Ear Flap Hat Pattern

I have had a lot of knitters want to give this pattern a try so I have put the link here for them.

If Yahoo is going to continue to be miserable with our files I am seriously considering putting them all here in my blog until things settle down. 

In the meantime just click on this  Earflap Hat

Peach Sweater Project - Challenging myself!

(Click on photos to enlarge)

I decided to make a sweater and try some techniques I have been thinking about lately.   I really wanted to start using my ribber more and this was a little project that would get me into that groove so to speak.

After playing with the cable ribbing for practice and doing some swatches , I worked up a basic pattern using Knitware. 

I wanted a pullover, with 3/4 length sleeves a ballet neckline and something different than the normal ribbing for the cuffs and bottom of the sweater.  This particular sweater is a ladies size 36 and I used Bramwell Duo Magic on my Singer 360 (standard 4.5 gauge) machine.  This cone has miles and miles of yarn on it!!!  I did the cuffs and ribbing sections at a tension 3 and the stockinette at a tension 4. 

I decided on a cable ribbing and I really like the final look of this section of the sweater.  I did remember to add an extra stitch on each edge so when I knit up the seams there would be no break in the cable patterning on the seams and that did work out beautifully. 

Once I got the cables done I decided to break the pattern by a cast on row behind the stitches which gave a lovely line before starting the basic stockinette stitches for the rest of the sweater.

Here is a photo of the seam (located in the center of this photo between two cable columns) showing the cable pattern moving around without any distortion.   Also the extra cast on row between the cable ribbing and the main section of the sweater.   Love it!



Seam

 



Cable Ribbing

Here is the sweater completed - I do like this ballet neckline very much and have now put it down as my "new favorite neckline".

Ballet Neckline

 

Finished Sweater

 

My Granddaughter modelling the Sweater

OOOPS - not sure what happened!

I am not sure what happened but a lot of my photos just disappeared. 

So I decided that it was probably time to do some housecleaning on my blog so I have deleted several entries as my space quota was filling up rapidly. 

I kept the most recent and any that I had included pattern instructions on for now but will create links on most of them so that will take up less room.

That is all done so now I'll just have to work away with some new entries to fill it up again.

I'm Back.... Socks, Socks and more Socks!

Pattern available at end of article:

Life has been very busy around here lately so my knitting and blogging has taken a back seat for the past six weeks or so.  However, things seem to be mellowing somewhat so I have been playing with my LK 150 (mid-gauge 6.5 mm km).   I had a couple of lovely afternoons out on my deck and when the humidity hit back inside I went and played on the dining room table so I could still see the outdoors and the deck but not deal with the sticky heat....  

 Here I am all set up for a lovely day of knitting along with my faithful companion Jesse

Jesse makes sure any stray yarn is officially supervised.





Looking through my stash it became apparent I have tons of sock yarn.  So I thought I would make my favorite "Sew As You Go Socks" with a turned heel with a gusset that I really like.  Using the self patterning yarn does create challenges though as it is almost impossible to match the stripping on the seams.  What to do???   The answer is nothing! 

In all my wisdom I decided to make the socks without worrying about matching seams and simply call them "Crazy Socks".  You just know the younger crowd will love the fact they don't match.  I have grand kids and great grand kids that would just go nuts for these so why not give it a go!

Now I have two versions of this sock pattern.

First Version:

I knit the cuff and then put the stitches left of 0 on waste yarn.  I then follow the pattern on the remaining stitches in work and end up putting the last row on waste yarn.  I graft those two edges and sew the ribbing seam.  Crazy Sock done.  Nothing matches and I really don't care!

Second Version:

 I knit the cuff and all the way down to the beginning of the heel.  I put the stitches left of 0 on waste yarn. I continue on with my pattern until I reach the last row which butts up to the waste yarn.  Take those stitches off on waste yarn and graft.  This version requires that you sew the side seam and the ribbing so that is a little more sewing but really not that much.  However the beauty of this version is the area that shows above the heel matches!!!  So if you want to be more particular about that section of the sock that is seen above the shoe area then this might be the way to go.  The heel and foot section will be busy with pattern but not so visible when you wear shoes....

I have posted the pattern link below so give it a go  ....  Happy summer knitting everyone!

An excellent information sheet is available on Measuring for Custom Made Socks can be found at http://appleleeffarm.com/PDFs/cstmsck1.pdf

Click here to download ---->  

Crazy Sock - https://www.dropbox.com/s/4r6yfv451dhe3wl/CRAZY%20%20Socks%20-%20Shaped%20Heel.pdf?dl=0

Bias Ripple Afghan - Finally Done with photos!

This seems to have been a long and tedious project for me.  Don't know why it just was.  It wasn't difficult but getting the edging done and finally photos seemed to be very, very low on my "To Do List".
 
However, I think all in all it turned out rather nicely in spite of me!  My Great Granddaughter has given me permission to take it to Show & Tell at Knit Club on May 27th as she doesn't need it until September for her Junior Kindergarten snooze times!  Talk about getting prepared early!  She is so excited to be going to school like her big brother Jake who will be in Grade One this year.  He also had a snooze blanket which he still has and uses for naps (very rare though).  He is one busy little guy and wants to be a fireman when he grows up. 
 

I tried to take photos from several angles to give you an idea of the size and shape of this little afghan.  The bed it is on is a double bed so that would be 54 inches by 72".

 
 I made four panels, each with two columns.  Put them together with the Sew As You Go method which turned out to be very easy and added detail to the seams.  It also produced a lovely flat seam on the back of the afghan that I particularly like.

Here is the pattern:  Bias Knit Eyelet Afghan
 

 

This photo really shows the ripple effect of the bias knitting.  Working from the right the first ripple indentation is created using eyelets and transferring every four row.
 
The second ripple indentation is created doing the Sew As You Go method of seaming.

 

The top and bottom edges are straight and the sides are rippled

 

This is the cable edging I did all the way around

 

 

This is the corner turned with the cable edging

 

Here is the cable edging if you want to give it a try.

 

CABLED EDGING FOR KNITTING MACHINE

Instructions:

1. Work with wrong side facing you using a looser tension
2. At the beginning only, leave first 3 stitches from edge to have available when you finish the final corner turn and need a spot to anchor and cast off.
3. Hang 6 stitches of the edge of your blanket on the next 6 needles.
4. e-wrap those 6 needles and thread up your carriage.
5. Knit 6 rows.
6. Take the three stitches on the left and move them to the three needles on   the right (2 stitches on each needle) and pick up 3 more stitches and hang on the left again.
7. Knit 6 rows.
8. Continue on till the corner.
9. Knit 10 rows to round the corner and then pick up three more stitches

 



 

 

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.