Free Machine Knit Charity Bear

Darn.  I was going to be a better blogger this year and a whole 5 weeks have gone by.  I knit a shawl for my sister-in-law for Christmas and of course forgot to photo it.  I did a simple triangle and used one of Diana Sullivan's Enchanted Edges.  Really pretty.  Lots and lots of rows, though.  And I made some of Kris Basta's doubled wool felted slippers on my bulky machine for my brother-in-law because he's always cold due to Parkinson's.  And, let's see...a 1 x 1 rib scarf for my son.  That's about it for home-made knitted presents.  I had too much to do to prepare for Christmas company.  Seems like ages ago now, but it was a wonderful time.  Keeping up with the little one was an adventure.

Our machine knitting guild knits for many different charities.  My favorite one is the MN Visiting Nurses.  They help new mothers who don't otherwise have a lot of resources.  I thought it would be nice for them to give each new mother a tiny teddy bear.  I was inspired by this one I saw on Ravelry.  Hand knit, easily converted to machine knit.  If you want to make some, directions follow.

I got my idea here: Simple Knit Bear The Knitting Way: A Guide to Spiritual Self-Discovery           

by Linda Skolnik and Janice MacDaniels

www.theknittingway.com

www.facebook.com/theknittingway

© 2012 Janice MacDaniels www.theknittingway.com/simpleknitbear.pdf (hand knitting version)

because everyone needs a little someone to love.

Machine: Any; Gauge: Any; Yarn: Any; Other materials: Fiber fill. How accommodating is that?! (I'll give my info as one example at the end.)

Directions: Body---Figure out with the yarn and machine you are using what stitches and rows would be needed to produce a rectangle that is about 6” wide and 8” long. Ewrap on and knit this rectangle. Transfer every other stitch to its neighbor and leave an 18” yarn tail. Take the stitches off on this piece of yarn. Cinch up the stitches---this will be the top of his head. If you can't get the stitches tight enough, sew back and forth to cover up the hole. Now with the same yarn, do a mattress stitch a little more than 1/3 down the length for the head. Generously stuff with fiber fill so the head is firm. Now take this same yarn and wind around twice to make a neck. (See picture on the left above.) Cinch it in and knot off. Don't cut yarn. Now finish mattress stitching the rest of the seam but don't close the bottom yet. Let the yarn dangle for later use. Ears: Hang stitches on the machine where one ear would be, knit a few rows and bind off. Leave a yarn tail of about 8”. Sew around the ear with a whip stitch and pull a little on the last stitch. The ear will curl to the front a little. Secure the end and run it down through the head to hide.  Hide the other yarn end in the interior. Repeat for other ear. Now stuff the body firmly with the fiberfill. Fold in the bottom about 3/8” and stitch closed with the rest of the yarn tail you abandoned using an invisible kind of seam. Make a belly button: Thread about 8” of yarn doubled onto your needle. Come up through the stuffing and make a French knot. When you go back through the knot, hide the yarn end in the stuffing and snip. Arms and legs: Use a separate piece of yarn to define the arms and legs. Use a back stitch and sew all the way through front to back. Hide yarn ends in the interior. Scarf: CO about 8-10 stitches, knit enough rows to go around the neck and tie a bow. The knitting will fold in on itself and be quicker to knit than an I cord. You can, of course, knit a fancier scarf or tie a pretty ribbon around his neck.

MY specifics: Standard Gauge machine, mystery cotton yarn I've used for dishcloths, T 3, Cast on 50 stitches, knit 100 rows. Ears, 6 stitches, 6 rows. Scarf, 8 stitches 150 rows. Recommend that you knit at a tighter tension than you might usually use for the yarn so that the fiber fill doesn't show through. You could decrease at the end of the ears and make it look like a cat rather than a bear. Optional: embroider face details. I think he's cute enough plain. You could use the purl side as the right side if you like it better. Mine's a little fatter than the example. I might need to work on the ears a little....  This was just bear #1. Many more to come.

 

Guess who is walking!!!

He and his fam are coming for Christmas in 9 days!!!  So much to do and I can barely remember how to child-proof a house for a 14 month old. He's in constant motion---we'll just have to shadow him every minute and sleep when he does.  At least this old lady will have to nap.

Speaking of trouble, if you were wondering where the wild thing is,  tis here.  (Funny gift hat from someone. Maybe he'll need it in this Minnesota weather.)  But isn't he a good candidate for cutest baby of the year?

