Shamrock Knits

Snuggles Cage Liner

I made this cage liner for the Hugs For Homeless organization about 6 months ago. I just knit a basic rectangle on the knitting machine and then put aside. Out of sight, out of mind. I finally came across it again and crocheted an edge. I think this is Red Heart yarn I had in stash. Any acrylic yarn will do because this will be machine washed and dried alot. I want to make a couple of more before I donate them. Since the last ones went to the Greyhound Society, these will probably go to a local animal shelter. You can find out which ones accept the Snuggles Project through the website.

Moguls Ribbed Scarves

For the men, I did a couple of these "ribbed" scarves from KnitPicks. They alternate stockinette and reverse stockinette lengthwise to create the ribbed effect. I did the machine knit version first. Since my machine bed only has 200 needles, I cast on 150 stitches and made two sections. I seemed them together using the Sew As You Go (SAYG) method. I think the seaming was a little difficult because of the alternating knit and purl sections.

I liked the length and width of the machine knit version. I knit one less repeat in grey and black because this scarf took a "long" time to do on the machine. You knit about 6 rows, knit 1 row ravel cord, knit some waste yarn rows, take off machine, turn around, rehang each stitch, remove ravel cord and waster yarn, repeat. The longest time was rehanging each of the stitches. Compared to hand knitting, this scarf was still faster. But for machine knitting, it took a long time due to the hand manipulation.

The next scarf I did was the hand knit version. I cast on the 300 stitches and knit away. I think I used a larger size needle compared to the machine knit version. The scarf came out HUGE! Since it's knit lengthwise, I couldn't stretch it out on the needles to see how long it was. It's a good thing my uncle is on the taller size. The scarf will still have to be wrapped around the neck a couple of times. The machine knit scarf on the right is about 5-6 feet. The hand knit is around 7-8 feet long.

I did one less repeat in grey and black than I did for the machine knit scarf. This is 2 less repeats than the original pattern called for. The hand knit version would have been much nicer using a smaller needle, but oh well! Live and learn.

Snowflake Comparison

The machine knit stitches are much more uniform than hand knit, at least for me. I made two of the shadow knit (illusion knit) snowflake scarves by hand and one machine knit. The scarf on the left is one of the hand knit scarves and the one on the right is the machine knit version. The machine knit version was also a little shorter and narrower (say that 3 times fast).

Here's a close up shot of the stitches. As you can see, the hand knit version is more holey because my gauge was slightly different throughout the scarf. All in all, I liked this pattern. I think I'll try to make myself a shamrock shadow knit. I've started drawing out the chart, but I'll have to swatch it to see if I like it. I wouldn't recommend doing 3 of these scarves though. It took f@#$#$ forever to do and I was so sick of them by the end.

Baby Sweater

I've finally tried to make a sweater. I have four baby gifts to make, so I thought I'd try out a sweater. Since none of the babies are born yet, I cheated on gauge. I picked a pattern and went with the 3-6 month size. I figure it will fit the baby at some point, right? Well, after making the sweater and seaming most of it, I didn't think the neck was going to be big enough for a baby's head to fit through it. My friend, Terrie, helped me rip out some of the neckband and add a buttonhole to the end of it. I just added the button hole area to one of the ends of the neckband and need the sew the button on. The button will be on the back side so you won't see it. I'm not thrilled with the sweater because I want it to be perfect (of course), but it's not bad for a beginning attempt. It's made with one skein of Bernat Cottontots yarn.

Knitting Retreat

During the monthly meetings with my new machine knitting friends, they told me about a knitting retreat that they attend every year. At this seminar, machine knitters learn techniques and ideas in a hands-on environment. This particular seminar is run through Knitting Today near Ft. Wayne. I was amazed to see so many people from around the country that attend this retreat each year.

After attending the retreat, I decided to put some of my new "skills" to work for Christmas gifts. I made hats and matching scarves for my aunt. uncle, cousins and their spouses. In looking at the picture, they seem to be ok.

Well, let me just say one word - gauge. Can I tell you that I hate that word!! For any newbie machine knitters out there, please learn from my mistakes. I used different yarns for the items because they were for both men and women and I wanted some variety. My mistake was in using the same number of needles and the same number of rows for all the hats. Translation - using different weights of yarn and the same number of needles (aka stitches for hand knitters), will most definitely result in varying sizes of hats. It became the joke of the holiday because none of the hats fit. They were either too big or too small. My cousin took a picture of what everyone looked like in their hand made hats and scarves, so I'll try to scan the picture and post it later. (Of course I have to find it first!)

When I first started, the instructions were for machine knitting only. This year, the owner Lee-Ann has added a hand knitting instructor, Cat Bordhi. I'm only able to attend the Saturday and Sunday classes this year, but I'm still really looking forward to it. The retreat this year is June 3-5. After the classes, everyone socializes in a great room of sorts and hand knits, crochets, learns from others until the wee hours of the night. It's a great experience. I highly recommend this retreat to any machine knitter and now hand knitter. It's a great way to learn something new and if you're anything like me - I prefer to learn the technique by doing it with instruction instead of just watching the instructor and having to remember what to do later.

My Knitting Birth

I began my knitting life in January 2004. I had purchased a knitting machine many, many, many years ago and it collected dust in a closet somewhere. My original intent was to make afghans for myself and, if good enough, as gifts. One of my sisters became pregnant in 2003, so I decided to break out my Ultimate Sweater Machine by Bond and make a baby blanket.

Since I didn't have a clue what I was doing, I did some searching on the internet and found a group of women who met monthly using this machine. I started to make a checkerboard afghan, but didn't like how it was coming out. It needed to be perfect afterall since it was for my soon-to-be niece or nephew. Well, I stopped working on that blanket because the rows were off and it really bugged me.

So, I did what most newbies probably do. I started another blanket using a different pattern and different yarn. I had no idea whether I was going to have a niece or a nephew, so I went with yellow acrylic yarn that is machine washable. I made a circular afghan with a machine knit worm trim, so the entire blanket was made on the machine. (I didn't know how to hand knit or crochet at the time.)

This is how my first knitting project turned out for my adorable nephew Colin.