Sashay!

It's a beautiful frilly and frustrating lace yarn.  My machine knitting group ladies are making scarves with it "hand over fist."  What does that mean?  Ahhh it's a nautical term in reference to pulling a rope quickly and continuously.  Well, they are making them quickly and seems like continuously as every time I see them I'll get a report "I've made seven Sashay scarves."

I was told they were very easy and fast to make.  I don't know if it's that I'm a novice hand knitter or I'm easily aggravated, but I couldn't get into knitting one by hand.  The yarn confused me.  I'd get lost in the many different holes and then it all fell right off my needles into my lap.  That was it.  What in the H, E, double toothpicks was I going to do with 4 skeins of Sashay yarn!

I got to thinking I might be able to use my knitting machine to knit up one of these scarves.  I've been working with my garter bar lately and I thought hmmmm I might be able to use it with the pattern for this scarf.  I wouldn't be able to use the carriage and traditionally knit this yarn, but I could use the needles and the garter bar to get the look the pattern calls for.

The pattern calls for casting on 6 stitches and that's what my MK ladies have been doing. I thought the scarf was awfully long. I'm kind of short and it seems to hang pretty low on me.  There is the option of using 10 stitches, but I didn't want it too short. I went for 8 stitches.

I hung 8 holes along the edge skipping every other hole of the Sashay.  That was a tip given to me by every women in my MK group, but one.  The one said every stitch would give a nice filly scarf just fine.  She's kind of bossy, but what she knits is always gorgeous.  After the 3rd lady secretly told me to skip every other stitch I decided to go by the majority.  After Thanksgiving though I'm going to use the every stitch method and just see what the difference would be.

 

Yes, you heard it right I will be making more of these scarves.  Putting them on the knitting machine really helped organize the yarn for me.  I'd hang 8 stitches and then using my transfer tool handle horizontally I'd pull all the stitches through.  Then I used my garter bar to flip the knitting.  Once I got a groove going it went pretty quickly.  I'd say it took me a total of 4 hours to finish the scarf.

 

There is a gal on Ravelry that did not flip the work and even though the scarf had a definite right side/wrong side she said either side was lovely.  I wanted to follow the pattern on the wrapper though and it is one continuous circle to get this frilly scarf.

 

8 stitches was perfect for me.  It measures 46 inches.  It really have a nice frilly feeling, but it has substance.  Not too airy.

 

Looking a bit like a I'm wearing a clown ruff here, but really in person and with the right outfit it's going to be a gorgeous scarf.

Pumpkin Hats!

Using a mock rib technique these adorable hats can be made on a flat bed bulky machine without a ribber. It uses a tuck stitch.

 

 

Bonnie demonstrated the pattern to our group.  She punched the pattern in on her electronic machine.  The pattern comes with a chart to create a punch card if that's the kind of machine you have.

 

She made 2 adorable hats for her Grandkids just in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

This pattern can be found at Baby Jane Machine Knits.  It is called "Lil Punkin Hat."

The Dreaded Garter Bar

At least that's what I always thought of it.  I just recently started working with it as a member of my Sacramento Guild is doing a charity project.  She asked me to help out and she'd teach me how to make "baby doll clothes" as she likes to call them.  I call them doll clothes.  I have no reason to make baby doll clothes, but I'm always happy to help with a charity project.  I also thought it was a great time to finally dust off my garter bar and actually work with it.

It wasn't easy at first.  Had several rows that looked like this.

But once I figured out Becky's garter bar had a slight bend in the middle I was finally able to account for that and become successful.  I was teasing with my friend Bonnie, who had also joined the project and lesson that I was sweating profusely each time I had to use the garter bar.  And that I think I was getting a ulcer.  We figured that we needed to practice on something we didn't care about.  Messing up in the middle of a hat was too stressful.

 

As with anything learning your tools and practice I was able to successfully get a many rows turned for the "baby doll hats."  I think the garter bar and I will become friends in the very near future.

 

 

Once I get a hat and matching coat done I'll post a photo.