Inspiration at Knit Flix

Check out the hand knit socks at Knit Flix.

Sunday - Shaped Entrelac Hat

I've been knitting Entrelac on my seldom-used mid-gauge, working out this hat shaped by making smaller and smaller Entrelac squares.  It took a little while to get the relationships right on the ribbing for a decent transition, and it took a while to get used to a different machine.  There is something hypnotic about Entrelac.  I can knit for hours and not realize time as gone by.  Of course, I'm listening to a book while I work. 



Sweaters for Penguins

Do ya wanna knit sweaters for penguins?

Warm and Soft...

Now y'all give ME advice, please?

I bought an embroidery machine.

Would those of you who do this hobby share your favorite tips? 

Finished Entrelac Round Yoke Sweater

Here's the forest green sweater, finished.

Cute Hand Knit Scarf Pattern at Rhythm of the Needles

Easy - here's one a beginner hand knitter:

http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.com/2011/10/wibble-wobble-scarf.html

And, a lovely yarn choice.

Sunday Afternoon Progress Report

Working on my prototype shaped Entrelac project.  Here it is, messy and no seams sewn yet, except for the joint between the Entrelac yoke and the body pieces. 

I worked out the neckline issues posed by the Entrelac, and now I've got the ribbed neckband attached and am quite happy with it.  It fits over the head just fine, and the ribbing is doubled, for a soft, warm stretchy band.

I expected the neckband to be more difficult than it was.

After that, I knitted two sleeves, which were also okay.  The back, however, was not good - I made a shaping error related to that challenging transition between the wide Entrelac gauge and the regular gauge. I redid it.  The front will be just like the back.

I plan to sew a trim over the edge of the yoke where it meets the stockinette stitch.  Because the Entrelac is slanted, wide, and textured, that's always a problem area.  I think a distinct edge will look nice there.

Even Prettier On

Whoa!  Look how nice this is - I linked to it before, but it wasn't on a model:

http://tathy-tricoecroche.blogspot.com/2011/10/bata-les-lis-blanc-by-tathy.html

Inspiration at Rhythm of the Needles

Nice, classic cardi - helps if you're skinny, though! Horizontal stripe alert...

http://www.rhythmoftheneedles.com/2011/10/paul-smith-cardigan-finished.html

Inspiration at Right or Wrong

http://rettogvrangstrikk.blogspot.com/2011/10/kaldere-og-kaldere.html

Check our Synnove's lovely slouch cap & cowl!

A morning to knit

Ah, a lovely Saturday, with John off with his Model A buddies and me knitting.  I'm working on a project that has been sitting here since before the Knit Natters seminar.  Here's my progress so far -

I knitted this round Entrelac sweater yoke in a circular fashion. The only triangles are at the top and bottom.  I love the look of round yokes, and I like the fit too, since they are actually a raglan variation.  This yoke will have cream-colored ribbing at the neck instead of that brown waste yarn, and the sweater will be the forest green color.  Of course, the lavender is waste yarn.

On my screen the forest green isn't showing up terribly well, but in the actual knitting, it looks great. 

Inspirationn at Tathy Tricot e Crochet

Wearable crochet lace - isn't it pretty!

http://tathy-tricoecroche.blogspot.com/2011/10/so-pra-dizer-bonjour.html

Lagniappe - Something Extra For My Customers

I love this Cajun word:

lagniappe - An extra or unexpected gift or benefit.

Pronounce - Lan - yap.  But, according to the sometimes wise internet, it was adopted from a Spanish phrase; interesting - so much Cajun language comes from the French.

Nope, I'm not from Louisianna.  I lived there for a while, as a young military brat, and I've visited...isn't it wonderful the different "worlds" we have just a few hours away!

What's more, as a friend, or as an employee, and as a businesswoman, I like to operate by it.  I have my funky little home-based side business where I sell MK disks and books, make friends and teach knitting, and I hope to always give you some sort of positive surprise.  I might upgrade the shipping, I might tuck something in the package, I might ship before payment clears...and I haven't ever been sorry yet.

And, when something goes wrong in a transaction, like the item I mailed to West Australia that wandered back to Texas in about 8 weeks, long after I'd replaced it, you'll know I'm trying to give good service.  'Cause I'm not perfect, and stuff happens.

