Preemie Hats Machine Knitting Pattern

These are the hats that Spunky knit for the NICU.

The machine we use is a Silver Reed LK150. It's my most versatile machine and I love it.

The pattern makes a hat that is 10" in circumference and it fit QT's head when he was born 6 weeks early.  Here's a great chart if you want to make a different size preemie hat. Bev's Country Cottage.

Tension 1
Gauge: 5 st/ inch, 9 rows/ inch using fingering weight yarn. We used leftover scraps of baby yarn and sock yarn.

Cast on with scrap and ravel every other needle 52 stitches.
Knit 14 rows, hang hem on empty needles.
Knit 20 rows (you can add a pattern here)
Transfer stitches to every other needle. Put empty needles in non-working postion.
Knit 6 rows
Cut yarn with a 12" tail. Using a double eyelet tool (or chenille needle) remove stitches onto tail. Don't gather yet.
Seam about 2" of the back of the hat, then pull and tighten the hole at the top.
Finish seaming and bury yarns in brim.

We decided to not knot the yarn, every loose end is either woven in or buried in the seam.

Please let me know if you have any trouble with the pattern. I'll do my best to clarify or help.

Machine Knit Preemie Hats

Our little grandson was born 6 weeks early this year. Our daughter, Spunky, and her husband received so much help from neighbors and friends where they lived. Two people took care of the dog, others watched the house, many sent gifts which were delivered to their home by co-workers.

My daughter and her husband stayed in the Ronald McDonald house since the hospital was 3 hours away from their home in rural Maine. They said they will forever be grateful for the Ronald McDonald house and continue to donate to them.

One of the sweetest gifts they received was a hand-knit hat from the NICU. Spunky decided she wanted to give back.... she wanted to learn to crochet or knit so that she could donate some hats back to the NICU.

She learned to crochet all on her own! I was so proud of her!

Earlier this month they were able to move back to our home state. They didn't want to leave Maine, but they wanted to be close to family, both hers and his. We are all so glad to have them here!

On Friday Spunky brought little QT over and she re-learned how to knit on a knitting machine. I made up a pattern and it came very close to matching the size of QT's first hat.

The little hat on the left was the one that QT was given at the NICU. The one on the right is the first one I knit from my pattern.

Spunky knit four more.

Not bad for a beginning knitter!

I'll post the pattern and more photos in a few days.

A Simple Repair

I've seen this done somewhere... but I can't remember if it was in some old farming book or magazine or somewhere on the internet.

The caddy I use for my machine knitting tools was slowly loosing it's sides. It wasn't meant to hold alot of weight, it was meant to hold silverware and napkins, but I love the color and the little spots that are just right for my tools. I love the handle so I can carry it from one machine to another.

And I like to make things last as long as possible, too!

I filled the side pieces with wood glue, then wrapped a piece of cloth around the whole caddy, and tied a knot. Then I slipped a piece of wood into the knot and twisted it until it wouldn't twist anymore. I like to use a square-ish piece of wood. A pencil works, too, but the bigger piece gives me more to grip.

A long rag about 2" wide, my 'wooden iron', and another narrow rag.

The piece of wood is slipped through the knot and then twisted until I can't twist anymore. Then I tie the wood in place with another rag.

A view from the front. It is best to put the second rag under the first one before you start twisting so it is ready when you need it.

A few hours later the glue is dry and I can take off my simple band. You can see the wood looks secure on the left and the right side of the caddy.

All the tools back inside!

Time to get the next knitting project started!

New Knitting Machine Weights

I found a link somewhere that I've lost that showed some weights for knitting machines made out of forks!

What a great idea! I love the fact that there are no hinges on them! I make socks and mittens on the knitting machine and often have to put a weight on the back of the knitting. It's pretty tricky when the weight has a hinge on it.

These do the trick! And since I already had a few old forks laying around, all I needed was a few rolls of pennies and some tape. Hubby bent the forks (they were a bit harder to bend in the shop than when they go in the dishwasher--go figure!) I used some cloth athletic tape because we have quite a few rolls of that (and I couldn't find where Hubby left the duct tape, either). I also taped both ends of the pennies before I taped the roll to the fork.

Another style I saw bend the tines of the forks towards the back of the handle. I'm not sure if that would make any difference or not. I like having the pennies where they are (under the bent part of the tines) because I think the weight is more centered.

To buy new weights would cost over $5.00 each. These cost me 50 cents and a few old forks :) They weigh in at about 4.5 ounces--just right for what I need!

