Mustaches!

Yes, mustaches. This year for the school’s Christmas gift exchange the students are doing handmade gifts. One of my students asked if I could help him make a scarf for the girl who's name he drew. And one of her favorite things, believe it or not, is mustaches. So I sat down and Googled mustaches. I found several images that I liked and put them all together in DAK. Then I put my knitting machine to work. This is what I came up with:

I think it turned out pretty well. So, I’ve made his “fabric” for the scarf; now all he has to do is sew the back seam and attach the fringe. I hope she likes it.

Progress…

I had some time last night to work on my Siberian Slipper pattern. It still needs a little tweaking, but it’s almost there.I’m still working newborn size because it’s faster to knit and fine-tune mistakes. Once I’m satisfied with my technique I will try it full-size. I plan on trying a slightly different way of picking up the sole stitches.

I’m also not quite satisfied with how the decreases look. Decreasing that many stitches at once creates quite a ridge on the top of the slipper. I’m thinking I may try decreasing over three stitches and see if that gives me the look I want. I have also decided that I need to decrease one stitch before I get to the back ribbing so that it comes out right. You can see on this slipper I ended up with 2 purl rows together in my 1x1 rib. As always, I appreciate any suggestions anyone has.

Curtain Picture

Here, finally, is the picture of the finished curtain set. It is much more beautiful in person. I apologize for the poor quality- lace is very difficult to photograph.

Still working on the siberian slipper pattern; hope to get it ready before christmas.

Ok, Seriously? DUH!

So I have been pondering what the best way was to do all the increases in the Machine-knit version of the Amazing Siberian Slipper. The original (hand-knit) pattern calls for making seven stitches out of one stitch every 4th row. This is completely impossible to do on a knitting machine without involving waste yarn and grafting and essentially eliminating all the time you saved by knitting on the machine in the first place. So I was experimenting with spacing out the increases, but that wasn’t quite looking right either. Then, it hit me: instead of trying to increase six stitches why not decrease. Duh! If I flip the slipper over and start from the bottom I will eliminate my problem because I can easily decrease seven stitches into one. Yay! Now I just have to make sure that my DAK file for the slip stitch pattern doesn’t need to be changed to allow for knitting the other direction.

Pictures to follow soon, I hope.

Look what I got!

I just got this book in the mail from Tracy. Isn’t it adorable!

Tracy was running a contest on her blog (here) and I won. Thank you, Tracy.

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Next, I’m having a Design-a-Knit issue. (Well, it’s probably more of a me issue.) I am using the Original Pattern Drafting part of DAK 8 to draw out the pattern for the All-in-one Baby Cardigan. I got everything drawn and it looks great. The problem I’m having is that I can’t make the computer tell me to Cast-off the body stitches and then Cast-on for the arms. Here’s a picture:

Where the red arrows are the computer keeps telling me to leave one stitch in work; so it’s making a slit in the “fabric” instead of dividing the work for sleeves. I would appreciate any help anyone can provide. Here’s a link to the file so you can see what I’m talking about. https://www.box.com/s/qhz20yjpihi3wma5v9d8 This is an “.shp” file so it should work with any version of DAK. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions or you can email me at emfashions at yahoo dot com.

Machine Knit Amazing Siberian Slippers

So I was reading Carla’s blog the other day and saw the cutest pair of slippers she was knitting. Check it out here: http://knittingisaromanticdrama.blogspot.com/2012/11/amazing-siberian-slippers-for-eden.html

Anyway, the pattern intrigued me, especially the increases in the center. I knew I just had to have the pattern. However, after I purchased the pattern, I couldn’t just knit it as written. Firstly, I hate garter stitch on slippers: it feels terrible on bare feet. Secondly, I knew I wanted to be able to knit them on my knitting machine. So I sat down with yarn and needles and made A slipper (yes, I actually only knit one) in a newborn size just to see if I would still like the pattern in stockinet. Loved it! (sorry no picture of that slipper, prototypes don’t photograph well) Next, I doodled and made modifications until I was satisfied that it could be knit on my machine. The final step was to duplicate the slip stitch pattern for DAK and figure out how to trick the machine into thinking my knitting was wider than it is. (BTW, no big trick there, you just tell the computer the final number of stitches, and set the point cams for the final number of stitches. It doesn’t actually matter how many needles are in work in between.)

So, without further ado, here are the pictures of the final (maybe?) slipper:

First modification I made to this slipper was to knit the sole and back in the contrast color. This wasn’t necessarily a style preference. The pink yarn is thicker than the grey yarn and therefore more suitable for the sole.

If you compare the front of my slipper to the original pattern, you can see that I had to modify the increases quite a bit to get it to work on the machine. (The machine just will not allow you to make 7 stitches out of 1.)

Once I am satisfied that I have all the bugs worked out of my pattern I plan to write the owner of the original pattern and ask for permission to publish my pattern. I don’t want break any copywrite laws by publishing it without consulting them first.

Oh, and if you want the original pattern, checkout Chicken Stitches website here:

http://www.chickenstitches.com/amazing-siberian-slipper-knitting-pdf-pattern

Pictures as Promised

Ok, so I finally finished knitting the other curtain and valance for the spare bedroom. This is a photo of the valance; it was easier to photograph than the curtain.
I still have a few ends to weave in. My lace carriage occasionally drops a stitch; I caught and fixed most of them as I was knitting, but a few slipped through.

