Now I love my knitting room AND bedroom

I've wanted to change my bedroom from the master bedroom to the guest bedroom for a long time but knew it was going to be a horrible job.  Luckily I had several friends who offered to help me and I took one of them up on the job.   TG I did that, it really was a nightmare.  First we moved all the furniture out of the master--to the living room.  A horrible job because the master bedroom is in the back of the house and this house is shaped like a house trailer, a rectangle with the bedroom all the way back and the living room all the way up front.   (well its probably not that far but when an old lady starts shoving furniture with the help of an old man, it seems like a long way).   Second we moved the furniture from the guest room to the master.   Those 2 jobs took us all day.  That night I slept on the futon now residing in the master/new knitting room.  I was so tired I didn't bother to let it down to the a bed, I just plopped on it and slept. 
Next day we moved things from the living room to guest room, now my bedroom.   I measured everything first to make sure it would all fit, luckily it did.   It looks great, I love my new bedroom, its a little quieter and darker which is fine, who cares when you're sleeping.   I left all my clothes in the closet because that would take a week to switch although it would be handier if I did but who cares? I can go back and get dressed, use the vanity in the back and then get on with my day.  Some day I may tackle the closets.  Maybe when the painter arrives (yes I've hired a guy to paint but it will be winter before he does that because he's a carpenter by trade, not a painter).  I'm not in any hurry because the guest closet has all my knitting, weaving and spinning stuff in it.  Needless to say I may never do it. Here's some pictures of the new room, starting at the door and going around to the left:

cover not finished, obviously

After moving all that furniture, I hand knitted a couple birds, hated to mess up the KM room so quick. The Bluebird came from a knitting shop in Federal Way, WA, the white bird was same pattern, different yarn and of course, different color.   The blue bird was a kit called "Bluebird of Happiness"  Now that I have a white bird too I'm calling them "Birds of Happiness" and plan on making a blackbird next if the LYS has black furry yarn.



Embellish Your Knits with Duplicate Stitch

Sometimes you don't want to do a big fairisle design and sometimes you might want to add a little something to your fairisle design.  Or maybe you have a special picture you want to add to your knit but you don't want to go to the trouble to program it into the machine.  Well, in those times, Duplicate Stitch may be your answer.   Its easy.   Look at the diagrams below and read the directions, easy peasy!

1. Bring the needle up through the point of the beginning stitch and insert it behind the point of the stitch above it.
2. Put the needle down through the beginning point and bring it up through the point of the next stitch.
3. Pull the thread through and insert the needle behind the point of the next stitch on the row above.
4. To begin the next row insert the needle into the base of the stitch directly above the last stitch made.
5. It is easier to do this row if the garment is turned 180 degrees. Duplicate this stitch as you did on the previous row.
6. To complete the first stitch on this row, your needle is inserted behind threads that have already been stitched.
7. Work from right to left starting at the lower right. (opposite for left handed peole). The graphics are placed on the page in the manner in which you will be stitching. The numbers here coorespond to the numbers next to the graphics.
8. We've found for best results, use DMC threads. Presoak the darker colors in white vinegar and water, allow to dry.
9. On a standard (7 sts, 10 in) garment, 6 strands of DMC work great. Before you start, separate the 6 strands and then put them back together, this makes them stitch fuller. Krenik metallic threads work great also. (We haven't tried the new DMC Metallic Floss yet)

HINTS FOR DUPLICATE STITCHING

1. Use cotton embroidery floss for your next duplicate stitch design, you'll be thrilled with the results.
2. To make the floss fuller, separate the 6 strands, wet your index finger and thumb and run down the single strands. Then put the 6 strands back together again. This will make them fuller and the wet finger method will keep them from twisting.
3. Make sure you have room in the designated area of the sweater to actually duplicate stitch your design. In other words, make sure there are enough stitches and rows.
4. If you want to use a cross stitch pattern on your sweater, remember that cross stitch is square, knitted stitches aren't. To get the graph correct it's best to use knitters graph paper. Any variation in knitting gauge will change the picture but not too much if you stick to a standard gauge machine sweater but be sure to rechart again if you want to work with a bulky sweater.
5. Before starting make absolutely sure your cotton floss doesn't run. To make sure, soak the floss in white vinegar and cold water and then rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse in cold water.
6. Make sure you have enough thread to complete the picture. Floss comes in dye lots just like yarn. I once had to start completely over because of this little omission.
7. Don't stick to just duplicate stitch. You can use French knots, running stitch, beads, buttons and charms to further enhance your sweater. You can even design a motif around charms or buttons.
8. If you are going to make your own sweater, try making it textured but leave the section where you want the duplicate stitch plain. For instance a purl lattice design surrounding a blank section would look great combined with a flowered embroidery design. If you don't have a machine that will do textures, try using baby cables (1 x 1 twisted cables). Try separating the textured area and embroidery area with garter stitch, using the garter stitch as a border.
9. Try combining duplicate stitch with machine embroidery stitches. This will look OK as long as the machine embroidery design is fairly open.
10. Don't wash and dry or steam your finished garment until AFTER you've duplicate stitched the design. Machine washing and drying acrylic yarn sets the stitches and you want the duplicate stitch to "set" with the garment.

