Quest

Last winter I was on the quest to figure out how to knit mittens on the knitting machine, and produce them quickly while maintaining the qualities of a mitten I like best. I also dabbled into hats, especially earflap hats. It was an interesting venture, and I still have an idea or two to try for mittens! This winter, my quest is slippers. I go through slippers quickly--I joke that Christmas and Mother's Day should be 6 months apart, not 5/7 because those are the only times I get new slippers. I love the handknit felted clog pattern from FiberTrends, but they aren't the quickest thing to make. I have been working on a pair of the 'ballet' slipper style from FiberTrends, for ....a long time; I thought they might be quicker, but I'm not as familiar with the pattern so I keep ignoring them.

The clogs pattern is not well suited to adjusting for machine knitting. In the internet world of free machine knit slipper patterns, there are 4 common ones. The first is just a rectangle, stitched up the back heel and top of the toe and I think felted. The second pattern is "7 Minute Slippers" and the third is "14 minute Slippers". I had put off making these two because I couldn't find pictures. Once some got posted in the Yahoo groups and on Ravelry, I decided to go for it. After finding out the 14 minute slippers are just the 7 minute slippers with lining knit as you go, I figured I'll give them a try first. My feet get cold!

The pattern was easy to follow, and very quick, although not 14 minutes. And there was insufficient gauge info. Most people finish the top with a pompom or something to hide the hole, but I thought it was kinda cute. I ended up ripping out the beige one as it was way too small. The yellow ones I gave to my SIL who was having knee surgery. Lucy also got a yellow pair. Despite being cute, in an almost "a face only a mother could love" sort of way, these slippers use a lot of yarn and are not very form fitting. Given my track record with slipping on the stairs, I needed a more secure slipper.

The fourth most common machine knit slipper pattern is the "Double Thick" slippers, aka "Romeo" slippers or pixie slippers. A little more involved, these ones still have the lining knit in as you go, but they also get put together with "seam as you go", a technique pretty much unique to machine knitting.

This picture shows the first pair; the pink part is the inner slipper which gets knit first.

The pattern did not give info about where to change colours, so I did some experimenting after the first pair. There are more options for colour placement with this pattern. This isn't a great picture, but the red, white, and blue slippers are the sparkly Christmas yarns. I didn't want that on the inside of the foot. The pink pair on the right have some size/gauge issues and I think I will have to re-knit the outer slipper. Then I made the pair on the left, in rose/beige/brown. You can see in the side view that just the sole is brown. The slipper has a flap at the front and back ankle, which is what gives them the "pixie" label, I think. They stay on pretty good, even though they are low cut at the sides of the heel. The red and white one shows what it looks like after grafting the back bottom heel to the back top heel...there's a lot of short rows there at the heel and flappy bits.
I timed the last slipper, and it took 45 minutes from start to finish, for one slipper. I went to a craft sale on Saturday, and people were selling mittens and slippers and socks (cheap acrylic yarns) for $3.50-$4.50 a pair. To make a pair of these for lady's size 9, took a little over one ball of Patons Decor, which can be bought for about $5 (true, these slippers are two layers though). I'm planning to write a post about the issues related to craft sale pricing. Even if you don't sell at sales, it still affects you, especially if you give knitted gifts.

These slippers (and the move back to an area with a Michaels' store) has caused a sudden increase in my yarn stash! Ooops! Better go knit and try to pare it down again!

Check the Other Blog

I just wrote a post over on my other blog about plus size sewing patterns. It belongs here too, but just linking to it will have to do for now. It's not so much about sewing, but just the images used.

Libraries

To try to hide the fact I have been afflicted with a bad case of startitis, I'm going to write about the joys of a public library. I finally dropped in last week and got my card. Now, some of you know that I grew up here; however I did not keep my library card valid while we were gone for 12 years, LOL. But the big thing is, 'my' old library was demolished and a new, modern one built. Something more suited for the size of this 'town'.

However, the old library had once been the town offices, and as a result, had a huge parking lot. The new library for some odd reason, has about 20 parking spots. The library was set back from the main road with a big patio area (I'm guessing that would allow for future expansion). While that space is nice for 3 months of the year, right now, it is grey, hard, featureless. Kind of like a parking lot, but without the benefit of being able to park there. There is a municipal lot next door, but it's 50 cents/hour. There is an empty grocery store and plaza a block or two away; guess where I'll be parking.

