red scarf pattern for AIDS Awareness Week campaign...

Late last week I got an emailed note from our local machine knitters guild about:
the request for red scarves for AIDS day on December 1.  They have significantly reduced their hopes from their original 250 and then 100, and now would be happy with a minimum of 5 scarves.  They will reimburse us for materials.
After checking on-line, this is a nationwide campaign and I felt so bad that they would now be happy with 5 scarves, I immediately dashed out to Michael's and bought a skein of Red Heart to test out the pattern - they are looking for a unisex scarf in red,
6 in X 60 in. I remembered this easy pattern that I did on the LK150 several years ago.
Drop Stitch Tube Scarf                                                  
Solid colour makes an easy, super-fast, super soft tube scarf! Try it in a variegated or space dyed yarn to add lots of colour - the drop stitch technique makes big stitches and large colour blocks. 
Finished size: 6 inch wide, length, approx 60 inches. Meant to be long enough to wrap around neck and  hang down to mid chest.
DK superwash wool, solid colour (T5), 100g. OR Red Heart SuperSaver T6,  (7 oz/333m)
Machine:  Mid gauge 6.5mm, LK150 used
Stitch size: T5-6.
1. 32-0-31 ns. Bring only every other needle out.                               
2. Leaving approx 30 inch tail of yarn, MC, e-wrap ns. T9, K1R. Hang combs and weight.
3. Bring between ns to work (all in work, 63 sts).
4. T6, MC, knit 150 rows (or until you almost run out of yarn or piece hits the floor). Save approx 50 inch tail to seam with.
5. Drop every other stitch (the between ones from #3), making sure they are not the original  e-wrapped ones.
6. Thread tail of yarn into darning needle and take remaining stitches off, to draw into a circle.
7. Pull on fabric to unladder dropped stitches down to starting edge. Draw tail from that end into a circle and tie.
8. Use tails to seam fabric into a tube. I found this easiest to do from purl side, taking half outside edge of ‘knot’ stitch of one side to next 'loop' stitch on other side, making a modified mattress seam. Leave opening at centre to turn scarf to right side. Finish seam.
This is pretty quick - under an hour with the hand seaming and it's kind of fun pulling and popping the stitches - please make one for  the AIDS campaign and then feel free to use the pattern for fast, last minute Christmas gifts! (yes, Christmas is coming!)

rash promises....

Do you ever do that? Promise something to someone and then after, think, why did I do that? Anyway, I did do that when I was in St Cloud in September... Everyone seemed to like my 'Karen's wedding stole' so much and several people asked for the pattern and I did it - blithely said, 'oh yeah, I'll write that up and put it on my blog for free...
Well, you probably don't want to hear what I had to go through (trying to install DK8 on new computer to get stitch picture printed; searching for photos because I forgot where I put them; learning to type all over again because texting spoils you with auto-correct; trying to put a pdf on this blog...). I do have the pattern for the stole done as a pdf but can't figure out how to add it here, so just email me at knitwords@shaw.ca and put TLR stole pdf in the subject line and I'd be more than happy to send it to you...thanks for being patient!

I also promised to do a mid gauge version of the RTR Lace Cardi...I AM working on it!

PS - these swatches are just practises - not the actual yarn I'll be using...

it's never too late...

'member last Christmas I was messing around with some black and ivory alpaca on the LK150 trying to come up with a gift for my son...well, I finally got back to it! (see blogpost, January 2, 2015, 'a rookie mistake...')

 Two colour Tuck Stitch: Cast on waste yarn and ravel cord, ending carriage at right (CAR). RC000.

T9. MC, K1R. Set russell levers ll - l (left at ll, right at l). Select every other needle (EON). K1R (this makes a tuck row). RC002.
Change to CC. K1R (stockinette). Select opposite EON. K1R (tuck) RC004. Repeat these 4 rows throughout.

