Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Tuck Stitch Charity Baby Blankets

Having received several boxes of yarn from my sister's estate I realized Katie never made it past a clearance table without buying something. Most of the yarn is pastel and only a couple skeins of the same dye lot. She loved to crochet baby blankets so a small amount was enough.
I have a 270 Brother bulky machine and though I'd like to try some tuck patterns. I just opened the manual and knitted Pattern #100 (the small pattern on the right side of the picture) right out of the book. That went well so I knitted the one on the left pattern #85. I didn't want to crochet around the edges so I used a machine roping trim that is fast and fun to do. With no new babies in the family these will be donated to a charity. I have white, yellow, pink and blue yarn left to knit up something for babies. I wonder if I will need to sew on a care label? I'll have to get on the internet to see where to get some.
If you have never done machine roping here is how it's done:
Set tension dial 1 tension tigher than main tension. Carriage on the right, wrong side to you, pick up 3 stitches from the edge and knit 6 rows. Using a 3-prong tool, skip 2 or 3 stitches and pick up 3 new stitches from the edge and hang onto the 3 empty needles left of the stitches you just knitted (6 needles are now in work). *Knit 6 rows. With 3-prong tool lift 3 stitches on the right and place them on top of the 3 stitches on the left. Skip 2 or 3 stitches and pick up 3 new stitches and hang on empty needles to the left* Repeat from * to * all the way around. The number of skipped stitches determines the size of the gap between lo0ps in the roping

Monday, April 9, 2012

Cuff to Cuff Jacket designed by Julie Farmer


This short sleeved jacket is featured in the new Knit`n Style magazine June 2012 Issue #179.
I really like this magazine it has both hand and machine patterns. A series of how to articles for machine knitters plus several patterns by Mary Anne Oger are very good.
The jacket is worked side to side in one piece. I used Universal Classic Worsted LP (purple allure) and size 9 US needles. This jacket can be knitted while watching tv in the evening because you never lose you place. Its fast and easy but the combination of stockinette and seed stitch make it interesting.