My 2012 Winter Hat Project

I decided to try out some different ideas for a hat while I made some hats to send to the Grand Rapids Machine Knitting Club for their Winter Hat project.    Then  I bought myself a new jacket for winter (purple) and of course didn't have a matching hat so I had to get some purple yarn to match the jacket and make a hat for myself while I was in the hat mode.

The first hat (the one on top was woven with a boucle yarn and I wondered if it would even work as a weaving yarn, I had to double it but I loved the results.  The second hat used the same pattern only I wanted a wider band, this is the purple to match my coat.   Both hats have a flat crocheted flower on top with a tiny pompom on top of the flat flower to hide the hole at the top. 

 Beware, when you get the hat off the machine you're going to think it won't fit.   Here's a picture of the purple woven hat fresh off the machine.  Have faith, it stretches when you put it on your head.

You can try out different techniques with this pattern.  You could  put a fairisle band instead of weaving or leave the band off altogether or even slip stitch a few rows or tuck or not tuck.  My head measures 21 inches, the hat is only 19 inches around but that's because I live in cold country and need a hat that keeps my head warm when I walk the dog so I like it snug.   If you want to rechart yours to make it wider, just measure your head and cast on enough stitches to make you happy.  Since there's no shaping until you get to the very top, you could rechart it for the standard gauge machine with a different yarn or even the bulky machine.    Another note before you start, I have just discovered this yarn.  Its soft acrylic and knits nicely on the  LK 150.  Its very inexpensive and no dye lot.  I think its perfect for winter hats.

ROZ’S WINTER HAT WITH WOVEN TRIM

MACHINE:  LK 150 Mid Gauge 

YARN:  Red Heart Soft Baby Steps, #4 Worsted Acrylic (no dye lot)

Tension:  5

Fits 21 inch woman’s head snug

Gauge:   5 sts per inch, 7.5 rows per inch (using 2  LK cast on combs with weights or a metal rod* inserted in hem and 3 weights)

DIRECTIONS:

E-wrap cast on 90 stitches, every other needle,  (needles 45 – 45) hang cast on comb and weights

Knit across and bring out of work needles into work.

RC 0   Knit 60 rows

Hang hem on every other needle using the beginning cast on loops.  I used a metal rod to hold the folded work down as I  bring the cast on comb up to put the loops on my needles.  Leave the metal rod in the hem as a weight..  If you prefer to use your cast on combs, return them to the bottom.

Turn row counter back to 0

Knit 8 rows and turn work (knit side facing you)  

Knit 2 rows plain

Weave a contrast color yarn over and under every other stitch across then knit the weaving row and 1 more row (2 rows knitted)

Weave on the opposite every other stitch over and under the needles and knit the weaving row and 1 more row (2 rows knitted).

AT THIS POINT, IF YOU WANT MORE WOVEN ROWS, GO AHEAD AND DO THEM BUT KNIT A ROW IN BETWEEN EACH WOVEN ROW.   

You can knit plain now or continue weaving but remember weaving won't stretch as well as plain knitting.   I liked 4 rows of weaving which looks like a hat band but its up to you. 

After weaving, knit 2 rows plain.

Turn work (purl side facing you)

Continue knitting to row 35 then turn work again (knit side facing)

TUCK ROWS:

Bring forward every 4^th needle to D position and set Russel Levers to tuck “I”  Side levers stay on triangle.

K 4.   Set Russell levers back to normal  (“II”)  K 2 Rows. 

Carefully turn work, you can easily lose your tuck stitches here, I suggest not using a garter bar unless you are confident using it, I prefer to use a contrast color yarn and knitting at least 4 rows before turning.   (purl side now facing you again)
Knit 10 rows.

Transfer every other stitch to the right, put empty needles back to A position,  turn tension to 3 and knit 2 rows. 

Cut long piece of yarn (2X width of work) and take stitches off onto the yarn with a tapestry needle.

Sew seam with the excess yarn.

