Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Fun With My Kntting Machine.

Still on a mission to improve my knitting machine skills, I waste a lot of time  do a lot of research on ravelry and other web sites that focus on machine knitting.  It was on one of those sites that I recently came across a simple pattern for a machine knit Tee.  T Time.
A  bodice  knit sideways and a body knit in the normal direction give this Tee it's distinctive look.  Sideways knitting, my research suggests, is common in machine-knitted garments.  Is it easier??  Fancier??  Simpler??  I am not sure, but to me it seems as if that style crops up more often in machine knit patterns than  it does in hand knits.

I am happy with my T Time.  Just a few hours on the machine and I am wearing a new top.

 

Details.
Pattern:  T Time
Yarn: Cotton Tweed by Cabin Fever
Tension:  Stitch Dial -  4,  Upper Tension -7.
Modifications:  I shortened  the sleeves from the suggested 3/4 length to elbow length.   More appropriate for summer wear, I thought. And, I lengthened the lower portion so my overall Tee is 22 inches long.

What Did I Learn?  
Sideways knitting looks quite attractive - especially when offset by contrasting,  vertical knitting. 

The sideways knit with it's boat neck shaping required no edging.  The slight, under curl at the neck provides just the right amount of neck shaping to make the Tee comfortable to wear.  

 
The pattern of 5 needles working, one needle not working creates a 'rib' like look and also means no curling at the lower edges. 
The combination of  using a DKweight yarn (22 sts) instead of a KW weight (20sts) suggested by the pattern, coupled with  the seam that joins the  horizontal section to the vertical portion  makes for a bit of a tight band across the chest.  My yarn, a cotton/acrylic blend will stretch with wear  - and has already done so - but next time I would sew a much looser seam and knit with yarn that comes closer to pattern gauge.
 
T Time would make a lovely winter pullover.  Knit in wool, with the longer sleeves, it would be a perfect candidate for self striping yarns, like Noro, Marble or any sock yarn.  And - it is done before dinner.  My favourite thing.




8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks lovely, Brenda! Amazing about the time savings.

Gina

Deb @ cabinfever said...

I'm totally impressed. This is a wonderful sweater. I'm going to a machine knitting class at the Haliburton School of Fine Arts and hope I am as successful as you have been.

Sel and Poivre said...

That is great looking! I love the cool simplicity of it and the graphic quality of the two directions. It also very nicely shows off that great necklace!

Vera said...

I really like that sweater. I wish I had a pattern for it that was hand knit since I don't have a machine. Must try to find one on the internet.

Needles said...

I might use this kind of thinking for the rest of that darn Domino yarn. Machine it!

Sandra said...

now I have to find yarn to make this - it's really lovely, and will get me back to my machine...

Sigrun said...

I love it. I thought you picked up the sts from the yoke and knit downwards--was surprised to read that you seamed. I have agreed to give a machine workshop at a weekend retreat later in summer. I'm nervous--know how to do stuff, but don't know if I can teach it. I'm doing it for free (sort of--food and accommodations), so we'll see how it goes.
I also love the ribbed look of unworked stitch.
Great job. Love it.

I'm working on the Master Knitter Program (hand knit), but am tempted to take the machine program when I'm done.

Jan said...

So pretty and so awesome that bit is done in a few hours!