FO: saddle shoulder jumper in chenille

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Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Finally got around to taking a photograph.

Knickers!

Yes, I am knitting the knickers (bloomers) for the doll now. In other news, I think I might have the 'flu. So the title does double duty (and the knickers have stalled, somewhat).

That is all.

Current mood: sick

Almost FO: Dress and hat for doll

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Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Dress needs a collar and buttons, plus lace and daisies.

Almost FO:

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Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Petticoat for doll. Just needs buttons and press-studs, and to be sewn up

Two steps forward...

Well, suddenly had a flash of inspiration on how to sew up the blue chenille jumper. The cables didn't go right to the neck as I thought, the back and front form part of the shoulder seam. It came out rather well, once I established that the front was 20 rows short on both sides after all. Hopefully my hasty bit of hand knitting (the LK150 has been re-homed) won't show up too much. The bottom welts were all 2x2 rib and the neckband was one row of knit, two rows of purl and ten rows of 1x1 rib.

The lace petticoat was only 6 rows from the top of the skirt, when I spotted a mistake in the lace. Because of the "slanting" nature of the pattern, it was impossible to drop down and fix the mistake (though I did try), so I had to frog about 5 centimetres back. Rather cross with myself, but this is the risk you take when knitting lace and watching tv (we are working through the A team box set at the moment).

Will try and get pictures of both items for the next post.

Because of the Easter break/May day and wedding bank holidays* this year, I'm taking a week off next week. If we don't take a short break somewhere, and if the weather is bad, I've got lots of machine knitting planned. We shall see.

Alas, I've just read on the Knitting and Crochet guild's website that KCG Trading is not to be re-opened following the fire. This is a great loss - they had an excellent selection of books and a wide range of knitting accessories that couldn't be bought elsewhere. Couple that with this year's closure of Lee Mills (the knitting and crochet museum), whilst they rationalise their acquisitions, and I must admit I'm not sure renewing my guild membership is worth the money this year.

(* I get Fri/Mon for Easter, following Fri for the wedding, following Mon for Mayday. So an 11 day holiday for the "cost" of three days from my allowance. Woo-hoo!)

Sense

You'd think, that because I have the four pieces of a saddle-shoulder jumper hanging around, I'd be sitting down and sewing them up. You'd think, huh? But no - I'm plotting a sideways-knitted skirt in a wool/mohair mix, and I started a Nina Miklin jacket in a hot pink kid mohair. I despair, I really do! I almost melted my brain trying to remember how to do long division and multiplication last night because I was too lazy to get up and fetch a calculator.

I am determined to make at least one machine-knitted skirt this year, and hopefully one with pleats. Went to the Long Buckby meeting on Monday for a talk on just that very thing.

On the handknitting front, I donated my felted slippers to a friend because they were too small for me. I just need to put some rubber paint on the bottom for her. I finished the doll's hat and am now onto the petticoat, which is in a lovely lace pattern so far. Then collar, bloomers, booties and we're done. Once the petticoat is done, all the "big" bits of knitting are done. I've some daisies and lace to sew onto the dress too. I need to dig out some small buttons too, or get some.

Current mood: hungry

Brim

I'm on row 96 of a 200 row short-rowed brim for a doll's hat. Been telling anyone that'd listen that I could have run this up in 30 minutes on a knitting machine. Until it occurred to me this morning, that knitting machines only ever put slip loops on the purl side. This pattern (I think it's called linen stitch) has all the slip loops on the knit side. Completely different look - it looks woven and is bumpier on the purl side. My mathematical mind has calculated that every row is worth 0.5%. I need to find out about knitting bobbles, for a handknitting class I am teaching on Monday night at the Coventry library. Not fond of bobbles myself, but each to his own. Trying to decide whether I ought to go to Wonderwool Wales. as I have been to two craft shows in the last two weeks already. I really ought to stay home, tackle some bobbles and do some machine knitting. Current mood: determined

Useful cast ons for machine knitting

Ewrap cast on (nice closed edge)

1. Pull required needles fully forward
2. Make a slip knot and hang on leftmost needle (rightmost if you are lefthanded)
3. Wrap the second needle in an anti-clockwise motion, whilst pushing the yarn back against the gate pegs - the motion is exactly like a cursive letter e in handwriting, hence the name. Continue across all needles
4. Knit across (it will be tight)
5. Push all needles fully forward, whilst pushing knitting back against gate pegs
6. Knit across
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 another 5 times
8. Hang weights - you should now be good to go!

Slip cast on (closed, but not a tidy edge)

1. Select the needles you want to work on, and pull every other needle fully forward 
2. Set carriage to SLIP or PART (in both directions if your carriage has that function)
3. Knit 1 row
4. Select the needles that were slipped on the last row fully forward
5. Knit 1 row, cancel SLIP/PART
6. Pull all needles fully forward, whilst pushing knitting back against gatepegs
7. Knit 1 row
8. Repeat steps 5-6 for a few more rows
9. Hang weights, knit on!

