Friday, October 5, 2018

yeah, i cheated....

Don't hate me because I’m more than a one-machine-pony! heh-heh! I do like my LK150, but does that mean that I have to sit there and hand-latch every other stitch for 10 rows of 1X1 rib times 4? Hell no!
On this poncho – I’m calling it the Thunder Bay Poncho because we need more that just a wide scarf that drapes the shoulders – this one also swaddles your butt and keeps your arms and sides warm, making it good for even a warm-ish winter day! Anyway, the original had narrow stockinette bands all round which was fine, but on my tweedy one, 1 did change those to 1X1 rib and even though it was close to 20 years ago, I do vaguely remember knitting the bands on the standard gauge ribber and then rehanging it on the LK150. If it makes you feel better, I did have to make the first one now only about four times before I got it right. I needed 80 stitches for the bottom so without thinking it through all the way, I set up and knit 80-0-80 sts in 1X1 rib at T10 on the standard gauge. Transferred up and knit a row which turned out to be much stiffer than I thought it should be but I reasoned that I was using DK weight on the 4.5mm machine...took it off and brought it over to the LK and saw that I had twice as many stitches as needed but also, it wouldn’t be wide enough if it was only 40-0-40 needles. Probably because I have been doing a lot of tuck ribbing previous to this, I felt a lightbulb go on and figured all I’d need to do was add tuck on the rib bed because that widens things out. Set up 1X1 rib on 40-0-40 needles, adding in tuck after the cast-on. Proceeded to get about 5 rows done before admitting defeat on that process. As I pried that off the machine, another bulb went on and I realized it should be Every-Other-Needle 1X1 rib which means every 4th needle in work on the main bed and than the alternate every 4th needle on the rib bed!
But, I’m still ahead of the game! Made all four bottom bands, starting with the manual wrap cast-on to make sure it was all stretchy enough, T10/10, knit 10 rows, carefully watching that every stitch knit through properly, transferred up to the main bed, knit a row of stockinette which is now every other needle in work and then several rows of waste yarn. Take the band, turn it and hang on the LK150, on every needle, so the plain row becomes a nice purl stitch ridge before beginning the stockinette.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving and may  we all be thankful for pumpkin! 

2 comments:

LindaC said...

Hi, thanks for all your tips and tricks. Love your blog, but I'm a pretty new machine knitter and I don't understand this: "Every-Other-Needle 1X1 rib which means every 4th needle in work on the main bed and than the alternate every 4th needle on the rib bed!" Using M=Main bed needle and R=Rib bed needle and X=no needle in work, does this mean: M X R X M X R X M ?

Thanks for any clarification. :)

Mary Anne Oger said...

Linda, that's exactly right!