Another Ripple Blanket

Me so bad ...;-)  I'm hooking up a second ripple blanket in the Noro Taiyo - the colours demanded they become a baby blanket. I've added a pattern repeat and I think it will take 4 skeins. So far, the only issue is that Noro put in a gross, dirty yellow in between the yellow and green. They do this frequently, I fondly refer to it as 'the douchebag colour'.  Sometimes an odd colour works and makes the colourway interesting, and people's preferences often surprise me, but c'mon, it's a pastel colourway!

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

Leaf Lace Shawlette

Many of the links posted here are from Ravelry.com, a free website for knitters and crocheters. If you don't have your own account you can use ours: login: knitomatic2, password: knitomatic. But you should get your own account fast, 'cause you're going to LOVE it!

We made another sample of our Leaf Lace Shawette, this time with Malbrigo Chunky and 8mm/US11 needles. It's bigger, shawl size, and super cozy!  

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com.

Quickie Taiyo Blankie

A couple days ago I was itching for some colour and grabbed a few balls of Noro Taiyo (colour 5) and started crocheting a little blankie to see what I could make. It turned out to be a very successful itch to scratch, it looks like 3 balls will be fine for a little blankie, and it's crocheting up so beautifully!  The colour is pinker than i expected, but it's glowy (incandescent?). I've been itching to finish it all day, bu alas, I've been working hard today. No rest for the wicked. ;-)

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

New Pattern: Travelling Ribs Cowl

Many of the links posted here are from Ravelry.com, a free website for knitters and crocheters. If you don't have your own account you can use ours: login: knitomatic2, password: knitomatic. But you should get your own account fast, 'cause you're going to LOVE it!

Travelling Ribs Cowl

Pattern by Liane Schwarz for Knit-O-Matic

This cowl is a fast and simple way to get acquantied with cables. It is made with super bulky yarn for maximum satisfaction and minimal effort. It makes a quick & easy gift, or keep it for yourself and bask in your friends' envy.

Size

A. Standard: 11” long and 15” wide (or 30” in c ircumference)

B. Longer: 18” long and 15” wide (or 30” in circumference)

C. Looser: 11” long, but will vary in accordance with the number of sts you choose.

D. Very Loose: unfathomable

Materials

• 1(1, 1, 2) skeins Cascade Magnum or Brown Sheep Burly Spun (120m of super bulky yarn)
• 12mm-24” circular needles
• 1 large cable needle
• 1 stitch marker

Gauge

Approx 1.5 to 2 sts = 1 inch

Cost

$5

Download Here

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

New Free Pattern: Spring Mobius Cowl

Many of the links posted here are from Ravelry.com, a free website for knitters and crocheters. If you don't have your own account you can use ours: login: knitomatic2, password: knitomatic. But you should get your own account fast, 'cause you're going to LOVE it!

Spring Mobius Cowl

By Haley Waxberg

This is an easy and satisfying project for a simple, spring cowl. It’s really a no-brainer, the yarn’s self-striping colour and soft texture do most of the work. The pattern uses a Mobius Cast On, which is easy to learn.

To learn this easy new skill you can watch Cat Bohrdi’s great Intro to Mobius Knitting tutorial on you tube. Cat’s instructions are clear and easy to follow and you’ll be an expert in no time!

NOTE: You can not substitute a normal cast on using circular needles to create a mobius – it doesn’t work. By twisting the stitches, you’ll end up with a full twist in your knitting, and you only want a half twist (the mobius).

The yarn used has a very high cotton and silk content, both of which tend to stretch and grow. If you think your cowl is too small, don’t worry, it’ll loosen up.

Size 
Length: 25” 
Width: 8”

Materials 
2 skeins Noro Taiyo, 100g/200m, colour 1 
5mm/36” circular needles 
1 Stitch Marker

Gauge 
15 sts & 30 rows = 4” in K6 P6 ribs

Techniques 
Intro to Mobius Knitting tutorial by Cat Bohrdi on youtube: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVnTda7F2V4

Cost

Free

Download HERE

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

Sweatering Along

Many of the links posted here are from Ravelry.com, a free website for knitters and crocheters. If you don't have your own account you can use ours: login: knitomatic2, password: knitomatic. But you should get your own account fast, 'cause you're going to LOVE it!

My Hourglass Sweater is sweatering - finally!  I'm in the flow and I think I've done pretty well with my top-down increasing. The seams look nice and straight, they aren't pulling much. I thought that I had invented a new kind of increase, but it looks like I just re-invented the wheel. Thankfully I just checked The Knitter's Companion before I started showing off and mouthing off to you, and my nice increases (RLI & LLI) are on pages 56 & 57 of the 2nd edition (ISBN 978-1-59668-001-2).

 Interestingly (not really) I think I have been reversing my 'Left Slanting Increases' and 'Right Slanting Increases'.  More to the point, I always thought that the Left and Right referred to the direction of the stitches next to the seam. I generally find Interweave's publications extremely trustworthy, and based on the pictures in the book, it looks like the Left/Right refers to the direction of the seam. Soooooo, it seems that I get a bit muddled when working on a top-down raglan, where the seam is straight and is not directed to either the left or right. In simpler terms, on the right side of your seam I make a left slanting increase (LLI), and on the left side of the seam I make a right slanting increase (RLI). 

So, in conclusion, here are my insights for the day:

1. The Lifted or Raised Increase is a nice looking increase, you should try it. 
2. Interweave Press publishes good books and are worth referring to.
3. When making top-down raglans, the Lefty increase goes on the right side of the seam  and the Righty goes on the left side of the seam. 
4. Kurt Vonnegut and my 9th grade English teacher, Mr. Lass, were both right: there are very few new ideas. 

