Category: machine knitting

The pieces of a stripy sweater laid out on the floor as if they were sewn together. The stripes are gray, blue, and green - on the sleeves the gray stripes are wider, and on the body the blue stripes are wider. 2

machine knitting / sweater

In Which the Pirate Has Pieces of a Sweater.

Well would’ja look at that, it’s a stripy sweater! All four pieces are done. I basted them together and tried on the sweater, and it doesn’t not fit! It may be one stripe longer than necessary, and there may be a little weirdness with slight tension differences between the blue yarn and the others, but I made a sweater! Well, almost. I still have...

Two white and two navy blue skeins of sock yarn. They are neatly tied and folded, but the yarn is squiggly from having been knit and unraveled. 2

machine knitting / sweater

In Which the Pirate Swaps Stripes.

Remember that time I knit a sanquhar-inspired scarf with little skulls hidden in it? It’s not that it was a bad idea, it’s that my execution was off, and so was my estimation of whether I actually wear scarves. I’ve been looking at this thing all winter going “okay, but it’s too long and too thick to be comfortable, and not only does my...

Tension swatches of yarn in medium gray, kelly green, and navy blue. 2

machine knitting / sweater

In Which the Pirate Starts a Sweater.

It’s (finally) time for a machine-knit fingering weight sweater! I chose three yarns out of my stash – two skeins of gray, one of a bright kelly green, and one navy blue. First, swatching. I tried each of the three yarns on tensions 5 and 6, and decided that T5 felt better, and was less see-through, without being so stiff that it won’t feel...

A wrap-around baby sweater in tonal aquas and blues, with two bright yellow crocheted buttons. 0

machine knitting / things for babies

In Which the Pirate Knits a Tiny Sweater.

I actually knit this sweater early last year, but the baby only just made an appearance a couple of weeks ago, so it’s been a secret ’til now… The pattern is the Lilly Sweater, which seemed like a good way to use a skein of cotton-blend sock yarn and practice machine knitting all at once. I used Plymouth Sockotta, which I used to knit...

One pants leg, unseamed, lies at full length on a wooden coffee table. The stripes are an incredibly garish collection of 1970s colours: mustard yellow, brown, steel blue, and some jacquard-looking stripes as well.

machine knitting / pants

In Which the Pirate Attempts to Knit Pants.

Seven years ago, I bought the world’s ugliest yarn (I love it though) intending to knit a pair of EZ’s “Nether Garments”, because what could be cozier than woolen long-johns? Except it never happened, possibly because every time I thought of starting the project, I thought about how long it would take… and put it off again. Then I got a knitting machine, and...

Two hand-wound balls of laceweight yarn in white and purple-gray. One strand of yarn is over a penny to give a sense of scale. The yarn is very fine.

machine knitting / stash / yarn

In Which the Pirate Reclaims Yarn.

Mom and I had planned to go to Maryland Sheep and Wool last weekend, but the sheer volume of rainfall was going to turn it into Muddyland Sheep and Wool instead – so we stayed home. It was a disappointment to miss the festival, but I think we made the right choice. Remember last April when I knit the Puppies wrap and I accidentally...

A pair of red socks with blue toes and heels, and a band of skulls and crossbones at the cuff.

colourwork / machine knitting / sock / sweet tomato heel

In Which the Pirate Finishes the Pirate Socks.

These socks have been an absolute journey. My first attempt was too small, and I didn’t realize it until after I’d knit down past the heel. My second attempt, after recharting the skull and crossbones section to have eight more stitches in it, was upside down – and I still wasn’t happy with my fine gauge colourwork on DPNs. (Uneven. Puckery. Not nice.) I...

Pirate models the colourblock sweater, which is basted together at the seams and still missing a neckband.

machine knitting / spinning / sweater

In Which the Pirate Seams a Sweater and Gets a Surprise.

The surprise part has to come first, because I am just so excited about it – I put my name into Spinolution‘s annual drawing for a Pollywog wheel and… I won! I got this email yesterday: And I’ve spent quite a bit of time since it showed up in my inbox alternating between dazedly commenting, “I won? A spinning wheel? Whoa!” and reading reviews...

The back and two sleeves of a colourblock sweater - cream at the top, light grayish tan in the middle, and darker brown at the bottom.

machine knitting / sweater

In Which the Pirate Works on a Sweater.

With Michael’s assistance in wielding the measuring tape, not to mention with the gauge math, I was able to convince Designaknit to provide something resembling a pullover pattern. I don’t really understand a lot of the UI choices in DAK, but I’m trying to ignore that and move on to just making garments. So! I began with a sleeve… And then I knit the...

A ball of yarn with the green-blue-green gradient visible on the top edge.

hat / machine knitting

In Which the Pirate Finds New Ways to Foul Up.

This hat. This hat has been giving me so much trouble. I ordered the yarn online and was hoping for blue-green-blue, but what I got was green-blue-green. Four rows into the knitting, I made the rookie mistake of picking the project up inside-out and knitting in the wrong direction. So I started over, knit the ribbing, and… not only was the hat coming out...