Finish with a flat crocheted flower or a knitted flower with a small pompom on top 

I don’t normally crochet but found an easy crochet flower that even I could make here:  http://crochet.about.com/od/easy-crochet-patterns/tp/flowers.htm

I found the perfect, very easy, tiny pompom directions using a table fork here:  http://vividplease.blogspot.com/2012/01/diy-how-to-make-tiny-pom-poms-with-fork.html

*I have 3 metal rods that i think came with the Incredible Sweater Machine.  You can buy metal rods at a hardware store.   I suggest since you have to have them cut  you get one that fits across half your machine bed and another one that fits all the way across.  My 3 are all 21 inches long and weigh 7 1/2 ounces each.  .

Copyright:  Rosalind Porter, 2012.  

Feel free to make these hats and sell them if you wish but don't sell the pattern.  

2nd Weaving Project

I decided to hurry up and warp the loom before I forgot everything I learned at R&M Yarns. Well, got out the warping board and put it together, got out my beginner book and figured out how much yardage I needed and how many ends. Got that all worked out but it ended up too short so I didn't add enough for waste (or whatever weavers call it). I honestly think I would have had enough if I hadn't tied on the back beam a bit too much yarn. I know, I know...the teacher told us to use as little as possible to tie on. Oh well, it went fairly fast really and I only made one mistake, twisting some yarn as I was putting it through the heddles. I was impressed with myself. Maybe I did retain more than I thought. Before the lesson, I totally messed up the yarns before I ever got it warped. I even managed to do the "Reed Substitution" because my yarn was 20 WPI and my reed is 12 dents per inch. So the book says to sley 0-1-1-1. Doggone, that worked although I wasn't so sure after I looked at it on the loom.

The weaving went fast really. In two days I had finished another table runner. There was one mistake I couldn't have known unless someone had mentioned it to me before hand, the yarn is a linen blend, really pretty stuff but it tends to fuzz a bit. I thought I'd be cute and do a twill pattern about an inch up from the header. It doesn't look like a twill, it looks more like a mistake. Then around the middle I decided to get cute again and that looks even more like a mistake. Oh well--live and learn.

Next, when I took the piece off the loom, I got out the beginners book again and learned how to do a hemstitch. I wasn't thinking straight, I was so excited to get this off the loom. Deborah Chandler says to read through the first part first and then do. Well, I read a little and jumped in (typical for me). If I had read farther, she says Linen doesn't make a very nice fringe. My thought was to take it off the loom and use the linen blend for my fringe rather than the plain old cotton. Well....I cut the cotton too close to the end of the work and if you're a weaver, you know what a mistake that was.

In the end, it didn't really matter, this was just the first practice piece without the teacher standing over me banging my hands with a ruler (wait---that was in school when I took typing). I luckily realized what I had done wrong before I cut the second end. I went ahead and made my fringe with the cotton and it looks great on the second side but the first side is a bit rough. Lesson learned!!!

Next I decided to see how machine embroidery and weaving do together. So I embroidered a design in the middle and on the 2 ends. Doggone--that looks great if I do say so myself.

Here's the pictures of what I've done.



I love how the embroidery turned out and since its my goal to combine all the fun things I do, machine embroidery and/or machine knitting along with weaving, I can see that its going to work just fine. Naturally I don't mean I want to do all 3 on everything, but its definitely do-able.

Weaving-new to me

On June 9th I went to Chattanooga, TN for a weaving lesson on the Schacht Wolf Pup. It was sponsored by R&M Yarns (www.rmyarns.com). I bought a Schacht Baby Wolf (next step up from the Pup) from a lady in Greer, SC, advertised on Craigs List. It was a 2-half day lesson, teaching beginners, how to figure your warp length, how to warp the loom and how to weave. Stuff I sure didn't know although I have woven on a rigid heddle loom it is the same in some ways and not the same in some ways. Here's a picture of the loom I was working on during the class after I had it warped and started weaving: And here's the finished table runner I made in class:
I was thrilled with the class, we really learned a lot and I was anxious to get my loom up and running. So when I came home, with a huge cone of cotton yarn I was all set to start. I knew I had some linen blend yarn at home so I was all set to make myself a linen table runner. I got out my notes, my book (Learn To Weave by Deborah Chandler) and gathered my tools. I suspect I made a huge mistake in the size, but that's ok, I'm learning. I also screwed up the warp but managed to fix that. I have a lot to learn but I learn best by my mistakes.

