The em word...

It happened again!! I was in the grocery store yesterday, going over to the  fruit and veggie section - there was a log-jam of people trying to get by this old gal who thought she was the only person in the store. The lady behind her, coming toward me, was rolling her eyes and making weird faces at me - I thought she was just expressing her exasperation at being held up. Amused, I stepped aside to let the old gal by and stayed there to let this lady go - she abandons her cart in the middle and comes over to me and grabs me!! I was shocked - she started blabbering about beautiful colours and sock yarn and as I got over being accosted, I realized she was a hand knitter who was attracted by my sock yarn scarf - you may remember, back in No 46 of KNITWORDS, Ev McNabb had made the ‘Two Left Feet’ scarf using leftover self-patterning sock yarns. Ev’s was done on the Passap and I thought it was cute, a real novelty and I liked the fact it had a lot of teaching techniques and I did have a ton of leftovers myself so I made my own version and wrote the pattern for the Japanese machines. I did wear it in the magazine - Lindsay and I modelled them together - at the time, it looked okay with a jean jacket, for the magazine, and like I said, it was a novelty item. Afterward, I did put the scarf on a few times to wear it in cold weather, because it is actually nice and warm, but it was a little too out-there for me and I couldn’t go out in regular public with it. Since then, I revamped my scarf, cut out the heel and toe, and grafted it back together to make it just plain and straight -and I have worn it quite a bit - it’s still long enough to fold in half and draw both ends through the loop on one side.

So, anyway, here I am in Safeways and this woman is acting like I’m Nicki Epstein or whoever - she’s saying how she’s used that stuff for socks but hadn’t thought of making a scarf and she’s yanking at it and going on about all the different colourways and then she says, that must have taken you ages to knit and, without thinking, I said oh no not really I used a machine. You’d think I said the ef word - she dropped her hands, turned, went back to her cart and dashed off. I felt like I should have been ashamed of myself...

Button Day

Actually, today in Ontario, is ‘Family Day’ - a new stat holiday I think only us in Ontario  - and Alberta and Sask- maybe - get, because some politician was looking for votes - kind of dumb, I think because everything is closed (even Home Depot) so what are you supposed to do - can't even go stateside because it's Presidents Day and the post office is closed...I did go out to go snow shoeing with my niece and saw our poor mail carriers doing their routes - ha! ha! they are federal employees and don’t get this day off (yet)!

Just finishing up the February Pattern of the Month designs - this means all the little finishing details, darning in ends and sewing on buttons - and doing the final tweaking of the actual patterns. Thought I’d give you a quick preview of what’s coming if you’ve subscribed to my Serial Stuff (thanks if you have - if not, you still have a week to get on board!).

Marsh Print (working title) is a new sideways knit, for the standard gauge - well, actually I did wear it last fall in Cleveland so it’s not really new, new - everyone loved it, but I didn’t have the pattern ready then, so if you’ve been waiting, here it is. The yarn is woolray/velveen, aka Wool Crepe Deluxe and Sue at ‘Knit It Now’ (used to be BT Yarns) had it on sale again, I noticed... anyway, this design features back and front knit cuff to cuff - I’m giving several variations - I’ve actually knit it 4 different ways, playing with sleeve length, and size and placement of the gores which add fullness in the hip region - this variation has a box pleat 3/4 length sleeve - I also made it in Mini Dina and in Tamm Diamante - I did get same gauge with each of these yarns, so you’ll have a variety of yarn choices. The pattern will include various edge finishes and different bands. On this marsh print, I used the purl side as the right side, because I liked it better - I thought the purl side didn’t look as stripey - but the other versions use the knit side as right side. The full-peplum-look from waist to hem is created with gores and again, I experimented with a very large gore (this one) to a much smaller gore, resulting in a less full bottom. This garment can look very fancy or relatively casual, depending on how you pair it.

For mid gaugers, the Red Raglan (working title) is it for February - an A-line shape cardigan with fancy detail in the raglan decreases and rib and cable combination hand transferred hems, cuffs and collar - lots of nice details for the intermediate/advanced knitter - there is a plain version for the beginner knitter - knit in a DK weight wool. A great button loop technique that really makes the front band outstanding, will solve the buttonhole dilemma for many. It’s always a challenge to find the perfect button to go with something you’ve made - one tip - I am hardly ever able to find an exact colour match for buttons, so I usually opt for metallic or wooden buttons - these buttons are just laying on the garment right now - I’ll look at them for a bit before deciding - I usually pin them on and try on the cardigan to get a better idea - my other option is a flat wooden button the same size that I’ll paint to match if I don’t like these...

