The knitting thread

Solfy · #1 8th July 2010, 07:59 AM

For the five or so interested parties, as indirectly suggested by WBoK.

I like wearing wool socks because I have perpetually cold feet. I vary in what projects I'm working on because sometimes I want something mindless like miles of stockinette that are hard to screw up, and sometimes I want something meaty like a complicated lace pattern or wild cabling to break up the monotony. I'm not a project monogamist by any stretch of the imagination.

Just finished: A pair of socks (for me) from Cookie A.'s Sock Innovations book. Yarn is Dream in Color, whatever one that is with the silver sparklies in it.

Also recently finished: Eunny Jang's Tangled Yoke cardigan in Elann's Estate Tweed. I like it, but the sleeves are about an inch too long. Am still deciding what I want to do about that.

Just started: A pair of plain toe-up socks (for husband) in plain stockinette, but I might sneak a little cable up the sides of the legs. Yarn is Cherry Tree Hill, and I really like it.

Also on the needles: I started an estonian lace shawl, but I'm only a few rows into it and it's not doing it for me. Lace is not a good traveling project and I've been traveling a lot (hence all the socks)

I started a Starmore pullover (Cromarty) two years ago but it's marinating in the UFO pile because I'm afraid it's going to be too wide/boxy but I love it too much to either rip it out or reconfigure it.

Planned: I'd like to knit the yarn I'm spinning now into the Swallowtail shawl, which is another reason the estonian shawl isn't taking off. I only work one lace project at a time

I got two lbs of plain corriedale roving with my spinning wheel and I want to spin them up and knit a pullover for me from the book A Fine Fleece.

Ooh! And how could I forget! I got a bohus kit for my birthday. : drools :

whirlingbladesofkick · #2 8th July 2010, 08:13 AM

I have a mini clapotis on my needles, more scarf and less shawl/stole. I love my first clap, it was my first pattern project, made for an intermediate knitting class. My first clapotis was exactly according to pattern, made of rowan glace cream cotton stranded with Elsebeth Lavold hemp in an oatmeal colorway. It's heavy and very neutral looking.

I also have a couple headbands going in Noro that I made up to learn Magic Loop (with the goal of doing two-at-a-time toe up socks, but I'm having a hard time getting excited for that).

I also just started a simple bag large enough to hold a sketch book from the Stitch n Bitch book.

Oh, yeah, and a capelet in vintage french merino, which is weirdly scratchy compared to the merino of today. That's cream and white (it has a VERY simple YO/SSK lace pattern for two rows throughout) with stripes of dark brown. It's pretty, but I think it'll be too small for me so I'll have to give it away.

Any ravelry users out there are welcome to friend me, I'm misshannahbee

Zeener Diode · #3 8th July 2010, 08:16 AM

Zeener Diode likes this thread.

Solfy · #4 8th July 2010, 08:17 AM

What yarn did/are you using for the clap? I did one for a gift last year out of a mercerized cotton that turned out okay. It was a nice knit - not too boring, not too hard.

Where did you find vintage merio? Interesting about the feel of it. I would guess it has to do with the breeding of finer and finer fleeces.

Zeener Diode · #5 8th July 2010, 08:23 AM

Not to knit-pick, but wouldn't this forum be better suited for this thread?

Solfy · #6 8th July 2010, 08:24 AM

We have forums here?

whirlingbladesofkick · #7 8th July 2010, 08:24 AM

My mini is a baby blue that feels like cotton or linen to me. I have mostly scavenged yarn and I have two HUGE (8oz) hanks of this. It's actually more like a light sky blue. Since I don't have a winder, my husband had to provide arms for me to wind the balls. I'm pretty sure it's handspun; it's two ply with one thinner ply and one slightly thicker, maybe worsted or likely DK.

I had a bunch of skeins of vintage italian merino that I stranded with other yarns to crochet into various hats and scarves. That was before I knit, now I wish I hadn't done that. All of it is just basically found yarn from thrift stores/garage sales, etc. Most without labels so I would be smart to knit up swatches of everything just to be able to guess at weights, but I can't imagine anything more tedious. I *hate* swatching.

whirlingbladesofkick · #8 8th July 2010, 08:25 AM

REPORTED

WednesdayAddams · #9 8th July 2010, 08:28 AM

<housekeeping mod post>
Moved to BLTP
</hkmp>

mlerose · #10 8th July 2010, 08:30 AM

I've been taking a break from knitting due to the heat, but I finished a baby blanket in a lace pattern back in May, and I've got two more baby blankets plus an awesome thing for gumby sitting in my queue.