Here's the result of what I learned (so far)
My loom Room:
Almost done:


OK, you're saying, gee her work doesn't look all that even, is something wrong with the warp? Well, I hope not. What happened is, I don't have a 10 dent reed and so according to the book, you can make do with a 12 dent reed if you skip every 4th heddle. The author says it will even out in the wash. It makes sense to me but I don't really know how much it will even out and it doesn't matter, I've learned a lot in this first project. I've ordered a 10 dent reed, I ordered a pin to hold the beater bar steady, I found all my weaving tools and put them together in a box so I can find them next time and I'M WEAVING!!!!

I suspect this first project is going to be too short but I don't really know how much too short and that doesn't matter either, I'll use it anyway. I wish now I had warped the loom with the linen yarn but that's OK too because I have tons of this linen blend so I can make another one. This is turning out to be a pretty nice fabric and I'm thinking I'm going to do what I love to do the most---combine my hobbies. I think I'm going to embroider something in the middle of it and use it as a dresser scarf. Next I'm going to rewarp the loom--doing what my teacher taught me, tie off the warp that's already on so I can easily rewarp using what's already been done...yaaay for her for showing me that and yaaay for me for taking the work off early the second day of class because a storm was coming and I had a long drive home.

I've notified R&M Yarns that I'm definitely interested in their intermediate class and I already know I want to make towels. I always wondered why weavers loved towels so much but now I suspect I know. Its fun doing different patterns. Same as knitting :-) There's so many comparisons between weaving on a loom and knitting on a machine, its very, very similar and just as much fun I'm learning.

So--that's what I've been busy doing since my last post on this blog. I'm having a blast. I love learning new things.

Look What My Friend Made

Today a friend came over to visit. Helga has 3 or is it 4 floor looms, she is the member of our local guild that we consider "The Color Lady" And if you click on this rug she wove, you'll see why. I've never seen anything she ever made that wasn't like this, beautiful colors artfully put together.

The colors just flow, she is soooo talented in her weaving, don't you love her rug? Its warped with 8/2 cotton of different colors as you go across and then woven with fabric. SO beautiful.

Now look at the fabulous sheep she needle felted.













and this gray curly one, is spectactular

OHHH, the best of all? She gave me this curly sheep. I just love him and gave him a place of honor on my entryway table, next to the dogs I made. Now I want to quit packing and get out my needle felting tools. Surely I have some curly fleece. I really want to make one like this.

Finally a UFO is Done

I think its been 2 years since I started this project. A lot has happened since then but I finally decided to get back to it. Of course, after sitting on my loom for 2 years it needed some TLC before I could actually work on it again. One of the reasons I didn't finish it was because there was one thread not tied onto the back beam. My weaving friend came over and helped me ready it for weaving again. What a mess, I was tempted to just take it off and dump it but I really liked the colors and wanted to finish it.

My original objective for this project was to figure out the length so that it would fit my table with extra to hang over the edges. Not as easy with weaving on a loom as weaving on a knitting machine. I also wanted to work on edges, trying my best to make them nice and neat, which isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I achieved the first objective but the second one -- well, the edges leave a lot to be desired. I think the choice of yarn has something to do with the finish as well because its a hard cotton yarn (Cotton Fine from Brown Sheep). I love the yarn but I'm afraid all the flaws show because there's no "fuzz" in the yarn to hide weaving in ends and that sort of thing. The places where I had to rewind the bobbin and start with a new thread really show, I'm not sure why but I'll bet my weaving friends can tell me how to eliminate that little bulge you get when you weave in the ends. UGH!

I want to start another one but I have told myself I have a lot of UFO's to work on first and the loom is going to be taken apart and packed for moving. That should keep me focused on UFO's.