Weaving cast on (untidy closed edge, can be gathered, machines with weaving brushes only)

1. Select the needles you wish to work on, and use the 1x1 needle pusher to push every other needle fully out.
2. Thread the carriage and engage the weaving brushes
3. Hold the LOOSE end of the yarn over the needles and pull it down AT BOTH ENDS, so you have a long loop of yarn over the needles
4. Knit 1 row carefully - the loop should be knitwoven into the knitting
5. Push all needles fully forward whilst pushing the knitting against the machine
6. Knit 1 row
7. Repeat steps 5-6 for another 6 rows
8. Hang weights, knit on!
9. When you remove this from the machine, you can pull on the yarn end and it will gather up the cast on edge.

Crochet or latch-tool cast on (closed edge)

1. Make a slip loop and place it onto the shaft of the latch tool, below the latch.
2. Pull all the needles you wish to work on fully forward
3. Insert the latch tool upwards between needles 1 and 2 (on the left, if you are right-handed)
4. Catch the yarn in the latch tool and pull a loop through as you pull the latch tool downwards
5. Insert latch tool between needles 2-3 and repeat
6. Work to the end of the selected needles, hang the last loop on the last needle
7. Knit 1 row (it will be tight)
8. Pull all the needles fully forward, whilst pushing the knitting against the machine
9. Knit 1 row
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 for another 6 rows
11. Hang weights, knit on!
12. This produces a nice edge like the latch-tool cast off edge.

Ravel-cord cast on (open edge, works best on small parts)

1. Select the needles to knit and knit a row
2. Hang ravel cord between the needles and the gate pegs, going one gate peg outside the last needle on both ends.
3. Pull down on the ravel cord with one hand and knit across with the other for a few rows.
4. Pull the ravel cord out from one end
5. Hang weights, knit on!

If you want to be able to remove the waste yarn afterwards without a fight, get the knitting established in waste yarn, and then knit 1 row with ravel cord or a smooth shiny cord. Then cast on over the needles as if the cord wasn’t there (or knit straight across if you plan to pick up the cast on later for further treatment, eg hand-knitted rib). When you have finished the knitting, this cord is pulled out and the waste knitting will drop off. You don’t need to finish with ravel cord as you can just unpick the waste yarn, but on the bottom edge, the knitting gets locked on the end of every row so it’s harder to unravel.

See also useful cast offs

Nottingham All Knitting Show

This year I went with a fellow machine knitter from Coventry, M. The sat nav performed very well apart from continually falling off the windscreen. I almost know my way there now anyway having been five years in a row, but it's always worth having a backup in case of roadworks or road closures. I do have a better bracket for it, but that was in the Ka. The Fiesta turned out to be a boon - M has long legs and a knitting machine when fully boxed is quite long!

I only took £50 hoping (vainly) that it might curb my buying habits. In the end I came away with about 8 back copies of MKM (managed to get a duplicate - d'oh!) and about the same of Duet back copies, eight sparkly buttons (I can never resist sparkles!), a pair of orange strippers, a Japanese stitch pattern book (got an awful feeling this might also be a duplicate), three cones of acrylic yarn and a pattern for knitted wire earrings. The fashion show was excellent. I was a bit disorganized this year so didn't book any of the classes, which was a pity.

The only slight disappointment was that this year for the first time there was no free programme - so I had to figure out where stalls were, by dint of recognizing the stall holders and/or their product. Luckily this is quite easy, but I do prefer to have a programme ideally, not least for the useful 'phone numbers if I spot something I later realize I just can't live without. Missing this year were Iris Bishop and Heathercraft (I suspect it's a bit too far for the latter to travel). Double-booking with mother's day didn't seem to make much of a dent in the numbers.

The main object of the day was of course, to trade in the LK150 for a sparkling new SK860 plus ribber. I confess I haven't opened it yet as I was determined to finish at least one garment. I was quite glad to get home, as I had to push the seat forwards a notch in order to get the machine in the car as it's in one big box, and it was cramping my accelerator foot. I suspect I'm going to be like a big kid at Christmas tonight when I finally get a chance to get into that box. I've never had a brand new machine before and I'm quite excited, although unfortunately I don't have anywhere to put the new machine up at the moment. Must crack on and use up all the cornflower blue lambswool so I can put the fine gauge to bed.

Almost FO: child's aran jumper

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Originally uploaded by steel breeze

12 (count 'em!) pieces to make up this jumper, and it's not done yet. The photo was not great so was unsure as to which side of the tuck side strips was the right side - so did the sleeves one way and the front/back the other. Bit of a jigsaw trying to piece this together but I managed eventually. Just needs a neckline adding - probably just a few rows of stocking stitch for a simple curled edge, don't want to make the neckline too small.

FO: Easy MK fingerless mittens

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Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Made these in about an hour on Saturday for his nibs. You make a simple straight piece of knitting, and then pick up stitches half way up the sides for the thumb. I'm reliably informed it was in the last Guild of Machine Knitter's newsletter, but as I have temporarily mislaid my copy, I cannot absolutely confirm that.

I refuse to make any more complex gloves for him indoors, as he has his own personal glove-shaped black hole and always loses one of them within a week. Plus, these are designed for typing in an unheated office.