Just for Grins :)

Before and after felting :) I couldn't get the slippers to dry after 3 days and I could tell that I hadn't rinsed all the soap out, so I went ahead and ran them through the washer one more time. This time I didn't stop the wash before it went through the whole cycle and now they are a perfect size 8 (down 2 more sizes) so I'll be making a different pair for the mother of my grandson. It's just as well, since blue is her favorite color. Hmmm... I may just have to keep these for myself? Nah, these will go to my mother in law. They're just a hair too small for me. I started another pair in the red and brown and couldn't resist putting up a picture of the difference. I sure hope they stop shrinking though. I think I can keep them out of the dryer but hand wash in cool water? The reality is that they won't and they'll end up going through the laundry. As long as they stay in proportion, that's ok, there's always someone with smaller feet somewhere LOL!!!

WOW!!! Felted Clogs

I finished them, the felted clog slippers, and they are wonderful! These were hand knit from the Fiber Trends Clog Slippers pattern using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes yarn. I knew it must work, but since this was my first felting experience, and the knitted project was sooo floppy and loose, I had my doubts and just look at them!!! I love this!!! I made the large women's size, just because I didn't know how it was going to work out, and they actually are a large women's size which means they are too big for me but they'll fit my daughter in law, she wears size 9 and 10's, so they should be perfect for her. It's a good thing they don't fit me, I think I would have had a hard time parting with them otherwise. :)

Santa Hat #2

I finally got a natural smile.
Here's Santa Hat number 2. I will refine the punchcard a bit more but I like the all over Santa's better than the row of larger Santa's in the first hat. And I got in trouble for leaving off the braids! He prefers braids to tassles :)

December Hat

Here is the first hat for December. Not as much fun as the pumpkins were, so I'm going to see if I can make a 12st Santa face for an all over pattern like the October hat was and maybe add a band of some sort of a green pattern to go between the ribbing and the hat. You can really see where the needles didn't select correctly in a couple of spots. I hope that practice and experience will make catching these little mistakes easier while there is still time to fix them. E.J. likes braids better than the tassles too. Ok, since he is the one wearing it, I suppose I can accommodate that :) This row of Santa's would make a cute sweater though, especially if it were bordered with a little green pattern on the top and bottom. Hmmmmm.......

Felted Clog Slippers

Here is slipper number 1, pre-felting. I can't stop laughing at how huge it is! Fee-Fi-Fo Fum! Slippers for giants! My foot isn't even all the way back to the heel and it just dwarfs my 'not so small' size 8.5 feet. Too funny and I can't wait to see how this felting thing works, so it's off to knit up the second one and to the washer and we'll see how they turn out :)

Toyota KS610 Scarf

I set up the Toyota KS610, a 9mm machine and knit this scarf. I had forgotten how much I love this yarn! It was from Caron, a thick and thin response to LB's Homespun, called Fascination. It's a shame they didn't keep it long. I still have several skeins in several colors. When I got it the only machine I was using was my Bond and I had to EON to use it. I have since used it on 2 different 9mm machines, the LK100 and the Toyota KS610, and it works beautifully on them using every needle and as loose a tension as possible on the carriage. This particular scarf was an experiment with a T9 setting, but I like the T10 much better. The higher setting on the LK100 had a more relaxed fabric and didn't curl near as bad as this one did. Even with 2 rows of crochet, it fights to curl. This yarn is soooo soft and lush! I think I need a new sweater LOL!!!

End of the Strata Saga

Here's the tassle hat to go with the Red Heart Strata baby blanket I made last month. As I was whining about before, I washed, I fabric softened, I steamed and steamd and the yarn is just too scratchy for an adults skin, let alone a delicate little newborn baby so.....
Flip! Turned it over, crocheted a strap and Viola! A new purse/bag!!! It's nice and tightly knit too, I made it on the LK140 and the steam melted it just enough where it's made a nice sturdy feeling little purse. I think my granddaughter will love it :) Heck, if she doesn't like it, I do. I'll just make a longer strap and it will hold a wallet, checkbook, lipstick and cell phone, what more do ya need when going out? LOL!

Sock? Not!!!

The Machine Sock Process....

Looks like a good start at a perfectly respectable sock right?

Nice ribbing. See? Nice little tube going, went to put more weight on it because it started to skip a couple of stitches and...