Yardage isn’t everything...

So, I mailed my garment off to Knit’nStyle for the August issue and belatedly realized I’d never see it again - they keep it. So what? you say...well, it's totally full of great new techniques and now, I'll need the garment for some of my classes at the upcoming spring seminars:

Knit Knack Shop’s 33rd Annual Spring Fling in Peru, In - a good, little seminar in the middle of the country, very budget friendly - get a road trip going and see you there!! check it out at http://www.knitknackshop.com/ - I’ll also be at the Carolinas Guild Seminar in Raleigh, NC; and at the Pacifically Passap Plus, teaching Japanese machine stuff, of course, near Portland, OR on the Memorial Day weekend - check out my seminar list at http://www.knitwords.com/ for links and dates - east coast, west coast & the middle!!! don’t miss them!

So back to the problem at hand - I figured I may as well knit it again right away while it was all still fresh in my mind (also wanted to check my pattern and wording by re-knitting it before submitting it) - of course, I don't have the same yarn - I used Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima Cotton in a bright corn yellow, 7 skeins, 100g/220yds - I know, you’re going to say that’s not really an MAO colour, but I don’t always get to choose, I take what’s given - it has a lovely sheen and drape and I knew my stitch pattern would show up well in that colour - so, checking my stock on hand, found 14 balls of Eqyptian cotton, 50g/105m and it has the same recommended gauge as the Cascade, so I figure I’m good. I shorten the sleeve and length, because this is to fit me while the sample I send off to KnS is for the size I wish I was - 5’9, 36 bust (in my dreams is right!!) - and I get one front done (1/4 of the project - it’s a sideways knit crochet-look cardigan on the LK150 in a hand selected tuck stitch - not exactly a quick & easy project) and I’m already into the 5th ball - I know I’m not going to make it. Abandon that...

Next plan - with no other hand knitting yarn of that amount or likeness around here, I decide to put together 2 finer coned yarns that are leftovers from standard gauge projects - a linen and a Mini Dina in the same beigy shade - WOW, something more to add to the workshops - how to substitute successfully!!! I’m only telling you this now because I have it all finished, bands and everything and there's at least 3 yds of the Mini Dina left! Darn lucky, I’d say...

Murphy's Law

How do you know when it’s time to get a new sponge/needle retainer strip for your LK150? Murphy says usually when you’re under the gun...I have been thinking lately that my beloved LK wasn’t quite performing up to par, but I’m so adaptable that I adjust to almost anything. Karma Chameleon could be my theme song!

Yes, the last 2 garments - I haven’t actually been zipping through them like usual and, yes, I have been hand knitting rows that should have knit just fine at a loose tension, usually - but I’ve been chalking it up to other things (not enough weight, hard twist to the yarn, wrong tension) - truth be told, I’m sure I haven’t changed this thing in at least 5 or 6 years - it isn’t really something I think about a lot...anyway, here I am working to someone else’s deadline - the yarn was a scramble to get and was left last minute and they needed this garment in their hands by the 10th of this month...I made my swatches for this project last November and have knit 5 other projects on my baby since then...

I remember now, thinking when I did the test samples - I was doing 3 rows of 1X1 tuck using hold, which means you bring every other needle out to hold, set the levers to hold, knit 3 rows and then cancel hold and knit 1 row and then throw in a loose tension row - something’s not quite right. Well, what’s happening now is that most of the row doesn’t knit, it floats the stitches and makes a lot of clinking and ticking noises as the carriage goes across - the clinking and ticking is the latches touching the magnets in the carriage because the foam strip is not holding the needles as firmly, and, generally  floating (not knitting) and dropping some stitches too...what a mess...
Good thing I have a replacement sponge strip in stock...or do I? Hummmm...there are lines on the ‘new’ sponge strip...oh, gosh, it’s not new - the lines are from the needles!! why would I keep a used sponge strip??? Oh well, I did get the job done by working carefully and adding extra weight and I’ve ordered a couple of new sponges just to have!

Jaded...NOT!

Did you ever feel like you know it all? Once in a while, I feel like I get sort of complacent - or maybe, in a rut, I think , and it’s not like I think I know it all, but I think I’ve been knitting so long that I’m not really going to learn anything new...Ha!!! I love it when I do come up with something new - or is it that I knew it already and just forgot???....I hate when that happens!!
Okay, I’ll be honest - I was trying to ‘fix’ something - you know, try to get away without having to re-knit the whole thing because I never should have added those extra stitches to the front anyway without thinking it through...you probably think I’m rambling here and you’re right, I am - I’m trying to say something without full disclosure, but it’s not working... but the point here is what I learned!!!

