Carl Boyd neck template available for purchase at: jan@guernseywool.co.uk

Cleaning up My Knitting Room

 

I've been working in my knitting room to get it straightened out. My long bed machine is under a stack of fabric. (How did that happen??) LOL I'm trying to get things organized again, as it is sooo confusing, even to me. I can't find a single thing. It is starting to look better now, & I'm making some progress. I want to get busy & knit some sweaters for the shelter before Dec., as that is when I usually take my donation up. I like to bring in a box of yarn from the garage & knit it all up into children's sweaters. I miss all the MK that I did before. I have a space cleared out by my SR 860 & want to start knitting. I'm selling so many small appliance covers that I haven't had the time to do anything else.

 

I used to sell my diaper covers on a site called Hyena Cart. I did a lot of business with Karen, & kept busy, but in the last few years the site has lost most of it's members, & that includes buyers. When I started selling there, there were 117 knitting & crocheting stores. Now there are 4. She is trying to get a fb site going but I'm not sure that will be a go. I think that HYC has had it's day in the sun, & probably won't attract a lot of moms. If she can attract some customers I will start selling on her site. I've sold a few diaper covers on fb through my BST store. They haven't caught on yet, like they did on eBay.

 

 

Resurrecting my Blog

I had a hard time getting back on my blog.  I couldn't get the right password & email address to get it back up & running again.

 

 

I haven't done much knitting for the last year. I've been busy sewing small appliance covers to sell on eBay. I have knit a couple of things for the shelter but that's about it. My diaper covers are not selling well. No one is buying diaper covers on there, mine or anyone else's. There is barely one page of them. I have opened a BST(buy sell trade) group on fb so maybe I can get that going. So far I only have 13 members but am hoping that will take off. I have sold a couple of them there.

 

 

China & other countries have taken over eBay & Amazon. They are able to sell the same product more cheaply than US based sellers. Most of the things they sell are not the cheap things that seemed to be the norm for so long. Now, their products are as good or better than what US sellers were making. I have a friend that sold on Amazon & she said that as soon as the bootleg site is taken down, they are back on selling again.

 

 

I don't like to get into politics, but am so worried for our country with the President creating havoc. Please write your representatives & get that madman out. :)   

 

 



GC Sweater for the Shelter

I finally have a picture of the

GC sweater that I started some weeks ago. I have had it finished for a while but haven't gotten around to posting it. I'm really happy with it. It turned out so cute!! You can't see the pattern very well. It's dark & rainy here so had to use the flash & it washes out. I have about 6 sweaters for the shelter. Usually I have double or more. I have neglected everything it seems like this year. Hoping for a better year in 2017.

 



 

GC Children's Sweaters

I'm still kind of ashamed of myself for the paltry box of children's sweaters that I took to the women's shelter last year. This year is going to be better but not by much. I decided to make some GC sweaters for the kids & this is the first one.                           

 

It's baby pink, drop shoulder with a cut & sew neck. I have the front back & sleeves finished & just need to knit the neckband. This is pattern #490 of the Stitch World Book. I am going to use small patterns so that it won't look too big for the child. This is a size 2. I didn't have much of it so the smaller size was necessary. Sometimes when I run out of yarn I will finish with a complimentary color but I wanted this one to be all the same color. Hopefully some little girl will love it.

 

I'm still having some problems with depression, but am trying to fight it off. I finally talked to my DR about it & he wanted to put me on meds but I declined. I wanted something more natural & he said to start exercising as that increases hormones that fight depression. I have my treadmill out now & am going for a 20 minute walk everyday while I watch TV or music on the stereo. Nothing better that taking a stroll listening to Queen rockin' on!!

 

 

Hats Finished

Hats are now finished & shipped to my friend. They are for her g'kids. I went to ravelry to get some info on size. Most were 14" x 9" so that is the size I made mine. It only took a couple of hours to knit each one up on the GC. I used some superwash DK wool that is nice & warm. The yarn is by King Cole & not available here in the US any more as the wholesale distributer no longer carries it although I did see it on Ebay a while back. I have maybe 20 cones left in my stash. I bought it to make sweaters for my son. He is outside a lot at work & needed some warm sweaters.

