knitting

Is anyone looking at the Tour de Sock? Registration is a $7.50 donation to a Doctors Without Borders fundraiser, and you get 7 sock patterns out of the deal. The contest is to knit the socks first or best or within the deadline and earn points, but additionally you can do it as a team, and as long as everyone in the team completes one pair of socks out of the seven on time you're (as a team) in for the prize drawing.

I don't know if I'm completely committed to speed knitting as a contest, but it seems like the sponsor discounts (Miss Babs, for one!) might easily make up the registration cost!

Just the same, anyone else interested? I might be convinced to join a Dreamwidth team...

frotz

No, not "knit and go to jail". I have a bunch of complicated feelings about craft, fashion, and incarceration, which this basically runs smack into the intersection of; perhaps y'all will also find it interesting. To quote the BBC:

Inmates at a Brazil jail have taken to knitting in an enterprise with a local fashion designer.

Prisoners are taught the art of knitting and crocheting, providing them with valuable new skills which they can use in the outside world.

Mostly it's a video presentation in English:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22574008

(One of the "you may also enjoy..." links at the end of the video is about yarnbombing in Ireland, which I also found interesting, and much more fun.)

devete

Does anyone know where I can get fingering-weight yarn in this color?

Link to Ravelry pattern: Citrus Coaster

pensnest

I made Owls!

( Read more... )

zcat_abroad

Yup, after having unravelled and re-knitted one sleeve 3.5 times, I finally realised that part of the problem was that the whole jumper (sweater) was wrong. So I am tinking - unknitting - pulling the whole thigh-length, ultra-bulky sweater apart.

Bother, bother, bother.

I have a number of books out of the library on knitting from the top down, and would love to put some of the ideas into action, but the largest circular needles I have (from my BUY ALL THE SIZES purchase) are 10mm, and this wool ( a lovely red alpaca/wool single) takes 12mm. Yes, I could buy another pair of needles, but the size I want is pretty expensive (the cheapest I've found is 22.50), and I have already spent FAR too much money on 'craft' when money is quite tight. /grumble.

In other news, I think I've spun up all of my white alpaca/blue merino. At some point I'm going to start knitting that jumper, but I wanted to get this red one out of the way first. Winter is approaching fast!

Current Mood: frustrated

alexandrina

I am working on a baby blanket in a cotton worsted that I know bleeds (I stopped using it for rags because it just turns everything blue,) and since it's going to get washed a lot I would like to prevent it from bleeding into the yellow I'm striping it with, and fading.

I was thinking a nice long soak in vinegar and then microwaving it a bit like I do with my wools I'm dying. Will that work with cotton that's already been dyed, do you think?

If you have any other suggestions I'd be glad for them :) Thanks everyone. ♥

lizcommotion

( Cut in case you don't want to hear about babies; 1 photo of baby items )

zcat_abroad

So, what's the next step? Here, I have three hanks of spun yarn - the first straight alpaca, and the other two alpaca and silk mixed.

( Image-heavy wonderings about what's next )

Current Mood: scared

eruanna

The Knitting Brain has a Knitting Personality Test. Apparently, I'm a Contented Knitter. How about you?

IMO, this test is just for fun, not accuracy. Although, of the 3 choices, the description for 'Contented' does sound most like me, my true answer to several of the questions was 'none of these.'

(cross-posted from my journal)

zcat_abroad

Hi all,

Following on from

lizcommotion's post about yarn dying, I thought I'd link to my attempt to learn to spin. I'm not sure how appropriate it is to the knitting community, as I'm planning on crocheting the finished yarn, so I'm just posting the links.

How to accidentally buy a spinning wheel.

Spinning alpaca and silk

More will follow, when I get the cat off my lap!

Current Mood: cheerful

xdawnfirex

Anyone here who has made a Wingspan: Does it absolutely have to be done on a circular needle? (Especially if I'm using worsted weight.) Could I pull it off on a 14" straight needle? I really, really hate circs. :/

Current Mood: hopeful

lizcommotion

First off, thanks for all the advice and kind words I got about dyeing my own yarns!

I ended up dyeing two lots of things, one lot of commercially spun yarn (Paton's DK superwash) with Wilton food dye using the microwave and another of Wensleydale sheep wool roving with Wilton food dye using an aluminum pot on the stovetop.

For a slightly more complete chronicle, check out the Flickr set.

Here is the hand-dyed Paton's, which came out mostly in a violet purple with some hints of dark blue and some dark pink. I used "teal", "burgundy" and "violet" dyes.

( Lots of fiber geek talk and 2 medium photos )

strixluna

Hey all,

Since I asked you all for advice a couple of weeks ago about M1 increases I figured I'd show you how the finished project came out.

