Doily on the machine

I've had a book for a while that has patterns for doilies on a knitting machine. I decided to try one today. Here's how it came out!

I'm planning on making another one and use them as placemats!

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Pile knitting on the standard gauge

 I've been playing around with my punch cards lately. I've been wanting to do pile knitting for a while and I finally decided to make a hand towel in a pile pattern. I'm going to use 16/2 cotton and 10/2 cotton. I've sprayed it twice with silicon spray so it should knit smoothly. It's stinky stuff but it sure works! When I did the swatch I could tell the yarn was dry so hopefully it will knit better now.
Met up with K and we talked about getting together later this month to get her started on machine knitting. She has two, a bond, and white. I'm not familiar with the white but it looks like a bulky type machine. I think we'll do socks or maybe ribbing as she said she was having trouble with that. Either way it will be fun! Now to go make a hand towel!


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Fair Isle anyone?

Came across this tonight while reading my mail. Lovely pattern! They work with some tiny yarn in the UK don't they?! Here's the link below, you 'may' have to sign up for a free account if you want the pattern. It's free!!
Let's Knit

My Snapfish Album

March 3,2011

Had some quiet time to myself today so took advantage of it by listening to the latest Lion Brand podcast and the latest Knitpicks podcast. I love that Kelley Petkun! Her show today was how to fix mistakes in HK. I'm not really a HK but still enjoy listening to her. Then I dug out a DVD on Portuguese Knitting that I haven't watched in a long time. I've been trying to learn HK but not sure I'm going to like it. I can make the stitches and yo's and all that it's the tension that I'm having a problem with and keeping the loops on at the end of a row. One row will be tight and the next will be looser. I like doing the purl stitch better than the knit stitch but I make it too tight sometimes. I've tried 4 different ways of HK and none really click with me. I watched a Youtube video on Eastern European knitting today and they knit and purl in the back of the stitch but I kept knitting it way too tight! On the Portuguese style I'm too loose but I like the yarn in the front, seems more natural to me. My hubby says I need to find a technique that is 'backwards'! I was supposed to be left handed but parents wouldn't allow it so I tend to do everything 'backwards'. LOL Life is weird isn't it? Anyway I've got needles and stitch markers and most size needles except the tiny ones so I'll keep trying it every now and then to see if I can get it. I think after MK the HK is sooo much slower too maybe that is part of the problem.
Got a letter from my niece today, she's getting married on April 1! LOL

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March 2, 2011

I played around with my punch cards today. I had read somewhere on the net that some people put several punch cards together and I was thinking of trying to make a sweater I saw that was HK. I've decided not to make it. It is all fair isle and I don't have the right cards nor could I find any designs on the net that were similar. Anyway I was looking thru my ribber manual and there was a punch tuck rib for one of the cards I already had in the machine so decided to try it out. I made another leg warmer LOL. The design is really nice too. It's a full needle rib with a tuck pattern on the knitter bed. Really stretchy too! I like these small projects to test things out. I get something to wear and get to test out a new technique! I was trying to imagine how this ribbing would be used, it seems too stretchy for the bottom of a cardi or sweater but I think it would make a nice blanket or over all design.
I also went thru some books I bought long ago and almost all of them use 4 ply, which I don't have any of. All that yarn I got at the thrift store was 2/20. Guess I could ply it but even at 2 ply it won't meet the gauge. I thinking trying to make a 4 ply out of it would be too much trouble with all those ends! Not sure what I'm going to make next. Maybe some more cotton things. I just realized I have on MK socks, leg warmers, hat, and scarf that I've made! (can't seem to get warm these last couple days) Anyway at least I'm wearing them!

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testing

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Pics of Got It Covered hat

Here's a pic of a hat I made. I got the pattern from a group I belong to. It's called Got It Covered. Not the greatest color but it is what I had and it fits!