The Madness Has Been Pinpointed....I Think

Still working on the "EZ" Entrelac.  I think I've found out all my problems happen when I'm doing the 2 triangles and 3 rectangles row.  It starts on the left and makes it way right.  So, everything I'm doing is done left handed or should be.  I'm doing it right handed, because I'm... well... right handed.  The stitches are more difficult to pick up right handed this way.  I keep getting the carriage parked on the wrong side.  It should be on the left, but I find it on the right a good deal of the time.  Then I have to figure out which row did I start making that mistake.  More unraveling.  Next thing I know I find a stitch hung on the 11th needle in a 10 needle only pattern.  More unraveling when did that wayward stitch get hung up.  Oh my goodness I'm so aggravated right now.  It only spurs me on though.  I won't let not being left handed conqueor me.  Because when the pattern is moving in the opposite direction it's a breeze being right handed.  So, I guess no matter what handed we are we'll all have to work harder in one direction or the other.

Last night my teenage daughter was manhandling looking at my work and I said, "Be careful I have a pin in it holding a loose stitch."  She asked, "Why?"  I explained, "On the 2nd rectangle some how I missed a stitch."  She says quizzically, "One stitch?"  I said, "Yes."  She says sarcastically, "Really mom just one stitch?!"  I respond a bit offended (is she bad mouthing my project or accusing me of lying), "Yes, just one stitch!"  She says, "Oh really mom you've only missed one stitch in your entire life?"  Now I know what she's really asking and I laugh and say, "Oh no I've missed many stitches over the years.  Just one in this project."  She laughs and says, "Oh that's better I was wondering why you were up on that high horse.  I thought I was going to have to knock you off."  I laughed again and turned back to my computer.  I kept smiling, because my little girl is growing up.  She responded like one of my girlfriends would if we were talking about knitting and they thought I was boasting.

Diary of a Mad Machine Knitter

Mad as in crazy!  Lost my mind... can't believe I'm still plugging along.  I started a really cool project.  It's not the project that's driving me crazy it's my machine knitting clutziness.

I'm doing Diana Sullivan's EZ Entrelac.  It is pretty easy now that I've learned the process, but it was hard going to begin with.  For me anyhow.  I had a neck injury about 14 years ago and my short term memory isn't what it should be.  With repetition though it gets locked into long term memory and then I have no problems.

Until it was locked into long term memory I was ready to turn green and hulk the knitting machine, entrelac and all out the window.  My main problem was and is my choice of yarn.  She suggested a worsted weight acrylic, but I wanted to use some really beautiful cotton yarn from Knit One Crochet Too called Ty-Dy.  The problem with the yarn is that ....well... it's cotton.  It has no stretch and it splits easily.  This pattern calls for a lot of hanging and taking off a needles.  When you have persnickety yarn it just adds another dimension of aggravation. 

This technique calls for the use of a circular knitting needle with a small gauge needle.  This is used instead of waste yarn.  It actually works quite well.  It has taken getting use to.  First off my needle could be a smaller gauge.  Mine is a 7.  With the cotton yarn if the needle was a smidge bigger it would probably get stuck.  Mine slides out barely.  Also the postioning of said needle while machine knitting is important.  I've run the actual wooden needle through the carriage more times than I'd like to count.  Nothing has jammed or gotten stuck.  I've been very lucky in that respect.  Also the cotton yarn gets very tight on the nylon part of the circular needle.  Loosening up the yarn to be able to hang a stitch is challenging.

I've missed a stitch here and there.  I've knitted extra rows.  I've ripped out the same triangle 4 times and redone several rectangles.  BUT with repetition and practice things have gotten a lot easier. I am doing Entrelac without having to pause and replay the DVD any more.  I've even gone a few rows without sending my wooden needle through my carriage.  As you can see below it's well worth the effort.  I can't even imagine how long this would take if I hand knitted it.  Despite my belly aching I'm really having a good time.  As my piece gets bigger and bigger I'm getting more excited to see the finished project.

Purple Bunny for Easter

A lot has been going on in my Machine Knit world I just haven't been taking pictures of it.  So, finally thought I'd share this cute and easy project I made up last weekend.

