Half and Half Socks

Half & half socks are my version of toe-up hand knit socks with machine knit toes and heels. I do not like to short-row by hand so I knit the toe and heel by machine.

Cast on with scrap yarn 30 stitches at Tension 5 (or tension that closely matches your hand knit swatch). Set your machine to hold and knit 1 row. On carriage side, bring 1 needle to hold position (this does an automatic wrap). Continue short rowing 1 stitch each side until you have 8 center stitches remaining. Short row back out until all stitches are back in work. Remove on scrap yarn.

You will need 5 size #0 double point needles. There will be a total of 60 stitches. Pick up 15 stitches onto 4 double point needles, 5th needle is used for knitting. Remove scrap yarn. Begin circular hand knitting until sock is long enough for instep. ( I try this on several times until it is long enough to start the heel) At this point I remove all stitches onto length of scrap yarn, or you could knit several rows of scrap yarn. DO NOT cut main yarn.

Hang 30 stitches onto machine for heel. (make sure it is going the same direction as toes) Short row down to center 12 stitches and back out again. Scrap off, again do not cut main yarn.

Pick up all stitches as above, removing scrap yarn. Circular hand knit until length desired. Hem or rib top. I prefer a fold-over hem, because I have a tendency to rib bind-off too tight.

Block, wear, enjoy!

(The multicolored pair is completely knit on a flatbed machine.)

Doin’ the Monster Match

What fun I had designing and making this blanket for my grand-nephew, Kanon’s 1^st birthday. The theme Kiefer chose for the party was “monsters” and asked me to crochet a monster hat. Well, do you think I could just make a hat? NO! Kanon had to have monster longies and a blanket too. It couldn’t be just any plain blanket, it had to be fun and maybe a little educational. Kanon will be able to learn colors, matching, a few shapes and counting to 5. I pray this will bring him many quiet hours of fun and will be something he can always remember his Great-Auntie Helen by.

Monster Match Blanket

(Pattern can be found at www.ravelry.com)

Maintenance?

Never really thought much about preventative maintenance until last week. Had an order with yarn that wouldn’t knit on the Brother 860 so out came the Studio LK140. All set up and ready to go, first pass of carriage……1 bent needle and a jammed carriage. Replaced needle and began knitting again. The carriage jumped around like on a carnival ride and again jammed. On the opposite side of the jammed carriage, goo was coming up through the end needle placement. What??????

Turning the machine over I discovered the problem. The needle placement sponge was brown slimy goo. Now the fun begins.

Remove all needles.




Remove the slimy gooey sponge. Clean all goo from the machine and needles.




My husband, being the handyman that he is, always has a role of insulation tape. And I, being a craft junky, had ½” wide ribbon and Fabri-tac glue. Glue ribbon to sticky side of tape.





Had to double the insulation tape. Sticky side to side without ribbon.



Let the glue dry for at least 24 hours before putting it into place.



Replace needles, making sure they are on the outside of sponge. This was done holding the machine in my lap and feeling with fingers, then checking upside down again.

Moral of story…….always check needle retaining bar if your machine has not been used for awhile. If your machine has the needle retaining bar (and not just the sponge as the hobby machine has), it is recommended to remove the bar daily after use and to remove while machine is being stored. There are several places to order parts and websites to temporarily replace sponges until you can order new. What I have just shown is a temporary fix, new sponge is on order!