Charity Knitting Thick Wool Socks & How to Seam Them

Here are some socks that I knitted on my SR 860 for the 'Afghans for Afghans' program. Socks are desperately needed as the weather is very cold in the winter time. These are worsted weight socks made from 100% wool. If you like to knit smaller charity items these are great!!

Now.....I want to talk a little bit about these socks. They are knitted flat on the machine & then seamed up the side by latching up the bars at the edge of the knit. To make this work you have to think ahead a bit. I am going to talk about a sock that is 36 stitches wide just for the purpose of my demonstration. Your needle arrangement will be like this.....

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The first stitch is placed on needle #19 left, & the last stitch is #19 right. Needle #18 on each side is left empty so that when you get ready to seam you have a looser bar below the knot on the side of the knit. (I am assuming that you know that the side of the knit is an edge of knots & bars. You will have a bar, then a knot, then a bar, then a knot & so on. Like this

-x-x-x-x with the dashes being bars & the x's being knots.) When you get ready to seam you will be using your latch tool to pull one bar, skipping the knot, through the next bar on the opposite side. Pay attention to the bars & knot because it is easy to get confused when you first start learning this technique. You don't want to use the same bar twice as it won't make a good looking seam. Keep latching one bar through the next bar on the opposite side, going from side to side. You always want the bar above the next knot.

This gives a very flat & comfortable seam that you wouldn't get if you used a different seaming method with this thickness of yarn. Although the seam is very obvious, comfort is the wanted result. If you look closely you can see where the bars have been latched from one side to the other in a zigzag fashion. The seam will lay flat on the wearer's leg without rubbing at all.

Babies!!! Babies!!! Babies!!!

My Grandbabies, Erik & Erika. 

I am working on the sleeve that I mispatterned. I should have a post on the repair in a few days. Busy Busy Busy!!!!

"!@#$%^&*!@#$%^&*"

As you can see on this GC sweater, I really made a mess of it. I think I know what I did. I started the GC without going past the turn mark so that it patterned wrong. Then, when I took a break I came back & restarted the GC, this time going past the turn mark so that it patterned correctly. I don't know how other people do their sleeves, but for me, I sit at the GC off & on during the day, increasing stitches. It takes hours & I don't do it all in one sitting. It is a tedious job & I hate doing it, but it is a must. This is a sweater for my g'son. I am trying to decide if I should rip it out & redo the whole sleeve or if I should just let it go & chalk it up to experience. I am very meticulous with my knitting & this will bother me every time I see this sweater. However, I am hating the idea of sitting for another day or two just to reknit it when I have other things on the machine that I am working on. This is going to be a 'cut & sew' neck & I want to get it finished.

 This is a sweater for the 'Afghans for Afghans' program. It is a size 8 striped raglan with a short rowed neck & grafted neckband. According to the web site, green is the favorite color of Islam. These sweaters I send off one at a time as I use non-matching dye lots of wool, or small left over cones of different colors.  They are scrappies. They must be 100% wool or another like fiber. No acrylics. The Afghans don't have hot water & they don't have washing machines so felting is not a problem. It gets very cold there & acrylics will get wet & freeze. Wool does not. If you are interested in contributing there is a link to the site on the left.

I also put up a link to the World Vision web site. They have a pattern that can be downloaded & knit for their charity. I am not a fan of this pattern & have made it known in rather rude fashion. I myself would be ashamed to offer a cold child one of these chintzy sweaters & I never use it. You may use your own pattern if you choose. 

Our Little Lady is Here!!!

Our little girl has finally arrived!! 'Fashionably late' as some would say. She is happy & healthy & her big brother loves her sooo much. Hug her, kiss her, poke her in the eye. LOL She is doing well at home & is being breast fed like her brother. Mom & Dad say this is the last. Too expensive to raise kids. Hopefully she isn't allergic to wool & will be able to wear the clothes that her brother couldn't. 

On another note, Mom is a school teacher & with the present economy she is wondering if she will have a job to go back to. I am afraid that things are going to get much worse for all of us. I don't believe that the recession is over at all. Dad is a truck driver & is getting minimal work as freight is down. No one has money to buy other than the necessities so not alot is moving. 