 

 

I had a lot  of fun making them & I hope that her g'kids like them. She said that they all have long hair including the boy & a couple of them are curly & bushy so they should work just fine.

 

While I was making the hats I had placed my GC Turn Around cams in the wrong place & they caused patterning problems at the end stitches. I went to the MK list & asked the members about the GC mis-patterning & received the info that the GC will mis-pattern if the cams are in the wrong place. I just hadn't use the GC for a while & forgot where the cams were supposed to be placed. Thought I would past that information on.

 

 

 

Wool Slouchy Hats

I'm busy making some slouchy hats for a friend. She has 2 high schoolers that want hats & also another one off to college. She wants them all one color, no stripes or fairisle but she did say I could add a little texture so am knitting them up on the GC. She wants one grey, one purple & one blue. I have some 100% Superwash DK Wool that is perfect for it. She said they all have long hair so they need to be roomy.  I might even try to sell one on eBay & see how that goes.

 

 

 



New Campaign for Afghans for Afghnas

We have finally gotten word that there will be a new campaign next year with the Afghans for Afghans  program. It's been quite some time since we have made any thing for that program. I like to knit for that charity as they want 100% wool products. They don't have washers or dryers or even hot water to wash clothes in so the 100% wool works best for then. It gets very cold there & acrylics will not work for them because if they get wet they freeze, where as the wool doesn't. Just give your wet wool mitten a good shake & most of the wetness will shake right out. Also, the wool holds in the bodies warmth & you won't get cold even if they do get wet. We don't use wool much here because no one wants to hand wash wool garments. I do have some very nice superwash worsted weight wool that is left over from the 'Harry Potter' sweaters that I made for my g'kids. I am going to make a couple of sweaters for 'World Knits' out of it if I have enough.

 

 

Happy Holidays

 

 

 

Hope I'm Not Boring Anyone

Am I becoming boring?? I hope not, but looking over my blog I see that I have repeated a couple posts & haven't really had much to say for a while. I would like to do a few more tutorials but haven't gotten to them. But I am machine knitting again for the shelter & for fun.

 

Here is a size 2 sweater that I have knitted for a friend of mine. She has recently been diagnosed with a rather horrible disease that is going to impact the rest of her life. This sweater is for her g'son. She has a new little g'daughter that I will make something for later.

 

 

 

This little sweater is a size 2 with the short rowed grafted neckband & grafted drop shoulder sleeves. I like to knit the sleeves of a simple sweater like this from the shoulder down. To do that you need to mark the side of the sweater, I use a yarn tag, where the sleeve will be attached. Then, when ready to knit the sleeve hang the side of the sweater on the appropriate number of needles between your yarn markers & knit the first row of the sleeve very carefully to make sure every needle knits through. I hang the sleeve & then close all the latches & knit. If that doesn't work I will hand knit the first row. Once the first row is knitted the rest is easy, & when the sleeve is finished you don't need to attach it to the sweater.

 

 



Sewing Kitchen Appliance Covers

Along with machine knitting I like to sew. I have been on eBay & Hyena Cart for 10 years selling my diaper covers. I decided to also do some sewing & sell small kitchen appliance covers. I have several patterns for them & am having lots of fun making them. I have been making them for several months now. This is the first real sewing I have done in years. They are easy to make & with all the interest in quilting there are plenty of cute cotton fabric out there to sew. I think that I will make some clothes for toddlers for the women's shelter too. This is my grandson & he is wearing a pair of summer pajamas that I made for him a couple of years ago. It is a dinosaur print & my son says he loves dinosaurs & wears it all the time. He is 5 now.

 

 

This is my granddaughter. She is wearing a little dress that I made for her last year. It is very simple pattern. Just two identical pattern pieces that are sewn together to make a simple one piece that can be worn as a dress & then, as a top when she is older. She said that now she is a princess.

 

 

 

The picture is a bit blurry but you get the idea. The hat is called a 'prairie hat' & I bought the pattern at Sew Baby online.

 

My appliance covers are selling but not as well as my diaper covers. Hopefully they will pick up. There are several different eBayer's that are selling them, some very nice. I am makings sets but they are not selling as sets so I am winding up with lots of mismatched covers. I have them listed individually so maybe they will sell. Right now I am only selling a couple a week. My favorite prints are flowers but other people don't seem to like them as much as I do. LOL But, I will persevere.

