Multi-strand knitting at the extreme

One of Rachel John's beautiful rugs

Odd and beautiful at the same time, this is one video I must share Rachel John, Extreme Knitting, 1000 Strand Knit. Rachel John also has a website where she sells commissioned art rugs, advertises her classes in extreme knitting and advertises her book, BIG Stitch Knitting.

Another Piece by Rachel John

The Machine!

It has been so busy at my real job, that I have had little time for my knitting machine. But I have gotten to spend a few hours with my new little friend. The knitting machine comes with some basic patterns that get progressively harder and step you through different knitting techniques. Using the pattern book would have been a logical way of learning how to use the machine,  -- but I have never been too logical.

So I hit the internet and found tons of videos about knitting machines on YouTube. One of the the YouTubers that I have found the most helpful so far is clogden21. She uses the same machine that I use, so I don't have to try and "translate" from one machine "language" to mine. I watched her series on dishcloths and remembered that I had some cotton yarn. Voilà! My first finished project.

I did use the booklet that I got with the machine to get directions to do eyelets. Which I practiced fairly successfully -- except for the set that is slightly askew because I did not line them up properly.

Another New Toy

Nostepinne

Another new "toy", er um, "tool" that I purchased is a nostepinne. A nostepinne is a short dowel-like stick on which you wind a center-pull ball of yarn. As you can see from my first attempt, I didn't get the ball very ball-like! 

So, of course, I immediately headed to YouTube and  looked for a video about using a Nostepinne, and found more than one. I like the Nostepinne that I bought, but by the looks of this video, I might have saved a bit of money!  or even better -- recycled! or used only what God gave me.

ENJOY!

Just a peek.

The cuff is so cool looking. I love the colors that I ended up choosing. It was well worth the effort of taking my time to examine all the options. I am surprised at how fine the yarn is. I may end up lining the mitten as I cannot imagine it being warm enough for Chicago winters.

Newest Toy

I already told you I wasn't good at sticking to a budget when it comes to yarn or fabric. I also have a weakness for toys, er um, I mean, tools!

One of my latest finds is this cute little French Knitter also called a Knitting Nancy or a Knitting Knobby. Note the little face painted on the side! I tried it out and the resulting rope is a square. I figure that this will come in handy to make ties on hats like a "chullo" or on mittens for children -- you remember the cute little string that goes through the arms to keep track of the mittens. Love those. If anyone knows the name of the string, let me know. I guess I would call it a mitten leash.

Actually, I remember in grade school that someone taught me how to "knit" with my fingers. It was basically using your fingers like the nail heads on the top of the French Knitter. All the girls in my class made long loose ropes with their fingers. It was fun and used up some of recess.

So I spent a little time on the internet and found a wonderful website on Knitting Nancies. At the bottom of his website there are some websites that sell French Knitters -- some of them are no longer valid sites, but several of them still sell them.

Happy Knitting!

New Yarn arrives.

Yes, I know I am supposed to be on a budget; but sometimes a knitter just can't help herself. I ordered the yarn for my next project as seen on the cover of the book mostly mittens. I got the order in on Monday from Paradise Fibers, but I wasn't too happy with the color selection that I picked -- that is one of the problems with selecting colors based on internet pictures -- "what you see" is not always "what you get".

(Hypocrisy Alert!) I am about to go against what I just said about colors on the internet. My pictures are not the best to show the colors on the internet anyway, but I think you will see enough to follow my logic.

Original yarn color choices

The pattern calls for seven skeins of yarn in 2 colors -- 3 shades of one color, and 4 shades of the other. The three shades will be the background color and the 4 shades will be the design color. I chose pink and green to be the colors that I wanted with green as the back ground and pink as the design.

The darkest pink turned out to be more of a brick red color. The two darker greens are almost identical except that one is a brighter version of the other. Since I had a coupon for free coupon from Paradise Fibers which I received when I signed up for their newsletter, I went on line to find another green to replace one of the dark  greens. I ended up buying two more greens as I was scared one wouldn't turn out as a viable option.

New color set with one of the new green shades

I did like the new green much better, but then I kept looking at the pinks. The brick red seemed to fight with the bright pink and I was not happy with that either. Now I was wishing that I had ordered another pink. Then it occurred to me that I could flip the arrangement and have the pink as the background and green as the design. This gave me several more options  from which to choose.

Option 1

Option 1 removed one of the dark greens and the brightest pink. I love the two medium greens that I got, especially the darker one -- Limestone.

Option 2

The only color different here is the darkest green -- I have swapped out to the duller of the two.

Option 3

Here I have taken out the brick red and put back the bright medium pink -- I like this much better. Both the bright green and the bright pink really pop. This also has the brighter dark green in it.

Option 4

The final set has the pinks without the brick red and the greens with the duller of the two dark greens. I think that this is the option that I like the best. I can't wait to get knitting!

That's not a real car, you can't pull the wool over my eyes!

For Sale: One Red Ferrari. Made of Wool.: "After traveling the world for the past five years, British artist Lauren Porter is seeking a permanent home for her knitted red Ferrari sports car."

After the post earlier in the week on the quilted car, I have to follow up with this gem. I think I like this better than the quilted car, as this one has the look of a real car. I am sure it has gotten quite a few double takes.