Cckittenknits's Weblog

Well another year has passed and I would like to say thank you to all of you who follow my blog. As you have noticed, I have not been knitting. There are several reasons. One is that I bought a new sewing machine and I am really loving free motion quilting and doing appliqué work. Secondly, I am also into my sock machine and needle punch. And last, my husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s . So the days are filled with more care for Jim than craft time but that is okay. I love being at home…….with him…..and Petey.

I also wanted to tell all of you that I have an article published in the October, November issue of Stitch Magazine . I was contacted in early April of this year about doing the article. It is how to make the felted Christmas ball ornament with the chickadee . I had a broken wrist at the time so my friend hand knitted the pattern I converted for hand knitting. I had to take pictures and do a step by step instruction sheet. The article is three pages and I am quite tickled about it. And I was paid to do it. 🙂

So if I don’t post anything for awhile, I hope that this does not stop any of you from being creative and trying things on your own. It has been my passion for over 30 years and maybe I just need a little time to be creative at something else. And besides, I will have to go back to knitting since I have yarn in every closet, in bins in the garage, under the beds . But, I don’t have it stored in my cars anymore. hahahaha

The picture below has the penny quilted candle mat I made with the same chickadee on it.

Happy New Year to all of you. Stay Happy and Healthy !

Hi, my Editor (lol) informed me that there was a mistake  in my directions for the diamond in a diamond on my previous blog. I corrected it . When you cast on the racking handle will be down so needles don’t hit one another. Then when you start knitting the diamond, the racking handle will be up.  I hope no one tried this yet since it would really make you frustrated. So sorry  😦

I know a lot of people like short rowing and this is how this pumpkin is made. It was easy and it came out cute. I would like to make one in wool and felt it. I have had this pattern for over 40 years and never made it . The pattern is hand written and  believe it was a hand out at  my knit club many years ago. I can barely make out the writing to see how the stem was done and I had to guess at it.

This can be made on any machine but I used the passap.   If you use the passap you have to use the pushers under the needles in work and LX on front lock. To short row, just put the pushers out of work and back in work according to the short rowing instructions. I used two strands of 2/24 tension 5 on the passap. The pattern called for Trenzado yarn and tension 7. My finished size is 5 inches wide and almost 3 inches tall.  If you use the Bulky machine you will have a larger pumpkin. Using Trenzado on the standard machine would probably make a larger pumpkin than this one also.

You can see the directions in my drop box link below

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rvxi87d30kifhpo/AACAYIpuY5kjA4DB2YXAvuzEa?dl=0

Simulated Seed Stitch Neckband

This design of shadow lace can be done on any machine with a ribber. It is so easy to do. The purl side ends up being the right side of the knitting. To do the diamond design you will be knitting on the bb of the passap or main bed for other machines. When you want the design to start, this is how it is knitted. Row 1-4 you will put 2 needles into work on the front bed(ribber) and knit 4 rows. Row 5-8-put one needle into work on the right and left of the first 2 needles in work on front bed(ribber) and knit 4 rows. Continue to increase one stitch on each side until you have 12 needles in work and you knitted the last 4 rows. There will be a total of 24 rows. Now transfer the diamond stitches on the needles to the back bed(main bed ) and knit 10 rows. Then start your design again. This is explained in the book Simply Passap Volume1, Number3 August 1989 and the article is by Pat Wentzel.on page 11.

I knitted this tunic in  Tamm’s Diamonte in a deep royal blue . I chose this yarn since the pattern in the simply passap book was done in the same yarn. I knitted a 1/2 inch rib and put in side slits following Sandy Cherry’s instructions on a sweater pattern I have of hers. I like the way it is knitted and also the way it looks . To do the slits, you knit your ribbing. When you are finished knitting the ribbing, bind off 7 stitches on each side. Knit the length of the opening you want(mine was 4 inches) and then cast on those 7 stitches that were bound off. when you are finished with the front or back, you will knit a 1 by 1 insert.

I did not know what I wanted for the neck until I remembered doing a simulated seed stitch neck band that was in the Jan Wold and Jan Mills passap book. I have the band posted in this blog on March 26, 2015. If you go to that posting you will find the directions in my drop box on how to do the seed stitch band. I sewed the neck band off instead of binding off around the gate pegs just in case it would not stretch. I followed the directions for the sewing off in the book called Casting on and Binding Off by Grace Bengelsdorf. It took me probably an hour to do it this way but I think it looks nice and it is not tight.

If anyone decides to try this you can email me for my notes. I used tension 6. Stitch gauge was 7.61 and 12 rows to the inch. Mast set at 4.5 I will give you the length I used and the rows to start the diamonds on.

I also tried something else and it worked. I DO NOT like a lot of bulk in the underarm area. That is one reason I don’t like drop shoulder sweaters. I made the armhole opening 9 inches . So when the sleeve is knitted it usually has an 18 inch measurement when you get to the underarm . I decided to knit the sweater with a 9 inch opening but I made the sleeve 16 inches at the widest part and I love how much skinnier the arm is. I am glad that I tried it. I had no trouble hanging the sweater and the sleeve on the same needles for joining.