 

 

 

 

 



Charity Sweaters

I have been working on shelter sweaters, for children, this month. I am hoping to have a good number of sweaters to take to them before long. Here is a picture of a sleeveless vest that I just finished. I just need to sew it up & sew the kangaroo pouch down on it I have a book that has instructions on how the make the pouches & pockets for sweaters.

 

 

 

 

I have a bin of yarn in the house that I am working out of. I have quite a bit of Red Heart Kids yarn in it. I made lots of sweaters for my g'kids out of it but there is enough left for several more sweaters. I like the RH Kids because it is nice & soft. I don't use the RH supersaver for children's sweaters, or really any sweaters, because my g'kids complained that the neckband was scratchy on their necks & they didn't like them. I also use the RH Soft for them.

 

 

 

 I am making a good dent in my stash too. I have lots of Piropo that I am going to bring in when I finish this bin unless I can find some more worsted weight yarns. I'm not sure if there is anymore out there or not. I am also making a pants & hoodie for my friends g'son. I will have some pictures of it next when I finish it.

 

I wish I could find someone to make a video about neck casings. I want to use that to finish for the hoodie but haven't been able to find any on You Tube. I know I have a book somewhere that has instructions for one but just can't find it, by Mary Ann Oger, so I will keep  looking for it.

 

 



Do You Lose Things???

Do you lose your tools etc.?? I mean, when the phone rings & you go to answer it, when your finished talking have you already lost the tool that you had in your hand when you got up?? or when the door bell rings & you must answer, can you find where you were in your pattern?? or is it just me?? I am trying to combat this phenomenon by buying extras in everything that I use & scatter them all over the house so that when that happens I don't have to look far to find another one of whatever it was that I lost that time. I have a little note pad by my machine to write down any information that I will need when I come back & don't have a clue as to what I was doing. This means that I have at least 10 pairs of small scissors & transfer tools & double eye needles & a little bit of everything else. All I have to do it look around a little & whatever I need seems to be right where I can find it.  Of course when company comes & there is a pair of scissors sitting by the phone or a double eye needle next to my coffee cups that takes some explaining to do but it's easier than running around the house(& I have a little house too)& cussing up a storm looking for this or that. :)

 

 Here is a really cute sweater that one of my readers sent me & I thought that I would share it. Very cute picot hem & designed by her.

 

 

So cute!! Aren't machine knitters the Greatest??

 

 



Too Cute Not To Share

One of my readers sent me a picture of a sweater that she has made that is sooo cute I just had to share it. She said that she found it in a hand knitting magazine & converted it to the machine. I absolutely love it!! 

She sent me a picture of a pink one that she designed herself but I can't find it although I know I saved it. When I have more time I will look for it. 

While watching machine knitting videos on You Tube I found this video. The quality isn't that good but I thought it was an interesting technique. I may want to try this someday. You can find the video here.

My Little Slip Stitch Sweater

Finally, here is the finished Slip Stitch Sweater that I have had laying around, unfinished forever it seems like.

 

 

It looks cute with it's little puff sleeves. I think this will go to the shelter. It is a little warm for California weather. Better suited to a cooler climate.

 

I am not satisfied with the finishing on this sweater. It seemed like if anything could go wrong it has with this poor thing. First of all, it sat around for months all by its lonesome. I'm not really sure why that happened other than I was depressed for awhile & didn't do much of anything. Then, I did a cut & sew neck & screwed up on it royally. (I am not going to show you a picture of it.) Then, when I was marking the neck I thought I had a washable marker in my hand & it turned out to be a sharpie that does NOT wash out. I soaked it with a stain remover from Amway & Thx to God it came out. ( That stain remover is the only one I have ever found that will take out the black greasy spots that we sometimes get on our knits from the machine lube.) Then, I dropped the sleeve cap off the machine & tried to latch it back up & made a mess of it. Had to redo the whole sleeve. And on & on. But it's finished now & maybe some kid will love it. I hope!!  

