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Posts Tagged ‘color changes’

Intarsiamania II

Posted in knitting embellishments, Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I just had to share my latest pillow top with you.  Although it is still a work in progress, I have taken my “Intarsiamania” to a new level and have used it to create a relief sculptured design.    The pattern below consists of 3 levels; the base knit of daisies and background; the butterfly, then finally the spiderweb.

hexagon pillow -butterfly and daisies

I chose to knit up the butterfly wings at mid point in the design, so that I would not have the bulk of the entire pillow top to deal with.   Below is a close up of the completed butterfly.  All I have to add is the antenae.

Completed Butterfly

I have also rounded the main body out and stuffed it with yarn strands before closing the back.

It has become a very enjoyable knitting project.  The daisies also have raised centers, which I accomplished with the two tone Pine Cone stitch I developed while designing my, “The Quail in the Snow” motif.

I have charted the butterfly and will upload as soon as possible so that you might be able to use it for a project of your own.

In the meantime, I have been able to finish the second book on Intarsia and invite you to peruse its pages at your leisure.   This second book is focused on planning the project, marking up the chart, and choosing the best method of color knitting for the design.  Check it out.  A peek is just a click away!  Who knows, it might spark your adventure into color knitting.

Intarsiamania Book II

That’s it for now!!

Happy Knitting -KT

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Intarsiamania-My first E-book

Posted in Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today I just finished the first of a series of e-books focused on my adventures in color knitting.  It has been a real challenge as well as a great joy to put together.  My hope is that someone will get something out of it.  If not, then perhaps some member of my family will be able to “pick” grandma’s brain when I’m gone.

The 26 page book I am uploading for you is mostly focused on Intarsia, although I do have a section on knitting and purling with both hands.  The information and illustrations in it are from my experience in developing my designer pillow patterns, which are intense color knitting; thus the title“Intarsiamania.”  The book has two sections.  The first deals with Intarsia basics; the second, focuses on yarn management.

Capture

Painting with Yarn – Intarsiamania

I hope you enjoy the book.   I hope that some of the techniques will be helpful on your next color knitting project.

Happy knitting-  KT

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How to Read Seamless Intarsia Chart

Posted in Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I have been working on a tutorial that shares the method I used to knit this Intarsia design in the infants socks I recently completed for my new grand-daughter. One of the most important concepts I tried to illustrate in this method is learning to read the chart properly.   I hope that I succeeded in explaining it clearly.  If not, please feel free to contact me if you are interested.  Below is a photo of the completed sample.

elephant head sample

The second photo is of the back of the design before I wove in the ends.

elephant head design back

You can use this method to insert an Intarsia design in any project knitted in the round.  There are no seams, with only a few exceptions all yarn connections are made at the color exchanges.

Give it a try.

Elephant Head Swatch Tutorial

Happy Knitting – KT

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Another Knitted Pillow Off the Needles and on to the Couch

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This project has been particularly interesting, as I not only had fun knitting Intarsia , Armenian knitting and Fair Isle, but I also was able to combine three different types of yarns in this design.  The border was done in fingering yarn with lace weight wool and silk strands of  free floating chains riding over the top.

The chicks were especially fun to do with a combination of Aloft mohair, added to a ply of fingering yarn.  Their  3D look was accomplished by adding an additional  two strands of the black mohair to the belly and wing area.  Adding these extra strands automatically increased the gauge without changing the stitch count.  I was able to restore the  gauge around the area by filling the void with poly fill stuffing, then running a few strands of lace weight across the back, side to side, and top to bottom.   Taking up the slack with these strands, allowed me to contract the surrounding stitches back to their proper gauge.  The next move after blocking the top was covering the back with nylon net, (great stuff, by the way) and stitching around the expanded portion of the chicks,so that it would remain securely in place.

The  combination of the Mohair and the 3 D affect  made my chicks look like the little “fuzz balls” they really are.     They are the first thing people touch when they pick up the pillow and comment, ” Oh my gosh!  They look so real!”  And so they do.

The details on the legs, feet, and beak were done with duplicate stitches and crocheted chains of one and two plies of the various yarns.   The various shades on the hen are yarns that have been blended, using  of one ply of each color that have been hand spun back together.   Check out my post on blending yarns if you are interested .

So….the most clarifying  statement I can make about this pillow is that I was never bored knitting it.  It definitely was a challenge to my adventurous knitting spirit.

