Summer has arrived in Minnesota

Sorta. It's been the most cloudy and dreary spring and summer that I can remember. O well, can't complain about what you have zero control over. Seems to be an occupation---complaining about the weather---that humans like to indulge in.

I've been gardening some. This is my main garden. Reduced from days of yore, more manageable for me. Looks probably the best now that it will look, although photos are always disappointing. I struggle with deer, shade and tree roots being so close to the dense woods. My favorite flower---for lots of reasons, is dahlias. Here is one of the first whose tuber was saved from last year. The color is yummy. Upon recommendation from my sister, I bought some SpraynGrow. Haven't used it yet, but hope that does well by my roses (other side of the yard). Hers are out of this world and I don't expect to ever have roses that fine. I'm jealous. I'm thinking the lighter pink one is as close to perfection as is possible. Reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe.


Have been knitting up a storm too, but can't show pictures yet because the items are going in the MN State Fair.

PS Windows Live Writer crashed my computer, so I'm back to the regular Blogger software. grrrrrrrrrrr is all I'll say. Didn't want to recommend it after all.

Trying Windows Live Writer

This morning I downloaded the Windows Live Writer.  You are supposed to be able to post to your blog from this application.  Always takes a bit to figure things out, but it seems easy.

Here’s a picture of my niece’s daughter wearing a coat I made her out of a recycled sweater.  Looks like she found a piece of something that doesn’t belong. Given that it was about 90 degrees when we tried it on her, she probably wasn’t so happy to be wearing it.

Ok, after a 5 minute trial, I like this so much better than posting from Blogger.  I’m one of those who would rather create a post like you would type in a word processing program.  Don’t need to see the html tags.

I suppose there are lots of other things I can do, but so far so good!  I might even post more often.

If you are interested, here's where to get the program:
http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D85741BB5E0BE8AA!1533.entry

18" Doll Skirt

My friend Carol lent me her 18” doll so that I could design a shrug for Knitwords to fit her. (If all goes well, the doll and adult shrugs will be in the next issue.) I decided she looked indecent without a skirt, so I whipped one out. When I give her back she will look dressed. Doesn’t she look cute???? She needs a camisole or something for underneath the shrug, but we’ll leave that for another day. Recognize that pink yarn? I rescued it from the waste yarn bin to make the hearts and match the shrug. (I used it to make the shrug "prototype".)

Here’s how I made the skirt.

Machine: Standard gauge
Yarn: Bramwell 4 ply acrylic; small amounts white and pink (many other yarns can achieve this gauge)
Gauge: 7 st x 10 r at T 7
Other: ½ inch elastic, 10”

Directions:
Over 131 needles, cast on with waste yarn and knit a few rows at T 6 1/2. Change to main yarn and knit 5 rows. Use the lace carriage to transfer every other stitch, making the picot edge. (Or, transfer the stitches by hand.) Leave emptied needles in work. Knit 5 rows T 7 and hang a hem. Change to T 10 and knit one row to seal the hem. RC 000. Change back to T 7 and knit 3 rows. Set up the heart pattern and knit it for 3 rows. Knit plain to RC 40. Decrease the stitches by half, either with the lace carriage or by hand. Take off on waste yarn and rehang over every needle. Knit 11 rows T 7, one row T 10 for a turning row, 12 rows T 7. Hang hem, bind off. Thread the elastic through the waistband and sew ends to make a circle. Seam with main yarn to enclose waistband elastic and the back seam. Hide yarn ends.

Even with change of tensions for the hem, it tends to flip up. Steaming it judiciously helps, but acrylic melts so easily you need to be careful.

I could get into this doll clothes thing. The knitting goes really fast and you don't have to worry about her complaints about color, fit or style. She pretty much smiles through it all.

Three More Charity Hats - Easy, free patterns

No big projects this week, but am continuing to work toward my charity hat goal. I'm up to 14 now. Seems like it should be more, but those are the ones I can remember and account for. I thought in case you wanted some really simple patterns, I'd share what I made.

Green and white stripes, top left:
Machine- midgauge
Yarn – any that works with your machine, small amounts of two colors to make stripes
Gauge – depends on the yarn and tension you choose. At Tension 5, with Mary Lou’s Solo, 5.5 st x 7 rows = 1”. Makes a loose knit, but cooler, hat.
Size- mine fits a 3-6 month old. 16” wide x 7” high. You can make one with my dimensions and then adjust if you want a different size.