 

As most of you know, I sell my diaper covers on eBay. I always like to look through the MK listings & see what's up. The prices on the machines seem to have gone down over the past few years but the prices of other things is shocking. I saw a box of 10 GC needles selling for $145.00. & The listing claims to have more than 10 available. There are several other GC needles listed & the price is $15-$20 PER needle. When I had my GC machines rebuilt I bought 4 boxes of 10 needles. I think I bought them for a dollar a needle but I'm not sure. I also bought several of the little brushes that hold the stitches back along with an extra motherboard for my 965i Brother. I have extra magnets for the GC & although I have been unable to find anymore GC Cams I did work out a way to convert my 2sts cams to 1 sts cams, along with my trusty fingernail clippers. LOL

 

I saw on Diana's blog a video on how to change the belt on your Brother FB 100. I am going to get a couple of belts for my FB 100. I believe that Distinctive Knits has them with written instructions on how to change them too. They have a cable there that you can use to hook the FB 100 up to a USB port on the computer & download all your floppy discs to DAK. I don't think that you need to have DAK to use this cable as you can save the files in different formats depending on what program you have.

 

 

 

Getting Busy

I am working on a sweater that is knitted on my Brother 965i from the Stitch World Pattern book. It is pattern number 333 slip sts. It will be a cut & sew neckline. (I really can't say how much I love this technique. All machine knitters should learn this. It is easy to do & makes a beautiful neckband. Be sure & do a search of my blog for it.) I'm not sure if this sweater is going to the Women's Shelter or my g'daughter. I started it for her some months ago & didn't get it finished so don't know if it will still fit her. She is 4 & they grow so fast at the age.

 

 

Hope that you can see the pattern. I have the front, back & sleeves finished & am knitting the neckband on the GC. Some time ago I took my ribber off the machine & have been doing all my ribbing on the GC. I don't mind setting up the ribber but my space is kinda tight &  it is easier to use the GC.

 

I have listed some 220 Cascade Yarn on eBay. I am trying to get control of my stash. My little house is so cluttered up there is just no more room for anything. (Also, donating some books to the local library. I have tons of unread books in containers my garage. I am reading them & then donating them.) I have a tendency to collect things that I am interested in. It goes fine for a while, then gets completely out of control. I am sorting out all my fabrics & am going to make small appliance covers with any that are appropriate, possibly also making children's clothes for the shelter with others(have lots of kids fabric) & selling off some. I have some flannel & might make some 'blankies' with it.('blankies' are small flannel blankets about the size of a fat quarter that are made to be babies first blanket)My middle g'son carried around his blankie & always slept with it, even on sleep overs, until he was 5.

 

I have lots & lots of options to lift my spirits. I have never been the kind of person that just lays around sad & depressed, but for the last few months that is how I have been living my life. My whole family is worried about me. I am doing my best to overcome. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Odds & Ends

Lately I have been using up small amounts of yarn for scrappies. I made this little vest for the Women's Shelter. It is a size 2 with a grafted neckband. I ran out of the yellow so finished the armholes with some pink that I had. There wasn't enough of the pink for anything other than trim.  I grafted the trim onto the armhole to avoid lots of bulk. I know some knitters make the armhole & them attach it to the garment but that just Creates unnecessary bulk at the armhole & that is uncomfortable for the wearer. I decided to embroider a ladybug on the front although after I finished it I wished that I had used red or black rather than the blue.

 

 

I have lots of little bits of yarn that will make some smaller items for the shelter.

 

I am way behind in this years shelter donation because I have been in a funk & just haven't seemed to have the 'git go' to get anything finished. I don't know why I am so depressed or why I don't feel like getting out of bed in the morning. Usually I bounce out of bed everyday ready to go.

 

Last year was a tough year for me & I may be experiencing some of the depression that I went through last year. I still miss my pets very much but haven't replaced them. I have my 12 year old Australian Cattle Dog & don't want to upset her with another animal. She is still in mourning & waits by the door everyday for her friends to come home. I feel so bad for her, I just wish I could explain to her. 

 

I have a customer that wants a toaster cover & potholders in a 50's fabric. He found what he wanted & sent it to me. I am going to work on it today. 

 

 

    

 

Anyone Have A Good Method of Weaving in Ends???

