Posted in Uncategorized on December 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Posted in Uncategorized on December 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I recently started another website for the purpose of uploading all my “Low Carb” recipes. The link below will take you to the site should you be interested in uploading my free e-book, or just taking a peek at what I have to offer.
One of the latest recipe I posted is a doughnut recipe. I have to say that even people who are not into low carb eating seem to enjoy them immensely.
I will be removing the current page on this site, as I want this to be dedicated to knitting.
Check it out!
K-T
Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged circle needle, colors, double-knit design, nordic knitting, short rows, socks on December 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »
This is my latest knitting endeavor. This sock is knitted in Fair Isle, with a double heel and toe.
Below is the inside of the sock. You can see that the toe and heel are smooth, as the knitted side is on the face.
I accomplished this by first setting up the heel section for double knitting ( knitting and purling in the same stitch with the appropriate colors). The next step was to put the white(or inside stitches) on a #0 circle needle, letting them ride on the cord while I knitted the short row heel in purple. Once the outside heel was done, I simply slipped the “white” stitches on to my #3, and completed a duplicate heel. Next, I matched up the short row turns, connecting them together with one ply of the yarn. I did this to keep the two heels in proper alignment.
** One trick I learned with this experiment was to set up for the double knitting with a size smaller needle. If you don’t, then you need to take the slack out of the stitches before you start knitting the heel/toe, working from the right to left toward the working yarn end.
The next step was to join knit last row of the heels together. From here I continued the pattern of the instep and heel.
At the toe portion, I repeated the heel procedure, joined the two toes together as before, then Kitchener stitched the final stitches to the remaining stitching of the sole.
The heel and toes are soft and padded. The extra thermal layer should give me the extra warmth and flexible room to wiggle my toes in. 🙂
The basic sock is knitted form the top down, and is tapered in to fit my leg. I had the star pattern from another sock. You could use any of your favorite designs for this sock.
Design your own.
I will be working on a demo for the heel and toe, and will upload it when it is finished.
Knit-tweaker
Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged circle needle, knitting charts, short rows, socks, toe-up sock on November 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »
While completing the heel section of my husband’s new pair of boot socks, I played around with different needle arrangements that would take the strain off the short row closures. What I settled on was the following method.
First the set-up.
I use one 47 inch circle needle to make all my socks. I always label the top of the sock as riding on NA( needle A), and the heel or bottom of my sock, as NB(needle B).
When I am ready to make the heel, I now pull out a loop of my needle cord in the center of the top of my sock(section A). I do the same for the heel section B.
You can see the arrangement above. As I was working a wedge heel,(or Sweet Tomato heel) I marked the beginning of my short row turns with a marker. In the picture above I have completed one wedge and it is hardly visible.
This arrangement of needles definitely takes the strain off of the yarn bars between the short rows turns, and makes the closing round much easier to accomplish.
Just thought I would pass along this tip!
Happy knitting!
KT
PS- I have added recipes to my low carb e-book. Check it out.
Posted in Uncategorized on September 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I just had to share the project that I worked on today. As a bit of background, my husband and I eat basically low carb, and I am always trying to come up with new ways to” have our cake and eat it too.” That said, my husband is a hamburger lover and he really feels deprived when he has to go without. So….. to remedy the problem, I have come up with a hamburger bun recipe that has but 2 carbs. Below is a peek at the result.
I have created a PDF recipe for you to upload if you desire.
I have to tell you that he was really impressed. They are light, tasty, and stay together well, even with a juicy piece of hamburger, onion, fresh home grown tomatoes, and the works resting between the layers. They, of course, cut easily with a bread knife. I have also used them to make open face grilled cheese, and tuna sandwiches.
I hope you enjoy them.
Now I can go back to knitting his socks. 🙂
KT
Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged Armenian Knitting, colors, duplicate stiches, fiber arts, intarsia, knitting charts, pattern, pillow on August 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »
As I was contemplating the possibility of beginning on one of my latest pillow designs, I thought it might be fun for me to share my thought process with you.
Below is a clip of the condensed chart, which gives me a view of “what you see is what you get,” with a 33 % view.
The design is from a simulated stain glass window that I created for my home in the mountains of Idaho. I painted the original on plexiglass then mounted it on the window of my kitchen door. The knitted design incorporates the frame, but I have added a South American butterfly to my Dogwood flowers, instead of the original Hummingbird.
You will notice that there are 2 separate rings of colors surrounding the center motif. The first, or outside ring, shapes the pillow. The black edges will be knitted as part of the design. The technique I use for this is called Armenian knitting. I will be using 2 colors in each section and will be weaving the unused color in every other stitch. This will give me a bit of a textured look, simulating old rough glass. Any additional colors I might desire will be added using a single ply of the selected yarn, and applied as a duplicate stitch.
The second ring will also be knitted using the same technique, but this time the lines you see with be inserted after the work is finished. This will give me the option of using an embroidery stitch or crocheted chain to add this detail.
The center motif will be created using the Intarsia knitting technique described in my e-book.
To begin, I roll all my colors into small balls. Next, crochet thread, and crochet hook, I make a chain long enough to support the number of stitches on the bottom edge of row#1 on the chart, plus 10. Breaking the yarn, I leave a 6 inch tail, pull the yarn through and tied a loop in it. This chain provides me a base for my provisional cast on.
Turning this chain over to the back side, I count in 5 loops from the end before I start picking up the stitches of the first row, inserting the tip of my knitting needle in to the single back loop of each chain stitch. When all the necessary stitches have been placed on my knitting needle, row one of the chart has been completed.