I decided to turn it into a toque -
that's Canadian for knitted hat, beanie, ski cap, head warmer, etc...
here's what I did: (LK150 and Baby Alpaca Grande from Plymouth Yarns)

41-0-40 ns to work. Cast on waste yarn and knit several rows, 1 row ravel cord.
MC, e-wrap all ns. T7, K6R.
One at a time, drop stitch from every other needle, beginning with second stitch from right side, for 5 rows and relatch for 1X1 rib. Reset RC000.
Begin 2-colour tuck pattern as above (after RC000), knit to RC037,  ending CAL with plain row in MC. Using 3-prong tool, decrease 1 st at left side.
Decrease 8 sts evenly spaced  as follows: counting from right, bring every 10th needle slightly forward. This will be the needle to transfer to and the end one at left should be the last one. Take stitch at right and move to the marked one. Put empty ns out  of work. T8, K1R.
Remove work and rehang, with either waste yarn or garter bar and move sts together, eliminating empty ns. K1R.
Repeat above, making decrease on same stitch [9 sts between the decreased sts this time] as above, K2R as above, [one less stitch between each time] to 16 sts.
Transfer to EON, T4, K1R. Leave a long enough tail to make seam and take sts off with darning needle and pull tight into circle.
Seam by hand, using tail from top, half outside edge stitch, modified mattress stitch, matching stripes and rib.
P.S. I did unravel the swatches/scarf...

I don't know about him, but I love these!

 

it was fun at the farm...

 Thanks to Jason and Carole! They are so hospitable, it makes you feel just like being at home! They feed you - Carole's tomato chili soup was great! and the desserts, OMG! The last time I was there, it was their #5 annual show and this year was number 24 - wow, they put so much into it, you have to plan on going next year - it will be their Silver Anniversary and Tom, the machine knitting guy has promised to be there!
I think everyone was impressed with the 2 TLR stole/shawls that I made for my niece's wedding this coming weekend - hope to get a 'live' photo of her which I will post later. I have promised to write up the pattern for this soon, hopefully before Christmas and will post here when it's ready.

It was great to see Jane Niemi's (blue-ribbon-winner at the state fair) version of 'Primitive' from Knitwords #19, Winter, 2001 - she modelled it in  the style show at Rocking Horse Farm - goes to show how enduring our fashions are! In fact, she inspired me to dig out mine - I may wear it to the Maritime seminar in Charlottetown next weekend - here's an excerpt from my #19 editorial:

During workshops, many times someone will say to me, 'This is probably a stupid question, but...' and I always say there is no stupid question, except a knitter who knows who I am, and asks me if I knit what I am wearing. Duh!!! How could I possibly show up and act like an expert if I don't have the confidence to make my own wardrobe? On this trip [the Maritime Machine Knitters Seminar in Wolfville, Nova Scotia], I was wearing our cover garment, 'Primitive' and got many rave reviews.  One of the knitters threw in this question as a joke and  I answered facetiously, 'No, I got it at the Wal-Mart. They have it in other colourways too. There is a red, white and blue version.' One of the husbands in the group quickly threw in, 'yes, but can you get the stripes vertical instead of horizontal?'

I did a bunch of knitting between the weddings and workshops...Rhiana's turquoise dress with ruffles; 2 WCD dresses for sister Janet (even I loved the 'watercolours'  one); LSA in royal WCD for niece/goddaughter Lauren (she wore it for her post-wedding brunch - sorry for the poor photo - new camera and I haven't had enough experience yet;-)); and 2 TLR stoles for niece/next bride, Karen...

substitute teacher...