I did another thing that I have not done before. I joined  the side and sleeve seams by hanging them on the machine and binding off. I like this look much better than trying to sew the purl side by hand.

I managed to knit one of my slipper socks and it fits!! I used pattern 1131 and technique  176. The bottom picture is the seam that has to be sewn up because these socks are knitted flat. It is not that perfect but I did not pick a pattern and try to match since I just wanted to see if I could do them. I like them but now I need to see if I can knit them in can cun on the passap. Can Cun is such an elegant looking yarn with a beautiful sheen to it. This looks more like a sock in wool. I usually knit 2 inches after the cuff but ended up with three inches instead.

I used 2 strands of 2/24. I knitted 64 rows of 1 by 1 rib on 72 stitches at tension 3..  . Then I transferred the stitches to the front bed and hung a hem on every other needle. I then knitted 20 rows of the pattern with which is actually 80 rows. I used tension 5..   I turned off the console and placed the pushers on the left 36 needles in non working position. I then worked on the right 36 needles with all the pushers in work under them.I had the lock set at LX. I short rowed down to 14 stitches and then back out again. When I finished the heel I turned the console back on and it said row 80. I pushed enter and it went through setting the locks and put me right back into the pattern on the right row. So now the challenge comes making the other sock since the heel and toe will be done on the left side of the bed. I think I have it figured out though. I will knit the first row of 81 to get to the left and turn off the console. When I turn it back on I will see if it says row 80. If it does, I will knit the first row with Sx to get to the left, pick up the yarn, change to LX and continue. Hope it works. haha

I had something funny happen to me while knitting this pattern. While knitting my sample, I went to knit one of the rows and the yarn did not pick up and knit and the locks went across with the yarn. It took a few minutes for me to realize it was happening where there was a  row of solid cranberry . Well, because it is a solid row, the second color does not knit but you still pick up the second color and go across to keep the pattern correct. So… a word of caution…..if you use this pattern and  have to rip out some rows, don’t forget to include the non knitted 2 rows in the rows to return.

I rarely knit on the single bed of the passap.  However, I am working on trying to knit  my slipper socks in Fair Isle on the passap.  I usually knit them on the Brother 940 using a fine lace design and Can Cun yarn. For my sample,   I just wanted a quick cast on to try the body of the slipper.  The cast on I usually use is doing a zig zag row on both beds and putting in the cast on comb and then dropping the back bed stitches. I feel that is pretty quick but this is even quicker.

I came across this simple cast on in the book Simply Passap Vol 1, Number 4, December 1989 and it does not use the cast on comb.

Here is how it is done.  Raise the front bed needles you will be using to work position. Set the front lock to N and the back lock to GX. At tension 2 knit one row to the left. Take your 1×1 orange tool and push up every other needle until the loop falls off. Then put the needles back in work position.When you knit back, the empty needles take on a new loop. Set tension to 4 and knit slowly to the right. The key word is “slowly”.  Gradually increase tensions 1 number each row until you get to the number tension you want.Be sure to check each row to make sure all needles knitted.  I then took a brother comb and hung it on the stitches just to be sure stitches did not drop on my sample.

My friend Susie emailed me  a picture of this file from Tatiana Knits that she saw on a machine knitters group on Facebook. I love the design. I could not wait to make it. So I bought the file. File, not the directions to  make it. First of all, when I went to download, I noticed the width of the pattern is only 153 stitches. I realized then that this would come out very long and narrow. So I decided to use the fantasy fair isle since that comes out larger. While I find this design very stunning, I first knitted it in navy and cranberry and the pattern was lost. That was my fault. So I made it again using cranberry and white. However, up close you can see the white . I think this would be more stunning using technique 187 but it will come out even narrower. I would love to make many more if the design went from 153 needles to 178 needles. I am going to contact her and ask her if she would consider working on design to make it larger.  I spent an hour and a half and enlarged it myself and it changes the look but does not detract from beauty of it. I will make one using that also with technique 187 if she does not have plans to enlarge it.

Since this was just the file I know that it can be frustrating to new passap knitters. If you buy the pattern I would be happy to share the directions I wrote down about how I made this from cast on to cast off. The afghan takes 17 ounces of main color and 12 ounces of the second color. The finished size is approximately 40 inches wide and the length is approximately 69 inches. I used two strands of 2/24.  I bought another pattern for another stunning design from her but it is also 153 stitches wide. I guess I would have to ask what the width and length  of a file is the next time.

I have to say that I think this design is a real winner and very stunning. The only drawback is the width. Because it is narrow, it is a good passap beginner project since it does not go all the way to both end needles. It took me a little over an hour to knit each one and there are no mistakes in either one of them . It is also great using fair isle fantasy since it does not use back bed pushers.

Oh, by the way, have I ever mentioned how I love this passap ? It knitted like a dream the whole 1,968 rows for both of them combined. lol

Now if my sock machine will just co operate like my passap I would be a happy camper. 🙂