Sadly our March meeting was the last one to be held before the 'stay at home' orders from the government. We had about half of our members brave the Coronavirus outbreak, and thankfully all of them did not pick it up when they journeyed to Hounslow for the meeting.  We continue to meet via WhatsApp and perhaps we will be using Zoom in the future.  In the meantime, I will be posting some design ideas on my Facebook page  Elaine Cater's Designs.

We looked at simple ways to achieve plaids by leaving needlesleft in non working position to create a vertical 'gully'.  Then an embroidered chain stitch created the vertical lines of the plaid.  The sample shown here combines intarsia with the embroidery to make this striking sample.  For the instructions of how this was done and more samples, please press the More button.

 In September we started to look at  sideways knitting on the machine. Using this technique allows the knitter to create pieces of knitting that are broader than using all 200 needles for the usual ‘bottom to top’  construction of a garment. It also allows the knitter to create designs that turn horizontal patterns into vertical ones. We looked at examples from 3 very interesting books, The Rowan/Brother Designer Knitting Book, Super Machine Knits, and Knitting Reimagined.  Some of the designs can be seen by clicking the More button below.   All these books are available from Amazon.co.uk

Last month our club, Middlesex Machine Knitters, explored ways to keep the knitted edges of scarves, etc from rolling in from the sides. We tried a method used by Diana Sullivan where needles 2,3, and 4 from the edge are moved out so that there are 2 stitches on the edge needle and the empty needle four is filled by picking up the heel from needle 5 every second row of knitting. This creates a bias edge.

We then tried moving the stitches every 4th row so reducing the time it takes to create the bias edge. It still worked, but there was more of a tendency for the sample to roll.

The third sample shows the same technique, but this time I did not fill the empty needle 4. I only left the needle in working position which created a lace edging.

With the 4th sample, I pushed needles 1 and 3 at each edge to hold position and set the carriage to hold and knitted 1 row. I set it back to knit all the stitches and knitted 1 row. I continued these 2 rows to create a tuck stitch edging.

The last 2 samples were done by wrapping an extra length of yarn around the end needles. The instructions were from Brenda Bell that I discovered about 7 years ago. It involves setting the carriage to hold throughout, but after each row you use the extra length of yarn to knit those stitches back to working position.

Start with the edge needle closest to the carriage out in hold position and the second needle from the opposite edge to hold position.

Knit one row. Use the extra yarn to knit those stitches back to B/working position and push the end needle closest to the carriage to hold position and the second needle at the opposite end to hold position.

Continue to knit those hold position needles back to working position and push the other needles out for each row. Sample 5 shows the wrapped stitches in a contrasting yarn and Sample 6 shows the wrapping done with same yarn.  

As the weather has turned so hot and we didn't want to think about knitting in woolly yarns, we looked at ways to produce lacy fabrics without a lace carriage.  Leaving needles out of working position manually, or while using the tuck setting on the machine, produced many interesting fabrics.  

We experimented with Card I by Kate Armitage.  (Card 1 is the basic card that comes with most standard gauge machines).  It's a bird's eye pattern.  To see some of the samples knitted with it, press the more button below.

We have been putting together a collection of hand and machine knitted toys to donate to the playgroup that meets downstairs in the hall.  They have occasionally moved the children out of the hall so that we can meet there if our room has been double booked.  Saroj, the playgroup leader, came up to receive the toys and thank us for our efforts. The ethnic glove puppets were an instant success with the children.  

We tried out methods of cut and sew necklines and hope that some of our members will take the plunge and try knitting them.   I encouraged members to watch the YouTube video.  I demonstrated the technique at the club.