Fortune Cookies

On Friday DH, daughter and I went out to eat Chinese at our favorite restaurant Silver Dragon.  At the end of the meal I opened my fortune cookie and it read "You will receive a gift given freely and gladly."  I thought what a great time for this fortune to come as the next day I was going to a sort of Machine Knitting yard sale at my guild.

I had sort of forgotten about my fortune as the sale went on.  I really didn't see much I wanted to buy as I'm saving my pennies for Christmas gifts.  I bought a $1 cone of some beautiful acrylic yarn.  I bought a linker for $5 for a friend in the Sacramento Machine Knitting Guild.  He had mentioned he wanted a linker at the last meeting.  I bought a couple MK magazines and a cone of beautiful forest green wool from Scotland.  All total I spent about $20.

Where I was sitting and there was a knitting machine that many people were looking at.  It was kind of pitiful.  No tools, no row counter, missing it's cast on comb.  Many of the experienced machine knitters were brought over to consult on whether it would be a good starter machine.  It was getting high praise from everyone.  Still it just sat there.  The sale was pretty much over when the owner of the machine and other things on the table asked if anyone wanted the box on the table.  No one spoke up and she looked at me.  I thought she meant the knitting machine, but she was referring to the knit leader.  She said I don't know if it works, but you're welcome to have it.  I said OK.  Then she pointed to the knit leader.  I thought well it will be interesting to see what this thing is and if it works.

When I went to retrieve the knit leader she then asked what I would do with it.  I told her that I am working with a teenage group at my daughter's school called Caring for Cancer Patients.  That I was teaching these teenagers how to machine knit to make hats for donation to their charities.  Then she said, "Here take the knitting machine too.  Are you really going to use it for charity?"  I told her that I already have pictures on my blog of the teenagers making hats using my machines.  That I thought it would be nice to get a machine for the group to clean and refurbish.  So, they can learn how to take care of a knitting machine and have a machine of their own.

She was happy to donate the machine and not to have to cart it back home.  I was very excited for the group.  Then it occurred to me that my fortune cookie prediction had come true.

Day 11 "25 Days of Diana"

Today I wanted to finish my sock, but that was not to be.  There were so many mistakes in my sock that once I got just passed the half way mark I thought I really need to redo this sock.  I really want to wear this sock; therefore it really needs to look like a sock.  Not some sad excuse for a sock.

What was encouraging as I took it off the machine resigned to the fact that I had to redo it is that it did definitely look like a real sock.  Well, the beginnings of one.  I think someone who didn't knit wouldn't notice the mistakes.  To me they were blaring.

I decided to try on my half of sock and see if it was any where near the size I needed.  To my great surprise it fit great!  I was very excited, because it fit AND it looked like a sock!  Well, half a sock.  I am encouraged to try this again tomorrow.  Tonight I'll rewind the yarn into a neat ball again and be ready for tomorrow.

Day 10 "25 Days of Diana"

Today I returned home from Rough and Ready, CA.  That's where my folks live.  We celebrated mama's birthday this weekend.  I still had time to do a little machine knitting.

I started with Diana's Single Bed Sew-As-You-Go Sock.  I thought I needed to know how to do 2X2 ribbing, but a mock rib is used here.  I found out that one can not be distracted while making this projected.  Well that's probably true with most projects. LOL  The video is great.  Twinkle fingers here was having some problems.  I'd end up with an extra needle obviously I forgot to push one into work or out of work.  Then for some unknown reason my whole toe dropped off the needles in one swipe of the carriage.  After rehanging it, reknitting stitches manually I'd had enough knitting for the day.

Day 9 "25 Days of Diana"

Saturday, December 9th was the Machine Knitting Guild of the San Francisco Bay Area's monthly meeting.  It's about an hour and half away from my house, but well worth the journey once a month.  There were 4 of us all together that carpooled.

Today's meeting was a fashion show of machine knit fashions, a catered luncheon and show and tell.  For the first time since I started machine knitting I really felt like I could do these items that were being shown in the fashion show.  Having a ribber has really opened up a whole new world of knitting options.  Though I don't use it for everything probably only half of what I've been doing lately.  I have it and it's not a worry.  I didn't realize how much I worried about not having a ribber up and working.

What was I worried about?  I guess not being a complete machine knitter.  Not that I'm any where near being one, but the possibilities are there now.

Today's Diana project was merely just showing off my Tam done with Diana's video.  It was a big hit.  Once again I was giving out the location of Diana's blog.  I tell them to google "Diana natters on" and they'll go right to it.  Honestly, I should print out some business cards with her name and address on them.  Every meeting I'm asked where I got the patterns I use and most of the time they are Diana's.  I'm only too happy to report to them about this great resource.

Day 8 "25 Days of Diana"

Today I worked on making 2X2 ribbing using Diana's video and the book that came with my machine.

I did some very nice swatches.  Making sure all the buttons and levers are pushed in the correct directions can be a challenge.  I kept trying to get my zig zag row and it wasn't happening.  So, again I'd go over the chart.  It seemed as careful as I thought I was something would be out of place.  Finally, I swiped the carriage and a beautiful zig zig row was formed.

Something I that had been ingrained in my brain from watching Diana's ribber videos was to make sure the needles didn't collide.  I was very proud of myself when I knew to turn my ribber from P to H without any prompting.

Day 7 "25 Days of Diana"

Day 7 was spent with me working on my kitchener stitch.  I used Diana's video specifically about the kitchener stitch.  I also found a little more helpful in that I could see what was going on a little better the Short Rowed Hat video.  At the end of the 2nd video she shows you how to kitchener stitch again.  We all need to find ways that help us learn and I don't know maybe it was the video angle, but it just made more sense to me.

So, I'm stitching up the baby hat and I'm stitching up a pair of slippers I made last December.  Yes, I did say last December.  The first one didn't fit me after I sewed it up.  The 2nd one was a great example displayed with the completed slipper of what the slipper looked like right off the machine.  I just never got around to sewing up the 2nd slipper.  I found out they'll fit my sister-in-law.  Since we don't exchange gifts guess what she'll find in her stocking.

Day 6 "25 Days of Diana"

Today I decided to make Diana's adorable Short-Rowed Baby Hat.  Mine came out equally adorable.  It's really good practice for short rowing.  I'll need that talent for my sock DVD when it shows up.  :)

The 10 wedges were easy to do.  Things I had problems with were my yarn mast and making sure the weights got moved.  My yarn mast I think is having tensioning problems on the left side.  It kept tightening up the yarn, getting tangled and generally making me say "What the f*#@" toward the end of the 10 wedges.  Every time I looked up it found a new way to get tangled and intertwined upon itself.  I made it through though and the adorableness of the way the yarn patterned made me very happy.

After I hung the hat to start the hat band I threaded the yarn through the right side of the mast.  No problems with tensioning there.  I'll definitely be looking into what's going on with the left side.

I don't have a lace carriage for my Studio 700.  I don't even know if it comes with one.  Something to look into.  I did my picot edge the old fashion way with a transfer tool.  Moving every other stitch to the needle beside it.  The picot edging is so simple and yet looks so nice.

I was so excited to finish this hat tonight seeing how cute it was turning out. I started around 8pm and finished around 11pm. I'm hoping to do it quite a bit faster when I'm not fighting my yarn mast.