I also loved working with the free floating chains on the frame of the picture.  Of course as I looked at it more closely I realized this free floating chain pattern would look great on the bottom of a tunic, or the cuff area of a sleeve, or……..  Hummm????  Maybe?   …….

I have included a  tutorial describing the entire process with this  pattern.  I even included charts for practicing the process.  This tutorial is also on my “Fun Stuff”page.  It includes a sample swatch chart of the border for you to practice with.  Enjoy!

At present the pattern is available  in my Ravelry  and Etsy stores.

Again, it was an extremely fun knit.

Happy Knitting

KT

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Just for the Chicken Lady

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 14, 2012| 1 Comment »

I have a friend who is wild, and I mean “wild” about her chickens.  Having decided some time ago to design her a special pillow, I finally came to the conclusion that only a “chicken” would do.  Now, she isn’t into the average chickens, she prefers the exotic, and unusual, so enter the Golden Sebright Hen and Chicks.

This new design not only gives me a chance to do the many techniques of color knitting, but also gives me an opportunity to use various kinds of yarns for special affects.  The chicks are really little fuzz balls, so Mohair will give them a more realistic look.  The spotted area you see in the design is actually going to be a blend of black Mohair and one ply of beige grey fingering yarn.  I will also be using White Mohair on the chests.

The border was another matter altogether.  I wanted a lacy grid in the design you see, but cabling the black fingering yarn over the bronze, was much to bulky looking.  What to do?  I began to think “lace.”    I pulled out my lace silk and wool cone, and went to work, using white in the background, I worked “floating” chain loops between the stitches to form the design I drew on the pattern.  Here is the result.

This gave me the affect I wanted.  So I am now waiting for the Black lace yarn to be delivered, so I can get started.  Meanwhile, I will be knitting up swatches of the various shades and combination shades that I will be using in the main design, and recording them in my color chart for later use.

If you might be interested in learning how to knit these free floating chains, take a look at the “Wandering Chains” tutorial on my “Fun Stuff” page, or you can use this Floating chains tutorial.  I will be add to the info as I work on this project and develop the pattern for sale.

Just thought I would share –

Knit-tweaker

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Blending Colors of Yarn, Plus

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 13, 2012| 2 Comments »

Unable to purchase all the necessary shades I needed to knit up the Wood Duck pillow for my grandson, I decided to make up my own by blending two single strands of colors together.   In the illustration below, the areas where I have used the blended yarns are marked with circles of various colors.

The red circle indicates the Steel grey/ Iris heather mix.

 

The next combination  in the green circle, is a teal/dark green mix.

 

The blue circle marks the side of the body.  In this section I chose to blend the Suede color with gold.  This combination allowed me to transition to the single gold color without a definite line.

All this is to say that you don’t have to settle for the color combinations that are out there.  You can blend your own.

HOW ?

1.  Select you colors.  Peel off the amount you normally use in your colorwork ( I use about an arm’s length).

2  Separate the plies.

3.  Tie one end of the two strands together.

4.  Lay the joined end of the two strands in the palm of your left hand.

5.  Lick or moisten the palm of your right hand and rub the two strands together vigorously for about 30 seconds-

inotherwords, “spit splice” the strands together.

6. Wet your right palm again, now push down on the combined strand and roll it away from you about 5-6 time.  This sets the twist.

7.  Move the blended strand to the left, so you can work the same process in the next section of yarn to your right.  Be sure to repeat the same number of rolls when setting the twist.  Continue this process to the end of the strand.

Your finished strand should look something like this-

The above strand is a combination of “Pumice Heather ” and “Iris Heather.”

*  If you find an area that didn’t get twisted enough, just wet you palm and work a few more rolls at that point.

Next time you can’t find the color you need, you might try this out.  It’s fun to see what color combos you can come up with.  When I need larger amounts, I use a drop spindle to re-spin the two strands together.

Have fun- KT

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Cataloging My colored Yarns

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, tagged , , , , , , on April 12, 2012| 1 Comment »

Yesterday, I received my order from Knitpicks.   The box contained all the yarns I had recently ordered for the next two pillow tops I have planned.