Pattern: Chevron Beret by Wendy Easton
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal (75% Merino, 20% Nylon)
Needles: US 2.5 and US 6

I started this in the middle of December thinking it would be a quick project. I was wrong. I just finished it a week or so ago. However, it seems to have been worth the time because I love it.

Current Mood: accomplished

lizcommotion

I made a post about a recent spinning to knitting to finished object project I completed a few hours ago. I didn't use 100% handspun as I had hoped, but I did succeed in modifying color affection to work with bulky yarn on US 15 needles. I am so, so excited and proud because I think it turned out rather well. I'd be delighted if you stopped by to take a peek (note: 3 medium sized photos, work safe).

lizcommotion

I know this is *slightly* off-topic, but I was wondering if anyone had any links to some good tutorials on dyeing your own yarn. (I have come to realize that if I'm going to support my spinning habit *and* my knitting habit, I better start dyeing my own fibers.) I know I've seen posts over time on dreamwidth, which is part of what sparked my interest in the first place. Where those posts are, I do not know.

Also, any thoughts on natural dyes versus I-don't-even-know-what-the-term-is dyes, books, etc. would be most helpful! Thank you!

^____^

siliconsara

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I thought this was pertinent to the community since I believe some of us have purchased yarn and other stuff from Knit Picks.

If you ordered something from the Knit Picks online store from late 2012 to 2013 then you need to call your CC company/Bank post haste to report the card lost/stolen and to see if there are any fraudulent charges. Someone used a security exploit of the web software that handles transactions to gain access to the consumer database for online orders. They say even if you did not order from KP recently but in the near past, it is a good idea to report the card you used and check your statements. I ordered from them a few years back and did not hesitate to report my card and cut it up just now.

Here's the official statement from the CEO.

Here is a guide (unofficial) for those who might have been compromised.

The facebook page for KnitPicks is alive with discussion about this mess.

babs_sg1

Yes, I fully admit I am a shawl addict. Do I have a need for 12 shawls every year for the rest of my life? Probably not. However, it is kind of nice to have a stash of shawls that I have on hand and can pull out at a moment's notice to give as a gift.

My 2nd shawl for the year is this one: Texelle Chunky Shawl

It was a fun knit and this was one I decided to keep for myself.

rivenwanderer

You know that nagging feeling when you've finished something neat but haven't gotten around to taking a picture of it?

I fixed that problem today! :D
( Two shawls I finished )

pensnest

The door to my lounge is mostly glass, and through it I get an interesting, distorted view of white/beige, with highlights of orange and black. For a long time, I've been thinking about knitting something using this colour combination, and last month, I actually got around to it.

( cut for large pic )
It's entrelac, with a newly joined yarn for each segment, and was intended as a stashbuster—it did quite well in using up a bunch of not-quite-whites, particularly when I decided to fringe it. I started my knitting life as a disciple of Kaffe Fassett, so my stash is a huge collection of one-off balls... I should probably have made the dark patch a little bit larger, but I didn't make a plan, just made it up as I went along, and it turned out pretty well.

Now, of course, I don't know what to do with it!

lizcommotion

I just learned to spin yarn on a drop spindle. It is fun and amazing! (I have All The Posts about it on my journal if you are interested.) Anyway, my question is this. I spun the following yarn:

Three small skeins of heavy worsted/Aran weight blue-ish-purple-and-white twisted yarn (2-ply)

By my admittedly inaccurate measurements (as I don't have a niddy-noddy), the yarn is about 27 yards long. (I measured by measuring around my arm, which is what I wrapped it around when I turned it into hanks, and then doing multiplication/division). I would call it approximately a heavy worsted/Aran, although as it's "art yarn" homespun (i.e. done by a beginner) it goes thick and thin. It is not of the highest quality because it is practice wool, and it is also feltable.

My question to you, oh knitters of dreamwidth, is what project you would do with this yarn. It is SO gorgeous and pretty. I do not have any more of this exact fiber, so I was thinking of maybe getting something that kind of goes and then making a hat? But that also seems like work for something that is not super soft. I was also thinking of making something and then felting it, but it seems ridiculous to felt something with such nice texture. I could knit it in with machine spun yarn, tis true. I dunno! Maybe it should live in my stash for awhile whilst I think?

Thoughts?

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

tour de sock?

go to jail and knit

Mod Green Yarn

(no subject)

Tinking, again...

Setting dye in cotton?

Ideas for preemie hat patterns

Next step...

knitting personality test

Introduction

Question: Wingspan

First forays into dyeing my own yarn(s)

Finished Object: Chevron Beret

I can't help but share the squee

Yarn dyeing resources?

Knit Picks Credit Card Security Compromised

2nd Shawl done for 12 Shawls Forever group

Two shawl FOs

Entrelac shawl

Question about a good project for a small amount of homespun

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May 2013

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