Pretty scarf for me!

I have finally got all the Christmas/holiday decorations put away and now have time to spend knitting some projects I came across prior to the holiday season.

I found a lovely scarf pattern on the net that some very kind knitter was giving it out as a Christmas present to any or all who wanted to give it a try.  I decided to make mine on my LK 150 (the pattern was done on a bulky) as I like less bulk for my scarves.  There is some hand manipulation but I was very surprised as to how quickly this little project worked up.  You are only working on 38 stitches
so there are 8 three prong transfers every other row.

What I really like about this little scarf is the fact it comes off the machine without any rolling of the side edges.  I would still give it a light steam but other than that it is just fine the way it is.

Also the knit and purl sides are both quite attractive so that is another bonus for this project.

(click on the photos to enlarge)

Here is the scarf as it came off the machine
 

This is a lovely ladies scarf for yourself or as a gift.  The beauty of the non rolling edges is the fact there are transfers made creating a hole on the 3rd stitch on each end.  Brilliant!  I will keep that in mind for future projects like afghans.


Below is the pattern with a breakdown of the transfer row:

Cast on 38 stitches  19 sts left of 0 - 19 sts right of 0
Knit 2 rows ending with carriage on the right.

Using your 3 prong transfer tool

Working from the right side  transfer sts 15, 16, 17 over one space to the left
Then transfer 11, 12 and 13 over one space to the right
There are 3 stitches on needle 14 no stitches on 11 or 17

Transfer 6, 7, 8 over one needle to the left
Transfer 2, 3, 4 over one needle to the right
3 stitches on needle 5 and no stitches on 2 and 8 (right of 0)

Transfer 2, 3, 4 over one needle to the left
Transfer 6, 7, 8 over one needle to the right
There are 3 stitches on needle 5 and no sts on needles 2 and 8 (left of 0)

Transfer lol, 12, 13 over one space to the left
Transfer 15, 16,17 one space to the right
There are 3 stitches on needle 14 and no stitches on needles 11 and 17.

Your set up will be as follows
I = ONE ST ON NEEDLE 
0 = EMPTY NEEDLE
3 = THREE STS ON NEEDLE

I I 0 I I 3 I I 0 I I 0 I I 3 I I 0 I I 0 I I 3 I I 0 I I 0 I I 3 I I 0 I I

Push all your needles out to hold
Knit two rows.

Repeat the 4 sets of transfers every other row until you reach the length you want then knit two final rows then one loose row and crochet cast off.


Project #8 - Pair of Mittens - Knit in the Round!

While I had my ribber set up on my bulky and some left over yarn sitting about, I decided to knit a pair of mittens that would require a minimum of sewing after the fact.

I knit the ribbing as usual, which unfortunately cannot be done in the round, and set forth to see how I would make out.  Once the ribbing was done, and ending with my carriage on the right, I transferred all the needles right of 0 to the ribber and all the ribber needles on the left of 0 to the main bed.
Changed to knit arm - dropped the ribber bed slightly to knit the needles on the main bed onto waste yarn.  I removed the waste yarn stitches, turned the work and rehung the stitches over the opposite needles from the needlebed.  So now I had the same number of stitches on both beds directly opposite each other.

Weights are very important here so get lots of weight on both section (front and back)

Changed to ribber arm - Knit 14 rows which means 28 passes of the carriage.

Changed to knit arm -drop the ribber bed to work on knit bed only.
Put all but the 7 sts on the right to hold and set the carriage to hold as well.
pull out 7 more needles on the right and e-wrap them - hang a weight.
Thread up carriage and knit 14 rows
Transfer EOS to reduce down to 7 - knit across - remove sts on yarn tail with a tapestry needle.

Put all empty needles back to A position - then pull 7 back out to work position (B) immediately to the right of the needles in hold.
Pull the thumb piece up, fold it down then fold it to the left to create the thumb.  Hang the 7 loops on the top edge facing you on the seven empty needles.

Change to rib arm and push ribber back up with thumb in between the beds inside the mitten.
Thread up your carriage, make sure there is lots of weight as before and now make 56 passes

Finally, we just have to decrease for the finger tip section,  I decided I would decrease one stitch each side of the main bed and ribber and knit 4 rows until it got to I think it was 9 on each bed.  I took these off on waste yarn to graft later.