 

As you can imagine from my previous posts on ” Needle Point  Knitting,”  I have drawers of Palette colors at my disposal.   So here I sit with still more to stuff in the corners.   But…. this time I am going to be smarter than before.  I have decided to catalog all my colors.  Why?  Using Pattern Maker to create my pillow top charts, requires that I choose  DMC colors for my palette; therefore, I need to be able to cross reference the colors available to me in the selection of Knitpicks “Palette” fingering yarns.    With that in mind, I took the time to make my life easier by taking care of the issue TODAY.

To get started, I picked up a couple of pieces of card stock, grab the scissors, and some school glue.  Next, I pasted some index cards on the surface, one for each category of the main colors, such as browns, reds, greens, etc.

As you can see from the photo, I  wrote the name of the color on the left, and pasted a double strand of yarn to the right of it.  The next step was matching it to the DMC chart, and writing down the number of the corresponding color.

I will tell you that you won’t be able to match them all, but you will be able to match them close enough that when you select the colors to use in PM, what you see will be very close to what you get.

I know this takes a bit of time, but it is well worth it.

 

Happy Knitting – KT

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Tension Issues in Color Knitting

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, tagged , , , on February 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The most beautiful knitted or crocheted work, is one in which the stitches are all the same size, and that goal is always before me whatever the project I am working on.  I know that I am “knit-picky,” but that’s just the way I am.  I even notice the uneven stitches in the photos in my knitting books, and wonder why they chose to use the picture.  I guess some people just don’t notice it like I do. That said, I thought I would share a tip or two on adjusting the tension in loose stitches without pulling out your knitting.

Adjusting Loose Stitches in Intarsia

I am going to share this technique with four illustrations.  In the first one below, you will see the loose stitch in a green box.  Counting down from the top row(the working row) you will see that the stitch was created in a “knit” row.  That means the right leg of the stitch must be lifted first (see #1).

Once you have taken up the slack, lift the left leg (#2)of the same stitch, taking up the slack as before.  Now, place your thumb on the stitch to prevent the yarn from slipping back.  Next, you will move up to the purl row, and begin by lifting the left leg of the stitch (#3).

Once you have taken the slack out of #3 and #4, move up to the row above and take the slack out of #5, beginning with the right leg.  Take the slack out of 6, as indicated in the illustration.  Don’t forget to place your thumb on the stitch when you are through adjusting it.

In the third illustration, you will see that I have move up again. However, this stitch is off to the left. Does it matter?? NO!!  The procedure is the same.  Because it is a purl row, you will begin by lifting the left leg of the stitch first(7).  Next, lift #8, taking out the slack.

Now that you have your slack yarn pulled up to the row you are working on, you can pull the rest of the extra yarn out by giving your working yarn a tug.

This technique works especially well when knitting an Intarsia design.   You can work across as many stitches as necessary.  Just remember to determine which direction the stitches were created with first, knit or purl.  You can also work across a row to the nearest color change and take up the slack yarn on the back of your work.  I will illustrate that in the E-book I am writing on “Painting with Yarn.”

Happy Knitting – KT

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Planning for Yarn Placement

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

One of the premier lessons in working with color is pre-planning.  Instead of just winging it, I have discovered that a few minutes of thinking through the placement of new colors, saves me lots of stress.   Because I chart all my pictures, it only takes a few minutes to go over the color changes and plan my attack.  My focus is always to eliminate  yarn ends that have to be woven in later, and to reduce as much bulk as possible.  Smooth and flat is the goal.

Below is an example of my thinking process –

Marking up the Chart

First, I look for those spots where I can work my new color in two directions.  The box in teal ( the eye) is a perfect example.

The “V”  indicates where I will make my new stitch by picking up the yarn in the middle of my long strand of white.  I will then have two long tails to work with.  One (A) will be used to go up the right side; and the other (B) will be used to go up the left side of the eye.  The “black” or center of the eye, will be worked with one single strand.  Just by using this method to work the white around the eye, I have eliminated 2 yarns ends that would have had to be woven in when the project was finished.

2.  The box in “yellow” indicates stitches that I have marked to be made later as “overlay stitches.”

3.  If you look closely, you can see two more “V’s” in the antler area.  Yes, I have found a couple of more places to use the double long tails.  I have also indicated the direction that I intend to work those ends.

All this is to say that no matter how you decide to work your color project, you will be much happier with the results if you take a little time to do some planning before you start.

 

Happy Knitting!

KT

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