I guess I should have zagged when I zigged because when I transferred the ribbing and started the circular knitting, I ended up with, well I don't even know how to describe it, but you sure can't get your foot in it! I must have had some buttons set wrong (zagged) and instead of knitting one side at a time, it knit one row all together and then I must of changed something (zigged) when I finished the set up and just knit away thinking I had a perfect tube going on. LOL!! Oh well, here we go again, that darned learning curve!

Happy Halloween Hat

and here is the punchcard pattern done correctly :) It's not blue! It's Purple!!! Oh well, you get the idea anyway. I knit a folded up 2x1 ribbed hem, then did the punchcard patterned rows, took it off on waste yarn, sewed up the back seam, then sewed the top straight across and braided the tassles. Pretty funny and my husband loves it! Happy Halloween!

First Homemade Punchcard!

They aren't little bombs, they are little pumpkins. Well, they're supposed to be anyway, and they looked good on paper. Whew! What a learning day. First of all, the pumpkins are supposed to be orange and the background purple (couldn't get my camera to give up on making the purple blue) so I need to switch what is color one and color two, I didn't look at each row to make sure the needles were selected right, I wore long sleeves and noticed that I was bumping some of the needles so I have some odd stitches every so often, but other than that, I'm actually kind of tickled with it. I just love learning days!!!

Oh, I based the card on a smiling train face from Wendy Phillips Small World pattern book and I only ruined 1 card. I don't think that's too bad for a first go at it :)

Strata Blanket Completed

I finished the blanket, spread it over the chair, stepped into the kitchen to get the camera, and this is what happened. My house dog loves it as much as my house cat I guess. If nothing else this scratchy type yarn would make great pet pads :) Actually I was able to soften it up a bit with fabric softener and steaming it. I do not recommend that garments that touch the skin be created from this yarn, but things like back packs, rugs, placemats, decorator pillows, and throws would be awesome. The patterning yarn in the bulkier weight is great.
I'm usually not a fan of the purl side of knitting, but I have to say that I like the purl side better on this blanket. It almost has a woven look to it.and this is to be a hat and shows the actual stripes as it was intended to be used. With a little more time, I think you could actually figure out the gauge/stitches to get the colors to change on the edges. And they say machine knitting is cheating, bwahahahaa!! but that's for another day, I've got socks to finish! :)

Red Heart Strata yarn

The overalls and little socks from the Opal Brazil yarn were a huge hit, everyone wants a pair of socks now, even complete strangers :) Those colors are just so eye catching. Anyway, one of the gals from the Machine Knitting group mentioned that Red Heart had a new yarn out called Strata, she shared a scarf she had made from it and it turned out wonderful. I got curious about how the self stripes would work on a wider scale and I've been testing out my LK140 and hadn't tried the heavier yarn yet so I thought I'd try a baby blanket with it. This color way, Crayon, is similar to the socks I made, so I hoped it would go with the socks, sort of like a set. I think this yarn would make a great hat, especially one of those with the corners and tassles hanging from them like pony tails, but I'll use the HK100 or the LK100. I think the yarn is too bulky for the mid-gauge, at least for my taste in fabric anyway.

E.J. says it's got too much green and gold in it which makes it a Green Bay Packer blanket and that's not allowed in this Lions Den, sheesh, what a one track mind! My cat won't leave it alone, I went ahead and just took the pictures because she was going to snag it with her claws if I kept kicking her off, so that is Xena, my little warrior princess :) She really likes the blanket and thinks it's just for her, my vote is still out, I think I'd like it better with smaller panels so you get a real simulated fair isle stripe, maybe each panel edged with red and then assembled sort of like those mile a minute afghans, but I'm going to go ahead and finish it up as is and put a red pie crust edge around it.

As of tonight, this is the gift. I'll go to Wal-Mart and get a onesey and unless there is some miracle, and I'm able to finish up the cardigan (hahaha) that will go with it. I was just a little tickled with the socks and I needed a break from the sweater, so here it is. :)

Clouds Baby Blanket

Another gift. This blanket was hand knit from the pattern on the yarn band. Red Heart Baby Clouds. I crocheted a semi picot edge which gives it a kind of worm trim edge. It needed something so it wasn't so plain, I did a 5 dc shell first time around and ran out of yarn with about 1 foot and a half to go, so switched to this one. It does the job ok, not as fancy but it works.

