Inspiration

Georgeous bed jacket at Mason Dixon knitting:

http://www.masondixonknitting.com/archives/2009_10.html#002747

Drop Lace Stole

I continue to be frustrated in my desire to photograph the black lace stole and show how very pretty it is! We have rain and gloom here, so an outdoor photo hasn't been possible. Here I've hung it over the door, draped it over my arm, and John took a photo. I don't think the lace shows much at all, nor does the drape.

Drop Lace Stole

The lace stole turned out just beautiful! I am finding it very difficult to photgraph, since it's black. I will have to try and photograph it in the bright daylight.

What makes the stole luxurious is it's generous size and it's softness. I would like to make this again, possibly using a yarn with a run-along metallic thread.

It takes two videos to show how to do the project. Here are some details:

Yarn: Worsted weight, fuzzy acrylic. I used 6 50-gram balls.

Pattern Stitch: Brother 270 stitch world 158 with reverse button turned on. You could use any pattern that's suitable for drop lace. I did a ribber lesson on drop stitch lace.

The videos:

Part 1 of 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPq5N320ZEU

Part 2 of 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RciRRhS3ZIU

Upcoming Ribber Project Video

I have a whole bag of black, fuzzy yarn (Pingouin Mousse) given to me by my elegant youngest sister. I've had it a long time, and Karen probably only dimly remembers giving it to me. Well, I'm turning it into a long, slinky stole/shawl using drop stitch on the bulky ribber.

Suitable yarns - fuzzy, acrylic yarns like Unger's Fluffy, or Reynolds Kitten, or Lion's Jiffy. But a warning: do not use a bulky weight. It has to be a light worted weight yarn. Fuzzy yarns knit up thicker than they look.

Here's the swatch, sideways. The actual project is knitted (and I filmed my work) up to the blocking stage. I am going to block it hard with steam this evening - what we gentle knitters call "killing" the fabric. It won't have any bounce, spring, or curl. It'll be flat and drapey, and hard-blocking will make the lacy stitches show better.

I hit on the idea of having two extra stitches at the ends of the ribber bed to make a little better edge, and am pleased with that. I decided not to add fringe, and merely crocheted on the ends for a cast-off.

Interesting Handknitting Stitch

I got this from an 1846 book, Exercises in Knitting by Cornelia Mee, which I downloaded from Amazon to my Kindle for free. I had to do a little research to figure out that when she specifies "seam stitch," that's a purl stitch.

She calls for large needles - "large wooden pins" - but I don't know how that would compare to today's needle sizes. Just for grins, I knitted up this swatch. It's called "German Pattern of Open Double Knitting, Both Sides Alike," and knits up rather thick. I've knitted a lot of stitch patterns, but this one was new to me, and I hope I knitted it correctly. I've translated it to our jargon.

Cast on 71 stitches.

First Row: *Purl 1, yarn over, Slip 1 purlwise, repeat from *, end purl 1. Do this row only once.

Second & All Remaining Rows: *Purl 2 together, yarn over, slip 1 purlwise, repeat from *. Purl the 1 stitch left at the end.

Why You Need These Ribber Wires

On the right, see my old ribber wire, and to its left, the new ribber wire?

What a difference good ribber wires make! These wires from Helen Griffiths are sturdier and not so easily bent. I finally have enough for all my machines!

In you need ribber comb wires, Helen's the person, prices are good, and you can email her at helencliff@msn.com. No affiliation. I'm just a fan of Helen's.

Chorus Austin

My friend Victoire (on left) and me, at the Chorus Austin performance Saturday night. We ushered, and then in this shot, we were holding the donation baskets. My husband was there, ushering, and friends Diane and Elaine were there from the Austin CPA chapter.

We had so much fun! There are over a hundred singers and quite a nice orchestra, too. It was an absolutely beautiful performance.

Happy Saturday!

Saturday morning updates -

Weight Watchers - I keep forgetting to update this. I am staying the course! Two weeks ago I lost over 2 pounds and then the next week, gained one back. I wasn't really doing anything different, but it goes up and down in this zigzag way. I don't weigh in again until Monday evening, and I'm eating soft foods because of my dental work Thursday, but I think I did okay this week.

