Passap vs Brother on Lace Scarf

{ January 6, 2017 @ 10:59 pm } · { Brother Knitting Machine, Passap E 6000, Passap Knitting Machine, Passap project, Passap Techniques, Scarf }
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My friend Jacqui emailed me and told me that this “wave” design is on the Passap magazine #60. Here is the link to see it

http://machineknittingetc.com/passap-60-pattern-book.html

I had given it  a thought to try it on the passap but I figured  it would be a lot of work moving pushers in and out of work. When I saw the magazine I thought I would give it a try since you all know that my passap is my favorite machine.

In the magazine you will notice that the beginning of the sweater is knitted plain without the waves for a number of rows and it is knit on both beds. Then you transfer the back bed to the front bed and do this pattern. At least that is what I was able to figure out since those magazines don’t give a lot of detail.

Well, I found out why it was started tubular and then knitted plain for a number of rows. I cast on tubular and went right into the wave pattern and it was very difficult. If you try this on the passap I would start with waste yarn and ravel cord .

If you look at the sides of this beginning of a scarf, they are relatively straight. (I steamed this out to show you)That is because when you knit the end groups by themselves when you get to the edge, passap instruction tells you to knit 4 rows before working on two groups to start the row. In the video that is posted on my last blog, 6 rows are knitted giving it a wavy edge. I like the wavy edge  better, but that is  just my preference.

So which machine wins?  THE BROTHER

First of all, on my last scarf there were sets of four needles with 3 out of work in-between. On this one there are sets of 6 needles with 2 out of work in-between.

1.The closed beds keep you from seeing the knitting and you can forget which direction you are going in.

2. Quicker to pull needles to hold than it is to put pushers in and out of work. Though I will say, it was not as slow as I thought it would be.

3. On the brother I was able to hold the sets of two stitches I was working on with my little finger to keep them from coming off the stitches.

4. I like the chain cast on that is used to start the scarf on the Brother.

5. More of a chance to put the pushers under the wrong needles and end up with seven in a group instead of the six this calls for .(I know because it happened.LOL)

 

And here is a link to show a scarf on the bulky machine which would go even quicker. 🙂

http://machineknittingfun.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-new-cap.html

Lace Scarf made on the Brother Machine

{ January 5, 2017 @ 2:07 am } · { Neck Warmer, Scarf }
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How can something that looks so hard to knit be so easy? Somewhere on a knitting machine site I saw a red scarf knitted with this technique and it was beautiful. Reference was made to the technique used being from the John Allen book called The Machine Knitting Book. I also saw it called the wave on a Facebook knitting machine group. I had a small ball of  yarn sitting around and decided to use it up.  It might be acrylic with mohair or wool with mohair. I know it feels scratchy around my neck but I wanted it for around a coat collar. I had this knit in less than a half hour on my Brother 940. Once I got into the rhythm , there was no stopping me. I did not want to crochet all the way around the scarf like the woman does in the video. I like the way it curls in and I don’t want to steam it flat. I like narrow scarves. I used seven sets of 4 needles. This video is excellent even though it is not in english.

If you look closely at the top picture , you will see seven strands of yarn between the sets of four. If you have more or less , you will know you made a mistake.  I even like the wavy edges when it is finished.

Here is the link to the video I followed. I hope you give it a try since it was a lot of fun to do.

I wanted to share this with you.

{ December 22, 2016 @ 2:51 am } · { Uncategorized }
{ Comments (2) }


 

62a029b4-5f03-45f7-ae60-a5d27687284eA very sweet woman that lives in Turkey and follows my blog sent me this picture. She followed my instructions for the pin cushion and knitted five “heels” on the passap to make this star. I just love the way it is draped over the tree.  I love the sparkles in the yarn she used. She said she cast on 20 stitches and short rowed to 2 stitches.  I asked her if she made the tree from a knitting machine cardboard  cone and she said she didn’t but .that it is a candle. I just love the look of this ! I was so happy she took a picture of it and sent it to me. I had her permission to post the picture . I also wanted to show all of you that it looks better as a star instead of a pin cushion. 🙂

 

Knitted Scrubbie

{ December 16, 2016 @ 5:41 pm } · { Dish Cloth, Hand Knitted, Hand Knitting, project }
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Once in awhile I like to hand knit. I especially like dish cloths since I use a new one each day. I found this knitted scrubbie tutorial and decided to add scrubbie yarn instead of the tulle she uses. I just cast on 15 stitches like she did and knitted until I liked the size I had. It is my favorite now. I used white, orange and lime green cottons and the scrubbie   yarn was called citrus that is  in lime , orange and white. I like the white with the citrus scrubbie the best.