There is a baby sweater to match being put together. The parts are all crocheted and I think I'll finish it up today.

Baby Overalls

This is part of a baby shower gift, knit on the Toyota from a hand knit pattern and lots of frogging and re-knitting :) They are size 3 months, but look gigantic because I didn't include anything in the picture that could be used as a point of reference, that's a baby hanger so it's little.

I'm wanting to make a little sweater to go with it too. The shower is a week from today so I'd better get cracking if I'm going to do it. It's my husband's boss who is having the baby, and I couldn't decide what to make so I ended up making several things. I'll post those pictures as I finish them up. What ever gets done before the shower is what she'll get :)

Alexander's Hoodie

Finished in the nik of time. Below are his "I'm a model, Grandma!" pictures :) Thank goodness for my machines, I broke my hand last week and would not have been able to create the promised sweater in time if it weren't for them. Proof, a casted hand can still push a carriage! This one was knit on the Singer HK100 an 8mm machine using dial setting 7.

Oh, this sweater is done in Red Heart Soft and the pattern I used was one I posted to the Bond List patterns page on Stephanie's site years ago. I made a few changes and found a few errors in the original post. I'll have to talk to Lea-Ann to see about how to get it fixed.

His new socks were also finished and are posted at http://clarissesocks.blogspot.com .

Toyota SK858

My first punch card swatch! Wow, I have been really missing out. I thought hand manipulating stitches and patterns on my very basic manual machines was so cool, now I feel like a complete dope. I wonder how long I'll be satisfied with punch cards now that I understand how this all works. Electronics ... here we come!!! Nah, I'll be satisfied with the punch cards for awhile, I still like the rythem and the process, but you can bet that I won't be automatically skipping the more sofisticated machines on ebay anymore. This is just awesome!

Oh Brother! Profile 588 is out of the closet.

I recently acquired a Profile 588 to go with all the books and manuals that my mother in law saved from going into a dumpster a few years ago. I gave like $10 for the machine, the carriage was broken but I was able to purchase one from the UK and it just arrived the other day. A fellow knitter from the Machine Knitters Yahoo group mentioned a stitch pattern book, a light bulb went off "I have that book!" I had glanced at it but didn't understand it at all. Now even though I've been studying my White 1602, I had to set up the 588 and try out this old machine and WOW!


This is the first lace, I did a couple of tuck patterns too, but frogged them before I realized I wanted to post pictures. You can see where I started to mess up. You have to really pay attention to what line of the instruction you are on. I'm thinking I might want to copy the chart to a bigger piece of paper and then use a ruler to help keep track of where I'm at.

As I was amazing myself with what can be done on these machines, I remembered the first time I saw a knitting machine. There was yarn shop in the little strip mall that we used to buy cards of angora yarn to wrap our boyfriends class rings with so they would fit our fingers. We would brush and brush that yarn until all you could see was a gem stone in a nest of fur, then we started using dental floss and embroidery thread coated with clear nail polish. We'd build the layers up and end with setting words like LOVE or PEACE or little peace signs using snips of colored embroidery thread and burying it under more coats of clear nail polish so we could flash our boyfriends ring around. Sorry, guess I'm having some sort of flash back LOL!!!

Anyway, this machine was plugged into the wall and the carriage just went back and forth all by itself. It was astonishing to see, the price was pretty astonishing too and I never gave it another thought. That was for rich people. Funny how things impress us when we are young and how those impressions stay with us. Little did I know!

Now my Grandson wants to know if I can knit anything else except swatches! "You sure have to practice alot Grandma, are you ever going to just make something?" Kids, gotta love 'em.

Even a Ripple!

This is from the White 1602. I did it last night with the racking lever. What fun! The hardest part is remembering which way you just clicked the lever.

Fancy Stitches!

Woo-Hoo! It's not right but it's a start! The curvy lines are supposed to be on either side of the straight line, but the point is that I got curvy lines!!!! This racking thing is awesome!!!

Success!

2 x 2 Rib and 2 x 2 Double Sided Fisherman Rib!!!

Thanks to the help of some very talented, generous, giving, wonderful and every other nice thing I could possibly think of to say about someone, I have 2x2 ribs and 2x2 double sided fisherman ribs from my White double bed knitting machine! Happy Happy Happy!!! I could kiss everyone of you! Remember that song from To Sir With Love? " How do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume?" That is just a little of how I feel right now. This is wonderful and I would never have figured it out. So much for manuals! Alan, Alison, Patrick... you are the best! I hope you're ready because now I want to try the fancy stitches in the back of the book :) Thank you so very much.