Tonight we're attending a choral concert. Some friends of mine sing in this group, and they do classical pieces with some kind of orchestra - I don't know how big of an ensemble. I know they work very hard on this production and have maybe 100 voices and lots of talent in the group. This will be interesting!

Ah, knitting, don't quite know what's next. I may go right off my beaten path and spend some time with my Passap and my CSMs over the next few days, or I might put up another gifty project pattern or two. It's certainly time to start planning seriously for the holidays.

I got my ribber comb wires in the mail this morning that I ordered from Helen Griffiths. The ribber wires that came with each of my Brother machines are just awful, flimsy, bendy and frustrating, and Helen's wires are straight, sturdy, and fit like a dream. I believe her husband Cliff has a source for the right stuff and makes them. I didn't have enough for all my machines, and now I will. In fact, I ordered an extra set. In you need ribber comb wires, Helen's the person, prices are good, and you can email her at helencliff@msn.com. No affiliation, just an honest endorsement.

One more thing - you know that post, below, about the beautifully matched striped socks? Well, if you look in the comments, the knitter has remarked that she does two socks at a time on circular needles and watches the striping to absolutely ensure that it matches! That a great tip for handknitting the socks; I don't know how to apply it to machine knitting them unless I had another circular sock machine and cranked them both at the same time...I bet you can just picture that. :)

Matching Self-Striping Yarn

A wonderful example here:

http://knitflix.blogspot.com/2009/10/hkf_16.html

Good quality self-striping yarn will usually match fine just fine if you start each garment piece (or in this case, sock) at the same place in the color sequence.

Yarn Label Symbols

Hat tip to The Patchwork Frog:

http://www.patchworkfrog.com/yarnlableinfo.html

Goodies from Barry Arrived!

Barry Travis is a participant in the online circular sock knitting machine community, and answered a lot of my questions and dished up lots of encouragement as I was learning. Now that I'm a habitual sock cranker, and he was selling a 15-pair grab bag of sock yarn, I couldn't resist. He also has coned boot yarn for sale, and I bought some, but haven't tried it yet. I have bought parts from him before. It really helps to have a good, new cylinder springs, and I bought a couple of those as well to put on my Gearhart, which I plan to use soon for some sock yarn I have that is too fat for the 72-stitch cylinder.

I like the colors! There's enough for a pair of socks in each color scheme.

No affiliation, he's just a nice guy and a good source for CSM parts. Barry is at kawblt@aol.com if you want to email him about his items for sale.

Child's English Rib Sweater - Links

Video 1 of 3 - Start Knitting the Child's English Rib Sweater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fgFltnEZTM

Video 2 of 3 - Finish Knitting the Child's English Rib Sweater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtHqTENS4eM

Video 3 of 3 - Sewing Up & How to do Child's English Rib Sweater on Bulky Machine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb77UxXDa7c

Photo of Sweater on Tiffany & General Notes
http://diananatters.blogspot.com/2009/10/childs-english-rib-sweater.html

Pattern for Bulky Version
http://diananatters.blogspot.com/2009/10/english-rib-sweater-bulky-machine.html

Pattern for Sport Weight Version - On Standard Machine
http://diananatters.blogspot.com/2009/10/sport-weight-english-rib-childs-sweater.html

Pattern for 2/12 Version - On Standard Machine
http://diananatters.blogspot.com/2009/10/212-english-rib-childs-sweater-version.html

Child's English Rib Sweater

I now have this little sweater in three weights - fingering (well, 2/12), sport weight, and sport weight on the bulky. I found that I couldn't get the same gauge on the two different machines - no surprise there, so two sets of instructions are needed.

There are two videos, because that's what it takes to go over the basics. Of course, virtually everything was covered in the ribber lessons, but sometimes you just want to knit and not go back to the lessons and review, so the instructions are in here all over again.

You do not need patterning for this project. You need either a bulky or a standard gauge machine with a ribber. This photo is Barbara's granddaughter Tiffany in one that Barbara made, and Barbara decided to crochet around the neckline.