I repeated the same for the other mitten but made sure the thumb was on the left side so there is one more row after the 28 before you reach the thumb.  Otherwise everything else is the same.

Graft the fingertip, sew the short thumb seam and finally sew up the side seam on the ribbing.  Done.

I know it seams like a lot of changing of the ribber and knitting arms BUT I think the final result looks great and well worth the effort.  I would definitely make more this way for sure.

Mittens, Mittens, Mittens!

I have now finished 10 pairs of mittens for the Red Cross Winter Warmth Program that our Knit Club supports each year.

The mittens were made on my Studio 155 bulky machine using the ribber for the 1 x 1 rib.  They knit up very quickly.  The seaming takes about the same amount of time as the knitting.  I had a very large ball of veriagated yarn that just seemed to go on and on and on....  I still have a bit left that I can use as a colored strip on another pair which I'm going to do later. 

The pattern is basically the one on Irene Wood's site which I know many of you use for your mittens too.  It is a great pattern, easy to follow and gives good results.

I usually cast on 34 sts, rib for 18 rows, knit 14 rows, do thumb, knit 27 rows, shortrow the top flap, remove on waste yarn and I'm done the knitting part, I then just have to sew up the thumb seam, graft the flap and sew the side seam.   So you can see it is a very simple process.  One just has to remember to reverse the side for the thumb on the second mitten!  I've done them both the same and that doesn't quite work to make a pair.

Here's a photo of the final 10 pairs (includes the original 4 pair I showed earlier)  Click on the photos to enlarge if you wish.

I also have had a chance to work with my ribber on the bulky while playing with hand manipulated stitches in between ribber stitches - made for a very interesting afternoon.  Now I think I'll move this over to my standard and see what I come up with over there using this same technique.  I think it would be a great way to do scarves and also eliminate the rolling edges if the sides were done in 1 x 1 rib.......  Here is my test piece - color is awful but it was just a practice session so I really wasn't that fussy.  My goal was to produce something that was attractive on both sides and I think this would foot the bill in that department.

This is the right side of the piece

This is the wrong side of the piece

As you can see in the photos the sides tend to weave in and out as I was changing the direction of the lace sections which created that effect.  This doesn't really bother me but if needed I could probably block it straight.  This piece has not been blocked or steamed it is just as it came off the machine - no curled edges - whoopee!



HK 100 8 mm Knitting Machine

This little machine is just the greatest.  It is portable so that makes it very useful for me when I want to knit out on the deck or take to Knit Club.  It is a very basic machine but does have a great tension dial on the carriage.  The yarn sits on the floor in front of the machine but that really doesn't bother me.  I have knit several projects on the HK 100.  One of my favorites is my Color Block Afghan that used up a lot of odds and sods of yarn and created a lovely blanket as well as a lap robe. 

This is the Color Block Afghan

This is a Square Afghan that could be used as a lap robe or

just a cozy blanket for toddlers to play on the floor

The squares are done in panels separated by rows of a contrast border color.  I joined the panels by knitting a strip of the contrast border color and at the same time joining the panels to it using the "Sew As You Go" technique.  Worked up quickly and used up a lot of yarn I would have ignored because there wasn't enough to make anything with!  

Project #6 - Diana Sullivan's Entrelac Hat

I ordered Diana's "Wear Your Diamonds" Book and DVD which arrived late last week.  I spent the next day viewing the DVD and reading through the instruction book.  I must commend Diana for her wonderful way of giving all the instructions and information to the reader/viewer.  It is easy to follow and one feels quite confident when you actually start the project on your own. 

I worked away at this project one full afternoon, taking my time to make sure I was following Diana's instructions and not rushing myself through each section.  I must say I really enjoyed the whole process.  The finishing was quite simple with very few yarn ends to sew in as the hat is only seamed in the ribbed section, the rest is done in a continuous circle of blocks. 

