News and Views...

Back again. I was fortunate to go on a much needed knitting retreat in a wonderful Inn located in Sonoma, California. It was taken over by several members of our Machine Knitting Guild at the end of March! I think there were at least 15 machines set up, several people hand knitting and we even had a spinner on hand. Machines were set up on the patio, on the porch, in the great room, and some even in the dining room. It was an amazing weekend, such a great bunch of women. I wish I had my camera with me, but alas I did not.

My focus was to work on my pattern for the Baby 3 Button Kimono. I had made some changes to the design and wanted to knit it up and see how they looked. I knit them on the machine using Caron Simply Soft. I made four complete baby kimonos, using the time in the evenings to sew them together. So all I had to do was to crochet the trim. The point was I wanted to make sure that the pattern was good and I could duplicate it each time I knit it. All four came out really beautiful and I’m very pleased with the final prototype of the pattern.

The really good news is that I am knitting it by hand in order to write the pattern for hand knitting. I have had some things to work out, like what kind of increase would give the ease for the underarm curve and look good. I have both fronts completed and have begun writing the pattern. This is my first attempt at writing a pattern and it’s it not easy. I’m wondering if there is a software that will assist you in writing long hand patterns. I will have to do some research in that arena. If anyone knows of one, give us a shout out in the comments section.

Next installment I’m hoping to have my digital camera in hand and I will take some photos of the sweater to get you all excited about the upcoming pattern. I was also wondering if anyone would be interested in knitting it and be a tester of the pattern for me? Let me know in the comments section and I will contact you to find out what level knitter you are. I’m really more interested in the beginning knitters for this. I want to learn a couple of things. One: is how was the pattern to understand, and another is to see how long each piece took to knit. In the knitters’ opinion, did it take too long to finish or seem like you would never get done. Were any new skills learned?

Signing off

Leslie