is it synchronicity? ...

or déjà vu? Last week I got an email from Stephanie telling me that someone (Pamela) had posted a photo of a poncho she had made from Winter 2004 Knitwords (means nothing to me, I go by the issue number which was #31) on Facebook Plastic Midgauge Machines KAL group and she wondered if the pattern was still available and how she could get it. I am Facebook-challenged, I admit it!. She sent me the link and I could see that the poncho in question was one I had made, called Tweed Angel. The funny/strange thing about it was the fact that the poncho was plated, and I was just working on a blogpost

talking about plating, whether to do it or not. That particular poncho is made on the LK150 and one of the really awesome features of that machine is plating - I did a garment in Knit'nStyle, Dec 2013, #188 that was a sideways Swing Jacket, along with a good article (I thought anyway) explaining plating, why and why not. Back to Tweed Angel, it is actually two reverse-shortrowed triangles that are grafted together, leaving an opening for the neckline. We showed it as a sideways knit, which made sense to me because the wider portion fits better over the arms and then the slash neck opening becomes a vee neck look.

I dug out the pattern, set it up as a pdf for those who might wish to purchase and realized there were a few things missing from the original pattern – how to finish the neckline and how to wear it. I re-knit it to make sure I hadn’t missed anything else, plating a strand of cashmere with a finer tweed wool that I had. It turned out pretty nice, but I knew I didn’t have enough yarn for the fringe, so I’ve added one of my 1X1 tuck trims.

Hold piece evenly up to needle bed, stretching very slightly, to determine number of stitches. Purl side facing, hang each end. Hang back half of outside row on every other needle, missing the odd one every so often and then fill in opposite needles with front half of outside stitch. I used 70-0-70 ns. (Single Crochet-Look Tuck Edge from The Handbook  for Manual Machine Knitters by MAO)

See my old blogpost  https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-slip-cord-experiments.html for more options on using this shortrowed triangle. P.S. I would have posted a link to this on that Facebook page, but I couldn't figure it out! ;-)

you know what time of year this is getting to be....

Yeah, we had snow. Already! Enough to hang around for a few days! I was in line at the post office the other day and the girl (anyone  looking more than 10 years younger than me now falls in that category!) in front of me was wearing a cute knitted headband. I struck up a conversation with her to pass the time and she had hand knit it herself and in fact, was mailing a package to a friend with another one she had knit. It was garter stitch in a heavier-looking, earth-tones yarn that I figured to be alpaca – she did tell me the yarn and that it was quite expensive but it went over my head. It was about 4-5 inches wide and it had what I thought was ruching at the front. Turned out to be a simple cable twist and it got me thinking, I could make something like that on the LK. Of course I ruled out the garter stitch, as it was knitted widthwise (stitches were the width, rows the length) – she did tell me she knit 9 inches, made the twist – she didn’t even realize it was a cable until I mentioned that word – and knit another 9 inches. I then said oh and you grafted it at the back? She looked at me like I was from outer space and said no,  just seamed it – I couldn’t tell because she had a high pony tail that covered the back seam. 
Back at home, I did a tuck stitch swatch, trying to come up with the texture of the garter stitch but it didn't go what I wanted - I tried a 3X3 cable, it was difficult to do and looked ugly anyway. Then, I remembered the supercable from 'Knit Big or Go Home' from KW#36. Actually, this spring a new-ish machine knitter contacted me about that pattern - she had tried it out and was having a problem - I checked it over and there was an error! I was devastated! Obviously no one else tried this or even worse, they tried, it didn't work and they never asked! The really sad thing is, I did make this sweater a few times and I never caught the mistake! yikes!

Anyway, here is the correction:

Supercable: 16 stitch shortrowed cable, positioned at 8-0-8 ns. CAR. RC000. Set to hold. Bring left of 0 to hold. K1R.
Remove/turn off row counter. Bring all right of 0, except 1-8 to HP.
Put a claw weight under the 8 working sts.
K6R on these sts only, ending CAL. There are 7 rows on right side of cable.
Put all to HP. Break yarn, leaving 3 inch tail at centre – this will end up on left side of cable later.
Place CAR. Bring 8-1 left of 0 to UWP. With new yarn, K6R, ending CAR.
Do not break yarn, but remove from feeder (it will be easier to move cable).
Pick up the 8 sts at left and the 8 sts at right.
Put the right hand side down to left first and then place the left side to the right of 0.
Bring ns out to D. Return all cable sts and left side to UWP.
Put yarn in feeder and knit row. This completes the row at the left side so there are the same number of rows on the garment piece on either side of the cable.
Replace row counter, cancel hold. K19R. RC020. Repeat these 20 rows for pattern.
There will be two ends of yarn at either side of cable. Use these ends to close up gap at sides of cable while darning them in.