This is the first lace pattern I have ever designed. I used DAK 8. I didn’t purchase the lace add-on because I don’t knit lace that often so I actually told the computer I was knitting Fair-Isle and then just used my lace carriage instead. Here is a close-up picture of the design:

You can see it’s just a simple lace design (the lace carriage transfers and knits in the same row). I have yet to design any fashion lace, although I would like to redesign this so the transfers are symmetrical.

I will post pictures of the entire set on the window as soon as we get them hung.

Just Finished

knitting the second baseball curtain; and not a minute too soon. I can hear the twins waking up in the other room wanting to be fed. Now I just have to weave in ends and steam it into submission. I wish I could say I was finished with this particular project, but I still have to knit a valance.

Good night all and Happy Halloween!I just couldn’t resist sharing this picture of my daughter. She looks so silly in her rainbow wig.

My Patterns

Dear readers,

Should you ever see one of my projects that you would like the pattern for please don't hesitate to ask. I am happy to share any pattern of my own design with you. I am currently in the process of uploading all my patterns to DropBox to make this process easier.

BTW... If any of you know of an online file storage site that is more accessible for sharing than DropBox, please leave me a comment.

GRRRR...

Why do lace carriages have to be so temperamental? It's 2:00 in the morning and I'm still up messing with this thing. I've finally figured out the problem though: a metal piece underneath the carriage was misaligned. I've adjusted it and now it knits perfectly. Hopefully I'll have pictures of the finished curtains by Monday.

Ok, I actually wrote that post on Friday night (Saturday morning?). Apparently, Blogger no longer supports me being able to post by texting on my phone. My guess it's because I don't have a smartphone.

 At any rate, I haven't finished the curtain yet. Not because the lace carriage is giving me problems, but because other things have got in the way. I have about 100 rows left and then I will be done with it.

OH MY! Has it really been that long…

It’s hard to believe that so much time has past since my last post. I have so massively busy I haven’t even had time to think about blogging. So… on to the update.

Firstly, the projects roughly in the order of creation:

Firstly, we have a picture of the gauge swatch  I made for the curtain for the spare bedroom; I’m not sure why I didn’t take a picture of the finished curtain. As soon as I finish knitting the second curtain I will post finished pictures.

 

 

Next, is a picture of a camouflage blanket that I designed and knitted using DAK

 

 

 

Next, is a blanket I made for my children’s babysitter. Well, it’s actually for her new son Caydan. This blanket was knit on my garter carriage in moss stitch, then embroidered with his name and birthday, and finally backed with a cool outdoor/woods themed fabric (Caydan’s Dad is a big hunter).

Lastly, we have pictures of two purses I have sewn and my brand new diaper bag:

 

 

 

 

 

You can see in the picture that one of the purses is embroidered “Bones”. This purse was made for my sister who is an RN. “Bones” is my husband’s nickname for her.

The diaper bag was super fun to make; I started with a diaper bag pattern I found online and modified the snot out of it until I was satisfied it could hold everything I need for a 3yr old, a 2yr old, and newborn twins. It’s massive! 19” x 12” x 8”

I also have knitted a ton of  blankets on my garter carriage, hand knitted and crocheted slippers for myself and my kids, and sewn my husband a new pair of pajama bottoms on my new serger; but I’ll have to post pictures of those at another time.

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Ok, enough about my projects, on to the twins:

Temperance Kathaleen and Talia Isabelle: born on Labor Day, September 3, 2012 at 4:28 and 4:29 AM.

The girls were born 4 1/2 weeks early, but despite that were absolutely perfect! They both got perfect Apgar scores and passed every test they were put through. They are six weeks old now and are still doing great.

What have I been up to lately?

Well... Lately I have not been doing much machine knitting. This is why:

No, this is not just two views of the same baby, I am actually having twins. They are due October 4th; but I'm already as big as I was when I gave birth to my first two children. So, not much machine knitting, but I'm making booties and maternity clothes instead.

Unfortunately for my husband and son they are both girls. So I see lots of skirt making in my near future...lol!

Finally Knitting Again

Ok, so I'm finally getting back to a project that I started 4 years ago. No, I don't usually procrastinate this badly, but my pattern went MIA and I have only just re-purchased it from Leisure Arts. Anyway... Since it has been so long I have completely forgotten what cast-on I used. Take a look; it looks like a tubular cast-on to me, but I'm not sure.

Rebekah's Hat

Hello again, everyone. Been a while since I had opportunity to post. I made this hat (a few months ago, actually) for my sister. She has an unusually large head for a girl and wanted a hat that would still cover her ears when she had her hair in a ponytail.
This hat is a replica of my almost reversible hat, except that this one is actually reversible.
I will try to post the pattern as soon as I find it again.

DAK 8!

Ok, it's official, I love DAK 8!!! I just planned out a pattern for my punchcard machine. It let me change the stitch type so I could see what it would look like when knitted by my garter carriage; and printed out a template so I can punch my punchcard. This program is amazing!

My New Babies...

Ok, so it's been a while since my last post. Since then I've had two new babies delivered. The first is Design-a-knit 8, I've waited a long time to be able to afford it and now it's finally here. The second is my new embroidery machine, a Brother PE 770. This machine is truely awesome! BTW, if you're looking for a good deal on an embroidery machine, try Amazon. I got mine for only $615!!