Tag: knitting

Knitting

Machine Knitting and a Crochet Teaser.

Iris Rose

Wow, the week sure has flown by!  I have been busy with my knitting machine this week. 

These were made with self striping sock yarn with a little sacrificed cause I love matchy, matchy.

I have a bunch, okay a ton, no actually about a few hundred skeins of yarn from an ebay binge that I went on a couple of years ago.  You may have recognized the labels from my hat post two weeks ago.  I have to seriously purge my stash before it takes over the house and, as most of the yarn that I bought is sport or finer, the machine just called out to me!

The hat is lined for warmth!

I have had some problems in the past with static that these yarns hold.  I am not sure why but they are way more electric than any other yarn I have used.  It doesn’t seem to matter about the type of fibre.  I normally rewind the skeins into a cake for machine knitting to suss out any knots or imperfections before they hit the tension mast or the carriage and cause a major patterning fail.  Plus, it hurts like crazy when the weights hit your feet as the knitting drops off the needles!  I held a damp wash cloth in my hand and let the yarn run through it while tensioning and, voila, no static!  Why didn’t I think of this years ago??

I am working on a pattern for a toddler’s cardigan, machine knit, with a hand crocheted edge.  The sample turned out really cute, so I am experimenting with sizing now.  I always like to offer a pattern in multiple sizes and, although I know how to do the math from gauge for hand knits and crochet, machine knitting is a little different.  As the samples are quick to knit and can be added to my sales inventory, I am making one in each size to ensure that the pattern is correct.  It will be written out and on sale next week.

Samples ready for blocking and finishing.

I am also working on a hand knit version in worsted weight as I liked the machine knit one so much.  That pattern is going to take just a little bit longer.

I am also working on a crochet pattern for you.  I have a vision of a shawl that I have been cooking in my brain for the last ten months.  I made a sample over the summer but didn’t like it enough to finish it.  I have been mulling over the best stitch pattern to achieve the look that I want and have arrived at a winner I think.  I will let you know how it goes!  Here is a teaser.

Don’t forget about my half price offer on the Gradient Cable Poncho and Northern Rose Shawl patterns, coupon code 50OFF in my Ravelry store!

Knitting

A Lace Knitting Book Review and My Messed Up Buttonhole

Iris Rose

Today, instead of a pattern feature or a little bit of what I am working on, I am presenting you with a book review.  This book, Japanese knitting Stitch Bible: 260 Exquisite Patterns, written by Hitome Shida and translated by Gayle Roehm, is the absolutely most amazing resource.  Written for advanced knitters, it could be an inspiration to beginners as well.

If you love knitting lace as much as I do, and cables come a close second to that, then this is the book for you.  All of those amazingly intricate patterns that are featured over and over on Pintrest are all laid out here for you.  This is apparently the resource for all of those really beautiful Russian garments that are so popular.

A caution, the book is all chart based patterns.  There is not a written pattern in sight so, if you are not a chart lover, then you should have a very good look before you buy as I suspect that this lovely to look at book will be an exercise in frustration for you.

The book is available on amazon and elsewhere at a good price for a stitch library.  I bought the Kindle version as I have limited space on my book shelf.  Just so you know, I have my bookshelf stacked with yarn and my poor books crammed onto the bottom shelf two deep!  Ebooks and digital patterns are the way to go, for me at least.

If you love intricate knitting, even just to look at, this book is a great investment.

 

I wrote last week about my poor lace cardigan and the errant buttonhole.  I tore out just the centre of the buttonhole band and reworked it with a couple of DPN’s.  It looked okay but I had missed one strand at the beginning of the repair and the stitches, because they were stretched, were quite loose looking.  I know that I could have teased the stitches back to the right size but that missed loop really bothered me.

        

After some internal debate, I tore out about thirty rows (I thought it was just fifteen, but I had only counted the right side rows!) and am now reworking it.  The last picture shows that darn buttonhole finally worked correctly.  It sounds drastic, but I would never have worn the sweater without having my hand across the incorrect buttonhole to hide it.  It is funny (and not haha) how such a minor mistake becomes so huge in your mind.

 

Knitting

End of Summer, Bulky Yarns!

Iris Rose

Where I live it is the end of summer, not my favourite time of year.  Lots of folks love this time of the fall with the cooler days and cooler nights, colourful leaves changing from green to gold before they fall.  It can be bright and sunny and tease you into thinking that the warm days are not over and that winter is far, far away.  Ha!

It is not that I really dislike winter but more that I really hate the long dark of winter days.  Once we reach the middle of January and the daylight starts to increase, I am all good even though this is the coldest part of the winter and often the snowiest.  Give me a snowfall over rain any day but just not the darkness of November and December.

Now that I have had a little rant, I am looking forward to all of the lovely bulky yarns that show up this time of the year and hope to have a few patterns ready over the next month or so that take advantage of these quickly knit yarns.  Most of them don’t need anything complicated as far as stitching goes to become stars, in fact, the more simple the pattern, the better to showcase the colours and textures of these lovelies.

I have a few patterns that I have written to make gift knitting, and yes it is time to start, an easy and speedy process.  Here is the first, a simple cowl that I hope that you enjoy!

Cowl or Infinity Scarf:

Tools: 12 to 15mm single point pair of needles or a circular needle of the same diameter.  The needle size is not crucial but will affect the depth of the garter stitch.  Use what you have; if the largest that you have is 6mm, work the cowl in dropped garter stitch with one yarn over wrap to make the stitch size close to what a larger needle produces.  There are great videos online that show how to make this easy stitch.

Materials: 90m chunky yarn or use two ends of worsted weight in the same or contrasting colours to make your own chunky weight.  I have mixed a textured and smooth yarn in the same colour or close to make a fabulous look.  Use up those this is too beautiful to resist sequin, loopy or what have you yarns that are hiding in your stash. Consult your great imagination and have fun!

Cowl Instructions: Cast on 22 stitches with 12mm needles or 18 stitches with 15mm needles.

Knitting all rows, work 36 ridges (72 rows) with the 12mm needles and 30 ridges (60 rows) with the 15mm needles.

Join with cast off by picking up a loop at each live stitch (as you work the last row) from your cast on and three needle bind off with your live stitches.  If you don’t want to do this, cast off and neatly sew the two ends together to form a tube.  Lightly Block with steam to stretch your new lovely cowl out slightly and to soften the yarn a little.

If you want a longer cowl, and don’t forget you will need more yarn, keep knitting until you get to the length that you like when wrapped around your neck then finish here.