In lower Meherabad, India, there is a blue car in the middle of a field. It used to carry Meher Baba. Now, it’s resting.
This picture was on my ‘to knit’ list for many years. I am happy I finally did it, and it always pleases my heart with it child-like quality.
A knitted picture of Seclusion Hill, Meherazad, India, where Meher Baba did a lot of seclusion work.
Size: 18X12″, mounted on foam board.
The picture is for sale on my littlebabas shop.
New Pattern!
The Blue Lake is an easy way to start knitting pictures.
It is very easy to knit, and makes a great gift.
Pattern is available here.
The chart is 50 sts and 36 rows, about 4 hours knit-time.
Use yarn & needles of your choice, as gauge is not crucial.
Thin-med weight yarns are the best (sock-worsted).
In general, big needles & thick yarn = big picture, and small needles and sock yarn = small picture.
The needles should match your yarn weight (see suggestion on your yarn cover).
Knitted in st.st with mixture of stranding & intarsia. Do not let these words intimidate you. Use common sense, make all possible mistakes, and fix them later (how to enclosed).
If you need any help, or not sure about anything, just contact me.
Yarns: very little yarn of each color, and if you run out – improvise!
You can substitute yarn, or change the pattern.
Do the same when you make a mistake: instead of unraveling, change the pattern (if possible) to suit what you did.
Do not hesitate to mix different kind of yarns. The yarns need to be similar in thickness/weight, but do not need to be of the same kind.
Water: self striping yarn, sparkly, or solid color yarn.
Optional: knit a band of a slightly different color in the middle.
Mountains/trees: Use 5 different yarns, or alternate colors to use what you have. Use browns, greens, or any color you like. If you run out, make the mountain shorter.
Sky: Self striping or solid. Add more rows at the top if you need, to fit better into a frame size.
Clouds: are optional too. I like using whites, but what would YOU like to do?
Pattern includes:
Love
Chart
Light written instructions to support the chart
Explanation about the difference between mounting and using a frame, to using a dowel
How to mount the pictures
Light instructions for using a dowel.
Read before you print. The instructions have a lot of full color photos. The only thing to print is the chart page.
I wish you luck, I hope you will enjoy it and make millions of them to give everybody you know.
Though it’s hard to see, these are 2 sides of the same knitting. The one on the left is finished and used here as a curtain, the one on the right was taken earlier, before finishing and weaving-in the tails. It’s a picture I knitted years ago, and now testing it for a pattern.
The pattern started from paper cuts images (top right), and then I made their reflection (top left). The picture can be held 4 ways: The 2 above + their up-side down.
I used to think this pattern is very easy, and was going to include it in the book (Color & Picture Knitting). At that point though I realized it was tricky and was not sure I even knew how to redo it. And that’s what I think now, it is both very easy & complex at the same time.
To knit it, start upside down (knitting upward) in st.st. To do the reflection, move to reverse st. So now reading the rows knit=reading the chart from left to right (I think…) and vise versa, and knitting the images upward. Knitting it is easier than talking about it because the colors helps keeping it right (only of course I was working on B&W chart).
Below, the original picture:
This pattern is available as a free download
This is a fun & easy way to work with color: it’s not exactly intarsia, nor stranding.
Start with 5 yarns and drop them in place as you CO.
Continue by playing with the yarns as you knit, moving them here and there to your heart’s delight.
Then, pick up all the yarns as you BO to create the fringe on the other side.
In the end, there is no finishing work to do,
no tails to weave in, just comfortably snuggling into it.
• THERE IS NO NEED TO STRAND or TWIST YARNS,
instead use the ds st is a color switching point. After knitting it, you have a choice between 2 colors: would you like to continue with this yarn or the other? That’s what gives the freedom and ease of color in this pattern.
The more freely you use this ability to switch color at a whim, the more fun and unique your shawl will be.
I made it into shawls and scarves, but it is perfect for a pet blanket or lapghan/afghan.
Beginner: just do it all in garter st and don’t worry.
Advanced: use it as a base to do different patterns on.
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:
Charts about working from drawing:
And adding your own writing:
Special techniques (knitting in quilting & weaving styles):
How to knit a group project (no charts here):
And some heart charts we used in these projects:
I enjoyed knitting them all!
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.
I’ve been working all year on this exhibit.
In a way this is a summery of my life since I came to Baba, and specially of my first trip to Meherabad, India.
Knit-wise the pictures are knitted in stranding, intarsia and one in what I call weaving style. They vary in degrees of easy – intense knitting.
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.
To say that these pictures were made for the exhibit is not fully true: they were made for my heart , and for ‘digesting’ things from deep within.
The ‘Looking Back’ series is going back in time. The first picture is of the bridge at Meher Center, where my current life is.
The second is about the year I spend in Meherabad (India), and is symbolized by the walks I used to do with my friend Nana Kher.
This last one is of my first trip to Meherabad, which was very intense. I used to imagine Meher Baba standing there under the tree. I did not want to add His image, so just ‘sprinkled’ some gold shiny yarn on the ground instead. It’s by the gate on the right side.
If you’ve been to all these places:
1. Looking back at the bridge, from the steps to the Guest House (Myrtle Beach, sc).
2. The round-about opposite the Dhuni, meherabad, India.
3. Looking back toward the pilgrim center, on the way to the Samadhi, before crossing the road (Meherabad, India).
Picture Knitting 
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