Machining along...

First sweater from the new machine - Silver Reed SK 280, a single bed, standard gauge,  punchcard machine.  My usual model has a shoulder injury, so it's a hanger shot today.

Details:  yarn was from ancient stash (15+ years?) Michell & Cie 10/3 alpaca -- I believe it may have been labeled as fingering weight when I purchased it, but it seems much lighter to me.  Which explains why such nice alpaca languished in stash for so long -- it was always meant for a husbandly sweater, but there was no way I was going to hand knit that.  Machine knit plain stockinette body, hand knit K2P2 ribbing.  Body sides and set in sleeve shaping done full fashioned -- neckline was 'cut and sew'.  Very scary cutting into that fine gauge alpaca, but I think it worked well -- two rows of machine sewn zig zag stitching held everything in place.  Neckline ribbing was knit double length, then sewn down on inside in order to cover cut edge.

I was pleased with how well the machine performed, and look forward to trying out some of its other features. 

FIFC January Cowl

After dealing with the oil soaked Kauni yarn, it was a real pleasure to knit with a lovely wool/silk blend yarn "Luminous" from Sincere Sheep -- a hand-dyed, DK weight  85% Polwarth Wool, 15% Silk.  Color is a pretty turquoise 'Hathor's Gem'.

The cowl is a pattern from the Knitspot Fall in Full Color (FIFC) 2013 yarn club.  I've enjoyed the opportunity to knit with yarns I might otherwise miss, and Anne Hanson's designs have been interesting, yet small enough to be easily finished.  Who doesn't like little knitting surprises?

As an added bonus, this month's selection (final of the series) contained some lovely hand crafted buttons from Moving Mud.  Just beautiful; I regret my photo does not do them justice.

Kauni Kardigan

My new obsession appears to be machine knitting.  I have dabbled with a plastic, hobby machine (Studio LK-150) in the past, but lately I've been working on a metal, double-bed machine -- Artisan 70D.  I bought it a few years ago, mostly based on its price, ribbing capabilities and it came with a nice, sturdy stand.  It's a machine that is still being made (in China) and does not have the cachet of the beautiful, but no longer in production, Swiss or Japanese machines.  Still, you don't know what you're missing if you've never even seen those machines, much less used one, and so far it's worked very nicely for me.

I decided to finally use some of the Kauni Effekt yarn in the stash, and thought an over-sized cardigan might serve to showcase the gradual color changes of the yarn, plus be suitable to use on the Artisan (a mid-gauge machine).  I wanted the stripe effect to run vertically on most of the sweater, so I divided the back and front pieces into two parts each and knit the 'skirt' portion of each piece from side to side.  The 'yoke' portion of the pieces was knit conventionally -- bottom up.  The bottom edges are finished with a hand knit garter stitch, likewise the shawl collar is done in garter.  The front edges, however, are done in a K2P2 rib.  This was done because a garter stitch edging on this part was flaring out too much on the stockinette, sideways knit, skirt piece.  Both the front edges and the shawl collar are finished off with an I-cord bind off.

The yoke pieces are attached to the skirt pieces with a (hand done) three needle bind off with the 'seam' to the outside of the garment.  Likewise the sides are connected this way, as can possibly be seen where I've flipped the front over a bit in the photo. 

To give the skirt portion some flare towards the bottom hem, I inserted short-row shaping.  I 'borrowed' the shaping of the garter stitch shawl collar from a hand knitting pattern that I have done before -- Tokyo by Hanne Falkenberg.  Rate of decreasing for the vee neckline was done using Sweater Wizard -- the rest of the shaping was figured with pencil, paper and a handy calculator. 

I was hoping for a cozy, over-sized cardigan that would keep away the winter chill, and I think that's what I got --

 

 

 I don't normally make unfitted, drop-shouldered garments for myself, but I think the slow color changes of this yarn demanded larger pieces. 

I found that the Kauni yarn knit very well on the machine.  I was not as pleased with it when knitting by hand.  It is heavily oiled and is harsh going through the hands.  A nice warm bath takes care of that, and it is quite pleasant to wear (although not next-to-skin soft!), but I almost wanted to pre-wash the yarn I was using to hand knit the edges before using it.  All in all, the yarn is fine, and I will be using it again, but most likely with much less hand knitting.

My next machine challenge is trying "cut and sew" technique on the neckline of a sweater I am making for the mister.  Fingers crossed!