I have been busy with my charity sweaters. This is a size 2 raglan made with Red Heart Soft Baby. short rowed neck with grafted neckband.

Size 6 with RH Soft Baby Drop shoulder with short rowed neck & grafted sleeves & loop through loop bind off. 

Size 4 RH SuperSaver drop shoulder, grafted neckband & sleeves with the loop through loop bind off. 

I have been so busy volunteering & doing other things that I have neglected my blog. I still have a few projects planned. I want to make some of the cloth baby shoes that I saw on another blog. I want to make some sweaters for the clothing bank here in town. Also, need to start on the baby clothes that I promised the shelter. 

I haven't been able to find out for sure, but I think the 'Afghans for Afghans' program has ended. I went to the website to check & see what they wanted knitted up, but there is no information as to the current needs. Also, the blog has been deleted. I am going to do some more investigating & see what is out there accepting donations. I know 'World Vision' does, but they don't want wool garments. Only acrylic. As far as I know 'A4A' is the only one that takes wool. & I have lots of that!! If anyone has any information that they would be willing to share with me, I am all ears.

UPDATE

Afghans for Afghans is still in business.  The 'Knit Along' Blog is up & running.

Still Knitting

I have had a few orders come in, but am still making baby rompers too. I think that this will be the last one for the season. 

I am getting ready for my winter rush for longies. Usually it starts about the middle of September. I want to get some made so I will have some ready to ship as well as customs available.

My g'son is growing so fast!! I can't believe he has turned one already. They don't stay little for long do they??

I have started to work on my Xmas gifts for this year. I am going to make knitted toys for the little ones. Small stocking stuffer type of things. I have fun making them & they have fun getting them. With the bigger kids I generally make them something useful  like socks in school colors etc.

Cast-ON Rags

Today I want to talk about Cast-On Rags. I learned about them from a machine knitting book that described how to make them. I was a fairly new machine knitter then, & didn't really understand the instructions very well, but did get the general idea.  I set out to make myself several of them. 

I have recently watched several U Tube videos on how to make them. I make mine a little differently, based on the instructions from the MK book that I had, & my own inclinations. 

1. Decide how wide you want the rag to be. Most of mine are 100 stitches.  They can be as wide or as narrow as you want.

2. E-Wrap cast on as many stitches as you have chosen. Knit a few rows & add your weights. 

3. Knit 30 rows & then knit a very loose row. 

                4. Knit another 30 rows & knit another very loose row. Do this 3-4 times. 

5. When you have about 124 rows hang the e-wrap cast on & bind off. At this point you have a tube.  Turn the tube inside out. You should have the purl stitches on the outside.  

You will use the loose stitches to hang your rag on the machine. You can use all 100 stitches or less. You can also use 2 rags together. 

      I like to make my rags in 2 colors so that if I am working on a garment that is a similar color I can use the contrasting color. When they get dirty just throw them in the wash. 

This is my cast on rag for my sock machine. I knit it on the mid gauge machine with a cuff to it, so I could hang it like a set up basket. The bottom of the cuff holds the weights.

Hand Knit Baby Poncho

Here's a hand knit baby poncho from Lion Brand. I have been meaning to make one of these for my g'son but haven't gotten to it yet. These are sooo cute!! & easy to hand knit., but I am going to adapt it to the machine, & see if I can knit it in a worsted weight yarn on my SR 860. I esp. like the little pocket on the front.  

I haven't done much knitting the past weekend. I have been busy reorganizing my knitting room. I have taken down one of my standard gauge machines & also my bulky.  I am still working in there, but I hope to have it finished up today. I left my long bed machine up. 

 I am moving things around in there to get some more space. I have a heat press that I use to print Tee-Shirts. Also, sewing machine, serger, linker, & embroidery machine. & 2 yarn trees so there isn't much room t0  maneuver around. 

My g'son has been here all week. We were watching the show 'Hoarders" on TV when he piped up with 'G'ma, you're a yarn hoarder!!'  Yes, I am. LOL But I love all of my yarn & am working to get it under control. I have seen worse, but I don't think it's a bad thing. I wonder if they have a 12 step program for 'yarn hoarders'??