Slip Stitch Colours

Sl St Colors.

sl st colors

   Slip stitch colours is a really simple way to mix up colours, almost as simple as knitting coloured rows but looks loads better.


   I was put off mixing colours up for a long time because the back of the work is usually messy and I don't like that. With slip stitch colours you don't get any loops at the back of your knitting, though your work will be thicker but I think this is a good point and make use of it as padding for protection or added warmth.

slip stitch colours

   The square swatch in the top right hand corner was my first attempt at slip stitch colour knitting and used 3 colours. The other three only use two colours and there done with some nasty fuzzy yarn.

   To do the 3 colour one you need to...

• Cast on 4 plus 2 stitches.

• 1. knit the first row with yarn A

• 2. Pick up yarn B and purl the first 2 stitches, then holding the yarn in front, slip the next to stitches. P2, sl2 to the end.

• 3. Still with yarn B knit two stitches then holding the yarn at the back, slip the next two stitches. K2, sl2 to the end.

• 4. Swap back to yarn A and purl the row.

• 5. Pick up yarn C and holding the yarn at the back slip the first two stitches then knit the next two stitches. Sl2, k2 to the end.
• 6. Still with yarn C hold the yarn to the front and slip the first two stitches then purl the next two stitches. Sl2, p2 to the end.

   That's all there is to it, those 6 rows. To work with just 2 colours you have to experiment to carry the colours backwards and forwards correctly. Working sl st colours in the round is very easy though, just swap the purls for knits.

Slip st colours

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

Tomatoes are home.

   The tomatoes are all potted up, think I'm going to give a couple to my mom and sister as I have too many for myself. I used the compost out of my compost bin, the stuff is a lovely black but not as black as my corner compost heap thats mainly leaf mold. You really can't beat leaf mold but it does take a lot longer to break down.

   Not much done yesterday and I'll probably not get much done today apart from bottle the winter warmer ale. The winter warmer ale has fermented really quickly, I could of bottled it yesterday. I'm going to put it all into bottles now the weathers warming up, the barrel is hard to keep cool and ales need to be served at cellar temps. Doing 40 bottles is apita though, will probably take be a couple of hours to sort it all out.

  Just ordered a wooden ruler off ebay so I have a second beater, if it works. I might need to buy some heavier wood and make my own beaters. I did get some knitting done on the pipe pouch, couple more rows and it will be done. Not sure if I want to do holes and a Icord for the pouch or go with a button loop, would need to buy some buttons for that.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Tomatoes moving day.

   Did a little weaving on the frame loom yesterday and the plastic rule I got isn't much use as a beater, its too short and very light weight. I've found some wooden rulers on ebay so will get a couple of those to use as beaters in weaving. I need to finish off the inkle weaving which I'll try and get done today so that I can use the shuttle to get this scarf finished and maybe start something else on the inkle loom.

  The knitted pipe pouch is nearly finished, I'll make it a little longer so all my pipes will fit. Once this knitting is finished I'll knit a Iphone sock using the same yarns and method but with larger needles.

   Weathers nice again so I'm going to put the tomatoes into there final pots today, hope I have enough. Its a simple job because I transplanted the tomatoes into fiber pots so just need to plant those fiber pots.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.   

Cooling off

   Well the weather looks to be turning back into a normal spring, the last couple of weeks have been more like summer here than spring. The plants all seem happy. The potatoes that have come up are racing a long, I've already had to shore them up twice and think they need more today. Down to about 12 tobacco plants which will be much more manageable for me. I need to plant some more lettuce now the temps have cooled off to keep a constant supply going.

  Only did a little weaving on the inkle loom yesterday and none on the frame loom. I hunted for a wooden rule like the ones we used to have in school but couldn't find any so got a short plastic one to use as a beater. I also picked up a paper punch thingy for making the tablets so I can have a go at tablet weaving.

  The knitting is coming along, I think another inch or two and I'll be done. I'm not sure how I want to finish it off but do want to try and make a button loop so this might be a good time to try. I need to hunt for the video again, I did save the link but have since had to change the computers os so will have to look on the mem stick.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Slow long weekend

   Well I've not gotten much done over this long weekend so not much to write about. I'm still knitting the pipe pouch, I think I'm about half way there. Only managed a little bit of weaving on the frame loom but thats because I set up the inkle loom and the shuttle for the inkle loom I've been using as a beater on the frame loom. I need some swords/beaters.

   The nylon thread isn't as thick as I first thought but is weaving up very nicely. I haven't finished the band yet but can't see any problems. I've had to use a cotton yarn to add a little colour to the band but now I have an idea on what I need to buy in nylon and there are some funky colours I can get next week, or the week after seeing as theres another long weekend coming up and loads of folks have taken time off work.

