Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The wearin' o' the green, only thing missing is the Guiness. I think instead of braids on this one, I might try the cut and sew (sew and cut) method we've been chatting about on our email group and make it a snug fitting cap instead. I machine sewed the back seam and it was really easy to do, but then, of all the holiday's, a leprechaun should have something a little silly like braids, well, easter bunnies too. Yup, another experiment coming up :)

On the KS858 today

This is how far I got last night so these shots are from day one :) I'm using a very pale yellow 100% Acrylic 2/24 yarn. I thought I'd go through my learning phase with this then I'll try cotton for my kitchen curtains.
I received my new lace carriage so decided to make some lace panel curtains for my knitting room. The windows are small in there so I'm hoping I'll be able to finish them this week. Right! I also have to finish up E.J.'s St. Patty's Day hat so he can wear it for the holiday too. Plenty to get done for sure. On the lace, I thought I had made a mistake but what looks like a missed line is just a crease in the cardboard that I put behind it so you could see the pattern and if it is a mistake, too bad!!! I'm not ripping it out now LOL!!!

Simul-NOT!

This is where I started. I was very optimistic since one big hole seamed like an easy adjustment to fix....

and this is where I've stopped...

Don't get me wrong, I still absolutely love my Toyota machines, the pros definitely outweigh the cons, I just had such high hopes for this particular function of it and it hasn't gone my way, yet. Yes, I will try again. Some other day when I'm in the mood for some more self loathing and torture. These were done on my KS950 with my KR505 ribber. The long strip with the varigated looking band of ribbing will be the hat. It's a little short so I may have to put it back on the machine, but it will be one solid color of plain dark green.

These are the pieces that I figured I could go ahead and share with the world. The wadded up mess of yarn is representative of about 4 other attempts. I finally quit trying to save the yarn and tossed the other disasters.

HOWEVER... See how the back turns out in comparison to fair isle with floats? This is why I will try this again and I am bound and determined to make it work right. Well, that is unless my White doublebed does doublejacquard or at least a version of floatless fair isle, which I'm pretty sure it does. In that case, I will let this be another lesson and excuse for owning and using so many different knitting machines :)

Rasta Hat from Knitty Gritty Show

This is the pattern that was demonstrated on the HGTV/DIY knitting show, Knitty Gritty. It really turned out nice and it was fun to knit. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight and it turned out a little too big, so the next one will be done on smaller needles. Years ago, I had crocheted a snood to hold my hair back, well, E.J. confiscated it and wore it all the time, it was like this but in a mesh and no visor/brim. Now he wants me to make another snood, but with the visor like this one has. I actually think I can pull it off. He'll look silly as ever, but his hair will be out of the wind since he's decided to be a long hair again :)