Feel free to make copies of this page for your personal use or for use in classes.
The following copyright notice must appear on all copies
Copyright © Rosalind Porter, Piney Mnt., 1997-1999.

The information, patterns and images contained on this page are for personal use and may not be altered, converted nor uploaded to any electronic system or BBS nor included in any compact disk (CD-ROM) or collection of any type

Ideas for my quilt

Last Saturday I had the extreme pleasure of attending a quilt show here in Traverse City, the best part of it was, it was right up the road from me.  I don't usually go to quilt shows because I really don't need a new hobby but everyone knows I've been working sporadically on a crazy quilt using my embroidery machine.   So--I have 11 squares finished and am wondering how I'm going to put them together. I thought maybe I'd find a few crazy quilts at the show and I didn't find a lot but found a couple and got other ideas from other quilts that I found.   I also shopped till I thought my feet were going to fall off and of course, bought some fabric to add to my stash and the niftyest (is that a word?)  flower arrangement made with buttons that I just had to get.    Here's a few pictures of what I found and unfortunately I ran out of room on the SD card so couldn't get a lot, doggone it.   I thought I had deleted everything on the card but unfortunately....so oh well....  This is a  panel I bought that features Laurel Burch (my most favorite artist of all times).  Its a Christmas panel and all I have to do is add some quilt batting to the back, quilt around the edges of the pictures and add a backing.   I might even embellish some of the designs in the pictures.

Below is the button bouquet.   I have lots of buttons my husband made for me that aren't quite finished, I'm seriously thinking of finishing them and making my button bouquet with some of them and of course, adding some of my button collection to them as well.   Now its time for me to go visit some vintage shop for some vintage button.  Doggone it, I gave away my huge collection when I moved :-(.  I bought the florist wire stems from one of the quilt dealers at the show and she says you can get them at any florist shop (you probably knew that, right?)   If you look close you can see she sometimes has one button on top of another button, fabulous idea to decorate any room but mine is going into my sewing room. 

                                                                                   

 A crazy quilt below. To the right of it is a close up that hopefully will give you an idea of how she finished the edges.                                                                              Above is a denim quilt, using squares of old denim jeans.  My Daughter-in-law has made a couple like this and I took the picture for her because this person embroidered designs in every square.  What a lot of work but what a fantastic quilt for teens (or anyone).

To the right is another crazy quilt, this lady calls it Globe Trotting and has fabrics that are taken from places they've visited throughout their lives. Sort of the same Idea I'm doing, I'm personalizing some of my squares with embroidery designs that are part of my life such as knitting needles, design of a cute white dog, spinning wheel, etc, so I loved that idea and I think the way she finished it is how I'm going to finish mine, with strips of fabric between.  Love the globe in the middle, I might have to do something like that.

Laurel Burch Christmas panel I bought, I plan on backing it with quilt batting and sewing around the squares and maybe around some of the designs to emulate a quilt and then add a backing to it. 

Below, beautiful goose sitting in a basket, all hand sewn

of course. I want to make one, it reminds me of the cement goose I used to knit clothes for,

Goosie Porter I used to call her.  It irritated some people on the knittingmachines group so I had to shut up about her :-(.   If I make one like this I think I'll use outdoor canvas for the fabric so she can sit out on my porch in the summer.  Of course I COULD knit her a hooded jacket for winter, right?

Above is a bunch of quilted squares with a border around each one.  I took a picture of this because I liked the idea of different colored fabrics surrounding each square.   Obviously I need all the ideas I can get to finish mine and this is a good one since my squares are all different colors as well.  