I had a customer ask me to make a longie for her baby that was striped with 7 different colors. Usually I stop at four colors as knitting more than that on the machine is problematic.  I have a four color tension guide from my standard gauge machine set up on my mid-gauge & it works well. Using more colors means having to hand feed some of them, & I don't like to do that. When I do multiple colors I run the yarn up the right side of the knit if not using a color changer. The mid-gauge doesn't have a color changer so you are changing colors by hand. This particular pair of longies had 7 colors with 4 repeats.

 

 

                         I had so many ends that carrying up the side was not working. Too bulky. After the cover was off the machine I Kitchener stitched the yarn ends on the wrong side. I didn't really like that method but that is what I used. After I finished I did a search on You Tube looking for ways to knit in ends while making the garment. I only found a couple videos including one from the Answer Lady. I haven't tried it but am going to knit up some swatches & see how it works for me. I hope she doesn't mind my uploading her video to my blog. I emailed her but she didn't respond. Let me know what other methods are out there & if you have ever tried this.

 

 

 

I remember that I made several jackets one time & did an e-wrap on the side where I put the zipper to give it more stability.

 

 

 

A Moment Of Silence

Let us all observe a moment of silence with the passing of Knitware. As of January 1st of this year, Knitware has been discontinued.

Sponge Bars

As machine knitters we all know that to knit the machine requires a good sponge bar to do it's job correctly. My SR 860 was giving me trouble so I took out the sponge bar to check it. As I feared the sponge bar was shot. I had several sponge bars available & while I didn't have one for the 860 I had one that was close & thought I would use it. Wrong!! I had orders to get out & didn't want to wait for the new one to get here so I stuck in a sponge bar that looked pretty close to the old one. After I stuck it in there the machine knit fine but would not knit on hold at all. It just jammed every time. So then I tried to get the thing out & it was stuck. I tried poking it out with a screwdriver, grabbing it with needle nose pliers etc etc. Finally had to enlist the help of DH & take the bed off to get the darn thing out. I still have orders to get out so I put the old one back in & am knitting slowly with it until the new one arrives. NEVER put the wrong sponge bar in any machine. I knew that but conveniently forgot it but will not do that again!!

The 'Pie Crust' Edging

The 'Pie Crust' Edging

 

 

The 'Pie Crust' edging is a cute simple edging to add to your knitting It can be used on blankets or other places where an edging is needed. There are lots of different edgings available to machine knitters, but this is the easiest & the most fun I think.

 

 

These are a pair of my ruffled shorties. I make them for baby girls. I use the 'Pie Crust' edge on the bottom of the ruffle to give it a little pizazz'

 

 

Here is a close up of the edging. To make this you are going to take your project off the machine. Then rehang 3 complete stitches from the edge of the project that you want to edge. Knit 6 rows. Then, rehang the next 3 stitches on top of the 3 stitches on the machine. Knit another 6 rows. Continue in that fashion all the way around the edge. When you are finished you will have an edging that looks similar to a pie crust.

 

So far I am doing okay with my New Year Resolutions. I have had a couple of close calls. LOL I have stuck to it though & only 11 months to go. :)

 

 

 



Things for Friends

Right now I am making a jacket & pants for my friends new g'child. He is a big boy & very cute. I made him a set already & here is a picture of him.

It's a little cardigan hoodie. I made him some pants to go with them but he is not wearing them. When I saw that he is outgrowing the outfit(he's a big boy) I decided to make him another one. This one is made from Red Hearts Kids yarn knitted on my mid-gauge. The new one is from Millor Piropo, also on my mid-gauge. It is gray & navy with striped pants & navy hoodie with gray trim. Right now we don't have any new babies to knit for in the family & I do like making baby clothes so I do a lot of knitting for friends etc. + the women's shelter.

 

I'm sure that we have all made New Year's resolutions. Mine is not to charge anything on any of my credit cards for a whole year. It has to cash or go without. I would like to pay down my CC's at least by half. It is just too easy to go to the mall & charge up a storm. I have a bad habit of getting bored & then going shopping & buying all kinds of things that I don't need & in some cases don't even want.

 

I feel like I am neglecting my blog as I haven't been keeping up with it very well. I am going to do better this year.