Even though the pattern is just rectangles, we were very pleasantly surprised at how good it looks on the body. It's all ribbed, so it moves with an active child. It's an elbow-length sleeve, again, for a busy little critter. It could be a warm wool sweater, though, and if you want a long sleeve, you'll have to adjust it. The sport-weight sweater I knitted is much warmer than the 2/12 Tiffany's wearing. If I lengthened the sleeve, I'd do some shaping to make it narrower toward the wrist.

I was using the pattern as a stash-buster, and for knitting sweaters for charity, and for using small amounts of leftover variegated sock yarn.

English Rib Sweater - Bulky Machine Version

English Rib Child's T-Sweater
by Diana Sullivan

Yarn: Sport Yarn

Machine: 9 mm bulky gauge with ribber; patterning not needed
About Tension 2 - both 1 x 1 ribbing and English Ribbing

Gauge (relaxed): 5.8 stitches and 9.8 rows per inch in 1 x 1 ribbing
Gauge swatch - 40 sts by 60 rows, 6.9" wide by 6.1" tall

Front and Back (made the same):

Size 2, Size 4, Size 6, Size 8, Size 10

Width Across in Inches: 12.25", 13", 13.75", 14.5", 15.5"
Starting at bottom edge
Stitches to Cast On: 71, 75, 79, 85, 89
The needles on the ribber count - so for instance, if it says cast on 71, you will cast on 36 stitches on the main bed and 35 stitches on the ribber in full needle rib.
T 0 Zigzag Row
Hang Comb & 2 lg wts
T2, Circular knit 3 rows
T5 or tension to give gauge
RC 000
Rows to knit in full-needle rib: 8 8 10 10 12
Switch to full-needle English Rib
Length to armholes 9.5", 10.5", 11.5", 12.5", 13.5"
Rows to knit 84, 94, 102, 112, 122
Row counter says 92, 102, 112, 122, 134
Place marker
Length of armhole 5.5", 6", 6.5", 7", 7.5"
Rows to knit for armhole 44, 50, 54, 58, 64

Knit to row #144, 160, 176, 190, 210
Switch to plain full needle rib, rows to knit: 8 8 10 10 12
RC #154, 168, 186, 200, 220
Change to plain ribbing settings and very loose tension, knit 1 row. Change to waste yarn, regular tension and circular knitting and knit 20 rows (10 rounds), then cast off using the loop-through-a-loop bindoff.

Sleeve:

Width across: 11", 12", 13", 14", 15"
Cast on in full needle rib T5 (or tension for gauge): 63, 69, 75, 81, 87
RC 000
Knit to row #8 8 10 10 12
Switch to full-needle English Rib
Knit __ additional rows: 64, 66, 72, 78, 80
RC #72, 74, 82, 88, 92
Cast off LOOSELY (same technique and back and front)

Sport Weight English Rib Child's Sweater - Standard Machine

Use this pattern for the standard machine. You won't get this gauge with the bulky machine - there's another pattern for that machine.

English Rib Child's T-Sweater
by Diana Sullivan

Yarn: Sport Yarn
Machine: Standard gauge with ribber; patterning not needed
About Tension 7 - both 1 x 1 ribbing and English Ribbing - Adjust tension to get your gauge!


Gauge (relaxed): 6.75 stitches and 12.75 rows per inch in English Rib
40 stitch by 60 row swatch: 4.7" tall and 5.9" wide


Front and Back Pieces:


Size 2, Size 4, Size 6, Size 8, Size 10
Width Across in Inches: 12.25, 13, 13.75, 14.5, 15.5
Starting at bottom edge, cast on 83, 87, 93, 97, 105 stitches
Set up for 1 x 1 rib
Tension 0 Zigzag Row
Hang Comb & 2 large weights
T2, Circular knit 3 rows
T5
RC 000
Rows to knit in 1x1 rib 8, 8, 10, 10, 12