Guess where I'm going? St Cloud, Minnesota!
I got a phone call the other night from Jason at Rockinghorse Farm in St Cloud. He told me my buddy Tom, the machine knitting guy, who was supposed to be the headliner at their September seminar had to cancel out due to a work conflict and would I be available to fill in? would I? gosh, besides having two out-of-town family weddings in September there was only one weekend I would be able to go and yes! it's September 18! I'll be there! Just when I thought I about had a grip on everything I wanted to do in prep for the weddings  and to be ready for the Maritime seminar the first weekend in October...
I promised Jason that I would have completely different classes from what I taught at the Founders Fest in July because there will be some of the same knitters there. I noticed that Tom had a class called Tuck Lace Rib - well, I can do that and fortunately I have some new samples! I am just finishing up a TLR stole for my niece, Karen, for her bridal outfit.
Check out this link for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1459456417678260/
It's stuck in my head, that old Trisha Yearwood song, 'On a bus to St Cloud Minnesota, I thought I saw you there...' but I'll be driving and there should be no snow on the ground, so I hope to see you there!

mail order fun...

I think I mentioned that my granddaughter's new best colour is turquoise and I didn't have anything even close. I went on-line to check out Yeoman Yarns Panama because for kidswear it's great - good yardage, easy care and easy knitting.  A knitting friend had mentioned last year that she had ordered from the UK and got her order very quickly  and easily.  I found an ebay website from UK that has very good prices, the postage seemed to be extremely cheap for overseas delivery and they take Paypal, what more could you want? So I clicked this and that and placed my order - the postage was based on 2 to 4 kg for the same price so I ended up ordering 6 - 500g cones which was still within the 4 kg range and held my breath - more is better, right? Within 8 hours, I got a reply that thanks, my order was on the way. It was delivered to my door yesterday, 1 week,  by Canada Post and no customs charges!!! OMG, I immediately began thinking of what colours of Cannelé I wanted but I put the brakes on - I'll save it for later!
 Janet's (poppy WCD) dress is done, almost finished an LSA cardi (Let's Swing Again, Knitwords #44) for Lauren in royal blue WCD and I'll get Rhiana's turquoise dress done this weekend - I think I may have time to get that new dress done for me for the Maritime seminar - I deserve to have something new to show them too, don't I? ;-))

mmkc founders fest a success...

The seminar was great - everyone was so excited to be there, me included! It was fun - the founders did a superb job of organizing, planning and arranging to make sure everything went smoothly. Thanks Dee, Jane and Maria Ann! It was great to see Pam from St Cloud, Bonnie and her entourage, Rosemarie and the gals from Wisconsin and to meet some new (to me) mk-ers, Rachel, Thomas and Heather - of course there were more but it's impossible to mention everyone.
I was really impressed when Rosemarie showed me her submission to last year's Door County Wearable Art Show near Madison, Wisconsin - she told me that she had used my  buttonhole band (#34 from '50 Ways to Love Your Knitter') which set off her design very nicely. Ah, validation! Nice!
My TLR cardigan was perfect. I felt professional and cool and I haven't stopped wearing it - it's so versatile and pretty - I'm thinking of a re-make but I have a to-do list to complete first.
I did finish up both the navy manfriend hoodie and the pink girlfriend hoodie - they are ready to go in the mail. My grandson, Nathan, would like a red MFH - he is 11 years old and gaining on me height-wise so I think he qualifies - I'm going to make him the smallest size- I'm confident he'll grow into to it pretty quick. Rhiana asked for a turquoise dress for back-to-school - her new favourite colour,  so I'll have to order some yarn - that's not a standard MAO shade!
My little-big sister Janet asked for a new dress like the navy one I made her last fall - she wears it so much, she's having a hard time putting it to launder so another one to switch out would be good - I talked her into 'poppy' which I'm sure she will get as much use of (if she doesn't, I will;-)). Promised my friend Ray a denim MFH; a cardigan for Lauren; something for me for Karen's wedding...and while working on Janet's dress I am cooking up a few new dress plans - stay tuned!
Oh, BTW, in case I never said, I'll be at the Maritime Machine Knitters seminar in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, Oct  2, 3/ 2015 - get ready!

GFH - girlfriend hoodie

MAO - mary anne oger (I actually had someone ask me what that meant in MSP!)

MFH - manfriend hoodie
MMKC -midwest machine knitters collaborative
TLR - tuck lace rib