You could do this on the bulky knitting machine but I think it would take much too long turning with a garter bar for each row knitted. It took me less than an hour to knit one. These would make nice stocking stuffers or a little gift for a friend.

I just bought the scrubbie yarn for 2 for 5 but the sale is off now at Joanne’s. I think I will be able to get about 4 or five from one ball of scrubbie yarn.

Here is where I got the idea.

http://berlinswhimsy.typepad.com/berlins_whimsy/2008/05/knitted-kitchen-scrubbie-tutorial.html

Passap Short Row Lesson for Beginners

{ December 15, 2016 @ 9:34 pm } · { All Knitting Machines, Learning your passap machine, Passap E 6000, Passap Knitting Machine, Passap project, Passap Techniques, Short Rowing }
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I was getting ready to go make a pair of socks on my sock machine. I went to a Facebook website for sock knitters to refresh my memory and I saw this project. The woman said she just knitted five sock heels and then closed it and made a pin cushion. So , I thought I would let beginners know how to short row on the knitting machine before attempting a pair of socks. This can be done on other machines by just putting needles into hold. On the passap, we work with the pushers to make them knit or hold a stitch and using the LX lock setting.

On my sock machine I have a 72 needle cylinder. The toe and heel are worked on 36 needles. So, I decided to work with the same amount on the passap. I like the size the pin cushion is but if you want to use less needles to make it smaller, by all means, experiment. If you want more definite ridges, short row down more than what I did here. I short rowed to 14 stitches and then back out again.

The great thing about learning from this lesson is that you are only working on the front bed and you can open the beds to hang weights and see everything clearly. I have passap heel weights that are flat and slide in nicely between the beds.They are well worth the investment.

Are you ready to try it? And to get a pin cushion out of your lesson? I used sock yarn at a tension 5 and black pushers.  While you are short rowing pay attention to your stitches. If they look like they are starting to rise up, open the beds and move your weights up. With this many needles you won’t have a big problem but move them up for sure after you short row decrease and after you short  row increase in this exercise. After the first heel is complete, you can take off your cast on comb.

Cast on double bed one row and hang a comb so that it will catch the stitches when you remove the back bed needles to out of work position. If you hang it wrong the comb will fall to the floor. Now knit about 10 rows of waste yarn and then knit one row of ravel cord.

TO SHORT ROW- Put the pushers up on the front bed under all 36 needles. Set lock to GX/LX (GX/BX DM80)and knit 1 row to the left with main yarn. Opposite the locks, put one pusher in non-working position and knit one row to the right and wrap the needle on the lock side which is on your right. See the picture below. Continue putting pushers out of work one by one each row until you have 14 stitches in work in the middle of the bed. Your lock will be on the left. Now opposite the locks, put one pusher on the right of working pushers(needle 8) back into work , knit a row and wrap on the lock side. Continue putting one pusher back into work each row opposite the lock until all 36 stitches are back in work. You have completed one “heel”. I did not knit two rows between the five heels. I just started to short row again. I did five heels. I removed the work on waste yarn and no need for ravel cord. It will unravel since it is the last row knitted. Then turn your work so that the purl side is facing out and start to kitchener stitch the beginning of your work to the end of your work. Pull out the ravel cord and the waste yarn on the beginning. Remove the waste yarn at the end of work. Carefully turn right side out through the hole . Stuff your pin cushion , gather the opening with the end of yarn to close the hole and put a button in the middle. I love birds and used a little whimsical button. Great project to use up left over sock yarn from making socks. The woman who made hers used all different colors for each heel. And……..I can’t find the site I saw this project !!!! I also have to tell you that I have sewn for years and I don’t have a decent pin cushion . So this is for me. 🙂

Update on my trip to the lady’s house that offered the free 18 inch doll patterns . I ended up taking two afghans for her. One was the baby afghan lovely and the other one was  the teddy bear one I made that was posted on my blog. I was glad that I did. She gave me about 110 doll patterns!!! So if you dont’ see me posting for awhile, it is because I am sewing…….or getting back to my sock machine. 🙂

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Another Passap Mug Rug

{ December 13, 2016 @ 2:33 pm } · { Babies, Gift, knitted afghans, Passap E 6000 }
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Hahahahaha, bet you did not want to open your email from me just to see another mug rug.   🙂

I made this baby afghan lovely yesterday. I told my husband I was making it for someone and needed an hour of uninterrupted time. I  surprised myself since I finished it in 32 minutes…..without a motor.