I'll probably bring something to knit along for our big road trip coming up next week, assuming it's not so miserably hot everywhere we go that I can't stand to be knitting. One of the baby blankets is going to be small pieces that I sew up into something larger, so that will be pretty portable.

Radical Edward · #11 8th July 2010, 08:34 AM

Right now I am knitting myself a nice, squishy scarf to wear to work. It's blue, like my hair!

Solfy · #12 8th July 2010, 08:35 AM

You can get a general idea for weights by checking wraps per inch. When you swatch, it often should be pattern specific since it can vary based on stitch pattern, which needles you've used (I can get a different gauge on size 4 bamboos than I do on size 4 metal, people can vary going from dpns to circulars, etc.), and how tight you are knitting in general (can change with time).

I hate swatching, too.

Solfy · #13 8th July 2010, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuchiki Rukia

Right now I am knitting myself a nice, squishy scarf to wear to work. It's blue, like my hair!

Did you ever post pictures of the hair? I was wondering how it came out.

whirlingbladesofkick · #14 8th July 2010, 08:39 AM

I will try that wraps per inch method because at this point all I can do is sorta guess at the needles to try to swatch with based on eyeballing the yarn.

The Superhero · #15 8th July 2010, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whirlingbladesofkick

I love my first clap

So many masters of juvenile humor gathered in one place and nobody's gonna jump on that? I mean, COME ON, people. That's like putting the Hope Diamond on display during a master jewel thieves' convention...and y'all are just letting it slide?

Fine, then. I guess I have to do everything around here since the rest of y'all are too lazy:

You know what they say: you never forget your first time with the clap.

There.

You're all such disappointments to me.

whirlingbladesofkick · #16 8th July 2010, 08:47 AM

I have no response to this. If it had been a pun about needles or yarn or sheep....maybe.

But clapping? How is that even funny?

mlerose · #17 8th July 2010, 08:50 AM

I think he means venereal disease.

whirlingbladesofkick · #18 8th July 2010, 08:58 AM

(I know) ;D

Zeener Diode · #19 8th July 2010, 08:59 AM

I rilly gotta hannah to ya, Missy.

Uthrecht · #20 8th July 2010, 08:59 AM

Ugh. Well, you know how boys are.

Anyway, tell me more about that Italian merino. How well did it work with the other yarns? I've never tried that!

whirlingbladesofkick · #21 8th July 2010, 09:02 AM

Cream or white merino added to any colored yarn just makes a muted fuzzy look. So it's nice if you're going for that texture, but not so helpful if you want to show off a color or a stitch.

FYI I'm just assuming everyone who asks questions about knitting is actually interested and not just being a snarky git. Not that those states are mutually exclusive.

Radical Edward · #22 8th July 2010, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solfy

Did you ever post pictures of the hair? I was wondering how it came out.

In Photo Safari.

Uthrecht · #23 8th July 2010, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whirlingbladesofkick

Cream or white merino added to any colored yarn just makes a muted fuzzy look. So it's nice if you're going for that texture, but not so helpful if you want to show off a color or a stitch.

But you could use it to shift the tone in a color if you thought it was too vibrant?

whirlingbladesofkick · #24 8th July 2010, 09:16 AM

I don't think so. Because it's so fuzzy, it really just gives a kind of abominable snowman effect.

Solfy · #25 8th July 2010, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uthrecht

But you could use it to shift the tone in a color if you thought it was too vibrant?

Stranding can tone down the overall color of a project, but the effect you get is rather marled. Sometimes that's good, if that's what you're after, but sometimes it just makes things look busy.

I've seen some interesting bits on color theory regarding what happens when two colors are merely adjacent to each other (such as in striping), too.

whirlingbladesofkick · #26 8th July 2010, 09:21 AM

I love to strand. I think it comes from having so much weird unidentified yarn and tons of novelty yarns (the kinds of stuff my mom likes and picks up for me from the aforementioned yard sales and thrift stores). Putting two random yarns together has sometimes produced beauty and sometimes just weirdness, but it's always interesting.