The next row(purl) begins by adding a stitch. You can do this anyway you like. I will be using the following method: knit in front and back of same stitch at beginning and end of row for right side rows, then purl in back and front of stitches at beginning and end of purl rows. This gives me a more compact addition.
I can’t wait to see the results of my labor. Once I get started with one of these patterns, it is hard for me to put it down. I love seeing the picture develop, one row at a time.
I am going to drop this pillow top chart into my Designer Pillow page. You can also upload this 18 by 18 pillow top chart here.
stain glass pillow design chart
All the yarns are Palette by Knitpicks. The gauge is 9/12 using a #1 needle
One skein of each color is sufficient. You can also use fingering yarns from your stash. I have chosen to used “heathers” for the darkened areas, in the outside ring. I work with long strands of each color and spit splice yarn additions as needed.
I have not decided what kind of back I will create for this design, but there is plenty of time for that later. This is definitely not an overnight knitting project.
Below is a photo of what I see on my computer screen using my Pattern Maker Pro.
If you have this program, then I can send you the actual file to work with.
The second photo is a shot that shows how I number the larger areas of stitches, which helps me to read the chart.
It may be a bit hard to see, but I have inserted the stitch count of the main color.
Happy knitting – KT
Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged colorworks tips, intarsia, pattern, pillow on August 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I haven’t posted for a while as I have been in the process of moving to our new home, so as you can imagine, there has been very little time for knitting, but alas, my Equine Sunset designer pillow is finally finished. As a final touch, I added a short fringe to complete the project. Below are photos of the front and back. You can see that I added my grand-daughters initials in the lower right corner to break up the solid black back (I get board easily when knitting solid colors).
Front
Back
There are a couple of tips I want to share with you in regards to this design:
1) When working on the back, check your gauge often. Why? Sometimes when you are switching back to a solid color after working with intense color changes there is a tendency to tighten up you gauge.
2) When trimming your fringe, lay it over your fingers so that the trimmed yarns fall on the solid black back, and NOT on the light portions of the front design. Why? You will be picking off the black yarn tips for hours just to clean up your picture. How do I know???? Guess!!!
Here is the pattern. equine sunset pillow pattern and notes
In the past I have made and effort to include all the special instructions with every pattern design, however since I have written the e-books for you to download free, in the future I will be only uploading the charts of the designs, the yarns required, and the necessary knitting notes. However, if I do anything different than what I have previously posted for you, I will include it in the pattern.
In the case of “Equine Sunset,” the back chart will not be included. You can work up your own chart, or knit it plain.
Happy knitting – KT
Posted in Knitting Projects, Uncategorized, tagged colors, fiber arts, intarsia, needlepoint knitting, pillow, yarn on June 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »
In the middle of trying to purchase and move into a new home, I have been working on a pillow design for my “horse loving ” grand-daughter’s birthday. I just finished the top last night, and finally have it blocked on my zero circle needles. Here is a peek.
The back will be a solid black, with her initials in the Chickory blue of the sunset. I will be finishing it off with 1 1/2 to 2 inch black fringe.
By the way, the designed sunset was taken from a photo. The colors and contrasts were stunning. Believe it or not, there are those who don’t believe that this is from a photo, but then maybe they haven’t observed the beautiful tapestry of colors that God created in our universe.
As always, I will add this to the charted designs on the “pillow” page as soon as I have time. It may be a while, as I need to settle in my new home first.
Just sharing- KT
Posted in Knitting Projects, Uncategorized, tagged double-knit design, fiber arts, intarsia, kid mohair, knitting on May 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Today I finished my Red Hat Silkie pillow. This has been a joy to work on, and soon I will be sharing the pattern on my Designer Pillows page, but for now here she is ready for her debut in Southern Idaho.
Here is the back-
I love the floating red chains over the purple background. I think this would make a lovely fabric for various projects.
I hope to make a video of the the process soon, as this color combo should make it very easy to see. Will upload it ASAP.
KT
Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged crocheted chains, fiber arts, floating chains, intarsia, kid mohair, needlepoint knitting, pillow on April 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »
This project has been a delight to work on. It not only is colorful but has given me the opportunity to use various yarns and weights in the same project. My Red Hat Silkie pillow is also another of my knitted sculpture designs. Below is a photo of the top blocked on the needles, awaiting the back portion to be finished.
This project incorporates, lace weight floating chains over a fingering yarn base, lace weight mohair in different strand counts to create raised areas in the design for the sculptured relief, a lace weight crocheted ruffle on the parasol, and crocheted chain detail on feet, hat and swirls.
Below is a photo of the sculptured relief areas.
As you can see I concentrated mainly on the chest and tail area. I was able to accomplish this by just adding an extra strand of the lace weight mohair when knitting in these spots. I used 3 strands for the flat, and 4 strands for the raised. It worked great! As in all my sculpted designs, it is secured on the back with a 3 step process.
1) encircling the area with a yarn strand, or strands, then pulling in the area to return to the original gauge
2) filling the area with yarn or fiber fill
3) over laying the area with netting or Tule, then stitching it down with a single ply of the appropriate yarn color. this insures that it will hold it’s shape, even when it is washed.
I can’t wait to get the back done. The design for the back uses the same floating chain design as I used for the front.
I will update the photo of the finished produce soon, as Ms Silkie is scheduled to make her debut at a Red Hat gathering in southern Idaho in May.
Just thought I would share-
KT
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