Now, I have shown this before and directions are posted in my blog. I have to tell you why I made it. My friend and I were in JoAnn fabrics and I saw a pattern for sale for an 18 inch doll. (Sister’s granddaughter has one and now making clothes for it) I asked the clerk if the sale included the doll pattern and she said she thought so but to check on the price check scanner in the store. I did and got the shock  of my life. The pattern was on sale at 50% off and the sale price was $13.70!!!!! I put it back and my friend and I started to have a discussion about how expensive patterns are nowadays. A woman approached the two of us and said she could not help but overhear our discussion abut the prices of doll clothes patterns. She then told us she has a ton of them at home along with her sister’s collection and we were more than welcome to them for free if we come and get them. She said she would like to know that someone used them instead of throwing them away. Whooooo Hoooooo……so we are going tomorrow to pick them up.

So in talking to her she said her eyes are failing and she does not sew too much any more and all of the children are grown. She mentioned that a grandson was  born in the family a month ago. So I decided since she was not charging us, I would make this afghan for her to give for the little baby boy.

On second thought, I could give her some sets of mug rugs to say thank you !!!!!!! LOL

Passap Christmas Mug Rug

{ December 12, 2016 @ 4:15 pm } · { Mug rug, Passap Double Jacquard, Passap E 6000, Passap Knitting Machine, Passap project, Uncategorized }
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Help! I can’t stop making these mug rugs. LOL This is a three color mug rug, Technique 197 , 40 stitches and 28 rows. The colors are blue, white and hunter green.  I duplicate stitched the ornaments on the tree and the windows of the church. The design is from the book Add a Seasonal Touch by Designs by Debbie. I took several rows out of the church and the steeple so it would not be so tall. I also put space between the tree and church since it was a 24 stitch pattern.  Oops, I forgot to put a star at the top of the tree. I put a stp and bmp file in my drop box.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fdt66f97qwauwzo/AAD7vXTM4eHqkKfO-0TbP_E9a?dl=0

Passap Crossed Cabled Pillow

{ December 11, 2016 @ 7:52 pm } · { Cables, knitting idea, Learning your passap machine, Passap E 6000, Passap Knitting Machine, Passap project }
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On the web site I mentioned in my last post   woman7.ru  , there is a hand knitted design of crossed cables. When I saw it I thought, I bet I can do it on the machine. So I picked my favorite , the passap ,and tried it. I am sure this could be done on other machines as well.  I thought it would look nice on a pillow to give it texture so off to my machine I went. It took about two days to make this and I wish I had more rows between the crossed cables. Why you ask? Because it took me a long time to do them. hahaha

I had the pillow form so I knitted 160 rows on 120 stitches using 2/24, two strands . There are 120 stitches on the back bed and the only ones in work on the front bed are   L43-47 and L34-38 for the first cable on the left. The middle cable is on L3-7 and R 3-7. The right cable is on R34-38 and R43-47. I crossed the cables every 20 rows starting on row 20 and ending on row 140. There are four needles out of work between each of the cables. The back bed lock is set at N and the front lock is set at LX with pushers in work position under the 30 working cable stitches.

First put the same color of yarn into eyelet two for the cables so you don’t have to break the main yarn. In eyelet 3 I put waste yarn.To do this  technique I knitted to row 20 and put all the pushers out of work on all the cables except the 5 stitches on the right cable. I set the back lock to GX and knitted 20 rows on the five stitches on the front bed. I took them off on waste yarn, put the pushers out of work and put the five pushers back in work under the next five cable stitches. I did this across the row until I had six long pieces of yarn. I then crossed the cables and put them back on the front bed stitches. Then you have to change the back lock back to N to knit the next20 rows and put the pushers back into work on all of the front bed cable stitches.

You can see it in the picture of how it is done .skvoz_uzori4

If you try this, I recommend waste yarn after knitting the 20 rows so that when you knit across on the other cables, the yarns don’t get tangled under the bed. Also, I put a piece of ravel cord with a bodkin tied to each end to give it weight so I could pass it between the beds and over the five cable stitches to pull on them gently when knitting so the stitches did not bunch up. I had to open the beds a couple of times to move the ravel cord down so it was gently pulling all of the stitches. When you put the stitches back on the needles , make sure the purl side is facing away from the machine.

I hope you try this just to learn the technique and the machine. When I started I cast on a sample of 40 stitches on both beds. I did a circular cast on and then transferred all the stitches to the back bed except the stitches for the middle cable.