Beam Me Up...

...Scotty -- a slouchy tam from Anne Hanson of Knitspot.  Knit in some Koigu PPPM (Painter's Palette Premium Merino), a fingering weight 100% wool, 175 yards per 50 g. skein.  The price on the label was only $8.50 (US), so it's obviously been in the stash for a while!

Plain Vanilla

Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, just a plain vanilla cowl necked pullover. 

Stats:  Yarn:  Louet Sales Natural Cotton Boucle, 100% cotton, Aran weight, 150 yards per 100 g. skein.  Purchased many moons ago -- possibly from Elann??  Pattern for sweater body generated by Sweater Wizard (raglan sleeves, no waist shaping, round neckline).  I hadn't used this program (for me) for quite a while, and I had forgotten that I find the armhole depth to be too long for my taste.  I think (hope?) that I can get away with it here in this heavier yarn, but NOTE TO SELF:  shorten those armholes next time!

The ribbing (Twin Rib, Barbara Walker, Second Treasury) is hand knit.  This yarn languished in the stash for years because I just couldn't think of an interesting pattern to use it for.  It was swatched five ways from Sunday, but in the end -- simple is best.  My hands refuse to hand knit cotton yarn for larger projects, so the body of this was done on the LK-150 -- a great little hobby machine which handled this heavier-than-I-should-have-attempted-on-a-mid-gauge like the champion it is, although I know it would have preferred a DK weight wool -- next time sweetie, I promise!

A "Quick" Knit

One good thing about moving, you never know when some forgotten project bobs back up to the surface.  I had two pieces of this sweater completed (except for ribbing) when it got shoved into a project bag and ... nothing, totally ignored for months.

Time to get this one done, and into the finished column.  This was a machine knit project, and naturally I had neglected to label my nice big swatch with the machine settings I used to achieve the gauge of the original pieces.  Amazingly though I did have the Sweater Wizard generated pattern I was working from -- small victories.  At any rate, taking a guess (and crossing my fingers) I went with my best estimate.  Whew, must be a good guesser, as it worked out to be a matching gauge.

Specs:  Machine Knit (Silver Reed LK-150) drop shouldered pullover worked in Silk City Fibers Stretch Cotton, color Blue Jeans.  Waist, sleeve and neckline ribbing handknit in a K2, P2 rib.

Sizing cotton sweaters tends to be a real headache for me -- make it exactly  the finished dimensions you require then watch it sag and grow.  I'm hopeful the little bit of Lycra in this yarn will help with that -- we'll see. 

I was working with two cones of this yarn, and still have a good bit left -- wonder if Mr. Monty would like a hoodie to match?

Dansez

All assembled, and ready to be put away as cooler weather approaches -- Dansez, from the book "Knit to Flatter" by Amy Herzog.  Knit in Silk City Fibers Stretch Cotton, color Sand. 

Alterations:  neckline brought up a bit higher, and short row bust darts made, in addition to the vertical bust darts called for in the pattern.

  This pattern is a scoop neck, three-quarter length sleeved pullover with set in sleeves.  Worked in stockinette stitch, with a simple lace pattern at the hip and lower sleeve.  The neckline has a simple rolled edge finish.  Knit in pieces (back, front and sleeves) and sewn together.  Actually, I used a crocheted chain stitch to join the pieces, as I wasn't sure about sizing, and I thought it would be easy to 'unzip' the seams and re-do if necessary.  The fit seemed fine, and the seams looked good, so the crocheted seams stayed.  I love when things work out that way!

As can be surmised from its title, Amy's book is all about fit -- by identifying our particular body type, then choosing styles that will best flatter each type (she profiles three types --  top-heavy, bottom-heavy and proportional).  She gives instructions for techniques to customize to your individual shape, and there are patterns for sweaters -- geared to each of her three types.  I haven't studied the book well enough to give an in-depth review, but I have liked what I've seen so far.  I think it would certainly be helpful to any knitter who is interested in customizing, and adding shape, to their knitwear. 

Amy favors what she calls vertical bust dart shaping -- basically the front is knit wider than the back at the bust (hip and waist measurements remain the same), but she also covers how to do short row bust darts.  I like that she advises waist shaping done in the interior of the pieces, rather than at the edges, a technique I first encountered in a Lily Chin class years ago -- it's a sleeker look I think.  At any rate, take a look at this book if you are at all interested in learning some basic fitting techniques for knits.