Monday, 16 February 2004 Here is my latest experiment, the 'Altogether Sock'! It is knitted in one piece and seamed-as-you-go so that when you take it off the machine it is already together with no seams left to do by hand.. You can make it in one color or with contrasting cuff, toe, and heel. I've even tried one plated with stripes. Can easily be adjusted to be smaller or larger. Try it and let me know what you think!

Stitch Techniques and How-To's

	Slip-Stitching can be easily done on the Bond in one, two, or more colors with the intarsia keyplate minus the wire guide. Some of the patterns are called "mosaic knitting."
	Many HK lace patterns can be adapted to the Bond. They may take several transfer moves per repeat. Eyelets can be adjusted to be small, medium or large. Lace is one of my favorite stitch techniques!
	For a change of pace, try this round afghan with diamonds in the center. Knitted in one piece using holding position - ends grafted together on the machine. With worsted weight yarn, 55" diameter.
	Two Color, Two Strand Textured Knitting is a neat technique that is easy to do. By converting some stitches to knit, one gets a contrasting purl design on the right side. Try this round rose blanket or one of the other patterns!
	Round Lace Tablecloth, about 60" dia. Adapted from Carole Thimidis' smaller 14" lace doily pattern for the standard gauge machine, chart for that also on this page. I think this is really very pretty and unusual. Knitted with holding position and 4-ply worsted. Also see picture of 70" tablecloth made by fellow Bonder Gene Ortloff from Binghamton, NY. Nice job, Gene!
	Two Color, Two Strand Floatless Fairisle - Similar to the technique above but knitted with the intarsia keyplate and minus the wire guide. By hooking pins on the strands - which causes the colors to "trip'n flip" back and forth on the same row - the contrasting stitches show up as knit, not purl stitches on the front. Here too, there are no floats and the pattern is exactly reversed on the wrong side! Click here for charts for this technique!
	Rippled Afghan Panels I came across this a few days ago and thought it looked very interesting. Knitted using the holding position with no wrapping. Seam panels as you go.
	NEW!! This is my latest experiment, The 'Altogether' Sock! It is knitted in one piece and seamed-as-you-go so that when you take it off the machine, it is already together with no seams left to do!
	Seam-As-You-Go Here are just a few drawings to show what the knots and strands that we use to join panels with look like up close. It made the method a lot less mysterious for me, maybe it will work for you too.
	Seam-Once-You're-Finished - Here is another way to join panels after the fact if you haven't managed the seam-as-you-go technique or forgot to leave a needle out of work for latching them together. Done with slip stitches and a crochet hook and can be used on sides and top and bottom also.
	A scalloped crocheted edging that can you add to the sides or all around a blanket or other project. Easy to do and looks pretty, well, at least I think it does!
	Scalloped lace edgings look nice at the bottom of a sweater or maybe at the neckline and cuffs too.
	Here's another way of making scalloped doubled hems using the EON cast-on method or maybe a ribbed scalloped hem for a buttonband?
	Filet Knitting - I tried for several days to come up with a way of making square eyelets, I had no idea there were so many possibilities! This looks most like crochet and can be used to make letters and pictures too. I think it works best with finer yarns.
	This is another eyelet pattern that lets you put pictures on mesh. I knitted this sample with Lustersheen and keyplate 15.
	Stitches converted to knit will produce an embossed effect on the front of the knitting. It can be done with the seed stitcher after knitting all the rows, every row, or every few rows with the latch tool.
	Here is my first cable pattern, a heart with moss stitch. Will be adding others as I go along.
	After admiring Ann's beautiful afghan (now with instructions) which has a "mock" plaid pattern that, as she was nice enough to tell me, resulted from knitting a certain number of needles with variegated yarn, I also did some experimenting. If you come across an accidental pattern like that, I hope you'll let us all know! Thanks, Ann, I think you're a genius!! See also pictures of two Wedding-Wedding Anniversary Afghans Ann recently knitted, really pretty! NEW PICTURE!
	Tuck stitch is not too easily done on the Bond for more than two rows but I found out that if I hooked a cast-on comb (made from bobby pins, rulers, and the weighted hem) on the stitches, I was able to tuck three or even four rows.
	Here are a few small Christmas projects. Most are knitted with 4-ply yarn, the star with tripled metallic crochet cotton. The bow, poinsettia, and the gingerbread man would make nice decorations for the wreath, I think. There is also a star-shaped placemat.
	NEW! Knit a mini-mitten, hat, and sock as decoration for your wreath, a gift, or your Christmas tree. Instructions for Bond ISM/USM and LK150.
	If you have problems like I do when it comes to converting HK stitches to the knitting machine, maybe this section will help. I'm still trying to get it straight myself! I've just started this so they are not all there yet!