  I spent most of yesterday reading about backstrap weaving over at Laverne Waddington's site. I'm going to get some dowels and give it a go as it seems extremely versatile and looks very interesting.

  That's all for today folks, the weather is still really nice here so off to the garden I go for a couple of hours. Have a great day and take care folks. 

Inkle bookmarks

  Inkle band woven bookmarks.

Inkle woven band bookmark

Inkle book mark

   Here are a couple of the bookmarks I wove on the inkle loom.  I think my camera is on the way out, the first couple of picture I took were are messed up, odd colours all merged together.

Inkle bookmark

  I wove these bookmarks as one band with breaks in between each one. I think I got 6 bookmarks from a 5 foot band. These 3 have been through the washing machine to see how the end of the weaving holds up.

   I gave the best looking bookmark to my mom for Mother's day, I still need to work on making my edges consistent.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks and have a happy Easter.

(Click pictures to enlarge)

Nylons arrived.

   The nylon thread and buckles arrived this morning, early, very early. I've not had a chance to weave with the nylon yet but looking at it I think it might be the right stuff, it does look a little waxy though. The nylon is a lot thicker than a thread, more like double knit thickness and the cone is huge. I'll try and find the time today to set up the inkle loom to weave a little with the nylon to see how it handles.

   The roller bar buckles I ordered seem to be back to front with the prong coming behind instead of in front, they're all like that and just looking at the pictures now they're meant to be like that. I'll have to weave something with the eyelets and attach the buckles to see how they work with the prong at the back. I don't think it would matter if the buckle was flat but they curve.

  The military buckles look to be fine if a little scratched in places but they were seconds so no complaints. These buckles are very simple to use but they don't have tips, I'm not sure how that will affect the weaving but I might try and find some tips. The tips will at least make sure the belt lasts longer by stopping any fraying and make it easier to feed into the buckle.

   Managed a little more knitting and a little bit of weaving. I try and knit one full part of the slip stitch pattern at a time which is 6 rows, yesterday I managed to do 12 rows in all, I need to get more done if I want to be finished over the weekend. The weaving tends to zoom along apart from having to stop every once in a while to wind up the woven part and release the rest of the weft. I'm not sure if the problem is with the winding up the woven part or if I'm beating wrong but theres a very noticeable slant in the rows now. I'm hoping its the winding on part.

   Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Dandelions

   Walking the dog this morning over the top field and its a sea of yellow with dandelions. There looks to be more dandelions than there are blades of grass. Give it a few weeks and that sea of yellow will turn into a sea of white until the first winds blow then the air with be clogged with chocking seeds. I still love to kick the seed heads though.

   I got a few more rows knitted on the pipe pouch. Its pretty stiff and at times hard to knit, I really should of gone with the 4mm needles instead of the 3mm ones.
  I didn't do a lot of weaving, a couple of inches but with weaving its so much quicker. I'd like to get this scarf finished and put something else on the frame loom while I'm in the mood for weaving.
   I really need to get back into my spinning as well, I haven't spun in a while and have loads to do. I honestly don't think I'll be wearing this jumper for winter at this rate so might knit myself something smaller with my own homespun yarn. A hat maybe or gloves.

   Its another day to be outside so I'll finish here, don't want to be sat at the computer all day while the sun shines. Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Baked brains.

   Another wonderful warm sunny day over here. I've had to take all the plants out of the mini green house as the temps are close to 50c / 120f with the door/flap open and its not even close to the hottest part of the day yet. Outside temps are just over 20c, about 70f, a fair bit above the average for this time of year. I like these temps, I don't like it hotter though so hope summer isn't going to be a scorcher, above 85f and I start to wilt.

  I got a few more rows of knitting done on the pipe pouch, think it will be finished around the weekend. Its turning out more uniformed than I imagined considering I'm using two variegated yarns and slip stitch colour changes. The colours changes on the yarns are pretty long so guess thats why.

  The weaving is coming along, I think changing over to the bigger frame loom hasn't affected the scarf as badly as I had thought. I have figured out that I pull my edges too tight though, the weave along the edges is much smaller than the weave in the middle. Not sure it matters much because its the same all the way so looks like part of the design but in future I'll try and keep the weave the same size along the rows.

   Still waiting for my ebay goodies of buckles and nylon so that I can do some weaving on the inkle loom. Figure they will be here tomorrow or the next day. I've also ordered a book on boat building not that I'm planing on building a boat any time soon, I don't have the room in the front garden and building in the back I'd need a massive crane to get the boat out. Its nice to dream though and maybe I can rent some land and build myself a nice 48 foot blue water sailing cruiser to live aboard and travel the world. Man I think this sun has got to my head and baked my brains.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Knitting again.

