The Sewing Place

The Bernie-inspired mittens

Bodgeitandscarper

The Bernie-inspired mittens
« on: February 01, 2021, 17:09:25 PM »
My son asks "Can you make me some mittens like Bernie Sanders'?"  "I expect so", I reply.

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Why don't I learn to say "No"?

First, I had to make a stitch pattern to download into my machine, found a good photo to copy and managed to do that.

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The originals were actually made from jumpers, cut up and sewn.

The list of things that went wrong:-

1.  The download of the stitch pattern kept failing, but got there eventually.

2.  I did a test knit of it, then realised I was knitting the wrong design, doh!

3.  Found the pattern wasn't knitting properly, decided it must be the downloading not gone right.

4.  Drew out pattern on mylar sheet that feeds into machine, didn't wait for ink to dry, all smudged, had to clean the sheet off and draw it all again and leave it overnight.

5.  In the meantime, realised the machine wasn't selecting the correct needles  for any pattern, and after a day and a half of testing various things, came to the conclusion that the carriage was not working correctly, although it had been.

6.. Got other (punchcard) machine out, punched all the little holes in the card for the pattern, worked out when I had to change colours, background and pattern, then found the row counter wasn't working on the machine, stuck solid.  Took it apart and found a screw wedged in the counter mechanism.

If you're bored now, just skip to the pics!

7.  Knitted first mitten, took a while having to keep changing colours and remember to put the gap for the thumb in the right place, but probably about an hour.

8.  Started second mitten, lost count of the number of times I did something wrong and had to undo rows, pick up dropped stitches, etc.  Took almost three hours... and a few "magic words".

9.  Sewing them both up took almost two hours, and I still cannot for the life of me make a neat seam, but hey-ho, they'll do.

10.  The dratted things are now out of the house, on their way to my son.  And they are browner than they look in my photos.

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« Last Edit: February 01, 2021, 17:13:37 PM by Bodgeitandscarper »

Flobear

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2021, 17:12:39 PM »
Very nice, in the end. Sounds as if hand-knitted would have been easier!
Proud new owner of Elvistoo !!

Greybird

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2021, 17:29:46 PM »
They look much nicer than Bernie's! Well done.

Lachica

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2021, 23:05:40 PM »
They look lovely. Would it have been quicker to hand knit them? :S
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Greybird

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2021, 09:34:38 AM »
Hand knit! Nooooo! It does seem like a lot of fiddle for small items but some of the problems were outside the knitting of the gloves themselves and would have needed sorting anyway. The next garment will probably be a much larger one.

@Bodgeitandscarper your seams don't look at all bad to me. Do you use mattress stitch?

Flobear

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2021, 09:36:56 AM »
Ah, but if you hand-knit them on 4 needles or a circular one, there would be no seams to sew up!
Proud new owner of Elvistoo !!

Bodgeitandscarper

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2021, 09:45:48 AM »
@Flobear I can knit circular on the machine, but not in fair isle I don't think.

@Lachica I did wonder about hand knitting at one point, but as I've never hand knitted fair isle, it wasn't going to happen - and he wanted them this year not in two years time  :laughing:

@Greybird I think it's mattress stitch, but I find it really hard to do on such small stitches.

Lachica

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2021, 09:52:57 AM »
@Bodgeitandscarper I thought it looked like Icelandic pattern. 40 years ago I knitted 3 Icelandic jumpers in the round. I really enjoyed the maths!
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Bodgeitandscarper

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2021, 09:59:44 AM »
@Lachica  no idea, the technique is known as fair isle on the knitting machine, hand knitting is the work of the devil  :laughing:

Greybird

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2021, 10:06:07 AM »
@Bodgeitandscarper - with mattress stitch you work from the right side. One stitch in from the edge pick up two of the bars between the stitches on one side. Then do the same on the other side and pull together (not too tightly), and repeat. Every couple of inches give the piece you've done a good pull to ensure you're not tightening it. This enables you to match patterns exactly and should result in a smooth, almost invisible seam. The same principle applies even if the purl side is being used as the right side - as long as you are consistent in which bars you are picking up it will be fine. It's something I've come to enjoy doing - even with small stitches!

Celia

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2021, 10:07:29 AM »
Now you are encouraging me again to get my machine out but what would I knit?

Not mittens as they are my favourite thing to hand knit, don’t need any jumpers  :thinking: :thinking:

Your mitts look lovely much better than the originals, sure your son will love them.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2021, 10:09:42 AM by Celia »

BrendaP

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2021, 10:35:14 AM »
@Lachica  the technique is known as fair isle on the knitting machine
I'd say it is the machine knit version of Fair Isle - only ever two colours in a row.  Stranded knit designs with more than two colours in a row are not Fair Isle.

@Lachica  hand knitting is the work of the devil  :laughing:
  No it's not!  It just takes a bit longer.
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

Greybird

Re: The Bernie-inspired mittens
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2021, 11:13:48 AM »
She did say it was "known as fairisle on the knitting machine". Yes the machine does have it's limitations but it's still good at lots of things and for those of us (me) who will never, never, ever be a handknitter, it gives us the means of producing knitted garments. My objection to handknitting is nothing to do with the time taken - I like doing crochet work - it's that I cannot bear the clicking of the needles against each other - even if it's very quiet it sets my teeth on edge.

I don't think that machine and hand knitting should be compared with each other. The end result in each case is a knitted garment but the process involved in achieving it is completely different. This is why, in most cases, handknitters do not make good machine knitters. They are too busy trying to make the machine do what they do by hand and it doesn't work.