Thursday, January 6, 2011

Knitting Tutorial

Evening everyone, 


On our Danger Crafts Group on Ravelry we are doing a KAL (Knit-A-Long) for Louie the Lovebot by Rebecca Danger


I finished my first one for Mark. 






I was asked to explain how I did the heart.....This is what I wrote on my project page:


  • With intarsia and knitting flat you can go backwards and forwards with your colour… in the round you can’t… (or should I say I have NO idea how to)
  • Generally …. when I change colours I wrap the old colour around the yarn I’m knitting with so it sits at the back of the stitch… on the inside… so the tail end is neatened off as I knit….
  • In the case of the heart… I used the same principal… but instead of carrying the orange through the entire row … I just carried it a few stitches past the heart shape & let the orange yarn “hang”. Then when I needed it again on the next row I passed it loosely along the back and wrapped it around the main colour 2 sts before the heart sts started again…


Unfortunately this was not enough so... Here's attempt number 2 with some pics....

Pic 1
Pic 1 - I've carried the CC (Contrast Color) Orange yarn loosely along the back
Pic 2
Pic 2 - I now hold the CC firmly




Pic 3
 Pic 3 - I pull the MC (Main Colour) Red yarn to the left and hold


Pic 4
Pic4 - I then pass the CC over my working yarn and hold firmly




Pic 5
Pic 5 - I then knit normally with my MC while holding the CC firmly
Pic 6
Pic 6 - Pass CC over MC and hold firmly & knit as usual....



Pic 7

Pic 7 - This is what the back looks like when you wrap your yarn.


Now we need to knit with the CC as we're continuing with the heart - we follow the same principle:

Pic 8
Pic 8 - hold MC firmly with left hand, pass CC over
Pic 9

Pic 9 - And knit your stitch with CC


Pic 10
 Pic 10 - Continue following the heart shape while wrapping the MC behind the CC


As I'm now at the point in the heart where it has a single MC stitch this is what I did....

Pic 11
 Pic 11 - Hold the CC firmly in left hand & knit with MC


Pic 12
 Pic 12 - the next stitch is a CC one so hold MC firmly & knit with CC


Pic 13
Pic 13 - Continue with CC following your pattern

Pic 14
 Pic 14 - Switch back to MC and knit as above


Pic 15
 Pic 15 & Pic 16 - Continue in MC remembering to wrap CC


Pic 16
 Now this is what it looks like when you've wrapped your yarn; Pic 17 & Pic 18

Pic 17

Pic 18

Well there you go...

I hope this has helped!!

Enjoy knitting and hope to see you online!!!


Alene



Saturday, December 11, 2010

Latest news



Mark celebrated his second birthday this week...

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Ayla's visit & departure

Here is Ayla in the car with Mark & Luke
 






 
Here is Ayla at James' office.... Can you believe his screen shot???


Ayla, Albert & Albert at our LYS Arthur Bales



Ayla and all our monsters (including our Christmas gifts)


Luke & Mark are sad to see Ayla leave

Ayla climbing in the box... last peek of sunny South Africa!!


Thursday, October 28, 2010

Arrival of Ayla

This morning Luke, Mark and I went off to the post office... and look who we found in the post box:

I've arrived safely Mommy!
Ayla was so excited when we opend up her box.... she said she had been little nervous being in there all by herself... but was glad to be out.





The first thing Ayla did when she got to our house was generously give the children her gift for them.










Mark and Luke were facinated with all the different flavours... I had to take the jelly beans away before the three got ill... (Thank you Roxanne they were soooooooo THRILLED)


Then we all went outside to show Ayla our garden.... She was shocked that the sun was so hot... and the sky so blue... where she comes from it's fall.


The boys gave her a HUGE cuddle to welcome her.


Ayla says, "See you soon Mommy... I miss you!"

Monday, October 4, 2010

Travelling Monster


Meet Samantha...

She will be travelling all over the world for the next few months. In our Ravelry group Danger Crafts, we have decided as many of us can't visit each other we would send our emissaries instead.

So Samantha (named by KnittingADD) will be mine....

Samantha was born less than an hour ago... I knitted her with Vinnis Colours Nikkim.

Vinnis Colours is dyed and distributed by a wonderful South African lady called Vinnis....

Would you expect anything less from me??? As Samantha will be travelling and representing our country I though it fitting that she would be made from a SA product... I'm hoping that this will allow others to see what we have to offer)

I will upload pictures and events from each of the monsters that visit us... Luke and Mark are so excited!!

Until then...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Ravelry Rules!

We are starting our KAL on the Alan Dart group



Looks good??

I'm knitting one for Cowboy Mark & one for Luke...

I've even worked out what colours were needed from my stash and as I want them to be slightly different I did a whole excel spreadsheet which I printed out to work from - mostly so I don't get them mixed up.

Luke's chosen a red shirt & blue jacket (no surprise there) and for Mark we chose a copper shirt & olive jacket....

There will be other differences as we go...

I've decided to knit it with DPNS... starting at the feet... I want to avoid seaming as much as possible....

Before I start I HAVE to finish Mark's monkey.... Fortunately he's nearly done....

Until next time....

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Natural Suburbia: Mamma4earth's Second Birthday Giveaway!

Natural Suburbia: Mamma4earth's Second Birthday Giveaway!: "This week my Etsy shop, Mamma4earth has been open for 2 years! To celebrate I am having a GIVEAWAY! My Etsy shop has brought me so much joy,..."