I guess I'm attracted to a kind of raggedy look.

whirlingbladesofkick · #27 8th July 2010, 09:24 AM

Attn all snarky gits: please feel free to make your jokes and puns, but damn, gentlemen and ladies, make them FUNNY!

mlerose · #28 8th July 2010, 09:27 AM

I'm all about stranding my own self, wbok, so you're not alone. I love combining various yarns to see what sort of color effects I can get. Here's an example of a baby blanket I made last year stranding different yarns together.

whirlingbladesofkick · #29 8th July 2010, 09:29 AM

Wow Mle, that's lovely! It's so flowerlike!

Zeener Diode · #30 8th July 2010, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlerose

I'm all about stranding my own self, wbok, so you're not alone.

Some puns just write themselves.

Uthrecht · #31 9th July 2010, 08:12 AM

Solfy, do you have any links to articles on those color theory ideas?

Solfy · #32 9th July 2010, 08:30 AM

There's a very basic one here (Knitty is running a little slow today, they just put the latest issue up and the server's being slammed).

I can't remember where I read the one with the stripes, but the person in question had about 6 or so colors and was showing how very different the overall look was depending on the ordering of the striping. It might have been a blog.

There are entire books written on the use of color in knitting. To really blow your mind, check out the work of Kaffe Fassett.

Uthrecht · #33 9th July 2010, 08:49 AM

Hmm, it is running a bit slow I see. Okay, thanks for the links!

whirlingbladesofkick · #34 13th July 2010, 09:29 AM

For anyone using Ravelry, I'd never seen this thread before and it's a goldmine of interesting patterns: Fave obscure patterns

I've already added one majillion things to my queue.

Also, my request that we be allowed to add knitting-related images inline in this thread is under review. If we get permission, I hope people will post pics of their objects and spinning and whatnot!

Sleeps With Butterflies · #35 13th July 2010, 09:50 AM

Oh I hope they do let inline pictures! I love seeing what you talented folks come up with

*Fenris* · #36 13th July 2010, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whirlingbladesofkick

For anyone using Ravelry, I'd never seen this thread before and it's a goldmine of interesting patterns: Fave obscure patterns

I've already added one majillion things to my queue.

Also, my request that we be allowed to add knitting-related images inline in this thread is under review. If we get permission, I hope people will post pics of their objects and spinning and whatnot!

< mod >
You should be able to add images to any BLTP thread already!

Let's try..

Yup. You can.

Go for it.

wring · #37 13th July 2010, 10:30 AM

I bow to the talent here. My grandma used to tat and crochet and knit. She tried, bless her heart, to teach me what she thought was easiest. Crochet. I sucked so badly at it, she got discouraged. So I simply watch.

whirlingbladesofkick · #38 13th July 2010, 10:32 AM

Three out of five mods agree, we can post pics here!

DogMom · #39 13th July 2010, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wring

I bow to the talent here. My grandma used to tat and crochet and knit. She tried, bless her heart, to teach me what she thought was easiest. Crochet. I sucked so badly at it, she got discouraged. So I simply watch.

Stupid question, but...are you right or left handed? And did your grandma crochet left or right handed?

whirlingbladesofkick · #40 13th July 2010, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fenris

< mod >
You should be able to add images to any BLTP thread already!

Let's try..

Yup. You can.

Go for it.

testing

wring · #41 13th July 2010, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogMom

Stupid question, but...are you right or left handed? And did your grandma crochet left or right handed?

Both right handed.

DogMom · #42 13th July 2010, 12:14 PM

Hm.

I've taught crochet before, to people that swore up down and sideways they can't learn. I bet I could teach you.

In a lot of cases, it really is a handedness thing, but obviously not in your case.

Solfy · #43 13th July 2010, 12:16 PM

My mom refused to teach me how to knit on the grounds that she's a southpaw and I am not. She knits right-handed, though. (mostly she just didn't want me digging around in her stuff) So I taught myself and now we have great fun doing fiber related stuff together.

I already taught Eldest to knit last year. She's making a blanket for her Barbie.

wring · #44 13th July 2010, 12:16 PM

It's not like I can't independently work my fingers - I type (not accurately, but that's 'cause of my spelling) like 60 plus wpm, used to play guitar and piano, too. Not sure what the dealio is.

DogMom · #45 13th July 2010, 12:23 PM

Nope, I figured that - I teach crochet based on the theory that if your MIND can wrap itself around what you're doing with the hook-n-yarn, WHY you're doing that, and HOW that results in "square made out of yarn" (or whatever you're making), then your fingers can just trot along for the ride.

