Thursday, December 31, 2009

Allison's First Machine Knit Anything

My daughter wanted to knit her friend a hat for Christmas. She picked out a camouflage like yarn. They are in ROTC together I think that is the reason for the choice. Plus she said her friend liked green.
We cast on and started knitting everything was fine. Then my daughter decided to really knit fast. Back and forth she slid the carriage. Zip, zip, zip was the sound of the carriage. I suggested she slow down, but I'm just her mom what do I know. Then we found out why going slowly would be a good idea. Something didn't knit right about.... 20 rows ago. After examination I decided it would be easier to unravel the whole thing and start over. Easier and faster that is. It went pretty quickly and my daughter seemed to enjoy unraveling the knitting. Again listening to the zip, zip, zip of each row unraveling.

We casted on and she took off knitting again. This time at a slower pace. I taught her to just keep and eye on the knitting. After each row make sure things look like they've knitted correctly before starting the next row. Once one gets more experienced the faster one can go. After about 50 rows she wondered how many more rows. I told her she was almost done. She couldn't believe how fast it was going. Everything went correctly the 2nd time and in about 20 minutes she had a knitted hat. 15 minutes later the hand work was done and hat was ready to wear. While I did the hand work she prepared the pom pom. That's one thing she said the hat had to have....a pom pom.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Swirl Round Baby Blanket Crazed


I just love this pattern. Easy and impressive is right up my alley. I hope everyone tries this pattern of Diana Sullivan. Again her videos are linked up with her blog and can be found here.

This blanket I made bigger and with non baby colors. I intended this one to be for my mom and dad for Christmas. They also have a poodle, so we know who will really be sleeping on this blanket.
I used 80 needles in all to this size. It is a really nice large size for an adult to curl up under and read a book... with one small poodle.

I used Lion's Brand Vanna's Choice yarn. I had bought this particular yarn in 3 different colors in 6 ounce balls. I had intended to do this circular blanket with 9 wedges. 3 wedges in each color. My 6 ounce ball made 1 9/10ths wedges. I needed more yarn. I figured if I got 3 more 6 ounce balls in the three colors I'd be good. WELL famous last words.

When I woke up in the morning and saw the 3 9/10th wedges hanging from my knitting machine in the sunlight I instantly didn't like the 3 colors together. In skeins lying on the table they looked great together. Worked up in knitting I thought they looked terrible. I had purple mist, denim mist and taupe mist. The purple or the denim looked really good with the taupe, which was more of a chocolate brown. The purple AND denim did not look good together at all in my opinion.

Now faced with 2 colors and would have to do 10 wedges and how much unraveling do I want to do. I started and ended what I had on the machine with purple. The color I decided not to use for my parents blanket. This really ended up being easier to recover from than had a chosen to stick with the purple. I would have had to nearly scrap the whole thing.

I decided to unravel the incomplete wedge (the last knitted wedge) and to leave the complete purple wedge (first knitted wedge) on until the end. I would then some how hang that last wedge excluding the purple wedge and then unravel it. I don't know how I did it, but it worked.


If you look closely in the pictures you can see a slight ridge between 2 wedges, but in person you don't notice it. That's if I don't point it out. AND my mama taught me not to point things out that bother me. She says nobody else would even notice if I kept it to myself. It's hard sometimes, but I'm getting better.Everyone loved the Swirl Blanket. I'm intending to make at least 3 more.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Machine Knit Slipper

This took my about an hour last night to make. It was something new to me. I've always wanted to make socks, but have been too scared to try it...YET! After making the slipper I thought this is probably very similar to making a sock.

This is a lined slipper by Diana Sullivan. Again I watched her videos. I'm not sure I could have followed a written direction of this slipper. My knowledge of short rowing and such is very slim. Watching the video helped tremendously knowing when and where to add needles or take them out of work. Whether the needle was next to the carriage or away from it. Knowing whether to wrap the needle or not. ALL in the video.

She even has videos on how to finish the sock. If you don't know how to do the Kitchener Stitch or the Mattress Stitch check out her Beginner Machine Knitting Course. She teaches those stitches.


As for the finished slipper. The size in the video would be my size, but when all was said and done it's a size smaller. I did end up printing out the pattern after I was done. It has sizes for everyone. Also on the printed sheet the tension was looser. After talking to a more experienced machine knitter she said it would make a pretty good difference in the size. I will be making this again with the new tensions. I want a pair for at least myself before Christmas.

I must add a warning about knitting slippers just in case anyone doesn't know. My mom was a Visiting Nurse and she called knitted slippers "killer slippers." She called them that, because they are VERY slippery when worn. My teenage daughter stretch my little slipper over her size 9 feet and immediately started running and sliding around the kitchen on purpose. My mother saw many a broken hip due to knitted slippers.

If these are going to be worn on anything, but carpet consider getting something that would make them non-slip. I remember years ago something that one could squirt on. Maybe Aleene's made it. I don't remember. I'll have to do more research.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Peppermint Kiss Baby Blanket

Blanket with flash and don't mind the water spot. Iron went crazy with some light steaming.

That's what I'm calling my latest creation. I just love it and don't know if I'll even give it away. I made this using the videos posted by Diana Natters on Youtube. You can find links to the videos on her blog "Diana natters on." This blanket is called Swirl Round Baby Blanket. When I saw a picture of this blanket my immediate thought was peppermint candy. So, I knew my first blanket would be done with red and white.

I'm a pretty novice machine knitter and I found the video easy to follow. I kept it up on the computer and would replay bits to keep me on track. I had a minor problem with joining wedge 9 with wedge 10, but it was just a misunderstanding on my part. With a replay or two I was able to see my mistake and successfully join the wedges.

The pie crust edging was unbelievably easy. I'd never done it before and really enjoyed learning a new technique. I wasn't sure how to end it. I made sure the last "pie crust" piece over lapped the first then I did a latch tool bind off. Doesn't look quite a good as I would have liked, but it looks just fine too. Only I would notice it and maybe an experienced machine knitter if she really looked closely. I might email Diana and see if I did it correctly or if there is another way to do it. Most of all a big thank you goes out to Diana Sullivan for talking the time to film a fun project for us all to enjoy.
blanket no flash