If you haven't seen my 11 finished Crazy Quilt squares, you can go to http://flickr.com/rozporter  to see what I've completed.   Of course I have a lot more to go and lots more ideas, I'm thinking I'll hang my quilt behind the head of my bed when its finished because my dog loves to lay on my bed and play on it, I can't allow that after all this sewing, now can I?      Here's one of the latest that I made with a white doggie design.   My dog, Biscuit almost always  lays on his back when he sleeps so I had to use this design for my "Biscuit" square.

Just in case you think I've quit knitting, think again.  My knitting room is moving to the master bedroom and master bedroom is moving to smaller spare room but first the master room needs to be painted so I can't knit till I get things re-arranged  but I am HKing every evening while I watch TV.  After all, I can't quit knitting, its too much of a habit for me.

                                                                                  .

Fixing Windows Live Email's annoying problem

I just bought 2 Win 7 computers and both have Windows Live as the default email client.   The problem I've had with both computers and this software was, every time I type an apostrophe or quote symbol I got wierd symbols in their place.   I found a fix for the new desktop but when I got my laptop, I couldn't find the fix again.  Finally today I persisted in my search until I did find the fix.   If anyone reading this blog has the same problem, I thought I'd save you the search....here's the fix:

This seems to be a problem for people using Windows Live for their email client with Win 7:

Here's the fix if anyone else has the problem and wants to eliminate it forever.

[4] At HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Compose\Preferences\PostEditor\Autoreplace, set the data for SmartQuotes to 0 (thanks as usual to Peter.R for the fix).

If you're not used to editing the registry, it's best to be very careful so you don't wreck something. Start by setting a restore point:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-a-restore-point

Then:
1. With WLMail closed, type regedit into the start search box and press Enter. Give permission where necessary.
2. In the left hand pane, navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Compose\Preferences\PostEditor\ Autoreplace
and click on Autoreplace.
3. In the right-hand pane, double-click on each of the four Names where the Type column reads REG_DWORD. In each case, type 0 into the Value data box and click OK. Press F5 and then close the window.
4. Launch WLMail and test.
It worked for me, TG I found this, it was driving me crazy!!!

Making Buttons for your Knits

Slice up your own dried tree branches. If you take a branch off the tree, let it dry before you make buttons. Here in South Carolina, I find them in my woody backyard. They are as easy to slice as a piece of lunch meat.

You can actually slice up a whole branch in no time and they don't all have to be the same width or length, as you can see, some of mine have little knots on the side which I love.

My DH liked the ones with no bark but I loved the ones with bark so we did both.

After you slice them drill 2 or 4 small holes and lightly sand.

Soak them overnight in a (clean) margarine tub filled with satin polyurethane or shiny polyurethane (makes 2 very different looks). I like to leave the pins in the holes so they won't get filled with polyurethane.

Next sand both sides lightly again.

Once sanded pin them to a box, a pizza delivery box with sides intact is perfect, then go outside and spray the side facing with satin or shiny poly and let them sit outside overnight. I purchased some steel straight pins (you remember, the kind we learned to sew with? Because you'll be spraying the pins as well as the buttons, the pins are pretty much ready to throw away after you're finished with them. Don't worry a box of pins are inexpensive compared to the price of hand made wooden buttons. I left them in the house to dry since I live in a humid climate winter and summer.

Next day turn them and spray them again. Another light sand, another spray , let dry, spray other side, let dry and they're done. So you've sanded them 3 times and sprayed them twice.

After the first test one was done I sewed one to a swatch and machine washed and dried it 5 times that day while I was doing laundry. The test one came out just like new so I knew we had a winner. I've had my wooden buttons on a best loved cardigan ever since we made the first button back in the 80's. The buttons look good as new although the sweater could use a replacement. I always take them off the garment when I toss it so I have never run out of buttons.

When you sew them on, don't necessarily look at the dimension, try it in your buttonhole, it depends on width as well as thickness and the little knots on the sides, whether or not it will go through the hole so your sweater may have 5 different size buttons.

BTW, after you have finished spraying them with the poly, you can get some acrylic paint and a small paint brush and paint flowers or toys or whatever you want on them, spray that after its dry and you have a button that will match any theme and they look very different from the plain ones.

The picture above is just one of my buttons.  We tried several different kinds of tree limbs and each one looked different.  I think it was ash that gave us a larger lighter color.  We also used maple and cedar.  Cedar were my favorites.

Try a branch, I'll bet you love them.

