Wanting some little extra Christmas items, I decided to make some table protectors/ hotpads/ trivet kind of things. I have a boat load of cotton yarn, so there is plenty of pretty red and white to use up. I used DesignaKnit to borrow motifs from various patterns I've stored. Mostly Dale of Norway Norwegian sweater hand knitting patterns that I've purchased. Any 24 stitch punch card or other electronic pattern could be used. Mine ended up to be about 8" x 8" give or take. You'd have to experiment a little with your yarn, if you want to try making some. I'm just partial to all things Norwegian, hence the Nordic look. And, can you tell that red is my favorite color????
They all are made of 3 strands of 16/2 cotton each color and my Brother 970 standard gauge electronic to which the patterns are downloaded. They are all close to 73 st wide x 91 rows long (182 doubled) to make a square. Different yarn would need to be experimented with (swatched) to produce a more or less square hotpad.
I started and ended with waste yarn, then the main pattern. The pattern is repeated twice lengthwise, folded and (off the machine) kitchener stitched together from the purl side so that both ends look pretty much the same. Turn the thing right side out and then sides are mattress stitched closed. I added a 50 row I cord to one corner just in case a person would want to hang one on the handle of an oven.
They seem to be pretty heat-resistant, but for extra protection a good idea is to put a square of heat resistant fabric in the middle before seaming it shut. (I can't remember what that stuff is called, but it has some metal like fabric with mesh on both sides. Quilted ThermaFlec Heat Resistant Fabric??? Something like that. )
It has been the perfect mindless project for me after knitting 29 ski hats and headbands for a local high school ski team. Am I ever glad that's done. Here's the hat, guys' headband and girls' headband.
The school's logo includes an anchor since Minnetonka is a huge local lake. The suburb is named Minnetonka, as is the high school. I think the lake came first then the town, but I'm not sure. Anyway, knitting for profit rather than fun takes the joy out of it....until next year. The team mom promised a picture of the kids. Hope she remembers.By any chance, did you notice that I've knit almost 20 miles worth of yarn this year? It's probablly more, because I forgot to record some of the things I knit. Pretty impressed with myself!
20 miles! That is impressive. The hats and headbands are very lovely. I hope the team wins often to show off their hats!
ReplyDeleteHi where can I get these Nordic patterns from?
ReplyDeleteDon't know if you'll check back here, but the designs are in DesignaKnit format. Do you have that program?
ReplyDeleteThanks for getting back to me. I don't have that program. Where can I buy it? Also, is that what you used to make that pretty purple sweater with the matching hats? Thx!!
ReplyDeleteYou can get the software from any machine knitting dealer. If you live in England, directly from Softbyte, the designer of the software. It's very expensive, as is the cable that connects your computer to your knitting machine. So, it's a big commitment. It seems you either love the program or hate it. It has a fairly big learning curve, but if you are computer savvy, it isn't so hard. Yes, if you mean the baby sweater, that's the program I designed it in.
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