FO: Choo Choo Hat for GS

January 16, 2012| LindyBeir| 0 Comment | 5:48 pm

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My GS is almost two and “Choo Choo’s” are one of his most favorite things at the moment. Now he got a train table and lots of trains and things to go with it for Christmas, but this Grandma just had to knit him a hat with a choo choo train on it. My first attempt was a little too tight, so I knit another a lit bit wider and it fit perfectly.

Since two year olds are always in motion when awake, it was a challenge to get him to stand still long enough to take his picture — But I was able to get one (and only one) good picture of him wearing his new hat.

Details: Knit with Paton’s Classic Wool in Blue, Red and Black on size US 7 needles. Pattern for the train is from “Patterns for Knitted Hats by Betty Lampen.

Lack of New PostsLack of New Posts

I apologize to those who read my little blog — I have not posted for some time due to computer issues.

About a month ago, my DH and I both got new HP Desktops with Windows 7 as the operating system. After making all the necessary file transfers, I got up and running and thought things were just dandy. The new desktop was much faster and I loved my much larger monitor (great for these old eyes!). Then, about two weeks ago, funky random things started happening as I was using my new PC. Things like the screen just freezing up — which caused me to go to Task Manager and force the “not responding” program to close. Over the next several days, this went to happening at weird random and unpredictable intervals to happening almost every time I went on to the Internet. And then, it also started happening when I was in other programs — including the game Solitare and even Word. And — it was getting so that Task Manager couldn’t shut down the “not responding” program — now, when it happened the entire PC locked up — and I do mean LOCKED UP! The only way out was to hold down the Power Button until the machine shut down….yep, a hard shut down.

So, last weekend I started researching this little problem. I had to use my iPad — ’cause my HP certainly wasn’t going to let me do any surfing on it. And I discovered that this is a KNOWN problem with Windows 7. I found lots of threads about this little issue — one of which had been going on in a forum for over two years. From this research, I gleaned a few helpful suggestions that I thought I might try. Now this surfing took me most of Saturday afternoon over the Memorial Day holiday. So Sunday, I decided to check out HP Technical Support and see if there was anything new or helpful about this problem. And you know what? HP had a technical article on this problem — along with a whole series of steps to follow to determine how best to fix this little issue.

Now — before anybody goes there — the first thing I did when this little problem popped up was to run my virus scanning software — I did a full scan of my hard drive. As we all know, a virus is the most likely cause of problems with your computer. My computer scan came up clean. No viruses.

So, what was the cause? It was most likely either a program I had recently installed or an update to Windows that had been automatically installed. The solution? Well, HP has a utility called “System Restore” that allows you to go back and “restore” your system to a point before that update — i.e. a time before the problem started happening. Full instructions for how to do this were given in the article. BUT — before I went forward with this, I decided to back up my files — and this took me most of Sunday afternoon. Then Monday I was able to go ahead and do the System Restore. I discovered that there had been an update to Windows just before I started experiencing my issue. So I took my system back to the point just before that update. Viola! No more freezing or locking up! Whew! problem solved.

Not sure what conclusion to draw from all of this. Clearly it is a known issue that can randomly occur with Windows 7 — but it doesn’t appear to be something that Microsoft has addressed at this point — even though it apparently has been happening to Windows 7 users since 2009. I find it interesting that HP has a solution for the problem in the form of a utility that allows you to restore the system back to a point before the problem started to happen.

Anyway — that’s my tale of woe. Now that I have a working PC, I can get to work and actually write a new post about my new vintage crochet pattern. Stop back in a couple of days — I should have the pattern ready and available.

WIP: The EZ Green SweaterWIP: The EZ Green Sweater

I have been knitting recreated Green Sweater from the pattern recreated by Sunday Holm from the original sweater knitted by Elizabeth Zimmerman. (Schoolhouse Press Pattern #13, Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Green Sweater). This sweater pattern has a charming history and you can read the story here: Channelling Elizabeth.

Now, I am a “sometimes knitter” when it comes to sweaters. I start them and I knit on them “sometimes” — for some reason, I tend to knit on my sweater projects in between other projects. This means that I take a long time to finish a sweater project once it’s started. So, I started this project over a year ago — and I knitted a portion of the lower body and then I set this project aside.