Here's a picture of the 1st pass for the cast on. I sure hope it looks right because it worked :)

Here is after hanging the comb and the 2 circular passes and before re-racking to opposite normal knitting position. This is just sooo great. I can't wait to share pictures of the fancy stitches I'm about to embark on. Then after all this swatching and experimenting, maybe I'll actually make something :)

Trim the Fringe

I have been going back and forth on trimming the loops and making regular fringe or leaving the loops on this afghan. This makes my decision for me.... Trim!

Dog Sweater

This dog sweater is a pattern from the Lion Brand Yarn website. I acutally used a Caron soft pink with Bernat Boa instead the Lion Brand yarns, I feel kind of guilty for that, but this is what I had on hand to try the pattern with. I have a few more colors that I'm going to try and now that I've done one by hand, I think it will be very easy to convert to the bulky machine. My cousin, the pet groomer, is getting requests for the upcoming cold season. I think I need to either get a small dog, or find a stuffed poodle someplace to use as a maniquin. I'm sure E.J. will opt for the stuffed one :)

DPN Rolled Holder

I finally had enough of having to size my dpn's and dig dig dig through my drawer to find a full set of the same size needles that I got busy the other night and made myself a roll up pocketed holder. I've numbered the slots by size, the front pockets hold the shorter (5"-6") sets and the back pockets hold up to 14" sets. As soon as I dig up some of my fabric paint, I'm going to permanently number them so I will always be organized. Well... as long as I put them away where they belong :) I used a safety pin to hold a few stitch holders and the last pocket holds a few crochet hooks.
Fold the top down, roll it up, wrap an elastic band around it ( I used a hair band) and Viola! Organized! No more digging through bags and drawers. I wish I would have made a pocket to hold my small sizer. Hmmm.... I saw a ring type needle sizer that I may have to buy and then I could just put it on the safety pin inside with the stitch holders. OH! I think I'll add another safety pin and use it to hold some stitch markers too! Perfect!

The USA Afghan is going to Canada!

Here it is. All done. I ended up knotting the fringe after all. It kind of looked like it was just coming unravelled without the knots. Now it has a more finished look, like it's supposed to be that way. I think next time I will make the knitted on band wider with a doubled up stitch pattern so it will show off the edge more. I did a pie crust edge on the sides. Alex thinks I should make some stars and add them to the blue sections. A budding designer?
He loves the blanket so much that he has begged me to let him have it when he goes home at the end of summer. He sleeps with it every night, even before I had the fringe done and just goes on and on about how it's "so warm and snuggly Grandma". What a kid! Guess my air conditioning is a tad bit cold for him. It's only Red Heart Super Saver and we all know that even though it is a very durable yarn, snuggly isn't one of it's attributes :) Oh, I used Soft Navy, White and Cherry Red. Maybe I can get some Red Heart Soft in the same colors. Now that would be snuggly!

Due to popular demand, I've put the instructions for what I did to create this afghan on my free pattern page. The link is at the right :)

Patriotic Afghan

It's almost done. Didn't quite make it for Independence Day, but there are several holidays that the red, white and blue are appropriate decor for so it will not go in the UFO closet. I hope to finish it this week and also finish up a couple of dog sweaters I've started. Having a 6 year old around makes knitting time a little difficult. Fortunately he has made friends with the neighbor boys so I'll get a little done while he is outside playing :)

The Grand Kits

The babies are tearing the house apart! If they can knock it down, over, chew it, spill it or just plain shred it, they are on it! I love it, they are sooo cute. My shins are nothing but scabs from their sharp little claws. I think they will be ready to find new homes this weekend, they are almost 8 weeks old. I'll need to start a new pair of socks and sit in front of the grocery store, then Mommy is off to the vet for her little tummy surgery.

A Creative Productive Day

I was really motivated today. I stitched up the fun fur dog sweater, ordered some 9 dpn's so I can do the legs and edges, made these 2 pairs of earrings (lousy picture but they shine and my camera still needs to see the doctor), I decided I wanted some really dangly long ones, put together my hubbies new barbeque and finished up the sock twins.