The Creative Stitch and Craft Show

Last Thursday, I manned our stand at the exhibition.  The NI Machine Knitters Guild stand was very eyecatching.  The theme was a knitted nursery and indeed there were lots of items from blankets to an upholstered child's chair.  There was a box of toys, some curtains and a child's dressing gown.

There was a steady pace of enquiries from people interested in buying a knitting machine, to someone who had a machine up in the loft and an enquiry from a gentleman interested in a sock machine.  I could not help him but advised you could knit very successful socks on a knitting machine.

Exhibition

Today I am off the the King's Hall, Belfast to attend the stand of the NI Machine Knitters Guild.  The theme is 'A Knitted Nursery' and I am looking forward to see all the exhibits and meeting machine knitters. Hopefully will be able to get some pictures.

Machine Knitting Monthly May 2011

On Saturday, my letterbox rattled with the delivery of the May issue of Machine Knitting Monthly.

Interesting Patterns
Ladies Jumper designed by Clair Crowston - this is in Bramwell Artistic and has a wavy hem and a small piece of hand manipulated lace. Can be knit in a short sleeve, three quarter sleeve and long sleeve
Man's Jumper on the Passap which says is especially easy for beginners
Family Favourites - a selection of a cardigan, jumpers and waistcost for all the family. This is knit in King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK on a mid-gauge machine with a ribber.
Ladies Cardigan using Garter Carriage in 4 ply
Ladies Chunky Jacket/Cardigan knit on a chunky machine which is a lovely shape. This is a garment which I would like to knit
A Circular Shawl using the holding method - I cannot really get my head around the pattern but it does look interesting.
There are also 3 patterns for children's items
   
Other Interesting Articles
The other articles which stand out for me are
Tips of the Trade - an article well worth reading with hints and tips on machine knitting
Bill King's Masterclass on Fisherman's Rib to give a bias appearance
Classwise covers Advanced Holding Position
Jo Newton's picture of a ferret to put on a punchcard or electronic machine

I have not finished reading this issue in depth and will have to try out some of the ideas. As usual it is all a matter of finding time.  Off to hang out the washing etc etc

Small Blanket Part 1

Hi - I have always wanted to knit a blanket made of squares and eventually got around to buying some yarn and making some squares. So, I bought 2 x 50 g balls each of baby blue, pink and cream in Twilleys of Stamford freedom Gorgeous which is a 4ply yarn in bamboo and nylon.

I wanted to use the garter carriage and not only have squares of different colours but also of different textures.  I started with the blue and knit a square with my garter carriage in plain garter stitch.  After some trial and error, I decided to make a square of 42 sts x 85 rows and after settling this measures as a 5 inch square.

Blue garter square on machine

Next I used the cream and knit squares 45 sts x 64 rows in stocking stitch which curled a lot at the ends.

So, I had to spend yesterday morning blocking them out and steaming them - a job I hate doing as I am always a bit unsure what may happen to the wool.

Blocking squares

I will get 5 squares out of the 50g ball, so should end up with 30 squares.

I still have the pink wool to use and hope to make a pattern of a heart which will be knit in my garter carriage.  Will update later.  Enjoy the sunshine.

A Shrug

I have been busy this week with various family commitments but was eventually able to finish a shrug for my daughter yesterday.  It is knitted in 4ply acrylic in chocolate brown. The pattern is from Machine Knitting Monthly March 2011 and was included in a section about the garter carriage.  I did not use the garter carriage for this but did use the ribber for the border.
The main body is basicly a rectangle of stocking stitch.The recommended border is knit on the ribber and you arrange the needles for 6x6 over 30 needles. Then you K8 rows.  Then transfer the ribber stitches to the main bed using the double eyes bodkin and the stitches on the main bed to the ribber. Knit another 8 rows and then complete the transfer again.  This sounded easy, but first of all I had trouble casting on the rib as described in the ribber book. My carriage was much too hard to push, so I had to remove it and start again.  Then I cast on using e-wrap, K1 row and transferred the stitches over 6x6 rib.  I had completed 3 of the transfer of stitches from the main bed to the ribber and then some stitches fell off!  I could not get them picked up and so, removed the knitting from the machine and just did the border in a 2x1 rib.

Shrug

Please excuse quality of the photograph as the wool is so dark, I found it difficult to capture any detail.

There is also a pattern for a garter carriage shrug which I may try for myself in a lighter colour for the summer.