Actually, I have been knitting a little.  I'll take some photos and put up pretty soon.

Merry Christmas preparations to you!

Charity Hat Flower Technique- Free for Machine Knitters

I can't even believe how long it's been since I last posted.  Seems like the more I thought about it, the more I procrastinated.  O well, I'm back.

I thought I'd share a charity hat pattern that the members of my mk guild have been making.  It's more of a technique than a pattern.  You get to use your favorite hat pattern that works with your machine, yarn and the size you want to make.  My friend Bruce just posted on Ravelry a picture of the many he has made for charity.  They are soooooooo cute.  He used a rolled brim (fast) on his Brother KX350 midgauge.
So, without further ado, here is the technique.

Machine and Yarn: Use your favorite hat pattern for the yarn and machine you are using to get the size you want. Once you get the number of rows knitted you want for the height of the hat, transfer every 3^rd or 4^th stitch over one stitch to the left to make eyelets. (You need an even number of holes for the I cord to end up on the outside of the hat. Cheat if you have to. It won't show after you cinch it all up.) Put the emptied needles back to work, knit 2 to 4 rows. Do not remove from machine. Now make the flower “petals”. Can be the same or different color than the body of the hat. Set your machine to hold and *put/keep all but the right 3-4 stitches into hold. On those stitches in work, knit 20 to 30 rows (depending on how long you want each petal and which machine you are using). It helps to hold down the petal loop with your left hand and run the carriage with your right hand. Transfer those stitches the same number of needles to the left. There will be two st on each needle for the first row. Put the emptied needles out of work. * Repeat from * to *. When you reach the last stitch group, knit the petal and then hang the stitches back up, bind off.

Seam the side of the hat.

Make an I CORD: (to thread through the eyelets and cinch up.) Make a tight I cord about 15 inches long. Thread through, cinch up the top of the hat, tie a bow with knots at the ends of the cord. Voila, done. 

It's s very fun hat to knit and little girls love the frilly-ness.   Make some for your favorite charity! 

Machine Knit Tubes!

This may be the goofiest post to date, but thought I'd share anyway.  If you don't have the same laundry set-up that I do, the first part of the post may be of no use to you at all.

Here's the deal.  When I had my washing machine and dryer set up, the plumber advised me to buy these metal mesh tubes that attach to the hose that expells the water from the washing machine.  The purpose of these metal tubes is to catch all the lint so it doesn't go down the drain.  Our house is 80 feet to the main sewer and we are always afraid of tree roots, etc., and don't want to wake the sleeping giants.  So I dutifully bought these deals.  They are almost $3 for 2 at Home Depot.  I found I was going through lots of them, like every two weeks or so and throwing them out.  So I switched to panty hose and knee-high hose, of which I had a plentiful supply from my working days.  I cut off the foot plus about 6-8 inches and hooked them onto the rubber hose, attaching them with a tightly wound rubber band.  I felt pretty self-righteous to be using these up rather than tossing them.  (ISH!  Panty hose.)  Anyway, they are now all gone.

So, having also a humungous stash of cotton, I decided to knit these tubes using a circular setting.  On the Brother, push in the left part button on the main carriage and the right lever up.  I don't know what the settings are for other machines, but your manual would tell you. I used a loose tension even though the yarn was thin, just so I'd get a meshy look to them.  Start having the end closed with FNR, then switch to circular to make the tube.  They are about 8" in total length, leaving a little to slip over the tube and secure with the rubber band. And about 7" in circumference.   I suppose you could knit an I cord to run in and out of the tube top for a tie, but as soon as the idea hit my head, it left.  Too much work.

I got on a roll and knit several of them.  They actually last a bit longer than the metal ones because they are a little longer.

Now for another use for the tubes.  Our guild knits hats, mitts and scarves for the Salvation Army.  I like to use up yarn and make Gap-like, multicolored scarves.  It's nice to knit them tubular so that you don't have any seaming to do.  But those ends when you use different colors--whew, they are time consuming to work in.  As long as you have to work in the ends, how about making them decorative?  Make them wide enough for a warm scarf, of course.   When you change colors, leave about 6-8 inches of both colors and alternate where you start the next color.  When done knitting the scarf, bind off in your usual way.  Then take a crochet hook and from the right side make v's by pulling up chains.  Like this:

 I copied the stitches from DAK, but DAK doesn't do sideways stitches, so I attempted to draw them in in the Paint program.  Hopefully you get the idea from my terrible drawing.  You probably want to do this to just one layer/ side of the scarf, then when the chains are done, knot the last one.  With the needle, push the end into the center of the scarf.  Pull up a bit, then snip so the end slips back into the center.  It's just another idea if you need a change of pace.  I seem to not do well with repetitiveness in my knitting, so I like to come up with something different.