Directions: Cast on with waste yarn over 90 needles, hang weights, knit a few rows. Ewrap on over the waste yarn with color 1. RC 000. T 2, knit 10 rows for the rolled brim. Change to color 2 and T 5. Knit 8 rows color 2 and 8 rows color 1. Knit 6 rows color 2, 6 rows color 1. Knit 4 rows color 2, 4 rows color 1. Knit 2 rows color 2, 2 rows color 1, 2 rows color 2. Knit 2 rows color 1. (RC 54.) *Decrease by half by putting every other stitch onto its neighbor. Knit one row. Take off on waste yarn, rehang main yarn stitches, knit one row.* Repeat decreases one more time. Knit one row. Cut a matching yarn tail 10” and thread onto sewing needle. Gather up stitches tightly and seam the side.
Note: nice in cotton for a light weight hat.

Pink snowflakes, center:
Machine: Standard gauge with programming capabilities (electronic or punch card)
Yarn: Whatever yarn works for your machine, small amounts pink and white.
Gauge: At Tension 6, with Bramwell 4 ply, 7 st x 10 rows = 1”
Size: 20” wide x 8” high (teen or adult small); you can make one with my dimensions and then adjust if you want a different size. You will want to have a full repeat of the snowflake.

Chart for brim: 24 st x 23 r

Directions:
Cast on with waste yarn over 144 n, hang weights, knit a few rows at T 5. Change to main yarn and knit 24 rows. Change to T 6 and knit one row to set up pattern and then knit the 23 rows of pattern. Hang first row of main yarn to make a hem. Knit one row at T 10. RC 000. Change back to T 6 and knit 54 rows. *Decrease by half by putting every other stitch onto its neighbor. Knit one row. Take off on waste yarn, rehang main yarn stitches. Knit one row.* Repeat decreases one more time. Cut a matching yarn tail 10” and thread onto sewing needle. Gather up stitches tightly and seam the side. Make a pom pom for the top with the two colors. The long floats are nicely hidden inside the band.

Turquoise and white striped jester hat, lower right
Machine: Standard gauge
Yarn: Whatever yarn works for your machine, small amounts turquoise and white.
Gauge: At Tension 7, with Mary Lou’s Solo, 7.5 st x 10 rows = 1”
Size: To fit 6-12 month; 18” wide x 7.5” high; you can make one with my dimensions and then adjust if you want a different size

Directions: Cast on with waste yarn over 136 stitches, hang weights, and knit a few rows at T3. RC 000. E wrap with main yarn and knit 10 rows. Change to T 7 and knit 72 rows alternating 4 rows turquoise, 4 rows white. Knit 2 rows turquoise. (RC 84.) Take off on several rows of waste yarn. With right side facing you, hang ½ of the stitches, fold the knitting over so that right sides are together and hang the other half on top of these stitches. Knit one row and bind off with the latch tool around the gate pegs to make a seam that won’t pucker. Seam the side seam and hide yarn tails. Make a 4 stitch I cord at T10, bind off. Make and attach a tassel to the corner of the hat. Repeat for other side. Easy!

PS---I have about one ounce of that pink yarn left. It is going to waste yarn heaven. Finally!

Ribbed Baby Jacket

This is Debbie Bliss' hand knit pattern that I converted to machine knitting on the manual midgauge machine. You can find the pattern here: http://www.allaboutyou.com/craft/Knitting-pattern-ribbed-baby-jacket/v1
Some hand knitting patterns are easier to convert to machine knitting than others. This one was very easy. She even tells you how many rows to knit, which is unusual in a hand knitting pattern. So, I didn't have to use any math to convert length to number of rows. Makes one wonder if it really was a machine knit pattern to begin with!

If I were to knit it again, I would do a couple of things differently. For one, hand latching all that ribbing on my Brother KX 350 extended a 40 minute knit to a 5 hour one. I'll do it on one of my machines that has a ribber next time. Also, I should have picked up the neck and front stitches from the wrong side rather than the right side to make a nicer join between pieces. Is ok, but nothing you'd take to the state fair. Navy doesn't photograph well, but in person you can see that the place where stitches were picked up could have been smoother.

I'd say this is about a 3-6 month size. (I used the smallest size in her pattern.) The yarn is Caron Simply Soft, less than one skein. I used T6 and got pretty close to the pattern's gauge of 18 st x 24 r to 10 cm (4 inches). I temporarily pinned on a mini flower corsage. I think the sweater really is suitable for a boy or girl.

We had a guild "knit-in" yesterday so this is what I got done plus a charity baby hat. Machine knitters know the satisfaction of producing a lot of knitting in a short amount of time!