   Its been a lovely warm sunny weekend here with temps over 20c, 68f, and the rest of the week looks like it will be the same way. I didn't really get much done on Saturday, a little weaving and a lot of lazing around. Sunday I got more done on my weaving until the small frame loom nearly exploded, its just not made very strongly. I transferred my weaving onto my bigger frame loom but I think this will have a big affect on the tension of the already woven part and the tension on the yet to be weaved part as well. I'll get it finished and see how it turns out, theres about 3 feet left to weave.

  I picked up my knitting needles Sunday night and started to knit, not 100% sure what I'm knitting but think it will be a pipe pouch. I'm knitting in the round in slip stitch colour work using two variegated yarns so the results should look interesting. It was meant to be an Iphone sock but the size is too small I think but my pipe will fit it perfectly.

  I lost 3 tobacco plants Saturday night or during Sunday day time, somethings eaten them. I hope the nicotine has made what ever it was very sick. The plants really should be outside full time now but I'll keep bringing in the tobacco plants until there a little bigger so as not to have any more eaten.

  Hope you all had a great weekend, have a great day and take care folks.

No pictures

   Well I was hoping to do a picture post of some bookmarks I made on the inkle loom but the camera seems to have messed up big time. All the pictures are funny colours and look like there traveling at 100mph.

   I've just ordered some what I hope to be plain nylon thread in black, if this is the right stuff it will make it easier to search for. I also ordered some buckles and I'm bidding on some military type buckles as well. The military buckles will make belt weaving easy, no holes/eyelets needed. There not easy to find as buckles over here though unless there already attached to a belt.

  This weekend I want to see if I can complete the scarf I'm weaving on the frame loom, I think I should be able too. I'll get some spinning done this weekend and maybe think about getting some knitting done.

  Short post today, sorry about the no picture post. Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

Weaving scarfs

   Don't know what it is at the moment, not in the mood for knitting but am in the mood for weaving on the frame loom. May as well make the most of it, I cut some yarns yesterday, about 12 feet long, and warped the frame loom. I made a mistake somewhere so will have to re warp the loom. The yarn is a cheap acrylic that I got from lidl last year and been wondering what to do with it. The yarns a cream colour with small dashes of orange, brown and greys. The small frame loom I'm using can hold five feet of cloth, I'm about to test that by trying to weave a scarf 5 and a 1/2 feet long.

  Not sure what I'm doing this weekend, I know what I should be doing is knitting and spinning. We'll see what happens. Now the weathers warming up I should start thinking about buying a raw fleece to process, really not in the mood for that at the moment though, guess I have all summer to think about that one.

   The gardens doing ok, already had a nibble on some lettuce and even a couple of those old salad/green onion seeds have come up. The tobacco seems to be doing ok but I'm keeping a close eye on them, there in the mini green house at the moment and I'm still bringing them in of a night. I'll get the rest of the potatoes planted this weekend, I think all chance of frosts have now past(fingers crossed).

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Still no joy

   Well the bonded nylon weaving isn't working again, not that I thought it really would. No idea why I tried again, guess I don't like to be beaten. I think I can use the bonded nylon as an odd strand in my normal inkle weaving and maybe as the weft. Its not strength I'm after, the cotton once woven is pretty strong stuff, I want something thats rot proof. Though the bonded nylon will be better abrasion resistant so a few strands in some weaving might be useful. I can always use it for sewing with as well, and probable fish with it too.

  Still no knitting done, if I'm not careful I'll forget how soon, and I didn't do any spinning yesterday either. I did do some more weaving on the frame loom, I needed to take a break from the bonded nylon on the inkle loom. My edges still need a little work on the frame loom but there fast improving and I think the next piece will be fine.

  Not sure what my yarn plans are for today, the frame loom needs finishing off and the inkle loom still has the bonded nylon on it that I should try and get finished. I should do a little spinning or I'll never get around to knitting myself a sweater with my own yarn. Talking of knitting I really need to start something or even just knit a few rows of what I have on the needles. Two socks and the clothespin peg bag are currently on the needles so I have no excuses for not knitting. I think I'll start something small that I can finish in a day or two to get me back into knitting, a iphone sock or a bookmark maybe.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Try again.

   Yesterday was a wash out, I didn't get a thing done due to finding a Mario Bros type game for the computer and playing that until my hands hurt. I'm not much of a gamer but there fun to play every now and again.

   I'm currently warping the inkle loom with the bonded nylon again, not sure why really as its pretty hideous stuff. Guess I'm just stubborn. If this doesn't work and I don't think it will I'll use the black bonded nylon as the weft, not 100% sure how that will turn out but I can't think of another use for it. Who knows maybe the bonded nylon will work this time and I just need experience in using it. Not holding my breath on that one though.

  Back to warping, only got about a third done so far. I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

 Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.