While I've always been adequately pleased with Orangeville's library, the knitting section is below waist height, down to the floor. Not great for us old bitties that knit. The Whitby's library's knitting section is up high, right down to about knee height. Loads of new books I've wanted to skim through but probably never buy. Some classics. But yesterday, I got positively giddy when I found Cookie A.'s "Sock Innovations" and Interweave Press "Scarf Style". I had already seen "Knitting on the Road" last week. I'm not checking out the sock books because of that startitis affliction right now. I did get a book on machine knitting last week, and this week, "Scarf Style" and a couple books on shawls/ponchos/wraps for inspiration.

While my book budget is now going down, my yarn spending is going up. I've made a few trips to Michaels' to add to my Classic Wool collection, but I'm proud to say, LOL, that I have NOT been to the yarn store in town yet!! I have absolutely NO need to buy new yarn (oh, yeah, I picked up 3 balls of sock yarn and one skein of lace yarn at the Creative Festival....). I will remain strong. Remember when I was in Shelburne weekly for Lucy's speech therapy and I did not go to the wool shop there even once? LOL. I can do this; I did really well the rest of the year in not buying yarn!!

Hats.

That last post was post #350! What I forgot to mention--and the reason for the title--was that I was also wearing wool socks, my fuzzy poop jacket, scarf, and gloves that match the hat, while walking to school. Perhaps a little TOO much knitting at once?


Anyway. I'm forever on the quest for the perfect hat. Or, at the least, a wearable hat. I still have hope that I will find a hat that doesn't make me feel/look dorky, keeps my ears warm, and goes with EVERY coat. LOL.

It's not very cold yet, and I thought I'd knit up another little lace cap, similiar to the pink one, from www.knitpicks.com. This one, I got gauge, knit the recommended amount, and it was pretty much perfect. Except that it's a little itchy and I'm not sure about the long hair with these caps.

Last year I started noticing patterns for berets and slouchy hats. I can't say that I saw many in real life though. But this fall, I'm seeing them on the young high school girls in the neighbourhood. I thought I should at least try one. I found a popular free pattern on Ravelry.com (Meret). I couldn't decide on the yarn. It called for standard worsted weight, and suggested 100% wool so it could be blocked. Well, I didn't want to use my Classic Merino on a pattern I wasn't sure I would like. I had a ball of an unknown white yarn (feels like LionBrand Jiffy, I think), and it seemed acrylic, but I went ahead anyway. I'm not sure why.

There were instructions to make a regular beret, a slouchy one, or an extra slouchy. I started with the regular beret because I thought the picture was the 'extra slouchy' model and I wasn't sure of my yarn amount. Ripped back and added another pattern repeat so it's now slouchy. Except that it's not really slouchy.

I did 'block' it to dry, but it wasn't really stretched at all. When I put it on, I suddenly felt like the Sweedish Chef (Muppets) or the pizza guy from Curious George books. I DON'T think it's supposed to be pouffy like that! LOL. I can push it around, and make it droop to the side, or the back, but I'm so unfamiliar with this style that I just don't know how to wear it.

However, I popped it on Meg's head, and she looks totally darling. Figures. My hats always look better on her than on me. Do I give the pattern another try in a better yarn? Another pattern?

Walking Advertisement for Wool

Last fall I made the pink tipless gloves, and have been wanting a cool weather hat to go with them. I really wanted to make a Koolhaas but I didn't think I'd have enough yarn; I wanted it to be for cool weather, not cold weather; and I didn't want to buy a pattern. Recently I was looking for a free pattern on Knitpicks.com that I had seen in an older catalogue (however, that pattern was no longer a free pattern!) and came across a couple lacey hats that I thought would be fun to quickly knit up. Haa Haa.


I started this October 5 and knit it 3 1/2 times before being done finally on October 12. I didn't do a gauge swatch, LOL. It still felt a little tight and short--and kept riding up, so I've wetted it, and am now wet blocking it on my head. LOL. The wool instantly relaxed and I could pull it down a bit more. We'll see if it sproings back up.
The gloves faded a bit, and pilled a bit after being washed a few times last winter, but I guess that's the sacrifice for super soft wool!

Shawl!

