lovely.

I really like this set of shades for fall:

http://www.pantone.com/fashion-color-report-fall-2016#intro

Inspiration at Marnie, Speak!

Would ya look at this beautiful hand-knit shawl?

http://www.marniemaclean.com/words/#.V-RlY7QVAcA

It's a fine example of excellent blocking, too, isn't it?

MORE Inspiration at Rhythm of the Needles

Yet another beautiful mini-mitten!

http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.net/2016/09/mini-mitten-19.html

You should look at them all.  I've only linked to them occasionally, but there are 19 tiny, beautiful mittens pictured on the blog now!

New but Old - My Sock Knitting Videos on YouTube

For various reasons, I'm taking down the old sock knitting videos on YouTube, and putting up new ones with the music stripped off.

This is something I had been meaning to do, and getting it done this morning reminds me that these lessons were a very cool ribber exploration.  These are a little long, but spend 30 minutes watching, if you'd like to get more out of your ribbing attachment, or if you're thinking about getting a ribbing attachment, or just for a review:

• This video shows a very practical use for circular knitting with a ribber.
• This is a darn good sock.  The foot and ankle is seamless, which saves you sewing time and makes a more comfy sock.  I used regular hand knitting sock yarn, which is easy to find and produces the best socks, IMO.  I show how to do each step.
• The book that goes with this, "Knitting Socks on the Standard Machine," has twelve sizes, from little babies to big guys.  I put a lot of tips in to help you get a good fit and make nice seams.   The book, which comes with a hi-def DVD, is available here.

Here are the videos!  Popcorn not included...

Mary Anne Oger has a new book!

This IS exciting!  Mary Anne Oger is a fantastic machine knitter, who for many years published the incomparable Knit Words magazine.  I have gotten so much over the years from her patterns and other books, and I hope you'll consider picking up a copy of her new book at Amazon. 

Right now, Amazon is showing it in stock, eligible for Prime, , and if ordered now, it would be delivered on 9/27.

Click here to see it at Amazon.

Inspiration at Carissa Knits

Love the fabric, love the color, love the cables...it's hand knit, BTW.

http://www.carissaknits.com/2016/09/weekend-wraps.html

What I'm Knitting

I've actually been knitting quite a few things!  I'm plugging away at a mid-gauge book.  I wanted to include a warm scarf.  Even though the book is written with beginners in mind, I didn't want the usual beginner's scarf - an ordinary rectangle.  I wanted it to be interesting to knit and interesting-looking, as well.  I wanted for fellow knitters to say to the knitter, "How'd you DO that?"  I also wanted it to be easy, not to require a tremendous amount of hand-tooling.

I decided to go diagonal and use a self-patterning yarn.  I like this alpaca blend from Hobby Lobby, "Fair Isle." One day I saw the yarn in the store, and the next morning I had the idea and went back to the store to buy some.  The geometry was great fun - the whole thing is slanted, and initially, I wasn't sure how to get nice scarf ends.  The way it's folded and sewed together solves that problem. 

I am also getting ready to teach at two seminars.  I'll be in Milwaukee weekend after next, and then in Chicago in October. 

Later in October, I'm attending Mary Anne Oger's seminar in Dallas with my girlfriends.  I'm excited about that, as well, since I haven't yet attended one of her seminars and I loved her magazine, "Knit Words."  I hear she does a terrific seminar.

New Video - Picture Knitting Without Intarsia Carriage

I try to do a new video every month, and I keep hunting for ideas.  Luckily, readers send good questions, and this video is in response to one of those questions:  Can one do picture knitting on just any machine?

Intarsia (or picture) knitting is a multi-color technique.  It differs from Fair Isle, which is a technique where you carry colors across at the same time.  In Intarsia, you pick up a color, knit it into the part of the row you want that color, drop it, and pick up the next color. 

Yes, Intarsia can be made on just about any knitting machine!  I suppose there might be some unusual or antique machine that simply won't slip past needles, but the knitting machines I know have a setting that lets them slip.  You turn on that slip (or part, or Russel lever) setting, and only selected, that is, pulled-out needles will knit.  That way, you can easily knit pictures.

Intarsia carriages and Intarsia settings make this quicker and easier, but some machines don't have that option.  You can still do it, though.  Here's how: