stripes and leftovers, and a dress, too.

old yarn,  new dress 

This dress is the result of a lot of leftovers from previous projects with the same kind of yarn - 2/20 50% linen /50% cotton.

I didn't have enough yarn to make a single color garment, but it's amazing what small quantities on 10 different colors can do!  Never underestimate the power of your stash!

Stripes are my best pick at stash-busting.

There are several stripe generators online, some of which let you even select how many rows you want to have as minimum, and the quantity in % of each color to use, but I decided to not do random, but to have a selection of pattern repeats that would please my eye.

I used to make my patterns in Excel, but now I'm more used to Gimp, so after swatching my yarn, and calculate the number of rows that I needed for my dress, I started playing with colors... after many changes, my final decision was this one!

All these yarn in small cones are 2/20  cotton/linen,  I
added a thread of clear monofilament to give it a little sparkle

Work In Progress! 

my gimp image with the color palette at the bottom

After knitting the front and the back of the dress, there is the finishing part, which is equally important: matching the stripes is key, and a good looking edge around the armholes and the neckline will make the garment stand out.

I sewed the sides with mattress stitch, for a perfect match of the stripes

sleeves and neckline edges - tutorial

handmanipulated stitches for a different take on chevron

self-striping yarn gives the best results (IMO) when used in a stitches that vreates movement, such as a ripple or a zig-zag.

this yarn was purchased at Lia Gallo 

this is why I wanted to make a simple boxy sweater out of this cotton yarn with my favorite colors!

from my Instagram

As you can see from the picture in detail, the columns of stitches aren't all the same size, and this is what gives movement to the pattern.

from my Instagram

I'm sure this can be created with the electronics machines, but ...
a- I'm not a lace card wizzard
b- the number of passes of the lace carriages would be insanity...
c-... I love a good OHM moment and use my transfer tools!

here's the video tutorial on how to make this stitch:

If you love zigzag and chevron ... I made a whole pinterest board dedicated to it!

have fun!
xox, d.

machine knitting: Miura-ori origami scarf

Miura-ori scarf on a domestic knitting machine (brother)

the finished scarf on my instagram @iamdonatella

Knitted fabric with pleats, folds and uncommon self-pleating patterns are not a novelty - think Issey Miyake "pleats please", but I thought that these kind of "origami-like" shapes would have been possible only on the fancy industrial knitting machines.
On social media, I've been mesmerized by the images of Drew McKevitt, Victoria Salmon and SJTextiles (check them out!)

To understand why and how a knit fabric folds in a certain way, I studied  Alessandrina's several blog posts, then tried over and over, starring and pictures of fabric, until I got it right (took me 8 swatches!) I was finally able to make the "Miura-ori sharp angles" pleated fabric on my brother machine. It's time consuming, but well worth it!

I tried the pattern in cotton 2/20 yarn with 3 strands, using the slider lever on the ribber set on I - but after swatching with the slider lever on II I liked the fabric better, it's perfect on either side.

arThrow pillow

my first "real" embroidery

I never thought I would have the patience to embroider something on a mid-size scale, but I was really intrigued by this EMBROIDERY PEN / PUNCH NEEDLE that popped out in "products you might be interested in" on my amazon... because amazon knows you better than anyone on the planet! 

So, I went through a folder of saved images on my computer to grab some inspiration that could be feasible in terms of difficulty, with the right color scheme for my bedroom, and last but not least, mistake-forgiving, since it was a very first.

The choice  for the color pallet came down to this one:

"pessimism and optimism - by Giacomo Balla" 

image from artnet.com

Since my pillow is square, I went for a similar color scheme, but using just triangles, in a "low-poly" sort of picture.

documented process from my instagram account (follow me!!!) 

tracing on the canvas

picking the colors 

the back of the work

 

and, finally here's the final look!

to finish the pillow, I pressed on the wrong side (no steam) some cotton interfacing fusible fabric to secure the threads from unraveling. I also sewn with a back stitch the perimeter of the design to the interfacing, so it won't get loose during washing.

The finished pillow measures 20"x20", I finished it without a zipper, just with an overlapping flap in the middle of the back. 

arThrow pillow on location 

xox,d.

twin set with a dropped stitch detail

it's pink... therefore it's not for me :)

This is a twin set I made last week for my mom!

The drop stitch pattern is achieved by knitting 9 rows in plain knit, and then 1 row with the ribber set onto H (half pitch) and all the correspondent needles into working position on the ribber,
then dropping all the ribber stitches by passing only the ribber carriage.
check out the video on how to play with all the dropped stitches possibilities by Susan Guagliumi here:

drop stitches video by Susan Guagliumi

I used a 2/20 50%linen 50% cotton yarn - and made a tension swatch for the plain knit and another one for the drop stitch pattern.

The tank top and the fronts and back of the cardigan have 5 stripes of drop stitch, while the cardigan's sleeves are knitted all in drop stitch pattern.

Here are my notes, with my tension gauge:

happy knitting!
xox, d.

sideways pullover

inspired by Vince & Anthropologie

my latest machine knitted pullover was inspired by Vince and Anthropologie's last year knits: although I always prefer to have long or 3/4 sleeves on my knits. 

top: Vince - bottom: Anthropologie

I found a schematics of this knits on a russian site, via Pinterest (of course...) and I decided to make something similar, with a very thin linen yarn, used in 3 strands (and it's still a very fine knit).

Here are my schematics - gauge swatch, measures, and numbers .... 

BROTHER KH930 + RIBBER  -  machine settings:

main carriage : tension 6
ribber carriage: H (for the full bed ribbed edge) - II - tension 8
GAUGE:
50 stitches = 13.8 cm
50 rows = 14.5 cm

The rounded bottom edge is formed with 17 needles in work on the ribber: increasing stitches (18 needles - use a deck comb or the 7 needles transfer tool multiple times) and decreasing stitches (19 needles - use a deck comb or the 7 needles transfer tool multiple times).

Front and back neckline are shaped by decreasing stitches (using 7 needles transfer tool) and increasing stitches (using 6 needles transfer tool) on the opposite side of the bottom edge -


I'm a size 0-2, but the pullover has a loose fit.

The top part of the sleeves are shaped using the needles in holding position, and then knitting the last two rows with all needles in work.

I casted on and binded off every piece on waste yarn, and then sew the open stitches with the "smiles & frowns bind off" by Diana Sullivan, and sewn the bottom of the sleeves and top of the shoulders with mattress stitch, so the seams are barely visible.

...this is most likely my last summer knit... time to think for Autumn and Winter :(

xox, d.

DIY: beachglass lamp

the beach is a great place to get... free supplies ;)

I love beachcombing: it's my favorite activity at the beach.

I like shells and pebbles, but my most favorite things to pick on my walks are the colorful pieces of shattered and polished glass.

So, over time, my jars containing beachglass are gone from small, to medium, to large, all sorted by colors (of course).

Yesterday I decided to do something that put together another of my favorite activities: knitting.

I knitted a long tube of nylon thread  (on my brother knitting machine 10 needles on main bed, 9 needles on ribber - tubular knitting setup - tension 7) 

I already had a wire lamp shade (I have another, bigger one, too that will soon see some action): made a provisional knot (leaving some extra room for finishing later) on a corner, then started to place some beachglass into the tube and wrapping it tight to the top, and keep going until all the four sides were adorned with colorful glasses.
The knitted mesh is quite elastic, and the glasses are secured in place and not moving around after it's being tightened.

It was a fun afternoon, and this will make an awesome present! 

I'm thinking to use the smaller size glasses with a smaller tube to make summer necklaces and bracelets! 

xox, d. 

machine knitting: plating - playing - plating

this is my first attempt in plating and loving it!

wandering on Pinterest, I saw a photo of a Japanese handmade knit and I thought it would be the perfect example to get familiar with plating... so this new summer knit was born, in my favorite color: hues of blues.

The construction is very simple, with regular rounded armholes and a deep crew neck.

I used a thick&thin 2/20 50-50% linen/cotton in a 8 stitches vertical / 11 rows horizontal pattern sequence.

Knitted on a KH930 + KR 850 brother machine, transferring the stitches manually from the main bed to ribber and viceversa, at tension 7 on both carriages (with ribber on I).

My swatch measures: 50 st 20 cm // 77 rows 19.5 cm 

Sleeves are knitted differently, to be able to follow the pattern, top of the sleeves are rounded by decreases at first, then using needles in holding position. 

This was a fun project to knit. Love how it turned out !

xox,

d.

empty squares - a Margiela (or not) inspired vest

Who inspired who, anyway?

I often look at designers' knits for inspirations.

And to knitting books as well.

This is a combo-story.

Empty Squares is my version and adaptation of a Maison Margiela sweater, and also in a pattern book that came out before the MMM. (but I did see the MMM first, anyway)

I made this vest as a test-knit: just to have an idea if I could get beyond bored to knit something like this or ... even worse, if I could stomach the endless amount of ends that have to be waved in (every empty square has two tails. Just-sayin') 

It's all knitted in garter stitch, and I wanted to enhance the square theme by making a mitered corners neckline and armholes. 

I used a cotton-base yarn wrapped in lurex in shades of light grey, black, royal blue and navy blue. (from Lia Gallo FB page - I used for this vest leftovers from a cone I got few years back).

I don't like the look of pooling yarn, so this was a good way to avoid any pooling - breaking the pattern every few rows.

I still want to make a whole sweater with this pattern, with the squared, more pronounced neckline as I did for the vest, in wool/cashmere. 

It might happen. Not sure, though!

I have a folder on my computer called "to-do-knit" where I place images from random e-shops. 

Maison Margiela - knit sweater with cut-out checks

I also happened to own  the Pop Knitting  book which has - a very very very - almost - identical sweater pattern in it. See for yourself:

...anywhooo: who inspired who? 

having said that ...

Peace out!

xox, d.

MK intarsia: Color Moves

Color Moves is an intarsia twin set worked on my standard gauge brother knitting machine.

the pattern is available for free on my ravelry store here : COLOR MOVES

Enjoy!

xox, d.

MK - oversized-er-er sweater pattern - free -

mystery linen yarn - again

I published yesterday a picture of my latest fatigue (literally) on my knitting machine, the "mystery linen yarn {finally finished} turned into an oversized, overseamed sweater.

This yarn is a B***H ! twists like crazy, so I had to make a pattern with some structure to be able to block it and tame it.

Not very visible on the large picture, but better visible on the detailed pics, the pieces are sewn together using the right side and the wrong side of the fabric, creating an even more detail.

Needles to say, my new favorite - at least, for now.

Patten, expressed in schematics, is on my ravelry page, for free.

Enjoy!
xox

machine knitted drawstring camisole

happy birthday, Nadia!

I love Pinterest because I can see what my friends like and make them things, always somehow late, for their birthday!

This was the case with the drawstring camisole from Purl soho, I had a gorgeous tweed linen yarn that I knew would be perfect for this summer camisole.

All info about my machine knitted version are on my ravelry  HERE .

I don't have much information about the yarn, purchased last summer... it's a cone with no name, no tags, ... no nothing. All I know it's linen and it's gorgeous!!

Have fun!

xox, d.