Machine Knitting and everything else...
The 2019 lambing is not too far off. I have been checking pedigrees and deciding which ewes I will be breeding this fall. If you are looking for fine wool Shetland lambs, I will have some available in the spring.
Here are a few photos of the 2018 fleeces. I will be listing 2019 fleeces on my website (not my Etsy). More info to come about that around shearing time.
The last thing you need in the summer is a blanket, right? Well, this was a special little blanket I knit for my nephew. Knit on Passap E6000 4 color double jacquard and designed with DesignaKnit (DAK) software. I have had quite a few people ask me how to design something similar using DAK. In DAK, I open a blank stitch pattern in Stitch Designer. I resize the pattern to whatever size (stitches and rows) I am wanting to make. I then make my design on the blank canvas or import elements via Graphic Studio (DAK). I know it is said DAK is very hard to use. If you print out the instruction manual and work out using the tools, it is possible to teach yourself how to use it. It just takes time and practice.
I bought some bright lights for my AVL loom. They are a long strip of LED lights. The strip of lights is sticky one one side. You stick them on and cut off the excess. They have a dimming switch which is really nice for times I don’t need the lights to be extremely bright. I took the photo below with all the room lights off except the loom lights.
It has been quite a hot summer which means getting up even earlier to ride. This is Atarah, my Paso Fino mare. She has only been on trails for the last couple of months (former show horse) and she is doing quite well.
OK, from reading the title of this post you may have been expecting something really amazing... but no...sorry to disappoint you... LOL! I found a pattern on Knit Picks website for flower pot cozies. I didn't like their colorwork pattern but thought it would be a great way to knit swatches and have a use for them. I knit my cozies on my Silver Reed 840 standard gauge and used Designaknit for the patterning. In Designaknit, I opened a new pattern of 30 stitches and 100 rows. For the fair isle designs--I imported a vertical border and centered it in the middle of the pattern. (edit/import/vertical border). The purple cozy was just knit in a tuck stitch pattern (not centered).
The cozy pattern is simple:
Cast on 15-0-15. I used fingering weight yarn. (You can use thicker yarn, but knit fewer rows of patterning.)
Knit 7 rows.
Place eyelets approximately every 4th stitch or so.
Knit 4 rows.
Set your machine up for patterning (fair isle, tuck, slip whatever you decide) and knit 100 rows. (This is what I used for the small and medium terra cotta pots--adjust as needed for your pots.)
Knit 7 rows of stockinette.
Place eyelets approximately every 4th stitch or so.
Knit 4 rows.
Cast off.
Finish with heavy steam. (I knit with wool yarn.)
Wrap cozy around pot and lace heavy cotton yarn through the eyelets (like lacing a shoe). Adjust to fit pot.