More Fingerless Mittens

I knit a fingerless mitten on the knitting machine for Vet2Be yesterday. It didn't turn out right. The thumb was too fat (too many increases) and the ribbing bind off around the hand was too tight.

Sigh.....

I woke up this morning dreaming about the right way to do it.

I've completely reworked the pattern in my head and created a worksheet to work out all the numbers.

Here's the messy worksheet with all Vet2Be's measurements on it.

Just so you can see what the mess in my head looks like!

I'll let you know if the mitten turns out better fitting this time (or if it is a bigger mess than the first one was!). If I get it all worked out, I'll post the worksheet with fill-in-the-blanks so you and I can both use it again and again.

If it's posted, I won't loose the 'recipe' and maybe someone else will find it helpful, too!

Fingerless Mittens

Our daughter lives in a state that is often -20˚F in the winter. And even though they expected cold winters when they moved, they also expected to be able to keep their home warm.

They live in a cute little summer cottage that was converted to year-round living, but not quite all the way. She can't run the dishwasher when the temperature reaches 0˚ or lower--the water won't move through the pipes. And they have been keeping their house at 55˚. They have a pellet stove and space heaters, but it is still chilly in the house!

A long time ago she had hypothermia and hasn't really been warm since, except for the summer she spent as a wilderness firefighter when she was close to the lines!

My friend has some fingerless mittens and I knew that I could make some on the knitting machine. I didn't really have a pattern--I had an outline of a pattern here (the pattern is called Magic Machine Knit Mitten Formula) that I re-worked to come up with these.

This is the first pair, so I know there are some changes I will make with the next pair. But these are the ones that will be mailed off on Monday to keep her hands warm inside the house.

I tried them on, and I was so surprised! They are a little loose around the fingers (one of the changes I will make in the next pair) but they are surprisingly comfortable and warm.

My friend has tried the fingerless gloves that have finger holes in them, and she didn't like them at all! She likes having her fingers free, so that's why I made these like mittens without the top.

They were knit completely on the knitting machine. I hand-latched the ribbing, but I used my KrisKrafter garter bar for the tops of the thumb and hand. I'm really getting the hang of the garter bar! One of the other things I tried on these was a join called a "Russian join" for joining the yarn ends together. It worked as well on the machine as it does hand knitting. They were knit flat, so I had to stitch up the outside seams.  The next time I make a pair I'll add an extra stitch along the side seams and latch them up. There is a link for that at Knitting Any Way.

I think the next pair I'll try using some wild sock yarn with stripes!

JAWs

I got a new tool for my knitting machine!

Here's what started it....



I am soooo excited to try it!

I think it will make it so much faster to transfer stitches from the ribber to the main bed when I am making socks.... that's my plan. 

I found someone on a knitting yahoo group that had one for sale for only $25 plus $3 shipping! They are usually around $65, so I snatched it up quickly!

Surprisingly, I was able to call the lady at the site and she sent it out with a bill in it! I didn't have to pay for it before she mailed it or anything..... that doesn't usually happen. I was pleasantly surprised!

I ordered it from The Knitting Mills, they don't have a fancy web site, but the service is wonderful!

Kid Sweaters

Not for two-legged kids, they are for the four-legged variety that will be born sometime in April.

Last year our friends who also have some goats, lost their only doeling because they didn't realize that she was hypothermic and they fed her before warming her. So sad! They did they everything they could to save her, but sometimes there is just nothing you can do.

I sent over some kid sweaters that I had made for our kid goats. We are with the does when they kid, then we dry and warm the kids with a blow dryer, then we put a little sweater on them for anywhere from two weeks to a month.

SB asked if she could pay me to make her some sweaters. I don't take pay for things like that because I don't want it to turn into a business. She brought me four balls of Lion Brand Wool-ease (my favorite yarn for this project) and I just finished the sweaters yesterday! Yay!

From 4 balls of yarn, I was able to knit four sweaters. You can see the leftover balls of yarn at the top. The one that is second from the left I used scraps from the other sweaters, stripes! I love stripes!

This is the belly-side. I could have knit each sweater with a single color--but I like knitting them with different colors. I think they look much cuter that way.

 Silly, I guess, but here they are all packaged up.

I guess I'm a little silly for knitting them with different colors on each sweater, and for packaging them up so they look like a gift. They are for goats, after all, not someones child!

We love our goaties, though! And so do our friends, so packaging them up just shows how much we care for the little critters.

