All of Me, scarf

‘All of Me’ is the name I give the projects containing Meher Baba’s symbols. Apart for the box and hats, here are some scarves versions. The images are simplified versions of Meher Baba Samadi, the threshold, Mastery in servitude, and Baba’s hand writing of the word ‘I’.

I just LOVE knitting these patterns.

Knit-wise: knitted in a mixture of double stranded, st.st, and double knit. I use needles # 13US, and let the sts be very loose. The scarves are very big, almost a mini blanket.

Below 2 sides of the first rainbow scarf:

2 sides of the second:

And 2 more scarves:

 

 

 

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Rainbow poem, 7 steps.

This scarf is a continuation of rainbow poem shawls. The name I call it for short is Karma. It has 7 squares, symbolising our journey towards God:

• Starting with all colors, as I believe we have everything in us from birth. The first step has more red, to symbolise more earthiness, attachments, me mine & I. And very little sky blue, which symbolises God.
• The second step has more orange, and no red, To symbolise loosing the heavy sanskaras/karma, and moving more towards light.
• The last step is all sky blue and is knitted in only one direction: UPWARD! There is no confusion/sidesteping.

It took me 5 tries to get the look that gives what I mean. This is the last and finished one:

Knitwise: start with all yarns, metered/modular knitting, and loose a yarn/color each step.

If you are interested in the pattern (knit or crochet ) let me know.

Here is the front and back side:

and here are some of the previous attempts:

 

and another:

 

 

Rainbow Poem, Landscape. Very big showy shawls.

This pattern is available for $4.50 USD buy it now

This pattern is for an extra large, showy shawl. Add colors to your heart’s delight, and don’t worry about mistakes. Instead – incorporate them into the knitting.

Knit upwards, starting with one yarn, adding one at a time, and ending with 7 yarns.

Knitted with short rows for shaping, and garter st for the edge-stripes, and the upward bands.
Special effect: on WS rows, when knitting the upward garter bands, carry the yarn on the right side of the
knitting.

Size:approx. 77×26” 195x66cm”, depending on the yarns.
Size is easy to adjust by knitting less sts and less rows.

Materials:
1 st marker
Yarn: 7 med/worsted – bulky yarns, approx. 75/85m each.
• The key is to use novelty yarns, or any other yarns with special texture.
• Have a big variety of yarns, and alternate them. Example:
if you have 2 eye lash yarns, put a boucle or self striping yarn in between them for better effect.
• Don’t worry about running out of yarn. Instead, be adventurous, and substitute a different yarn whenever you run out. This will make the knitting and the shawl more intriguing.

Needles: US 15 / 10 mm

Gauge: 8 sts X 12 r = 4”/10cm.
Using different kinds of yarn makes the gauge more an average than an exact number.

Skill level: intermediate. Pattern includes mix of st.st and garter, inc, stranding, intarsia, and short rows.

Hope you’ll enjoy it!

Rainbow Poem Shawls

The rainbow poem is a series of showy shawls/scarves,

with little variations in how they look and how they are knit.

It is still work in progress, but the first 2 are ready as a pattern.

Rainbow poem. Mild.

Photo above and below, knitted with 5 yarns. Starting at one tip with all yarns, knitting them together through the whole piece, and finishing at the other tip with all 5 together. This shawl has a lot of sweetness to it, and sits beautifully on the back.

See more details here.

 

Above, the pattern is called “Rainbow poem. Wild”.

These shawls are bigger, knitted from side to side like the Mild version, but with 7 yarns and a different stripe width.

For more details, look here.

 

 

The third is called: “Rainbow poem. Landscape”. It is the easiest one to knit as it is knitted upward, starting with one yarn and adding one more with each stripe. It’s size is L-XL, and the pattern will be ready in 2-3 weeks.

 

The forth is “The bird of paradise”, and its the most complicated one:

 

And I’m ashame to say that I have few more version of it that I would like to try… Oh dear!

‘Color & Picture Knitting” book, the charts

Here are some of the charts in the book:

These are the first ones, being easy knits:

 

More landscapes and how to knit the border as you knit along:

 

These are pictures that were done with the same chart (the chart is for the blue one):

 

Portraits, show knitting in ‘invisible’ technique using 1 yarn and reverse st.st to create the image, and the advantage of knitting sideways:

Invisible Meher Baba,

Mischievous one

Charts about working from drawing:

O.K.

Karma

 

And adding your own writing:

Nothing/Everything

WAKE UP!

