25 Days of Diana!

Diana Sullivan that is.  If you haven't heard of Diana Sullivan then you need to go promptly over to her blog.  After you've read my personal challenge that is.  I've included links to her blog.  She is a great advocate for machine knitting.  She is very generous and makes free videos on how to do many techniques on knitting machine.  She also sells a few of her techniques on DVD.  I have bought two.  My favorite to date is the Entrelac video.  To be fair it's the only one I've viewed; hense, this challange.

I've decided on a challenge for myself.  In an effort to get better at using my knitting machines I'm going to do something on Diana's blog everyday for 25 days.  I'd also like to get a few things knitted for Christmas.  This way I'll get to kill two birds with one stone.  Oh that sounds terrible no birds will be harmed during my 25 days of machine knitting.
 
Diana Sullivan has great tutorials and great projects on her "Diana natters on..." Blog.  A lot of them on video on YouTube.  I keep threatening to do more of them and don't make the time.  Check out Diana's YouTube Channel on YouTube.  It's called Dianaknits.

Starting on November 26th, because who are we kidding do I really have time during the week before Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is at my house and I have cooking and cleaning to do.  This year I'm ONLY having 12 people over.  I usually have 25 or more.  Though it seems like a more relaxing event the same food needs to be made.  Why stress myself out.

The challenge will end on December 20th.  Plenty of time to weave ends in and get things wrapped for Christmas.

I think I'll use this week to sort of come up with a plan on where I want to start.  So, many interesting things to do over at Diana's place.

Machine Knit Mittens

I found a model at my last Machine Knitting Meeting.  One of the gals brought her granddaughter's.  One was about 6 and the mitten fit her perfectly.  This was knit with some purple yarn I bought at Fig Tree Alley.  It is a gorgeous purple acrylic sold for $5 a cone.  I bought it mainly to use for my prototypes.  My experiments on my knitting machines.  Each time I make something though I think I should save it for something real.  It's such a gorgeous color.

I made this mitten on my Studio 700 standard gauge knitting machine.  The cuff is a mock rib.  At the time of this project I was at my knitting machine meeting and did not have a ribber.  I also did not know how to use the ribber I had at home.  The mock rib looks nice, but doesn't have the stretch of a real rib.

I was really quite amazed as I made this mitten in about 25 minutes.  It took me about 1 hour to sew up the seams.

I made the size for a toddler, but the mitten nearly fits me.  It fit my 6 year old model perfectly.

3 days after I made this mitten I learned how to use my ribber.  I'm no expert, but I do know how to make 1X1 ribbing.  I made an adult size mitten with 1X1 ribbing.  Pictures to follow.

My Evil Machine Knitting Plan In Full Swing!

Some of you may recall my evil plan to convert teenagers into machine knitters.  My plan involved luring them in to make hats for their "Caring for Cancer Patients" group (CCP).

 
Well, Sunday was the first day I got the group over.  It was a meager showing of 3 members.  Honestly, it was a nice size with which to start.  I don't know how many members the group has, but my hope is this start up group will tell the others how much fun they had.  My plan was to not only get the group acquainted with knitting machines, but to feed them yummy food too.

I set up my 2 KS 650 Bulky Toyotas.  Not only are bulky needles easy to see, but my KS 650 bulkys are just easy to use.  I week before our meeting my husband said, "Is Julia coming over?"  Julia is my friend that taught me to machine knit.  I thought what a great idea to have another adult here who knows how to run a knitting machine.  I called up Julia and asked her if she would come and she said, "Yes.  Do you need me to bring a machine?  How about some yarn?"  What a great friend!

Diana the leader of the CCP asked if I needed any money to buy yarn.  I have been given yarn and have bought some very cheaply over the past year.  I decided to let the CCP group have a yarn donation with which to begin.

Julia and I taught the girls how to e-wrap, knit, how to transfer stitches, how to pull the live stitches off on a long yarn tail, and how to sew up the side seam.  My daughter has done a little machine knitting, but the other 2 girls have not done any knitting or crocheting.  They all learned very quickly.  The girls were all amazed at how quickly they could knit up something that looked so beautiful.

At one point the girls had gain more confidence and the carriages on both machines were moving back and forth at a nice clip.  The sounds of both knitting machines in work was music to my ears.

Diana the group leader was in Pennsylvania over the weekend and came home just in time to see the girls handy work.  She was so proud.  One of the gals in the group suggested on several occasions we should get together every 2 weeks to knit hats.

My only comment to that is "Bwah hahahahahaha.  My evil plan was successful!"  We made a date to meet up again during Thanksgiving week.

PS.  I made a yummy appetizer called Chile Relleno Bites.   SO GOOD!

Ribber is up and working

I set my Studio 700 up with it's SRP60N ribber back in January. I followed the directions in the book. My ribber would not adjust high enough for the ribber carriage to meet the knitting machine carriage. Not knowing a thing about ribbers I didn't know what to do. I was so frustrated that I just let the whole set up sit.

My friend Julia said there are some adjustments that can be made on the back of the ribber that's not mentioned in the book. She said she'd come over and help me get it up and running. She spent about 1/2 hour getting the ribber adjusted and then we needed to start the teenager machine knitting group. I'll blog on that later.

After all the teenagers left we came back to the ribber. She got it casted on and started knitting 1X1 ribbing. It was very exciting to see the ribber actually working. She then said want to try. I said, "I'm scared." She laughed and got up and said firmly, "Sit down." So, she help walk me through the instructions on how to cast on the ribber. She gave me tips on what to look for, what should be knitting and what tensions work well.  I made my first strip of 1X1 ribbing!

Then I promptly lost my comb wire. The comb and wire fell behind my machine onto floor between practice strips. Nothing tricky. Wire completely gone. Julia then gave me a tip to always put the wire back in the comb when not in use. Hopefully tomorrow when the sun is out I'll be able to find my wire. Where could it have possibly gone in a  3X4 foot square area?

Side Note:  3 months later and I have FOUND my ribber wire.  It has slid down along side the knitting machine lid held on the stand in the back.  It balanced nicely between the 2 arms that hold the lid totally camouflaged.

Video Pattern For A Hair Scrunchie

At Diana natters on... there is a great video on how to make a cute hair scrunchie. Check it out by clicking here.

What I particularly liked is seeing someone under the age of 40 machine knitting!

WWI Was Won by a Knitting Machine!

The Wonderful Knitting Machine (Part 1)



And don't forget part 2 for the full story and the finished sock. Fascinating!

Knitting Lace

Last week's lesson was on knitting lace. Only problem I don't own a Brother knitting machine. My machines don't have lace carriages. BUT I really enjoyed watching the demonstration. This machine I was told is a Brother 910. It had a handy dandy electronic device that helped set up the lace patterns. It would then tell you how many times the lace carriage needed to pass before using the regular carriage.

We chose different patterns and worked with Becky's machine.  She use to own a machine knitting shop up until 1998.  And to think I moved here in 1990.  I could have been machine knitting for 8 years!  I had just never heard of machine knitting at the time. 

Becky wanted to demonstrate a quick and easy project for gifts.  After trying her machine I could see how easy it would be to crank out a table runner and 4 place mats on a Brother 910.