Machine Knitting At Its Easiest

 Years ago I needed knitting machine to assist in a Relief Society knitting project. On a whim, (which turned out to be inspiration!) I went to the Freecycle website to see if anyone had one.  The very next morning a woman offered me her Bond Incredible Sweater Machine. I drove to Springfield for it. 

The machine was in its original box. It was in great condition.  It took me a while to figure out how to knit with it, but once the learning curve straightened out I was good to go.

When we went over for the wedding our son got out this "extra blanket" for us in case the wonderful 3-D quilt our daughter made for his wedding gift was not warm enough and we needed more blankets.  I had forgotten all about making it.

It was knit with wool yarn from Hilda Yates' Yarn Sale which she had for many years the weekend before Halloween.  She would fill the rooms in her beautiful farmhouse with huge piles of skeins of colorful yarn.  She has a flock of sheep and had sent the fleeces to Harmony, Maine to the Bartlettyarns mills to be spun and dyed then brought home to sell. She sold it at half the price you would need to spend in a yarn store.  Most years I went to the yarn sale, several times with Dear One who came along to encourage frugality and thrift, but that was pretty much a losing proposition.  He stayed in the kitchen where a wonderful spread of breakfast goodies was laid out.  Sometimes we brought scones or something else to add to the table.

The blanket was made by starting with one strip then adding on, connecting the strips as I went.

You can see the seam up the edge of the strips, even though it is horizontal in this picture.  It makes a nice sturdy connection between the pieces and is pleasantly noticeable if you are looking.

It is a nice wool blanket.  It makes me want to make another one when we get home from our mission.  There is still some Hilda Yates yarn in a yarn bin at home. At least there was when we left nearly two years ago...!

Knitting: USM Bond Knitting Machine Knee Socks

Several years ago a dear friend gave me some wonderful wool sock yarn. I decided to try to make knee socks. I decided to make them on the Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine.  There were several steps to make them.

First I measured my legs below the knee at the top of the calf,  then every inch or so down to the ankle, making a chart of measurements. 

Next I wound the yarn skeins into center-pull balls.

You are going to add on a cuff, heel, and foot with double-pointed needles.

Now to the Bond.  Cast on with waste yarn for 8-10 rows then one row of ravel cord.  At that point add the sock yarn and start the row counter back at zero.  Knit however many rows to give you the measurements on the chart, one after the other, decreasing on each side of the sock every inch or so to shape the sock properly.

When you get to the ankle, knit 8 more rows of waste yarn, then remove from the Bond machine.  Using the Kitchener Stitch, turn the flat knitting into a tube-like sock.  When that is done, pick up the stitches at the cuff end of the tube and knit the cuff in K1P1 or K2P2 ribbing for 1 1/2 inches and bind off in a stretchy bind-off.

Now pick up the stitches on the other end of the tube and knit your preferred heel, foot, and toe then bind off.

This worked very well for me, but the cuff was a little loose so I added some elastic to keep the socks up. I HATE socks that bag at the ankles....

Cotton Coverlet Knit on the Bond Incredible Sweater Machine

Company is coming.  The quilt on the guest bedroom bed has been through sheet-rocking to ill effect.  A new bed-covering seems to be the thing.  What to do, what to do....

Lovely people gave me two buckets of cotton yarn, much of it variegated.  What ho!  A cotton coverlet knit on my Bond Incredible Sweater Machine which has an extension and parts from the Bond Ultimate Sweater machine!  Now that is a great idea!

SO...I sat down and started.  Because of the size of the bed, the coverlet is being knit in five strips.  Weeks ago I started, casting on 75 stitches for the width of the strips.  After knitting two of them, I thought I would like to make the middle one a bit wider so I cast on 110 stitches for that one.

Central coverlet strips laid out on bed so you cannot see the error at the top!

The rub came when the number of ROWS came into play.  The first one came out just the right length...but alas, I had not written down anyway I could find how many rows it was, so I counted the rows in 10 inches and multiplies by 108, the proposed number of inches LONG I wanted the coverlet and came up with a number...I think 560 rows, so away I went knitting the second strip.

When I held the two strips together the second strip was WAY TOO LONG!  How had my math failed me so badly?!  Well, however it happened, it really did, so I was back to the drawing board with figuring.  Rather than tear out the long strip rows, I cast on the 110 stitches for the middle strip and went to town knitting up the strip as quickly, but consciously as possible as I HATE IT when the carriage comes off the stitch bed or when the stitches come off the stitch bed and have to be replaced...so time-consuming.

The left strip is WAY too long and the center strip too short

Now I have three strips of three DIFFERENT lengths...a pretty kettle of fish.  What to do, what to do (again!)...

What I did:  First I basted one side section together with the middle section with ravel cord.  That was not that enjoyable so I decided to mattress stitch the second side section to the middle.  It took a long time but by the time I finished I had come up with a plan, so I mattress-stitched the first side section to the middle, pulling out the ravel cord as I went.

With the three strips together I could address the different lengths issue.  What I decided to do was to pick up the stitches on the shortest (middle) strip  with a circular needle, in this case a US size 8 needle about 29 inches long, and begin knitting it up to meet the correct length strip using the yarn that I unraveled-as-I-went from the too long section.

Knitting up the center strip to match the correct length right strip

It is working but taking a while.  The rest of the plan is that when I finish that...getting all three strips the same length, I will then return the sewn-together strips to the Bond machine and "seam-as-I-go", which will be somewhat of a bear project as the coverlet is so big, heavy, and awkward, but then when I get to the right number of rows, I will stop knitting.

What was going to be strip four before new plan

So far I have not come up with a plan for the finishing AROUND the coverlet, but I still have the hours of hand-knitting the central section, and the hours knitting the other two strips to figure it out.  I will post that plan when it comes!

Just as I am writing this I remember the Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan project I started a couple of years ago.  Maybe I should have finished that one instead!  Well, if I get this project completed in the next few days, perhaps I can get rolling on Barbara Walker again...