 

Special techniques (knitting in quilting & weaving styles):

Blue Cross

Ancient One in blue

How to knit a group project (no charts here):

 

And some heart charts we used in these projects:

I enjoyed knitting them all!

‘Color & Picture Knitting’ book

 

Dear Tracy,

I can not find your comment, so will answer you here, as other people asked about the book too.

The book is a work book. It explains how to knit pictures, from easy ones to more involved. The patterns in it are like exercises. They are meant for you to knit them and hopefully hang them on your wall or give as gifts.

You may not sell my patterns, but you may do many pictures using the charts in the book, and even sell the pictures you knitted yourself.

I am saying that the charts are exercises because my purpose was to give you enough information so that you can continue to make your own charts and do your own pictures.

So, to sum it up, the patterns in the book are for you to knit in order to learn the techniques used.

After the picture is knitted and BO, you can block it. For this you will need to stretch it upside down on foam board or anything else handy, spray lightly with water and let dry for 24 hours. Because of spraying it with water, you need to use stainless steel pins. You can buy them in a sewing store.

Some people prefer ironing their knits, I do not.

After the picture is well dry, you can attach it to foam board that is cut to fit the size of the picture. For this you can use straight pins (they do not have to be stainless steel).

Some people glue the picture instead of using pins, I do not.

See next blog post for detailed account of the charts in the book.

The book is available on Amazon.com

Good Luck, hope you’ll enjoy it, and feel free to ask questions.

 

Meher Baba at Rahuri cabin

 

Baba of Rahuri Cabin

July-August 2015

In Rahuri cabin there is a beautiful painting of Baba, done by Rano Gayly to Baba’s specifications:

1. The image was to be of Baba sitting, dressed in a sadra.

2. The painting was to be done on a piece of plywood which was already painted with a painting Baba did not like.

Rano said the value of the painting is in how it was used by Baba: He brought it a few times to old Mandali Hall at lower Meherabad, and before the New life He had the men mandali say prayers of different religions before it and He bowed down to Himself in it.

I loved going to Rahuri cabin and once, just as I was leaving, Baba asked me to knit this picture for Him, and I made a promise.

The picture is 20×27″, knitted in weaving style.

Meher Baba’s I (as in I am)

Based on Meher Baba’s writing of the word ‘I’, from the book ‘In God’s hand’. To my surprise, even though Baba did write “I” a few times, it was never “I am”.
These are the I’s I used:

Sky Blue: Real I (i.e. mind stopped i.e. Self) = Light natural, page 1.
Blue: & when stopped feels I am unlimited. Page 17.
Purple: …feels I am this body only… page 17.
Green: The false I, page 17.
Yellow: The false I, page 17.
Orange: false I i.e. egoism, page 1.
Red: false I (i.e. mind working, egoism) = Darkness unnatural, page 1.

2+2 Baby Blanket

This is a new technique, combining the idea of knitting 2 yarns and alternating every 2 rows, with doing the same from the left. Result: 2 yarns on the right changing every RS row + 2 yarns on the left, changing every WS row. To do this knit each row double stranded (DS) with a yarn from the right and a yarn from the left. This crates a rich fabric without much color work. The photos unfortunately fail to show its full beauty.

Free instructions here.

How to knit a picture

Even now, after almost 20 years of knitting pictures ( /tapestry / wall hanging ), it’s still scary.

I run around telling myself: I don’t know how to do it! I don’t know how I did it before! I’m a terrible knitter! and so on.

So, here is my real ‘how to knit pictures’:

1. BE BRAVE! tell yourself you can do it, and  just start!

No matter the gauge, the yarn & color matching. Instead of wasting time in mastering all that and trying to get it perfect – just start knitting. Believe me – it is faster this way.

2. Mid way: even if the knitting looks like  – – – – ,  and not at all like what  it suppose to look, even  if the images are totally unclear, and even if you have a hole in the middle:

GO ON KNITTING!

You can always fix things later. A big part of knitting pictures is to have faith. If it looks terrible when its done – start again using all the knowledge you gained by LETTING YOURSELF FINISH the first picture. Again – it is faster this way.

3. ALMOST THE END, and you still want to undo because it looks bad and totally un-beautiful and so on – resist unraveling temptation (it comes from the devil whispering in your ear), and finish.

Once done – do all the corrections needed.

Often, the simple act of stretching while framing the picture, will put everything into place.

GOOD LUCK

🙂

p.s. yes – technicality, being a good knitter etc. does not really matters. What matters is having the passion in your heart.