Quarantine knitting a mask

 The July 2020 issue of Machine Knitting Monthly had a pattern for knitting a face mask. I saw where Kiwi had knit this and posted at note on KnittingParadise. It looked like a fun project, so I knit one also. Here is my take on my knitting. 

I have knit just 1 so far. They really are easy. The label in the cone of yarn I used says 3/14 100% cotton, from UK. It seems to knit as 4 ply. I put a coffee filter (small size but also folded in half) inside. The coffee filter makes the mask stick out funny, but who cares?

I like the way the short rows do not leave holes. They also shape the mask nicely. 

It was suggested to me that maybe 2 layers of cotton fabric would be better than the coffee filter, and I agree. It would drape better and maybe stay in place better. 

The mask is knit with two layers and has a slot at the bottom to insert the filter (or cloth). There is a button on the bottom to hold the slot closed. 

I had washed the mask and dried it in the dryer before wearing it. 

Now I have worn the mask for an hour or so while I walked vigorously in the mall, where it was air-conditioned. At first the mask felt great. It was soft, fitted nicely, and let me breathe. Later, as my head sweat a lot as it usually does, the mask stretched out and the coffee filter sort of dropped. The lovely I-cord ear pieces stretched out also. I found myself tying the ear-loops to make the mask tighter.  

When I later washed the mask by hand and hung it to dry in the sunshine, it stayed stretched out.I think I need to wash it in the washing machine and definitely need to dry it in the dryer to shrink it again. I should have remembered how cotton sweaters stretch while being worn <G>

Maybe a better yarn would be a cotton/acrylic blend such as Panama?

Maybe a sock yarn would be a better choice? 

I'll have to try with other fabric content. It was an easy and fun pattern to try. It will be useful for grocery shopping, which I have done while wearing this mask. It caused no problems and was comfortable for non sweaty endeavors! 

Please ignore the quarantine hair-do and the seemingly "dirty look" I show in the side photo <G>

Online Seminar

Wow, I have not written in a long time! Our Carolinas Machine Knitters Seminar in May of 2019 was a great success. Luckily we had not scheduled one for this year, 2020, with the lockdown etc.

My latest seminar to attend was the one this month online by Vogue Knitting Live. They finally had a machine knitting demonstrator, Bill King, so I signed up. I got into only 1 of his classes as the other one filled up very soon. He was so successful, as was Vogue Knitting Live, that he is scheduled for 4 classes in August through that site!!

Most machine knitting seminars have a charge daily, but this seminar charges by the class. Since we do not have to pay for travel or a hotel room, meals, etc. it works out to be quite a bargain! Yes they still have shopping and show specials at the shopping.

Yesterday's class was so inspirational and fun. There were 30 people total, including Bill. He is a very talented knitter and like most of us loves to talk. His class ran overtime by almost 1/2 hour until the Vogue representative reminded him to finish   He seemed to like to meet us too and find out where we were from. He was available to answer questions during and after his demonstrations. I was very impressed. 

He has 4 classes scheduled for the August session, but 3 are already filled up. The class I took on Cables still has room for you to register. Hint, hint!!

This class was well worth the cost, which was fairly minimal. 

Since it was a zoom meeting, we could see the other participants, including Mary Slattery, and some other people I recognize as demonstrators at other seminars. One lady even used her machine at home during the demo to knit samples of what Bill showed us!  Of course we were polite and kept ourselves muted unless we were speaking to the group. 

I need to knit some cables today before I forget what I saw....I did take notes and I hope they help me remember. 

I am looking forward to the class I will take in August on ribbers.