Recent machine knitted project

I just knit this last Friday and Sat, and crocheted the edging at my knit group on Sunday. I really like the drape, and feel of this blanket. It surprised me since I was mainly selecting the yarn for the fact it was thin enough to work with the standard machine, and was a non pink or blue color, since the recipient is not going to know the sex of the baby until birth.

Here's a link to Elann's site to show you the yarn. It is in the color rock candy.

I always learn more with each project I knit on my machine. This was the first project I worked with yarn not on a cone. I know why machine knitters prefer coned yarn. I could get 50 rows from one ball of yarn, and believe me, 50 rows can go fast, and all of the sudden you may or may not notice you are out of yarn. If you don't notice, the knitting machine zips your stitches off the needles and the project falls to the floor. I took to watching the yarn in the feeder very very closely for just that reason. It's worth the effort for a very lovely yarn, however if one can find a very lovely yarn on a cone it is all the better.

I used five balls of yarn. I made the blanket 180 stitches wide and 250 rows long. My tension was loose at 9 on the carriage and +2 on the mast. I used a half of a ball to do crochet edging around the blanket. The edging consisted of a row of single crochet, a row of double and a final row of single. Nothing fancy, but it served to stop the edges from rolling. I washed and threw the blanket into the dryer on low heat, and it came out ready to use. No pressing, which is very impressive for a stockinette stitched blanket.

The picture is not that great, but the blanket turned out better than my expectations.


Machine knit baby blanket in Microfiber

My current project on the knitting machine is an acrylic scarf for everyone in my family for Christmas. I have 10 knit up, washed and pressed. I still need to sew the scarves together in half long ways, to make a doubled fabric. And I have 8 more to knit.

CW