A Bit More Unusual Techniques, if you like

to experiment like me! :)

	Double Knitting in two colors with the reverse pattern on the other side?? It can be done on the Bond but you might not want to do an entire afghan this way. Maybe a pot holder!
	Can you knit a seamless tube on the Bond?? Yes, you can - it's done with the intarsia keyplate in a "mock" fair-isle pattern, then at the end every other stitch is converted to knit.
	How about a ribbed tube? You can knit that too by using the same method as above and also turning the knitting around with a garter bar.
	ILLUSION KNITTING - This does not scan as well as I wish it would, but here is the gist of it: It results in a fabric that has vertical stripes and as you turn it sideways, the pattern that you have knitted in will appear while the stripes seem to disappear - until you turn it again!

Fair-Isle, Intarsia Charts, and Patterns

	Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, so here is my vision of a little girl waiting for Santa. This was done using a combination of fair-isle and intarsia knitting. Central motif could also be used alone on any sweater style.
	This sweater is made up of knitted squares with pictures either knitted in by the intarsia method or duplicate stitched afterwards. The squares can be adjusted to make up any size sweater. Or it could be knitted in one piece and only outlined with vertical and horizontal rows of single stitches.
	The chart for this sweater is used on the front, back and also the sleeves. I have no pattern for this but any drop-shoulder style would work. For the collar, I would knit a piece twice as wide as the lower border edge, knit the side that is showing with that design and leave the other half plain. Or you could try the Knitting Fiend site for a free custom-fit sweater pattern written in your stitch/row gauge to use with this design.
	I always wanted to knit Barbara Walker's Gingerbread Castle on the Bond and I finally did! Knit it either from a chart or from the written instructions. A few have tried this and it turned out well, big sigh of relief!
	This sideways knitted shrug with fitted sleeves was made with Red Heart 4-ply yarn. There are schematics and you can work it using the gridded chart showing every stitch/row.
	Unfortunately this is not a real good picture but here is a bolero with an all around crochet edging knitted with Red Heart Super Sport Yarn and USM Keyplate 2.5. Size approx. 10-12 but could be made larger.
	Maybe you know a little girl whose Barbie needs a Pillowghan! This is made like a regular size one - the afghan fits inside the pillow. Made with Bernat Softee baby yarn.

Home-Made Gadgets!

	If you have as many (flat) Legos at your house as we do, you could make this 7-EON multiple latch hook tool. I made a second one with 14-EON, in combination with two 7-EON transfer tools. They help put the stitches back on the needles and can also be used alone to make allover eyelet patterns. Here's a seed stitch alphabet if you would like to try that. If you have no Legos, Catherine , I believe, now also carries adjustable latch hook tools at her site.
	Susan, RavSue@aol.com, a fellow member on the Bond list first came up with the great idea of using bobby pins for a garter bar (thank you, thank you, you are so clever!!) so I thought they might also work for a cast-on comb. They do work, but I have discovered that paper clips will work even better, so why not try and make one!!
	Make your own "Groovy Plus" Bobby Pin Garter Bar, it's easy! I think the grooves make putting the stitches back on the needles a little easier and the extra pins inside the grooves also eliminate catching the stitches from the row below. Click below for new tips on using it.
	Or how about a handy needle selector in whatever arrangement you need?

A few more tips after many "grrr's"!

Step for step instructions and more drawings on how to use the "Groovy Plus" bobby pin garter bar. Since I have transferred LOTS of stitches this week, I think I have it down to as few moves as possible!

Enquiring Bonders Might Want to Know...

Well, I did anyway! :)

What in the world is a Knitsmart?? It's a neat little machine, almost identical to the Bond, and I really like the carriage......

Filet Crochet Table Runner

I've always liked this old-fashioned table runner so I thought maybe someone else would like to make it too. The one thing about these doilies is that they last forever and make a pretty gift. Now one could make this on the Bond with filet knitting but it would be very large........

If you have comments, questions, or suggestions, just drop me a line!

			I bought my first Bond/ISM after watching the infomercial and have now worked my way up to three Bonds, a Bond ribber, an Elite and ribber, and four Knitsmart machines. Just recently I also added an Ultimate Sweater Machine to my little collection. Then there are two Studio machines, a punch card, an electronic model, and my latest acquisition, a Brother machine with a garter carriage. Very interesting to watch this accessory move along slowly as it produces both knit and purl stitches by itself and on the same row. But that's another - standard gauge - chapter! :) I'm embarrassed to say that I cannot show off lots of finished projects as I seem to be making mostly samples.....it's not my fault, honest, it's just whenever someone on the Bond list mentions this or that technique..... I have to go to and try it out! So dig through my samples and maybe you'll find one you'd like to try!!