Switch to English Rib
Length to armholes will be 9.5" 10.5" 11.5" 12.5" 13.5
Rows to knit: 108 122 134 148 160
RC #116 130 144 158 172
Place marker - this is where the armhole begins


Length of armhole = 5.5" 6" 6.5" 7" 7.5"
Rows to knit for armhole: 64 70 74 82 86
Knit to row #180 200 218 240 258
Switch to 1 x 1, rows to knit: 8 8 10 10 12
RC #188 208 228 250 270
Mark for neck opening (left and right needle numbers:
25,25 25,25 27,27 29,29 29,29


Knit one row on loose tension and cast off (loop through loop bind off)


Sleeve:

Width across: 11 12 13 14 15
Cast on in 1 x 1 rib, T5, 75 81 87 95 101
RC 000
Knit to row #8 8 10 10 12
Switch to English Rib



Knit __ additional rows: 84 86 94 100 102




RC 92 94 104 110 114

Cast off LOOSELY

2/12 English Rib Child's Sweater Version

English Rib Child's T-Sweater
by Diana Sullivan

Yarn: a 2/12 like Trenzado or Trenzi, or 2 strands 2/24
Machine: Standard gauge Brother with ribber; patterning not needed
Use Tension 5 or tension to get gauge. Both 1 x 1 ribbing and English Ribbing are the same tension.

Gauge (relaxed):
9 stitches and 7-1/2 rows per inch in 1 x 1 ribbing
13 rows and 7 stitches in English Rib

Front and Back Pieces:

Size 2, Size 4, Size 6, Size 8, Size 10
Width Across in Inches: 12.25, 13, 13.75, 14.5, 15.5"

Starting at bottom edge, cast on: 71, 75, 79, 85, 91
Set up for 1 x 1 rib
Tension 0 Zigzag Row
Hang Comb & 2 lg wts
T2, Circular knit 3 rows
T5
RC 000
Knit 8, 8, 10, 10, 12 rows in regular k1, p1 ribbing
Switch to English Rib (set ribber carriage to tuck one way)
Knit 84, 94, 102, 112, 122 rows
Length to armholes: 9.5, 10.5, 11.5, 12.5, 13.5"

RC #92, 102, 112, 122, 134
Place marker
Rows to knit for armhole 54, 58, 64, 68, 74
Length of armhole 5.5 , 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5
Row counter will read: 146, 160, 176, 190, 208
Switch to 1 x 1, and knit 8, 8, 10, 10, 12
RC #154, 168, 186, 200, 220
Mark these needles for neck opening: 22,22 22,22 23,23 25,25 25,25
Change to big tension, CO

Sleeve:

Width across: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Cast on 64, 69, 75, 81, 87 in 1 x 1 rib T5
RC 000
Knit to row #8, 8, 10, 10, 12
Switch to English Rib
Knit __ additional rows
72, 72, 80, 84, 86
RC #80, 80, 90, 94, 98
Cast off LOOSELY

Thursday at Home

Quick update. I had a long session with the dentist this morning and took the day off. I'm doing very well and didn't need to take any of the pain prescription.

I had all the filming done, so today I am uploading YouTube videos for the Child's English Rib Sweater. It took three videos to cover it:

1. Part 1 - knitting the sweater
2. Part 2- finished up the knitting techniques
3. Part 3- sewing-up (all mattress stitch) plus, what to do differently to knit this project on a bulky machine

I have all the patterns written (2/12, sport weight, and sport on bulky machine) and need to check all my math again and then put up the patterns. I'll put them here. You can also find the 2/12 pattern over at Knit Natters.
You're going to need to print it out and circle your size. I charted it for a bunch of kids' sizes.

Another Shawl

I must be in a shawl mood. Here's another very pretty shawl:

http://droppedastitch.blogspot.com/2009/10/purple-aestlight.html

Angelika's Table of Yarn Weights

Very, very important information for knitters:

http://www.yarn-store.com/different-yarns-for-different-knitting-machines.html

Lace Inspiration...

Here's a gorgeous shawl pattern (handknit) that I found on the internet:

http://monika-freepatterns.blogspot.com/2008/05/mohana-shawl.html