It took me forever to learn how to knit and almost half that long to figure out crochet, because I couldn't grok why it worked the way it did. Once I figured THAT part out, then I was fine, and now I can pick up new patterns, new stitches, etc. real quick.

DogMom · #46 13th July 2010, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solfy

My mom refused to teach me how to knit on the grounds that she's a southpaw and I am not. She knits right-handed, though. (mostly she just didn't want me digging around in her stuff) So I taught myself and now we have great fun doing fiber related stuff together.

I already taught Eldest to knit last year. She's making a blanket for her Barbie.

IME, South-to-North teaching is easier than South-to-south, because then I can face someone and say "mirror exactly what I'm doing" rather than "okay, try and watch me as I sit next to you so you can do this in the same hand I use".

But then again, I freely admit I tend to be rather defective.

whirlingbladesofkick · #47 13th July 2010, 12:26 PM

My testimony: I was a self-taught crocheter. I didn't know how to read a crochet pattern for the longest time because I was content making the stuff I wanted in the manner I liked. I made a ton of hats, scarves, and hats & scarves. I made up some mittens and made some different household stuff like pet bed cover, etc. I eventually learned to read a crochet pattern and made some more interesting stuff, but my patience for crochet comes and goes.

I couldn't knit, though. I couldn't teach myself to knit, or didn't have the patience to look at all the resources or something. I lacked confidence because I wasn't able to do it as instinctively as I did crochet, and I was convinced it wasn't for me. When the true knitting wave started (like, what, 10+ years ago?), I just sat on the sidelines and crocheted the occasional hat.

One of the things that scared me the most was that I had no idea how to fix mistakes. With crochet it's fairly easy, you just unknot the stitches back as far as necessary. But knitting -- dropped stitches? Twisted stitches? Accidental increases? SCARY. And my mom had attempted to teach me some stuff, including how to "read" my knitting, but my lack of confidence combined with my conviction that knitting wasn't for the likes of me made me too sad to keep trying.

Until early this spring, when I took a beginner's class. And learned stuff! And made a thing (a simple garter stitch head kerchief)! And gained confidence! And took an intermediate class. And made a more complicated thing, from a longer pattern (a clapotis -- a kind of wrap)! And I was hooked (no pun intended).

Something about knitting has caught my mind in a way that crocheting never did. I taught myself how to use double pointed needles and made a tiny training sock. Then I immediately made real socks. I am making another clapotis, but have modified the pattern. I made a giant fuzzy bag to hold knitting stuff in, which still needs handles and lining -- meaning I have to learn to sew, another new challenge.

I've tried lace and fancy stitch swatches from a stitch dictionary, am making another purse, trying a beret, taught myself a new technique for knitting in the round (and got two cool headbands out of it), made a beautiful chunky cream neck warmer for my mom...toys for the cats...scrubbies for the kitchen...I could go on.

Learning something completely new and fun at my age (41) has been such a gift, I can't recommend it highly enough. So I say, If knitting's not one's bag, then find what is, and just go for it! But if you think you might be interested in knitting.... GO FOR IT!!!

wring · #48 13th July 2010, 12:39 PM

How much will it hurt? (I don't play piano or guitar anymore, greatly due to arthritis in finger joints)

Solfy · #49 13th July 2010, 12:40 PM

I have a similar story. I learned to crochet, but knitting escaped me for years. I persisted because there are so many great knitting patterns out there, but for the first year or so most of my knitting time consisted of me cursing at the needles/yarn/mistake du jour.

Knitting finally became enjoyable when I learned a) how to fix mistakes - how to prevent unintentional increases, pick up dropped stitches, how to frog back and pick the stitches up without losing them all, etc. and b) how to "read" my knitting. When I started knitting lace, I'd have to count the stitches in the row. If the stitch count was off, I'd have to go back stitch by stitch and make sure they were right - "knit, knit, knit, yarn over, decrease, knit, decrease, yarn over. . . " It was maddening. Now I'm to the point where (most of the time) I can look over the overall piece of knitting and say, "Oh! Right there I did a single decrease when it should have been a double."

Mom taught my brother to knit. I still tease her about refusing to teach me, but I asked during a period when she had put the needles away for years. The mojo, it is back now.

Solfy · #50 13th July 2010, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wring

How much will it hurt? (I don't play piano or guitar anymore, greatly due to arthritis in finger joints)

I'm sorry to hear that. YMMV. I've heard of doctors suggesting hand work to help keep the joints active/flexible, but I suspect only you can know if it's going to be too painfull for you.