A couple of months ago, I took this project up again and knit on it quite a bit. It’s a very intriguing pattern. The sweater is knit in the round using steeks. Yes, I said steeks. Steeks are that technique that many of us knitters avoid — but one Elizabeth Z embraced and used extensively. I decided to do this sweater specifically because of the steeks — I figured it was time for me to master the use of steeks. In this pattern, there are four steeks. The first one is up the center front (the sweater is a cardigan), then there is a steek for each armhole/sleeve and the fourth one is the neckline. You basically cast-on extra stitches, in this case I cast on five for each steek, and knit them up with the sweater. Then you cut them apart in the middle. Yep — I said you cut them apart. That’s what’s scary about steeks.

Here are some pictures of this sweater in progress:

This is the center front, showing the center 5 steek stitches and the beginning of the armholes for the sleeves.

This shows the sweater with all the steeks knitted, before they have been cut.

I used the crocheted method for fastening the steek stitches on each side.

In these two pictures, you can see the steeks, all cut and awaiting further work.

I am now working on the first sleeve. I am about two-thirds done with it. The sleeve has a unique design, and I really like how it is knitting up. I’ll post more pictures of this sweater once I have the sleeves and the neckline knitted.

Some details: I am using Frog Tree 100% Merino Yarn in Colorway 909 Teal and using circular needles, size US 8 (5.0 mm).

Master Knitter Level I – Swatches #4, #5, & #6 – IncreasesMaster Knitter Level I – Swatches #4, #5, & #6 – Increases

Swatches 4 through 6 in the Master Knitter Level I program are all about increases. Specifically, each swatch demonstrates a particular type of increase. The increases are done on each side, with three stitches before the right edge increase and three stitches after the left edge increase.

Swatch 4 - Bar Increase

Swatch 4 demonstrates the Bar Increase. This is probably the increase most knitters first learned to make when knitting. It often written as “KFB” in patterns — which means “Knit in the front and back loops”. When you knit into the front loop of a knit stitch and then knit in the back loop of the same knit stitch, the resulting increase has a purl bump where the second stitch was made. It is clearly visible as you can see in this picture.

I learned a few things working on this swatch. Since I am now much more aware of my tension, I found that the purl bumps looked much better if I made certain I kept the tension even with both stitches. It’s much the same issue as when I had trouble getting even tension in ribbing.

Also, through my research, I learned that you should never make your increases on the very edge of your knitting — you should have at least one stitch on the edge before doing the increase. This makes it much easier and neater to do seams. This is something to pay attention to when you are knitting pieces that will be sewn together — I know I will practice this in my future knitting projects.

Swatch 5 - Make 1 Increases

Swatch 5 demonstrates Make 1 increases. On the right edge, I knit an M1R increase — which means “Make 1 Right” — this is a right-slanting increase. It is made by inserting the left needle from the back and lifting the horizontal strand between stitches onto the left needle and knitting into the front of this strand.

On the left edge, the increase is an M1L — which means “Make 1 Left” — a left-slanting increase. It is made by inserting the left needle from the front and lifting the horizontal strand between stitches onto the left needle and knitting into the back of this strand.

M1 increases are tighter and there is no purl bump on the front of the knitting.

Swatch #6 - Lifted Increases

Swatch 6 demonstrates the Lifted or Raised Increase. This is the most invisible of increases — and was an increase I had never used before, so the entire swatch was a learning experience.

Again, I knit a right-slanting increase on the right edge. This increase is done by lifting the stitch below the stitch on the left needle and knitting it.

The left-slanting increase on the left edge of the swatch gave me the most difficulty. I had to search out several different pictures of it in my references before I figured it out. The left-slanting lifted increase is done by lifting the stitch below the stitch just knitted on the right needle and then knitting it.

The best pictures and explanations I found of this increase, as well as the others, were in an online article at Knitty.com, entitled “Techniques with “Theresa – Increases”.

So, these three swatches improved my technique when knitting increases and I learned a method of increasing that I had never used before. Check out the article on Knitty.com if you want to explore these methods.