Toddler Tam

I think this is hat #8 to be donated. Is a lot cuter in person, but being squished under the lid of the scanner does nothing for it. I'm thinking it will fit a toddler, made to go with the loopy edged scarf. I temporarily sewed the hat to the scarf so that the two don't get separated when donated, in case you were wondering what those loose yarn ends were for.

TODDLER TAM DIRECTIONS I used my never-ending cone of pink Tamm Trenzi (acrylic). The tam is made by doing 9 short-rowed wedges, band knit separately and hung to the edge of the wedges, side seamed on the machine.

CO with waste yarn over 66-0-66 N and knit a few rows. Change to main yarn, carriage at the right, T7 knit one row. Set machine to hold. *Carriage on the left. At side opposite the carriage, hold 2 stitches. Knit 2 rows. (No need to wrap the end needle. Can make a decorative line between wedges.) Repeat until you have 14 N remaining in work. Cancel hold, K 2 rows.* Repeat for 9 wedges. Take off on waste yarn. You have a circle with an open edge. Make a band: 65-0-65 st, T 4, cast on with waste yarn and knit a few rows. With main yarn knit 14 rows, change to T 10 (for a turning row) and knit one row, T 4 knit 15 rows, remove on waste yarn. Hang bottom edge of the hat, knit side facing you, evenly over 132 needles. Push to the back of the bed, hang band in hooks of needles with wrong side facing you. Push stitches through, hang bottom band stitches. Knit one row at T10.. and chain cast off. Hang open sides of end wedges with right sides together, one set of st behind latches, the other in hooks. Push through, knit one row at T10.. and chain cast off. Seam the band by hand and hide the yarn ends. Make a little loopy for the top as described in the earlier scarf pattern with the loopy edge.
http://marzipanknits.blogspot.com/2009/04/never-ending-cone-of-pink-acrylic.html

Or make an I cord loop.

........and I still have yarn left. I guess it is destined to be waste yarn.......

Purls of Joy!

I attended the Purls of Joy seminar in Moundsview, MN this last weekend, held at the AmericInn, attached to the historic Mermaid bar, grille and bowling alley. This mermaid is awesome, probably the largest land-locked mermaid in the world and she spends her entire time atop the roof. Not sure,but I think she's 20 feet tall. Just awe-inspiring. But... can you imagine how cold those boobs get when it's -20F?

The seminar is put on by the Upper Midwest Knitting Machine Dealer Club. Its members come from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin. This was their 25th annual seminar. The guest demonstrators were Uyvonne Bigham, Mary Anne Oger and Charlene Shafer. Sandee Cherry was also scheduled to come but was unable for health reasons. This dealer club began as a Brother Knitting machine dealers' club. In 2002, the name of the club was changed to the Upper Midwest Knitting Machine Dealer's Club. In 1995, the seminar name was changed to Purls of Joy from the Brother Dealer Seminar. There was lots of food, lots of shopping and lots of pearls of wisdom (as relates to knitting on the knitting machine). It ends up to be a bit pricey when shopping, motel and registration costs are totaled, but worth going to considering there aren't a lot of resources for machine knitting these days. Besides, it's fun being around like-minded addicts.

Mary Anne is always popular. Her main focus was tailoring so that your garments have a professional finish. Seeing her garments in person is always so much better than viewing them in the magazine. She showed us how to do some of her nifty edges that are unique to Mary Anne. Her skills are truly awesome. Among other things, Uyvonne had some cute beaded purses done on the machine that were very popular. One of my friends bought three or four of her kits. She had a garter carriage sock that looked interesting. Charlene Schafer of Knit Knack Shop fame (Tricia Schafer's mom) had good sessions on DAK and demo'ed some of her tricks of the trade. To fill in the last minutes of one of her sessions, she told us how to do a fancy trim making use of the garter bar.
I had to try it when I got home so I wouldn't forget how to do it. For once I didn't use unkind words about the garter bar. One of her newer books is doll clothes for the American Girl doll. The clothes are sooooooooooo cute. Little details make the clothing special. No grandchildren to knit for here, so I passed on it, but not before drooling. She explained one of the options in DAK to print the neckline shaping so that the numbers aren't on top of each other making them unreadable. I'm pretty good at DAK, but that little option had escaped me to this point.

I bought a new sponge bar for my 970, a garter carriage book: Did you know that the turtle knits without a needle in it? Why don't they say that in the manual? Nabbed two cones of Poodle yarn and a 60 stitch ribber comb. I was prepared to spend more money, but was a bit restrained this time.

There was lots more to talk about, but I thought i'd share the highlights. I'd say if you have a chance to go to a mk seminar, you should spend the energy, time and money to get there. It's fun and you'll learn a lot. Besides, we need to support the dealers and demonstrators!