Machine Knitting Guild of Minnesota

One of our talented knitters in the guild has started a blog for the group. She has done a really nice job. There are only a few entries so far, but it is packed with information about the craft of machine knitting. Every month we have a program so she has described the lesson and added lots of pictures. You will want to bookmark the site so that you can benefit from all the info. Click on the title of this entry or the link in the sidebar to get there. Thanks to Rebecca for a nicely done blog!!!

OH! and by the way, we would love to have you join our guild if you live within driving distance of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Our meetings are held in Richfield. Write to me if you would like more information.

Hats, hats and more hats!

I finally finished 29 hats for the Minnetonka High School Alpine Ski Team. They were cute, and not hard to do, but knitting 29 of the same thing gets boring. I'm glad I'm done and they've been picked up. Now I can move on to other knitting. Aren't the tassels cute, though? And, how about the form on that skier?




Last night I knit a tam on my midgauge.
I don't look so spiffy in ski hats myself, so this one looks a little better on me. It's starting to get cold here, so when walking the dog, a hat is needed. I don't have a good picture of it. Just shoved it under my scanner, so you can't even see the whole thing at once. It is there, tho. In case you can't tell, the pic on the left is top-down and you can kind of see the little nubbin on top. On the right is the underside showing the brim. I didn't do any ribbing. I just knit several plain rows the size of my noggin and let it roll. Easy---the hat took about an hour to make.Machine: Midgauge. I used Brother KX 350 Yarn: Medium worsted weight. I used Patons Merino Wool
Gauge: Body of the hat 4 st x 6 r at T 10. = 1”
Directions: You will start with the body of the hat and rehang the bottom to make the brim. You can either knit the brim in stockinette and let it roll, or knit 1-2” of ribbing.
Body of hat- Cast on over 130 needles with wy and knit a few rows at T 10. (Loosest T.) With main yarn knit to RC 22. (If you want a floppier hat, knit more rows here.)
Begin decreases:
1. Transfer N 4 to 5 across (3 n in work, one out of work across). Remove on WY and rehang so there are no empty needles. Knit 6 rows.
2. Transfer N 3 to 4 across (2 in work, 1 out of work across). Remove on WY and rehang so there are no empty needles. Knit 6 rows.
3. Transfer N 2 to 3 across (every other n in work). Remove on WY and rehang so there are no empty needles. Knit 4 rows.
4. Transfer every other st to neighbor (every other n in work). Remove on WY and rehang so there are no empty needles. Knit 2 rows.
5. Double up stitches and K 2 rows.
6. Double up so that you have 4 stitches in work. Knit one row. Don’t break yarn.
“Nubbin” - Push in one part button. Make an I cord at T 10. with the 4 stitches, 10 rows. Transfer all st to one N and bind off. Leave a 12 inch yarn end to sew up the seam. Set carriage to normal again.
Brim- Decide which side you want to be the public side. Turn hat upside down with your wrong side facing and hang stitches decreasing to 74 stitches. At T 5 knit 12 rows. At T 2 knit 2 rows. Bind off around the gate pegs.
Finishing- Tidy up the little nubbin at top and seam the side with a mattress stitch. Reverse on brim to hide seam.

Give it to Kari! She likes it!

It's not easy for a mother to knit something that the daughter likes. At least that's been the case at our house. I finally hit the jackpot with the Circle of Life sweater. On Kari, it's more like a coat since she is a little vertically challenged, as my husband teases. You can turn the coat upside down and it is a waist length, large collared sweater. You can see the sweater on another model at http://www.knitwords.com/. Mary Anne keeps the pictures from the current issue up until the next one comes out.

I really had fun designing and knitting this garment. It's different from anything else I've made and it combines a lot of techniques. I made it out of Forsell's Pure New Wool, which is a very nice yarn. (Maybe I said that before when it was in progress.) Needs steaming now and then, I noticed.

If I were to knit this again, I might make it as a semi-circular shawl and omit the sleeves. The swirls created by the short-rowing are graceful. If you click on the smaller picture, you will get a larger pic that shows the swirls better.

So now, I'm on to another project. Pictures to follow. Stay tuned!