Swirl Baby Blanket

I found this pattern at Diana Natters On... The woman is absolutely amazing! I am so grateful to all her videos and all her machine knitting information. And it's all free! She also sells some of her video courses on DVD so that you can see it in high definition instead of the lower quality YouTube videos, but all of the videos can also be seen for free.

Here is the Swirl Baby Blanket from the link above. It was surprisingly easy. But that's because Diana shows you exactly what to do every step of the way. Every step is very clear, too.

I love winter! It's the slow-down time when I can sit and quilt and knit and catch up on projects in the house. I also spend a fair amount of time practicing piano, guitar, and choir (I'm the choir director for our local church). It's a time to catch up and rest before the busy summer season starts.

I haven't been very good at blogging lately. I'm planning on getting back to it a bit more. But our daughter and her husband are living next door with his parents and the situation is not good over there. She spends alot of time over here just chatting and taking a break.

My plan is to blog three times a week from now on. I like the record that blogging leaves. I can look back over the week or the month or the year and realize I really DID get something accomplished!

Bah! Humbug!

Not really..... this is a White Elephant gift for a lab party that Prion will be going to.

I tried a few times to make him look angry, but it ended up turning out funny looking instead. Vet2Be said that I'm just too happy most of the time to make something look grouchy. Thanks Vet2Be, I'll take that label any day!

The patterns were free at KnitPicks, one of my favorite knitting supply companies.

I knit the Santa Hat on the my Silver Reed knitting machine. Instead of a white garter stitch band, I used a hung hem. It was the first time I used my new garter bars from Kris Krafter, and I loved it!

I hand knit the Grumpy, lump of Coal by hand.

The project was alot of fun to do. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to make the whole thing. Vet2Be asked me to make one for his White Elephant party, too.

Christmas Stocking Marathon

Son1 wanted me to knit some min-Christmas stockings for some of his friends at the University. I got nine finished and ready to go! Yay!

Prion needs five stockings for her friends. I'm working on those now. Blondie (a s-i-s..... Sister-in-Spirit) needs two more for her family.

This happens every year! A mini-Christmas Stocking Marathon! Some years I have made more than 60 before Christmas!

I love knitting them, though. They are fast, easy, and I can watch old Christmas movies while I am stitching them together.

The stocking second from the left on the top row has plain white yarn for the trim. That's because it is for a boy. The other stockings all have a baby yarn for the trim, which has just a little bit of sparkle in it, perfect for all the girls.

The funny thing is that every year I have to dig out an old one and figure out the pattern again. One of these days I'll write it down and be able to get to work just a little faster!

What are your favorite Christmas movies? I've already watched White Christmas and Christmas in Connecticut. I would love to know what other people have in their collection, it might just be something I can add to mine!

Update: 11/29
Here are the rest of the stockings that I knit. 17 stockings in three days!

Diana natters on....

It's winter and I'm doing lots of inside projects that I don't get to in the summer and working outside. I've been sewing and knitting and finishing projects inside. Here is an outstanding blog with many e-lessons!

This woman is extraordinary! Her videos are high quality and she does a wonderful job explaining each technique. Honestly, I can't believe she has posted so many videos and done so much work to share with so many people for free. However, I'm very grateful to her. If you have a knitting machine, I would set aside some time to check out her links. You can find them on the left side of her blog screen.

Diana natters on...

Here is a list of what she offers on her blog:

Machine Knitting Video Lessons

Ribber Course (25 lessons)
Garter Bar Course (14 lessons)
Beginning Machine Knitting Course (29 lessons)

Project Videos
Knitting Socks on Standard Gauge Machine (3 parts)
Warm Ribbed Scarf to knit (1 part)
Warm Lined Slippers (2 parts)
Warm Child's hat (1 part)
Swirl Round Baby Blanket (3 parts)
Child's English Rib Sweater (3 parts)
Luxury Throw - Easy Ribber Project (2 parts)
Child's V-Neck Raglan for Beginners (15 parts)
Honeycomb Dishcloth - Easy Ribber Project (1 part)
Honeycomb Dishcloth - Sportweight Cotton (1 part)

Knitting Machine Links

One of the blogs I follow (knitsings) sent out a post that contained more than 100 links for Machine Knitting Videos! Everything from specific techniques to beginning helps like setting up a machine and casting on.

I haven't even begun to look at all the videos!

http://knittsings.com/free-knitting-machine-videos/#more-1089

One good thing about being sick is that I can catch up on some of my computer searches!