I have always put entrelac on the back burner thinking it was such a lot of work and fiddling around.  I have since changed my tune and will now go ahead and try more projects using this technique.  Perhaps that shoulder bag that Diana has on her site right now. 

Here are a couple of photos of the hat I did: (Click on photos to enlarge)

Side View: Really impressed with this pattern

Top View:  Love the finished crown section

Bear in mind the hat is pulled over a very large cone of yarn but it will fit a normal size head as there is a lot of give to the width.  I think this would make an excellent Christmas gift along with a pair of mittens in the same colors..... hmmmm

Project #5 - Used Fair Isle and Intarsia Carriage

Today I decided to work on a simple little pullover and test out some ideas I have had swimming around in my brain.  I'm working on my LK 150 using #3 yarn on a project MT of 4.

First
I do not like the starting edge of relatched rib, it seems too "puffy" to me.  I tried working in a 2 x 1 rib today with various changes in tension.  I started with an e-wrap cast on, doing the next four rows in ascending tensions.  I started with 2 dot, next row was 3, next 3 dot and finally 4 for the rest of the ribbing.  When I relatched, I picked up the two lower bars, turned them to create a e-wrap stitch then relatched the rest in the normal fashion. 

  Public Side - Regular Cast On - Puffy Edge

Second 

I played around with my Intarsia carriage to get the tensions on it and my fair isle carriage the same.  I was working with T4 on my fair isle carriage and had to jump up to T4 dot on the intarsia carriage to get the same tension throughout.

The back - I did with the fair isle carriage - no problem there. 

The front - I used the fair isle carriage to the opening at the front neck.  I put the front neck stitches on a circular needle.  I switched to my Intarsia carriage starting a new yarn supply for the left side of the bed.  I laid the yarn over the needles in both sections individually and knit across - whenever I had to decrease I did it on both sides of the neck so basically you are doing a mirror image.  Worked great - I will do that again for sure!

Third
The sleeves - I was still messing around with the ribbing so I did two ribbing sections and put them on my garter bar.  Reading ahead in the pattern I realized I could probably stay with the intarsia carriage and knit both sleeves at the same time. 

I hung the two sleeve ribbing sections far enough apart to accommodate the increases on the arm section of the sleeve and off I went laying the yarn across the needles on each section separately and knitting across. 

Again when it came to the decreasing sections, whatever I did on one sleeve, I did on the other - so the sleeves are absolutely identical.  Again this worked great and I definitely do this again.

I am really impressed with the ease of using the two carriages to make this little sweater once the tension was the same on both.  As far as the ribbing situation, I think I'll go back to doing my ribbing last instead first as the finished edge is somewhat more attractive.  Also I have always used an e-wrap cast on for rib ~ may try a crochet cast on and see how that works.

Off to Project 6!

Project #4 done! - Actually it is a Vest.....

Just finished the little cabled front vest this afternoon.  Again this was done on my LK 150 mid-gauge as I'm spending as much time as I can out on my deck knitting.  I did a rolled neck but decided to rib the armholes but maybe another time I would just do a single crochet around that area for a lighter look.   Still have some yellow yarn left - may make a baby sweater and hat with what I have left - that may be Project #5.....

 Here are the photos of Project # 4:

Knitting on the Deck

The deck has a roof so I'm protected from the hot sun and the past couple of days there has been a lovely breeze with the temperatures in the low 70's which is just great for outdoor knitting. 

Here is my deck knitting space - love it out here when it isn't too hot or humid.

I have a metal stand that I use out here - my husband cut some wood boards to put behind the machine so I have a place to put "stuff".  I also make use of the side tables for my tools etc. 

 I'm close to the kitchen to grab a cold drink or my favorite a cup of tea and I have my radio on which I can listen to while I knit.  My chair swivels which makes it easy to move around but would probably prefer my steno chair from my knitting room.  Just too lazy to bring it downstairs.....

You can see why I enjoy knitting outside and have even been out there when it is raining although the knitting machine doesn't work so well when the air is damp.  So I don't do that very often.

I keep the metal stand and my old yarn winder on the deck all the time.  I cover the yarn winder to keep the bugs/dust off of it and also put a plastic cloth over the table to keep it dust free as well.