I'm lovin it.

I'm not talking about McDonalds but my knitting machine. Isn't she beautiful?
Okay perhaps hte machine is not beautiful but I love what it can do. I've got a ribber to but at the moment I don't have room to put it up but we're taking a book case out of my work room to make more space for the knitting machine. And I've been hard at work for the last few days experimenting with tuck stitch. I've tried a few different pattern card but my favorite is no 3.



This is 100g sock yarn knitted up in tuck stitch in about 10 mins. I had hoped to do a scarf but made it too wide so it ended up being very short.
This is the knit side of the fabric:
And the purl side (which is the right side when using tuck stitch):

I loved this so much I decided to try it in some different yarns. I had nearly 100gr of Luscious Lace wound up so in about half an hour I knitted up a scarf.

And this is how it looks on the knit side of the fabric:

The light is so bad today that I can't get any decent model shots.

Next I tried a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk. I'm hoping to grat the ends together to form a moebius scarf. Slightly worried it's going to be a little too short and wide. It's still blocking so not sure yet if it'll work. But again this took about 15-20 mins so even if I have to frog it and re-knit it a bit narrower it's not a problem.

Today I've knitted up 50gr of Handmaiden Lace Silk using the same stitch pattern. It's turned into a gorgeous, narrow scarf. I'll block it before I share photos.

Another thing I'm planning to use my machine for is knitting up 'sock Squares'. This is the first one I'm knitting up.

I'm knitting the sock using my new square double pointed needles. Yes, I said square. I've read about them in mags and thought I had to try them. I'm not overly impressed. I thought they were supposed to give you better tension and even stitches but mine looks worse. It doens't show too well in the photo but I've abandoned them for my Boyes metal dpns.

I may even rip backto the rib as I don't like the look of the stitches at all.

These 'Sock Squares' won't be in the shop quite yet. I'm planning to get them test knitted by a few friends to test out how the different dye techniques knit up. To start with I'm planning to offer it in Super Merino and Merino Plus but eventually I may do them in some of my other sock yarns too. Emily wants to learn how to use the knitting machine so I'm hoping to train her to knit up the squares for me - saves me a job and she'll earn some extra pocket money.

I've taught Emily to crochet before the weekend and she's been hard at work ever since. She's given me permission to show some of her squares but I forgot to take pics so will show them in the next post.