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Knitting

New Kids’ Sweaters

Iris Rose

Hi!  It has been a long time since my last post.  Life sort of got in the way of everything else and I had to step back for a bit.  I never stopped crafting and have a bunch of things on the go.  I have been working, mostly, on building up my stock for fall craft sales which may or may not go ahead.  I do enjoy what I am doing so if it is may not it is not a problem.

Mostly working on kids’ sweaters, I have made significant gains in what I have on hand.  I wish that I were a more accomplished photographer and then I could stock my Etsy store.  Stay tuned to that because miracles can happen!  Here are a few of the little, and not so little, sweaters that I have been busy with.

 

 

I had a bunch of fuzzy yarn similar to Caron’s Latte that I have had in stash for a while and wanted to use up.  I used the Latte that I had and remembered this stuff from my ebay binge of a few years ago.  There was only enough for one sweater of each colour but I managed to make a large dent in the stash, yippee!

 

Next time I will show you a little blanket that I knit with Caron Cakes yarn (sensing a trend here?) that I bought and stashed in 2016.  I found an error in colour management about halfway up that I ignored until I got to the end and now I don’t like it.  I am going to attempt to change it without ripping out; wish me luck!

I hope that you have a lovely crafty week and remember to be kind especially in these difficult times and please wear a mask in public to help save those who are not able to fight off disease as easily as you can.

Knitting

Headbands

Iris Rose

I have a new to me bulky knitting machine that has an issue with the carriage arm. I tried to straighten it out and it will work for a little while then it is back to bending the needle latches, not a good thing. I suspect that the carriage was maybe dropped or the arm stepped on because the steel is slightly bent in the centre and will not hold onto its revised shape when straightened out.

The machine was a great bargain so I got what I paid for. This is the situation where the Queen of Clearance has to step up and fix the problem. I had another carriage arm that fit and worked so I know that the issue is with that piece. Got to love ebay; another is on its way to me right now and the machine was still a great deal even with the added expense.

And now I finally come to the topic of today’s blog post. Since I had to test each time I worked on the carriage arm, I decided to make the yarn do something other than random swatches. Headbands with a twisted front seem to be a trend so I jumped on the wagon and made up a few.

They are very easy to make and, on the machine, very fast as well. I whipped up the pink one on Wednesday and the other four yesterday. The sewing up took longer than the knitting but it usually does with machine knits.

These would be very quick to hand knit as well and are a great way to use up those part skeins of worsted weight. You know the bag in the bottom of your closet where you put all of the bits that you can’t bear to throw out. Stripes are another way to use the smaller pieces. There are many patterns for these in both knit and crochet made in all weights and types of yarn. I think that something fuzzy knit or crocheted on a large needle or hook would be very appealing and warm with a built in cozy factor.

Thanks for looking and have a crafty cozy February week. Remember to pass the kindness along every chance that you get.

Knitting

Sock Blanks For Dying

Iris Rose

I am a little late in posting this week as I didn’t have anything to show you until I spent some time on a bulky knitting machine yesterday. I think that I was able to accomplish so much more when I was employed!

As I have mentioned in the past, I am very interested in hand dying yarn. I posted a few photos of yarn that Robyn and I had dyed while we were experimenting with the process. I really love gradient yarn and wanted to see if I could dye some of my own that was truly gradient and not just striped in a gradient way.

I did a little research and it seems that sock blanks are the way to go. Before everything got so busy personally, I had machine knit up some blanks with merino and nylon sock yarn and one with dk wool. The top one is the sock and bottom dk. This is a great way to find any knots that you missed when winding by the way says she as the knitting hits the floor. I have since refined my winding technique!

Next question for me to figure out was how I could create gradients in multiple cakes that were very similar. I know all hand dyed yarn varies in colour but I wanted to be as close as possible. I had an aha moment and broke out my new to me bulky machine and played with knitting double or triple blanks.

All dyed at once in the same colours and spit up to rewind should work. Well the triple, see photo, was a little tough going but the double blank turned out really well.  Only one caveat on this; they are enormous!

Next time I hope to show you how my experiment turned out. Until then, happy week ahead and remember to be kind.

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Finished!

Iris Rose

I started this cardigan last year (I think) and hated the neck edging that I had made. The sweater is machine knit, sideways on an LK150 hobby machine.

I knit it with Hobbii’s Twister which is a colour changing yarn. Twister is sold as a gradient but the colour changes are a bit abrupt resulting in stripes. I used a sideways method (one cake for each front and back) so that the stripes run up and down instead of across which is so unflattering to my body type. Rant here: Take note all of you buyers for plus size women; we want to be flattered not stuffed into a larger version of a garment that looks good on a size two. Don’t get me started on fit! Just because we need a garment wider doesn’t mean that we need it proportionately longer with a huge neckline and shoulders hanging down to our elbows. Maybe spend a few moments looking at real people.  Rant over and moving on.

Anyway, back to my cardi, I put this naughty sweater in time out on a shelf under my sewing table and, every once in a while, remembered it was there, took it out, got mad at it again because of the neck edge and stuffed it back.  Finally last month, I ripped off the neck edge and I do mean ripped, leaving a ragged and not very nice edge to deal with. No loose stitches but not pretty so back into time out it went.

I decided to hand knit ribbing and attach it in the same way as cut and sew on the machine. The overlapping stocking stitch edge covered the ragged bits nicely and I finally am happy with it. It is big and boxy and very soft; a perfect it’s cold in here cover up.  Yay!!!

Thanks for looking and please, have a happy week with lots of yarny goodness coming your way!

 

Knitting

Moving Forward

Iris Rose

It has been more than a month since I posted. I think that this is the longest break from writing that I have taken in the five years that I have been blogging.

I really had to just step back from everything that I have made a commitment to and take a long look at life. I have had a few too many things to cope with since the fall and putting creative arts on the back burner for a while has given me a new perspective on what I want to achieve going forward. I seem to have found the resolve to stop procrastinating and shooting myself in the foot at the same time.

I have started and not finished pattern after pattern. I have ordered and stashed numerous hanks of yarn to dye, all of which are still their natural colour, and started one project after another without completing any. Quite a mess, eh?

I feel like I have reached the point where I can step back into the action and get going. I wound twenty-three hanks of sock yarn into cakes last night and am servicing my new to me bulky machine to knit blanks to dye some gradients. I do love a good gradient, don’t you? I feel excited and ready to move finally forward to accomplishing something.

I hope to, no I will, have something new to show you next week but until then, thank you for reading my blog. Remember to be kind and look out for one another.