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

Taiyo Mobius Cowl

Many of the links posted here are from Ravelry.com, a free website for knitters and crocheters. If you don't have your own account you can use ours: login: knitomatic2, password: knitomatic. But you should get your own account fast, 'cause you're going to LOVE it!

I cheated on my sweater this weekend and made a Mobius Cowl with the Noro Taiyo, and as expected, it is gorgeous! I modified my own pattern to suit the yarn, you can find the details in the Ravelry notes. The yarn knit up beautifully and easily and 2 skeins was the perfect amount. I'm going to give it another try in a different colourway and a different texture. 

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

An Interim Noro Mobius Cowl

Many of the links posted here are from Ravelry.com, a free website for knitters and crocheters. If you don't have your own account you can use ours: login: knitomatic2, password: knitomatic. But you should get your own account fast, 'cause you're going to LOVE it!

This is just a boring 'project in progress' posting, sorry for the tease. Yesterday, after another little hourglass re-engineering issue (think i have it resolved now, but this is why you should not bother re-inventing the wheel), I cast on a Mobius Cowl in the Noro Taiyo (colour 1: brown, beige, black & pink).

Holy Cow! I can't believe how fast an nice it is knitting up!  Knitting with Noro is a never-ending story of simplicity and satisfaction. I'm working with 5mm needles but it's still flying, and the yardage has been great. I'm a happy girl. I cast on 186 sts (in the mobius cast on that equals a total of 372 sts), but I'll have to see what that gets me in terms of size.  I thought making it a bit smaller than normal might be a good idea since silk and cotton both have a tendency to grow (especially silk). 

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

Hourglass Sweater Started!

Many of the links posted here are from Ravelry.com, a free website for knitters and crocheters. If you don't have your own account you can use ours: login: knitomatic2, password: knitomatic. But you should get your own account fast, 'cause you're going to LOVE it!

First point of business, I want to qualify that you do not have to do anything for your sweater-along project that I am doing for my project. As the leader I feel obligated to set an example and do things by the book, especially for my less experienced readers.  But this 'Along' is a free one, you can do whatever you like, in whatever way you like and have fun!

Now for the main course, I cast on for my Hourglass Sweater for my sweater-along! Actually, what you see above is my second time casting on.  You know all that work I put into my swatch?  Well, it was a different tension, it's off by 3 sts. I don't know why it's off, I used the exact same needles, maybe I just naturally tighten up when knitting a hat?  Or possibly I'm self conscious about my tension when I'm watching, but zone out when knitting the project?  Or ....... I didn't use the correct needle size for the hat?  That could be it - blush. I probably forgot to change needle sizes when I moved past the bottom band.

Regardless, I have a new swatching insight to share: when making a sweater from the top-down, you might as well just cast on and use the sweater to test your tension. If it's off and you have to rip it you'll have done the same amount of work as making a separate test swatch. 

Anyway, no harm done, because the tension was actually the second reason why I ripped it back. The true reason was that I've been making my top-down raglan M1L & M1R increases incorrectly!  Well, that's not really accurate, my increases were correct, but they weren't nice looking, and there is a better way to do it. 

Let me explain - when making a M1L or M1R increase, most instructions tell you to lift the strand directly between the needles (see Interweave's Knittingdaily.com Glossary, or Knittinghelp.com).

M1L increase from Knittingdaily.com

Usually this increase works just fine and I've had no complaints until recently. But this time (sorry, no pics, I didn't have my light box at home, and honestly, I'm not THAT ambitious a tech knitter) the seam was raised, the stitches along the seam were large and elevated above the rest of the knitting. It wasn't pretty, no likey. I recalled an increase a client showed me years ago from a book (The Knitter's Handbook by Montse Stanley), and figured lets try it! Of course, I never really took in all the information at the time, and what I ended up doing isn't really what was in the book, which I think was a Raised Increase. 

What I did was lifted the 2nd strand down, and twisted the stitch an extra 180 degrees. I also added an extra stitch inside my increases to decrease the amount of pulling on the raglan stitches. Anyway, my raglan looks gooooood!

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

Little Samuel (Shmully) Hat

Many of the links posted here are from Ravelry.com, a free website for knitters and crocheters. If you don't have your own account you can use ours: login: knitomatic2, password: knitomatic. But you should get your own account fast, 'cause you're going to LOVE it!

I feel like this post is total filler, mostly because I don't think that this hat turned out to be particularly inspiring. Not that I don't like it, I made it to be VERY warm, and it is.  I've been calling it Shmully, which is the diminutive in Yiddish for the name Samuel. The pattern is of course, named Samuel, and i made it smaller to fit my little head. I also knit it in the round, instead of flat, on much smaller needles to make it dense to keep out the wind, and smaller to fit my head. At the end, it really doesn't resemble the original all that much, it doesn't really slouch properly, which is OK because I don't really look good in slouchy hats. I folded it over on the side and stuck a pin in it, and's it's all good!

In the end, it's a good hat and a achieve what I set out to do. I have a warm hat that doesn't make me look too ridiculous, that matches my cowl, and thus I have a warm matching set that I like. If I have the time and/or ambition, I might take out the crown of the hat, get rid of all the extra fabric, and just make it a beanie. Alternately, I`ll just make myself a new hat, maybe a Vintage Rib & Button hat,  in the same yarn and wear them interchangeably. Que sera, I have a sweater to make!

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!