This book, along with my other books and videos, is available at www.dianaknits.com.

Using a 930 for a printer!

This video, hat-tipped by Tom in Las Vegas, puts me in mind of the photo-knitting we did with DAK.  However, this guy went at it in another way, and I love his artistic flair:

Machine Survey

Results of our little machine survey: 

Favorite machine -

Brother 74
Silver Reed 46
Bond/USM 16
Passap 10
Other 8

Say, Other Owners - what is your Other machine?  Let us know!

Seminar Aftermath

The seminar is over.  I've hauled all my stuff home.  We helped the Deike's get their stuff home - she brought four machines! - and we went to dinner with them.  Mexican food and debriefing.  I collapsed at home, slept a long night, went to church, had another nap, and I'm a new woman today.

Money:  We raised enough at the seminar with a couple of walk-in registrations and the sale of donated items to cover our donation for the use of the rooms.  Crystal Lake Baptist Church let us use the rooms without any expectation of rent, and the club members were so appreciative.  The church staff and volunteers were lovely to us.  Because our teachers were volunteers (it was our first seminar, and we cautiously kept all costs down) we were able to put the pre-paid registrations into our treasury so that we can get a jump on future activities for our club.

More Generosity:  I sold two of Penny's machines - she donated them to sell for charity - to Mary in San Angelo, who is going to teach two young women to knit.  I threw in a couple of beginner courses.  What's so awesome about that is, in addition to the machines going to such a worthy cause (I understand these young ladies come from a very difficult situation), the money will also go to a local charity and help additional people. 

The charity machines were a bit of a project for me.  I hunted down manuals, inventoried, cleaned and oiled them, repllaced some parts and sponge bars, and generally got to be part of that process.

Membership:  We had several fairly new people who are new to our area, or new to knitting, and thoroughly enjoyed meeting them.  I am so looking forward to having these new members.

Teamwork:  Knit Natters rocks!  Everyone pitched in with food, cleanup, door prizes (we had 60 door prizes, fantastic ones!), organizing, cashiering, and all the myriad necessaries for a seminar.  My friend Sylvia guest-blogged yesterday.  Didn't you like her style?  Lots of photos, less chatter.  Go Sylvia!  Having four teachers was great fun, and one of the highlights of my day yesterday was the group seaming workshop.  We had a whole batch of teachers - in fact, some people taught their neighbors one seaming technique and then learned another one!  Ironically, one of our best Kitchener stitchers, Joe, visited with Margaret's friend Mary.  Joe's obviously a man's man (I didn't look outside for a Harley) but he cheerfully sat down and demonstrated great talent with a yarn needle.

Greta brought a bunch of samples, including ribbing for practicing "smiles and frowns," and a bunch of people mastered that stitch quickly.



Big Hair Fairy



Pat's Glitten



Souvenirs:  I cleaned up in the memories-to-keep category with a couple of hand knit items from Pat's donations, some cones of yarn to knit, and my very cute little Texas Belle fairly.  She's going on my Christmas tree this year.



Pat's Dishcloth & Scrubbie



Future Challenges:  As we outgrow Barbara's house, we're brainstorming possible solutions to our meeting needs.  This isn't a bad problem to have.  It's an opportunity, and it's evidence that out club thrives. 

All wet:  After months of drought, it rained and poured.

Inspiration at Stitches and Strings - Maxi Dress

http://stitchesandstrings.blogspot.com/2011/10/finallystriped-maxi-dress.html

Liveblogging Austin Seminar Day 2

Good morning!  7:50 a.m., everyone's having breakfast in the other room, and I'm showing Sylvia Moore how to blog for me, since I'm going to be the first demonstrator. -Diana

Some pix of yesterday's fun from Sylvia's camera:

Diana's turn to demo the garter bar.

Everyone is watching closely and listening carefully.  Learning?  Of course.

Rose is our first brave volunteer.  She did great.

Now Pat will demo weaving.

Pat does truly beautiful work.  Well, she makes it look like fun.

She has our attention.

Pat answers our questions. And we have many.

Pat's woven coat sure looks great on Diana.

Now on to thread lace techniques.