Hibiscus Cocktail

And/or, fun with Photoshop. This is the last of my beloved hibiscus blooms. I figured out that, if I placed the bloom in a wine glass with water filled to the top, it would last almost 3 days. Whereas, if the bloom is left on the plant, it typically lasts only one day.
Photography is one of my hobbies. I have a dandy camera (Nikon D80, with a great lens) but I definitely don't use it to its full capacity. I keep reading the manual and falling asleep. Besides, Photoshop does a lot of the things that you can do inside the camera. Here are a few of my "experiments" with Photoshop. (If you click on the smaller picture, you get larger, more clear view.

















Almost as bad as a slideshow of a family vacation. I did spare you about 10 more versions, though.

It's fun to fool around, but a great time waster.

Last flowers of summer

We've had such lovely weather in Minnesota. The leaves are gorgeous this week. I always mourn the demise of my garden, though. Have picked the last of the tomatoes and cucumbers, dug up the few measly potatoes. Yesterday was the average first frost date for my area of Minnesota, but I think we'll have another week or so before the season ends. I used to have a gigantic flower garden. For a few years, I couldn't seem to stop planting both perennials and annuals, borders and pocket gardens, raised beds and pots. Couldn't get enough. What I have now better matches my (diminished) energy level. The bees are still really busy. They haven't seemed to die off around here, thank heavens. They love the dahlias especially. Anyway, it was a good year for gardening.

I practiced my weaving this week in anticipation of my Iris Bishop patterns arriving. Knitweave on the knitting machine can be kind of ho-hum. Iris has elevated it to a much more artistic level....but at least I have the weaving part down pat. I used some dark green wool (undetermined brand) for the main yarn and light Lopi for the weaving yarn.As usual, you can't see the texture from the scan. It's a little better looking in person. Can't wait to get going on an Iris Bishop shawl.

Texture and drape a la Iris Bishop

The seminar was wonderful. I think there were ten of us from the Machine Knitting Guild of Minnesota who attended. There were 40 some attendees in all. Everyone came away enlightened, impressed, energized, enthusiastic and raring to knit. Iris has such an engaging personality and a great teaching ability. She starts with the basic concept of her Kaleidoscope shawl and builds with the details so that you understand the construction. If you have seen this design, you know how complicated it looks. She uses a basic machine and makes wonderful fabric with it. Texture is her forte' achieved by sparing use of expensive hand knitting yarns and weaving them into the design. She's into knitweaving and the various possibilities with that these days but says she's also itching to get back to fairisle designs. Her garments look like very high end boutique things or one of a kind arty pieces that only the really wealthy could afford. But we can make them on our machines!!!!! Our heads were spinning by the end of the second day because she offered so many neat ideas. Was fun to hear her history in the commercial textile world, too. What an artist! Wow.

The only slight disappointment was that she didn't have enough of her books on hand to sell to all who wanted them. It's understandable that she wouldn't want to haul tons to the States, so she took orders and will mail them to our homes. I ordered the Helix sweater and the Kaleidoscope Project, the two in the pic above on the left. No way can a photo do her knits justice. The texture is soooooooooo yummy and the drape she achieves is out of this world. It was cute---she called her expensive, one ball novelty-type collection as "pets". You fall in love with the yarn but it's so expensive you probably only buy one or two skeins. I think I need MORE pets.

Until my books arrive, I think I'll practice some of the techniques by making scarves. Will share my attempts.

Iris Bishop

Going to an Iris Bishop seminar tomorrow and Saturday. It's being held in Princeton, MN, just north of the Twin Cities and is being hosted by Cindy Schmatz. If you live in the area and would like to sign up, there's still room. You can register for one or both days. Cindy's email address is cschmatz@nsatel.net and her phone number is (763) 389-4309. I'm excited to go. Iris is such a fine artist. One of our guild members saw her demonstrate in Kansas City years ago and said she is also a fantastic teacher. Pictured are covers of some of her books. Sorry you can't see the detail very well. If you click on the pic here, you'll get a larger one and will be able to see the designs better. I have been impressed with her ability to articulate her designs for 24 st punchcards and not have them look like 24 st repeats. Since the electronic machines have come into existence, she doesn't need to restrict herself. But I think those early designs were so clever. I plan to bring cash to buy her latest and greatest. Always nice to be inspired by someone else's creativity. Fun to get away for a couple of days too with like-minded addicts.
This one is going to miss me.