New Garden Flag

Its been a while since I've sewn anything but I decided I needed to make a garden flag for the next Holiday, Labor Day.  I checked my files for the Tweets (birds in a tree doing Holiday things) from Embroidery Library.com but there wasn't a Labor Day Tweet.  Oh well, I found one called "What I'll Be When I Grow Up" and thought, perfect, it shows workers, a fireman, astronaut, pop singer, cowboy...and I added Biscuit at the bottom, wearing a fireman's hat.  Well, when I got it finished I liked it so much I didn't want to wait till Labor Day week to put it out so I put Happy Day at  at the top  instead of Happy Labor Day and put it out.
I made this one a little different from the others I've done.  I like the sterling chain at the bottom to hold the flag down in the wind so made a little casing at the bottom.   I did a rolled hem on the sides instead of sewing a doubled hem and I like how it looks.   I made the top casing wider so that I didn't have trouble threading it onto the flag holder which is a royal pain.   Then I tried to iron a fusible stabilizer to the back because the flag fabric is fairly thin and really needs more than the medium weight tearaway I have always used.  Also I didn't like the idea of a wash-away stabilizer because I didn't want to have to soak it when it was done but next time I hope I remember, the fusible stabilizer doesn't fuse to the flag fabric well.  You can't use a lot of heat on these things because hot heat will melt the fabric so I couldn't get it hot enough to fuse.  Doggone it.  I ended up leaving it half-way fused and hooped the tearaway, sprayed the fusible with sticky stuff to hold it to the hooped tearaway.  When I got done I had to cut the fusible out around the design in the back.  Pain in the neck but it looks ok so that's all that matters.  
The casing that holds the chain is a good idea, it holds down better than the chain I put on the last one (which I just tacked on when the flag was done).   So in all, I like this flag, every one I make teaches me something new.    The additional stabilizer was a good idea, maybe next time I'll use Badgemaster which is a washaway and I'll soak it when finished.  Obviously its the easiest way to go.
BTW, the flag looks a little wacky, the wind was blowing just a bit when I took the picture, hence the crooked sides.  Really, its straight.

Next project---I'm making another pair of socks once again trying the Interweave sock book called Favorite Socks, I'm learning with this project too, it calls for 5 double pointed needles, 4 in the circle and 1 to knit with.  I'm making Retro Ribbed Socks, one of the first in the book.   I had a heck of a time casting on with 4 needles but did manage to get started last night while I watched Housewives of New Jersey. Since its raining and humid out today I may just sit under the ceiling fan and knit all day.  This project requires a little concentration until I memorize the pattern.

EZs Surprise Baby Jacket

Note:  This sweater and blog post was done in Sept 08.  I knitted it for a contest my MK guild was sponsoring at the time, we were all supposed to make a BJS.  Only a few of us did it but it was a challenge I was pretty proud of.    I came across the pictures the other day, not sure why I didn't put them up when I knitted the sweater but anyway, here they are now, June 2011.

Well, I finally sat down and knitted this sweater and it took me as long to figure out what went where as it did to knit it. I decided to just knit per the pattern as written (http://www.junebugsplace.com/) and disregard my tension swatch because I just wasn't sure what went where. I striped it randomly just to see where the strips would go and they sure didn't turn out where I thought they would
I also couldn't figure out where to put cables and honestly, after looking at my finished product, I still don't know where to put cables so that they end up as hearts. OH well! I've now decided that with all the ends left with the stripes, I'm going to make a plain blue sweater and trim it with the other 2 colors somehow (to be determined when done).

Now that I've got this made with all the different stripe patterns I can at least figure out where I did what. The back turns out to be the biggest piece you knit between the shortrows. The shortrows become the sleeve backs at the cuffs and bottom front of the sweater. Its easy to figure out where the center front neck is, you have decreases there and they HAVE to be the front neck. When you look at my pictures, remember, I have packed my pins and so rather than pin it out, I threaded knitting needles through the edges so that I could see what I was doing and hopefully you can too. The green bit, by the way, is the beginning waste yarn. I ewrap cast on over it. (& that's the beginning of my knitting).

Here's the piece as it comes off the machine, the bottom is where I cast on

.

here's the back. As you can see, its the center section between the short rows.




Front, & yes, my stripes don't match up because I didn't try to make them match, I had no idea what part I was knitting when I made them. But I'm glad I did that because now I know, the right front is the beginning edge I knitted and the left front is the ending part. The short rows are at the front sides and theback sleeves at the cuff sections. Wierd? How in the world did EZ figure this out.??