Headband

YARN: Plymouth Yarns Baby Alpaca Grande, finished weight, 60g/2.1 oz.

MACHINE: LK150

11-0-11 ns to work. Cast on waste yarn, knit several rows. Ravel cord, K1R. CAR. RC000.  MC, T9, K2R. At each side, drop 2nd st from edge and reform to purl st. Drop 3rd st, reform. Do this every time CAR to make garter stitch border – no need to do on outside edge stitch.

Knit to RC010. *Make Supercable as above. K20R.* Repeat 5X in all and end with 10 rows stockinette. Remove on waste yarn. Graft ends to join or as desired.

 

It makes a great neck warmer if you don’t want it on your head!

 

not to forget the LK-ers....

This is a fairly easy tuck sampler using simple one-row-tuck stitch patterns that will all be comparable in width - the length will vary somewhat but you're just using the 1X1 and 3X1 needle selectors that come with the machine, so the manual needle selection is relatively quick. By turning the work back and forth between patterns you get textures alternating with the smooth, stockinette-look of the knit side of the next pattern, making the scarf look good from both sides. I finished it off by adding a 3 stitch slip cord that is attached to the edge of the scarf as you knit the cord - great learning experience because this can be used in a garment or expanded widthwise to make a really cute baby blanket, using a variety of colours...
Sampler Tuck Scarf for Mid Gauge
DK weight yarn, scarf looks similar on both sides and doesn’t curl.
Not exactly quick and easy, but interesting and fun!
Finished size: 6 inch wide; length, approx 50 inches.

before edging
 

Yarn: Forsell Double Knitting superwash wool, 1135 yds/500g
Finished weight: 138g.
Machine: Mid gauge 6.5mm, LK150 used.
Have uneven number of sts. Do not select end ns.
Patterning: CAR. Set left Russell lever to I, right to II. Select ns. First row will tuck selected needles and second row will knit everything.
1X1 EOR Tuck - 2 st X 2 row. Begin with #1 right of 0, select every other needle to hold/D position. K2R. Reselect same ns, K2R, repeat throughout.
Alternating 1X1 EOR Tuck - 2 st X 4 row. CAR. Begin with #1 right of 0, select every other needle to hold/D position. K2R. Select opposite ns (#2 right and EON), K2R, repeat throughout.
3X1 EOR Tuck - 4 st X 2 row. Begin with #1 right of 0, select every 4th needle to hold/D position. K2R. Reselect same ns, K2R, repeat throughout.
Alternating 3X1 EOR Tuck - 4 st X 4 row. Begin with #1 right of 0, select every 4th needle. K2R. Select alternate 4th ns, K2R, repeat throughout.
3X1 EOR Diagonal Tuck - 4 st X 8 row. Begin with #1 right of 0, select every 4th. K2R. Select next (#2 right and) every 4th ns, K2R. Select next (#3 right and) every 4th ns, K2R. Select next (#4 right and) every 4th ns, K2R.  Repeat last 8 rows throughout.
SCARF: 15-0-16 ns,  cast on waste yarn and ravel cord.
MC, ewrap. T6, K2R.
Set to tuck one way (one russell lever forward, the other back)
Select ns for desired pattern, K2R, repeat to RC020.
RTR (remove, turn, rehang leaving sts in hooks, ns in work position). K1R if necessary to place carriage at right for patterning.
Repeat 20 row tuck pattern, alternating pattern needle selection as desired.
Knit 500 rows. Cast off.
Slip Cord Edge Slip cord forms a tube of knitting. When attached to the work as the cord is knit, it looks nice from both sides. Carriage is set to slip in one direction, knit in the opposite direction, causing a float to form in front of the knitting on the slip row. The float will elongate the stitches slightly and form the tube. I knit this at one number tighter than main tension for tuck. Because this is all two-sided work - no right side or wrong side - can be attached to either side. Don't start at exact corner - the final join will look nicer and go neater if you start about 1 inch from corner.
3 ns to work. Carriage at right. Set to knit to left, slip (not knit) to right - right slip lever forward. Main yarn, ewrap ns and place yarn in feeder. Hang half edge stitch from scarf on left needle. K2R. Hang a claw weight on the 3 st part. Hang next half stitch 2 rows above first pick up. K2R. Continue in this manner all around piece. At corners, add a couple of rows, picking up same corner stitch to make cording fit around the corner without pulling too tightly. On cast-on and cast-off edge, hang half stitch and K2R for every stitch - don't skip one like on the selvedge.
Darn in tails and steam lightly as required.
Analysis: I thought this was a fairly easy knit but I do admit that I have a mid gauge garter bar ;-) and I really liked the edging - all done, I spent less than 3 hours and I would make this again! Hope the MN mkers like this!
Red scarf for Aids Awareness count: 3

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!)

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!