This is a Knitted Bunny.  It was easily translated to the knitting machine.  All you need is a square of knitted material.  Some gals make these bunnys out of unneeded swatches.  I used my Toyota KS650 Bulky to make my square.  The yarn I used is some that was given to me.  It is probably sock weight.  I e- wrap cast on 35 stitches using tension 3 I knitted 65 rows.  This gave me almost a perfect square with which to work.

I steamed the square enough to get the curl out of it and then just followed the instructions on how to sew it up.  It's all in the sewing.

As I was making it I was dubious of how it was going to turn out, but as you can see it came out adorable.

I had some leftover buttons from a crochet project and decided my bunny needed eyes.

Machine Knit Guild Meeting February 11th

Marilynn was demonstrating the cable stitch on a doll sleeveless top.  After it was done we all agreed we'd like a top in our size with this design.

The cable was so cute and I was amazed at really how easy it is to do a cable stitch.  The ribbed edging Marilynn did by hand and hung it on the machine.

This is the back of the top fully rolled out.

This is a close up of the back of the cable.

This is a demonstration of a decrease.

Recycled Yarn Hat

I made my son a scarf when he was in 6th grade.  He had gotten a $20 dollar bill for a birthday present wrapped in one whole skein of red, white, and blue variegated yarn.  He loved the fun of it and the yarn so much he asked if I'd make him a big thick scarf.  I did using 3 more skeins in addition to the birthday skein.  It was just what he asked for long and thick.

Fast forward 6 years and my college boy is cleaning his room and comes out with this scarf.  With "hope this doesn't hurt your feelings" in his eyes he asks if I want the scarf.  I said, "Out grown it?"  He says, "Yes" with "glad you understand" tone to his voice.

My first thought was I'll never use this scarf.  It's too big and too thick.  My next thought was maybe I could recycle this yarn and began to unravel it.  Then I wrapped it into balls using my yarn winder.

Listening to the commentary to the latest "Ice Age" movie I decided to make a hat with one of the skeins.  I was amazed as I knitted this up on my Toyota Bulky KS 650 at how differently the variegated yarn came together.  As a crocheted scarf it was very pretty, but as a machine knitted hat it was down right beautiful!  I decided then I'd knit all 4 skeins up into hats for donation.

This was a little tight on me, but for donation people will have different sized heads and will be just fine.

What I did was on tension 5 I e-wrapped on 70 needles.  I proceeded to knit 40 rows in stockinet.  I rehung the first row so the hat would have a finished edge to fold up.  I like that in a knitted hat.  Then I knitted 60 more rows.  This left plenty of yarn to sew it up into a hat.  Using a tapestry needle I weaved the yarn into each stitch on the machine needles.  Then I moved carriage over the project to remove it from needles.

I pulled the yarn to gather the top.  After doing that I proceeded to do the mattress stitch down the hat toward hem.  Once I got to the hem I continued the mattress stitch down the outside around to the inside until I met where I had rehung the bottom e-wrapped edge.  I then ended the sewing and wove the end in.  Tada hat!

MOCK CABLE EDGE

Interesting edging to try called a Mock Cable Edging.  Check out link to see it at the original site with pictures.

MOCK CABLE EDGE
Forms a spiral, non-curling edge that is worked along vertical sides as you knit.

CO (closed method) the number of sts called for in pattern. COR. Knit 1 row. COL.

Transfer 4th and 5th stitches on both sides to adjacent needles and put those needles in NWP. Keep all other needles in WP.

Work 6 rows.

From the back of the knitting, insert the latch tool under the first “rung” of the ladder of stitches to the front of your work (facing you) and catch the top rung.

Pull the rung all the way down and around the edge stitches. Place it on needle #3 from side edge. There will now be 2 sts on the one needle.

Here’s what the two stitches on needle 3 will look like. Put needles #1,2.3 and 6,7,8 in FWP and knit 6 rows. COL.

Insert the latch tool under the rung of row #13 (which includes the first set-up row) and catch the top rung.

Bring the rung down, around and hook it on needle #3 as above.

Cont from * for total length of piece, ending on 6th row. K 1 R. Bind off.

Stitch n' Ride Final Update

Stitch n' Ride info is now up on the Capital Corridor website.