By the way, I added a yellow star to the tops of my trees on my four mug rugs. I like them even better now. 🙂dscf3356

Passap Christmas Tree Mug Rug

{ December 10, 2016 @ 9:49 pm } · { knitting idea, Mug rug, Passap Double Jacquard, Passap E 6000, Passap Knitting Machine, Passap project, Passap Techniques }
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Okay, I know you are getting tired of my mug rugs but just had to share this one since I like it so much. I found the tree on a site and added the rest to make this .

I just made four for my guests on Christmas day so they can put their drinks on them.

At first I thought the site I found the design on  was a blog page but when I downloaded a translation app, it looks like it is a site for women. You MUST visit this site. It has the most beautiful knitted sweaters and designs. If you go on the home page, at the top knitting is under the home tab. Also look at the other tabs. There are designs for mug rugs. I don’t see any information on buying anything so still not sure what the site is for. I just made four for my guests on Christmas day so they can put their drinks on them.

Here is the link. Make sure you scroll all the way down the page to see all the beautiful items.

http://woman7.ru/rukol/uzori-spicami/1616-novogodnie-motivi-spicami.html

My mug rug is 39 stitches by 31 rows. 3 colors. 2 strands of 2/24 yarn. Technique 197. I had red as color one, green as color 2 and white as third eyelet color. I did cast on in red. N/N row was 1…/1…, two rows of CX/CX tension 2../2.. and last row of N/N and mug rug tension 3../3.. To finish, I just knitted two rows of N/N at same tension of 3../3.. and then took off with waste yarn knitting circular. I kitchener stitched to finish. To set up, use L19-R20.

When you finish the cast on and start to knit the first row, the end two pushers should be in the up position . If they are, the pattern is centered. In the pattern you will notice that row one has one red stitch on each end.

I have the files in my drop box at this link. You will see two stp files. One file has two e’s in name and one has one e in name. There are two designs for you. There is one bmp file for win/crea users.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fdt66f97qwauwzo/AAD7vXTM4eHqkKfO-0TbP_E9a?dl=0

 

 

 

Machine Knitted Santa Ornament/Package Tie

{ December 4, 2016 @ 11:00 pm } · { Brother Knitting Machine, Christmas ornament, Miniature, Short Rowing }
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I found a pattern in one of my books for a Sant pin, or tree decoration. I don’t know who the author is or where the pattern is from. I just know that it was in a file I have of all Christmas ideas. I decided to make him because it uses “pencil fringe” . I had never tried it though I have heard of it. I made this on my Brother 940.

This was so easy and quick to make and I think he is adorable. He is knitted flat and not stuffed. Because of the way this is knitted, the edges pull in making it look like he is. The yarn suggested was 2/15 or 2/20. I used Flash in white for the face and red for the hat. He actually sparkles if you see him in person. haha

For the beard I had a type of white ribbon yarn .

He is made by e wrapping 15 stitches in white yarn. Then you knit one row. The beard is made next using the pencil fringe. You will have a separate ball of white yarn on the floor to wrap around the pencil. You will start on the left  with all the needles out to hold and put the yarn around the end needle and then down and around the pencil and then back up over the next needle and keep doing that along the length of stitches. Then you knit one row.(You can knit this row by hand if you don’t want to take the carriage across) Then wrap in the opposite direction.For his beard, the first pencil fringe is made wrapping the pencil one time. The second row is made wrapping two times around the pencil and the third row is made wrapping the pencil three times. After this you move on to the face. Continuing on the same needles,you will put 5 stitches in hold on the next two rows. Then you will put one back in work opposite the carriage until you are back to 15 stitches. Then knit 5 rows and take off on garter bar or waste yarn.

Now you will start the hat the same way as his beard. With white, E wrap 15 stitches and do three  rows of pencil fringe but only wrap each row one time around the pencil. Remember to knit one row after wrapping the pencil. Put all needles to hold after knitting that row so you can remove the pencil . When you are finished with the three rows of pencil fringe, rehang the the face stitches that were removed on the garter bar onto the same needles. There will be 2 stitches on each needle. Knit one row of white

Now you change to red yarn and finish the hat. You will knit 6 rows of red. Decrease one stitch on each side and knit 3 rows. Then decrease 1 stitch each side every other row until one stitch is left. Fasten off and leave a loop to use for hanging on the tree or for a package ornament. (or pin)

I did use a tighter tension(5) for my yarn. I made my first sample with 2/24 and he was too long in the face. Also, use a loopy yarn for the beard. You want fullness. The loops of 2/24 were okay but did not make him look very cute. The pattern suggest sequins for the eyes and a pink sequin for the nose. I used black little pompoms I had and a red rhinestone for the nose. He is sure to bring a smile whether you wear him as a pin, hang him on the tree or put him on a Christmas gift. Hope you try him. 🙂

 

 

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