Did you know that when you chain cast off, the nice line of the chain lies on the side away from you? Well, I know that. Sometimes it doesn’t matter - in fact most times, it doesn’t. Getting back to my fix-up, I added a strip of stockinette to the front side of this piece, in an opposing direction - like, I’m adding a strip of stitches to the row edge and making a facing on the outside of the piece - the first side was okay, but after looking at it closely, I thought, G! that would look so much better if the final chain was on the front of the outside edge. So, I still had to finish, er, fix the other side, so while I was making the stockinette strip, I 'm running it through my head and trying to figure out what to do. I want the stockinette strip on the knit side of the piece, so I hang the selvedge edge -

(can you believe it?? almost the only thing they changed in my KnS article was the spelling of selvedge - they changed it to selvage - hummmph... Americans! always dropping letters! I never knew there was a US spelling for that...)
-knit side facing me, hanging the whole outside edge stitch (which means both sides/the whole stitch!). Then I hang the open stitches of the strip, knit side facing me, pull the open stitches through the closed edge. Now, here’s the problem. If I just knit my loose row and chain off the stitches, the chain lies on the side away...the light bulb comes on!!! If I take it off now, turn it around  (one of those RTR's!!) and then knit my loose row, the chain will be on the KNIT side. OMG!!! Life is good - you better write this down because I may forget about it!

Looking at those swatches, you might think I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but you gotta trust me here, it does looks better in person!

Mission Accomplished!

Well, Knit’nStyle magazine April 2011 has hit the streets - I finally got my copy so I could see what they did with my stuff - I was okay with it except that they chopped one of my photos in the article, eliminating the most important part of the photo...oh well, it’s tough not being in control!

So, I get an email from the assistant editor of Knit’n Style - guess what? She said:
Hello Mary Anne,
I knew this would happen. You cannot have a sweater as cute as yours in the magazine and not expect to hear from the hand knitters. This morning I received an e-mail from a knitter who wants to know if there is a hand knitted version of the Swing Cardi pattern? I told her I could not make any promises but I would check with you. Thank you for your time and attention.
Vickie
I loved it!! I was LMAO!! Sorry, but no hand knit version - tell her to buy a machine!

Since then, there have been several more requests for the same thing!
Ha! Mission Accomplished!
Also, we finally got the POM thing up on the website - you can check it out at http://www.knitwords.com/
- hope you sign up! I’m busy working on the February stuff - sneak peek - the mid gauge thing will be a raglan cardigan with tons of cute little details - of course you could do the stripped down version...

minor alterations only...

Well, I’m trying to come up with something catchy to call this pattern of the month thing -
Serial Stuff
Monthly Mentor
Blueprint Knitting
Knit & Learn Monthly (yikes!)
Recipes for MKers
- it reminded me of the time I bought a coat because it had my initials on the tag - really! It actually had ‘MAO’ on a printed-up tag hanging from the sleeve - I thought it was a sign from the style gods that this coat was made for me -  later found out that MAO stood for ‘Minor Alterations Only’ - I still liked it though!

Anyway, we are about to post the new ‘pattern of the month’ series and I thought I’d explain what you would be signing up for. Each month will feature a new pattern in the usual MAO style along with a mini-article pertaining to the pattern and techniques. Patterns will be in 5 sizes, ranging from finished bust 36/38 to 48/50 in. and of course, you get all 5 sizes. The format will be similar to what was used in KNITWORDS magazine, without the space restriction, so: few abbreviations, lots of extra tips and techniques, explained as you go, great professional photos, schematics and stitch charts if necessary, set out in a pdf file for you to print out yourself, sent to you by email. Designaknit stitch files will be included in the email if applicable.
There are two different series, one for mid gauge machine knitters and one for standard gauge machine knitters. The cost of our 3 month trial offer is $15 for each series which means you will get one pattern/article per month for the next 3 months for whichever series you choose - you can purchase both - it’s a different garment/pattern/article for each machine.
The patterns will be available as individual patterns for $7 each, emailed, or the option of a cd of the pdf mailed to you for $8 each. All of these options will be available on our website, through PayPal.

Update on the tiger top - I soaked it in a vinegar solution - about 1 C vinegar to 2 gal. water, let it sit for a bit and then washed it in ‘Eucalan’. Some colour came out in the first part, but not a lot and the water was clear in the washing. I put buttons on it and modelled it for my seamstress girlfriend - she thought it was wonderful, so I took it along to Bill’s when I went to get my photos done for ‘In the Tweeds’ and ‘Sophisticate’ for the POM.