Happy knitting!
 

The Windmill Bag -- a hand knit converted to machine knit

A friend recently asked if she could share a pattern that I had converted from hand to machine knit.  Since it was originally Danielle La Framboise's pattern, I didn't have any rights to it and also wanted to give Danielle due credit.  With those things said, I think it's ok to post my mk version.  Then I also realized I had never posted anything about doing this bag, so here it is.

If you would like to see the 500+ projects made from Danielle's pattern, go to :

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/windmill-bag

I'm pretty sure you have to be a member of Ravelry to view, but if you're not, it's free and easy to join .

Windmill bag --  converted from hk to mk

Machine: Midgauge or bulky machine, no ribber required so it can be made on any machine, really. Sample was knit on a SR 860 midgauge; multiply approx 1.7 the stitches and rows to make it on a standard gauge. Directions are for the midgauge and the bulky machine will produce a slightly larger bag.

Yarn: I used Gjestal 100% wool, 50 gr = 100 meters (approx. sport wt), 2 skeins pink, 2 skeins red, one skein white (Schuss Plus, Dale of Norway Heilo are all similar)

      Gauge: not important, but I used T10. for best felting

Finished size: Mine, sitting flat turned out to be 18” tall x 12” wide.  Yours may vary from this.

Notes: This is a very easy knit, suitable for beginners. Can use any design pattern for the strips or knit it plain. The hand knit version is garter stitch, the mk version is stockinette. I did the knit and attach- as- you- go method so that there would be no seaming to do. The HK version attaches the I cord ties at the end of each strip, which would be just as easy to do. I did them last. The original is cotton, not felted. Lining is optional.

Body of the bag.

Strip1: Ewrap cast on 30 stitches, knit 120 rows, bind off.

Strip 2, 3 and 4: RC 000. With purl side facing you, pick up and hang 30 stitches along the bottom right side of rectangle 1. Knit 2 rows. *Pick up a whole stitch from strip 1 and hang onto the leftmost needle of your new strip. Knit 2 rows.* Continue from * to * until all stitches are hung from that side of strip 1. Continue to RC 120, bind off around the gate pegs. Strips will be uneven.

Continue adding strips until you have all 4 knit and attached to each other.

      Here's a view of the bottom of the bag.

I cord tie straps and attached I cord trim.

Hope the picture is more helpful than confusing.  Start out by making one tie strap. Ewrap cast on 4 stitches. Set machine to slip one way/ knit the other to make cord. RC 000. Knit 180 rows (actually 90 knit rows). Do not remove from machine. Pick a point of one of the purse points, with knit side facing you, *Hang one whole stitch on left most needle. Knit 2 rows I cord.* Continue around the V picking up every purse stich and knitting the two I cord rows. When you get to the top of the next purse point, stop attaching and Knit 180 rows of I cord. Bind off. For the next V, cast on for the I cord and knit 2 rows. Begin attaching at the top of the next V just under the previous I cord and attach the new I cord in the same manner making a tie strap at the end of the opposite side of the V. Continue around the purse until you have 4 ties and all edges have the I cord trim.

      Finishing

Sew in all yarn ends. Secure tightly the trim that meets a tie strap so that when felted it looks continuous. The purse has a funny shape , but it will take a better shape once felted. Put in the washing machine hot/cold with some jeans and a small amt of detergent. Do one or more cycles until the stitches are felted to your satisfaction. I dried mine upside down on an empty, large (2 gal) laundry soap bottle that I just happened to not have recycled yet. The

rectangular bottom fit the bottom of the purse exactly. Optional: Once dry, put a stiff plastic rectangle at the bottom of the purse to hold its shape. If you don’t like the look of the plastic, you could knit or sew a cover/sleeve for it. Tie the straps however you wish.

Several members of my mk guild made one of these and it was fun to see the "variations on a theme".  It's also gratifying to know that you made the bag in a fraction of the time it would take to knit by hand.   All that I cord by hand?  Blech.   Once again....yea machine knitting!