Category: Machine

Fruit of My Loom

A scant 3 years have passed (like lightening!) since I tripped into a suburban Joann’s with a 50% off coupon and scooped up a Bond knitting loom. That first year saw me knitting like a banshee, enlarging my wardrobe and, for maybe the first time EVER, wearing clothing that actually fit my frame (especially those gracefully long ARMS!)

The sweaters I made for work are now ready to be *retired* – they look tired, a little shabby; they’ve earned their day in the pasture, to be sure…

And, it’s time to make some new ones…

Luckily, I’ve been bit by the Machine Bug all over again after a demonstration Corinne and I gave as the October Program at the Windy City Knitting Guild. I took the Bond On the ROAD! up to the Northside (I’m a Westside girl myself, teeheehee) and proceeded to astonish and amaze myself when I actually got through an entire, I believe, one hour’s worth of machine knitting while being observed by actual audience! I think this is what happened because I have such terrible stage fright, I only remember about 30% of what went on – 2/3’s of the time are really fuzzy, (but warm – thank you all for your Very Kind Attention!).

What you see above are pieces of two seperate sweaters – both in Navy, my favorite Work Garment Uniform color. They lay tightly in obedient Stockinette rolls, as is the nature of the stitch, waiting for the finishing to begin…

I began calling the first one of my sweaters *Elemental* and the second rightly became *My Dear Watson* in response. Here you see the first front of the Dr.

It is loomed using the most beautiful Black Water Abbey yarn – 2-ply, one ply black, one ply a very rich purplish dark blue – in sum = celestial NAVY! I knit the body parts on the Machine and add the bands, etc, by hand. To keep the Project Juice ALIVE, I’ve picked out buttons from the Button Chest – believe me when I say that it took a long time to find the correct shade of black plastic button! WEIRD, but true, they are all slightly different depending on composition and finish, ie. shine, matte, semi-gloss. YES! I had a lot of fun auditioning the Buttons…

This sweater is destined to be the plainer of the two – fitted but fabulous, showing off the really rich depth of color of the yarn.

Even though I’ve seen some really fabulous trad Aran BWA sweaters, especially at Stitches Midwest this summer, I was just too totally blown away by this yarn’s hue to muddy the waters reflecting the deepest night sky.

…read all entries about Machine/Fusion Knitting HERE

Can I put my hand in your Pocket? One of the reasons I’m so into Fusion Knitting (machine & hand knitting combined in the same garment), is that it can be a both a time saver and a mother of invention..

click all small pics for larger pix One of the differences between hand and machine knitting is that you always start machine knitting with a provisional cast-on. That leaves live stitches at the bottom of your piece – you unzip the waste yarn and put the stitches back on the needle to finish by binding off or maybe something MORE….

Apres knitting, but before finishing, I decided I wanted some *Purse Pockets* on my Scoop du Jour. QUE? I hate carrying a purse!!! No Problem! I attached my yarn to the WS of the piece, purled one row then knit about 4" of sts from the front edge.

Using another piece of yarn (from the outside of my ball) I did a long tail cast-on (cuz I like the look) to replace the next 4 or so inches. I used a contrasting color of scrap yarn to bind-off the corresponding body stitches to be worked later for the pocket lining. Then I finished the row and continued working the front ribbing to the bottom of the piece.

The pocket *front* was done when the ribbing was done, but now it needed a lining. That was what those reserved stitches were for – an interior *pocket* that would be sewn down after it was knit.

I decided to save some time and do it on the machine… You unzip the waste yarn from the reserved stitches, then hang them on the hooks, attaching some little weights to balance the load.

Then you KNIT! I made my pocket about 4" x 4" (it looks much longer here because of the weights…)

my little Purse Pocket !~ Almost hidden, but at the ready just big enough to carry a lipstick, bus pass and $$$…

…see all entries here in the Complete Notes: Barny Yarny…

…read all entries about Machine Knitting HERE

Design: Bonne Marie Burns for ChicKnits
Yarn: Phildar “Marjory” 50% Cotton/ 50% Acrylic
Color: Cream & Black
Gauge: 20sts/28 rows over 4″
Needles: #3 & #6
Type: Hand & Machine Knit with Duplicate Stitch Detailing

This little pulli is my maiden voyage on the LK-150 knitting machine I got on eBay. I also have a Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine that I leave out attached to a fabulous heavy maple IKEA table I scooped up at a sidewalk sale this summer. The LK-150 is a Mid-Gauge Machine; the Bond is a Bulky Machine.

These knitting machines are great for doing big pieces of *plain* Stockinette Stitch knitting that can be finished later by hand. I made a few garments when I got the Bond two years ago, drifted away from it, and now, with the arrival of the LK-150 am back on the machine track…

Why Machine Knit? It allows me to make the simply wonderful fitting Utility Sweaters I love to wear to work. Using a machine and high quality ingredients, I can make hard wearing, long lasting, dependable, SIMPLE garments I can’t buy off the rack.

Oh He** – I’ll tell the TRUTH! I have very loooong arms, a short waist topping a long body. I am CUSTOM all the way! I CAN’T buy off the rack unless I get a garment a couple of sizes bigger than what my body needs to meet my length requirements…

It is indeed a time saver. You can make all the sweater body pieces, minus the borders, in a weekend. Then you can hand knit the edge finishings and sew it together at your leisure.

There is a learning curve – but not too bad. If you just make all of the little projects in their included book, you will learn all the techniques you need. Mine also came with a very good video that demonstrated the techniques.

DOWNSIDE: not as user friendly as hand-knitting. AND, this is the real reason that 99.9% of the sweaters you see in the ChicKnits Galleries are completely hand knit – I love the feel and process of hand knitting. The Lap Dance, so to speak…

Machine Knitting is not MOBILE. You really have to dedicate a block of time to the project – I never leave a piece hanging from the USM but finish in one session whatever piece I’m working on to avoid gauge changes in the fabric.

You also really have to understand gauge and count rows instead of measuring to get reproducible results so your pieces match EXACTLY. GAUGE is good. GAUGE IS PARAMOUNT!

But THAT, but of course, is true whether it’s hand OR machine…

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some Starter MK Links

What Machine Should I Get?

the Incredible Sweater Machine Group on Yahoo

Bond Knitter’s Internet Links