Now that we are back from lunch and really stuffed, Diana will show us how to make a sock on the Passap.

This is indeed a sock and not a mitten.

First we knit the toe.

And here we go.

Diana explains everything very clearly.

For the sake of time Diana knitted only half the number of rows.  Look at the tiny little sock. 

                                                            Ain't we got fun!!!

Our turn to learn how to stitch the seams.  Kitchener, mattress, and smiles and frowns.

Pat explains how to make and use "plarn".

Liveblogging Austin Seminar

9:25 a.m.  All in the room with 4 knitting machines set up, a batch of knitters.  We're all full up with breakfast tacos and Round Rock donuts.  Barbara is talking about Knits for Troops and introducing the first demo - Passap Lock Settings in Plain English.

Samples going around the room.  Munching a donut; no calories at seminar.

Barbara passing around afghans made on the Passap E6000 with deep tucks.

9:40 a.m., Norma from Houston arrives (l o n g drive!).  Joan checks her in, gives her the handouts.



I'll probably only live-blog today...I'm teaching much of tomorrow.

I didn't realize how many mountains of swatches Barbara was doing for the Passap lock settings!

Door prizes in the corner...Mary in charge of that.  Mary says we have 60 of them! 

Carl, John, Barbara and I set the church room up last night.  Like an answer to prayer, Stacy (from San Antonio) was here first thing with tablecloths, chafing dishes, tableware, you name it.  My breakfast taco buffet was rather elegant, thanks to Stacy.

Now she's talking about how to get out of a jammed situation - wriggle out the strippers, go to GX and escape.

She's currently discussing what UX does - one seldom sees anything about UX. 

9:55 - just asked Barbara to demonstrate un-jamming.

10:05 Discussion about orange, blue, and black strippers, what they do, when to use them.  Discussion about the different motors - Barbara has a DM 80 here as well as an E6.  The DM80 was assembled from parts...after they recovered from their lightning strike.

Di door prizes.  Sara won hand-painted yarn from Mary Page's critters.  Stacy won a beginner course and some bright red yarn.  More door prizes later.

10:45 back from break - I just shouted at everyone!

Barbara showing proper form computer swatching. 

10:55 Barbara's showing form computer information.  Oops, discussion about pusher-pusher device.  Discussion about DAK 8.  Back on track - Barbara describing which measurements you can change in the Form Computer.  Going over Form Test.

11:15 Walked us through beeping in the form pattern.  Now she's actually starting to knit; handle up, needles front bed, needles back bed, etc.

Rose is in the kitchen making spaghetti & meatballs.  She has enough meatballs to sink a ship.  We didn't even use all the breakfast ingredients, so we're having breakfast tacos again tomorrow. 

11:40 Barbara is finishing her sample sleeve - lots of decreases for a shaped sleeve cap.  She's about to cast-off.  Discussion going like crazy, steamers, all sorts of subjects.

She finished the form computer demo, even did the steaming.  Putting a pic on the blog...

1:15 Lunch is over.  Spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, dessert bread, brownies, fresh fruit platters, green bean casserole and wonderful conversation.

Sara is demonstrating the drop spindle.  She's giving everyone two contrasting pieces of wool just to try spinning the fiber into usable strands.  She's not handing out drop spindles yet.  Now, the class is trying to twist the yarn without the help of any spindle. 

I think I'll go try it!

Next, Sara had us in pairs, one spinning the spindle and one to spin the spindle (Polish jokes are inappropriate)!  Here are Carol and Stacy making great progress! 

Question, can eleven women spin enough yarn for one mitten?

2:10 - I don't know if we have budding spinners, but we certainly have developed our appreciation for Sara's handspun.

Now Rose is drawing numbers for more door prizes.  I just won a hand knit scrubbie and dish cloth, and the last few prizes were handspun yarn.  Now here comes a cute beanie.  Mary did something remarkable for an edging by sewing in ball fringe.  Hmm.  Grab camera...

Finished our fairies - four more people showed up as we were gluing and designing.  They turned out like Southern belles in ball gowns.   My fairy was having a bad hair day, so I ate a brownie and Sara glued an acorn hat on her.

4:15 drawing more door prize names.  I won some fingerless gloves - go, Pat.