On October 27, 2006, "Danis" (www.danis.org; he has since died and I'm not sure about his website) posted a pattern in the Yahoo Knitting Machines group, for a "Basic Triangle Shawl" made by making 4 triangles. I wasn't sure how 4 triangles could turn into one, LOL, but I've wanted to try it ever since.

Another technique I've wanted to try is Debbie New's "Scribble Lace". Basically, you knit with large needles (6mm or bigger), and a very fine yarn and a very thick or textured yarn (choose the needle size to suit the larger yarn). You knit a few rows in the fine yarn, then one row with the thick yarn. On circular needles, you'd then slide the sts back to the other end of the needle so you can pick up the fine yarn again. On the knitting machine, you take the carriage off and put it back at the other end.

I've been wanting a blue shawl for a long time, but have no blue laceweight yarn (well, I do, but it's been designated for a sheer sweater). What I do have is a large cone of a very fine navy, and a bag full of Patons Divine. The perfect combo for scribble lace!

This thing came out huge! Although I thought I understood how to figure the size, it was still rather abstract, and hard to guess while on the machine.

Having to move the carriage from end to end is easy on the machine, however, combined with this shawl pattern, took a little bit of brain power. Till I realized that I was actually doing a 4 row pattern and it shouldn't be too complicated to combine a 4 row pattern and a 2 row pattern. Even so, the middle of the shawl didn't turn out quite as nice as it could have.

Here it is, spread out on my 2 seater, Ektorp Loveseat. The shawl is huge. I took just over 1 skein of the Divine, and I don't know how much of the fine yarn. A surprising amount actually. But to use up left over cones, this would be a great project! I used KP 45 on the KnitSmart machine, and increased out to about 68 sts. I should be able to make another, much smaller one, using the rest of the second ball of Divine. I think this large one is going in the Christmas gift box!

Verdict: Shawl Pattern--great!

Scribble Lace on the Machine--doable! Use lots of weight, particularly on the first fine row after the thick row, or the sts of the thick yarn will twist around the needles. My thick yarn was very lightweight; this might not be such an issue with a heavier yarn.

Why I Can't Get Ahead

I get one pair of socks finished, and another pair becomes finished. These are the first socks I ever knit. I started them in March 1999. They were the first thing I knit with dpn, and the first things I knit with 'real' yarn. It was Schoeller-Esslinger "Fortissima" 6ply (a little thick for my tastes now); I chose the colours because they reminded me of the cedar trees we could see out the window of the Dufferin Country Museum where I took the sock knitting class. It's surprising that these are my oldest--and I assume most worn--socks, and are only now getting a hole. There is actually a fine nylon thread holding the stitches together. I don't know if I have more of the green; I'm not even sure I want to darn them. If I darn them, they won't then be my 'first' socks anymore.

And these below are my new socks. Used www.elann.com Esprit. Started them in the spring, for my mindless travelling project for during swim lessons and house hunting. Did them two at a time, magic loop, toe up. Increased a few on the way up the foot, then a short row heel. I don't like short row heels, but I used it because I thought the stretch in the yarn would give a better fit, and I also added short rows at the TOP of the heel wedge; I think it's a total of 6 extra rows across the upper heel back. Maybe not that many actually. Oh, I think I did a couple in the bottom of the leg ribbing too, at the back.

I look at my socks alot, especially the ones that have leg slouch issues. There are lots of remedies out there--decrease sts, use ribbing, carry ribbing down the foot. But when I look, I see that the front of the ankle crease bulges--because of too many rows there. Maybe this happens only with heel flap socks (I like long flaps). A few extra short rows on the back side and a bit shorter heel flap is my next experiment.

They are cushy! Much longer than I expected; but I found the Zaftig cups I had knit and never had the courage to finish, and I didn't want any left over yarn. I had originally planned for anklets like the blueish ones I made, LOL. Not warm like my wool socks, but a good summer sock (which is why I wanted them short). But I might just have to make more with this yarn now. I've got a few plans!

The Pattern

Jennifer asked for the source of the round lace blanket, but I can't access her profile to email her directly. So I hope you've come back! I found the original webpage for the blanket. She has a great site. My other tip for it is if you use a non-blocking yarn, don't knit it too tight. I made one version and it was very ruffly in the middle.
The "Rotten Blankie" is now donut shaped, LOL, and the new one has opened up in the center circle, even though I was sure I had pulled it tight!