knitting

I'm what's called a slow knitter... In the case of these items though, slow took on a whole new meaning. They were both part done projects for more than two years. But no Longer! I have finally finished them and in time for a friend who's expecting a baby in the New Year.

One was a simple baby jumper in white with patches of pink, green, purple and blue with a simple cable up the front and two stripes where the knit becomes purl to create a relief pattern (Is there a technical term for that?)

White Baby Jumper

( Cut for further projects and pictures )

Current Mood: relieved

havocthecat

Knitting 101 by Dan, and linked to by Shadow Manor blog and The AntiCraft. (Link is to a blog with an embedded YouTube video.)

"It's okay to pull real hard, because it's yarn, and yarn can't feel pain."

ETA: I had thought the video was by someone affiliated with The AntiCraft; I think now that they just linked to him. I've changed the post to reflect this.

sharpchick_2011

I posted my questions about how the yarn was twisted so tightly from the winding...

Here is a photo of the last row before I bound off.

You can see how tightly wound it was in those first five stitches, as opposed to the width of the yarn as it was on the hank before winding. That continued over and over throughout the knitting of the scarf.

When I asked at the yarn store how many balls I'd need for the finished scarf, she said one.

So I bought one.

And got a 37.5 inch scarf.

Don't know any toddlers who will be dancing over this color combo, so I think I now have a very expensive table runner. Or a huge hot pad.

But I learned some lessons here...

130 yards of Camp Stove is enough to make half a scarf.

Any future purchases of this yarn will be wound by hand.

pebblerocker

I've just re-learnt how to knit, having made nothing since the ghastly scarflike object I made at age 8 and then bootees for three newborn relatives at wide intervals over the next couple of decades. I'd bought some hand-knitted socks and I love them so much I want to make myself some more, so in the last week I've been learning the magic loop method and making a pair of toe-up heelless spiral ribbed socks which I'm extremely excited about. Yay me!

Having used up that wool, though, I'm keen to keep knitting. I'm staying with my mother-in-law for a week and she no longer knits, so she gave me her leftover wool to do what I like with. However everything she had was acrylic and I'm somewhat rabid about only wearing natural fibres, especially on my feet, so socks are out. Can anyone point me to some patterns for non-wearable items I can make out of the acrylic? Maybe tea cosies or, I don't know, ipod cosies and things? Something fast and fun.

I don't know much about wool weights (DK, 8-ply, worsted... it's all Greek to me) and there are no labels on the balls, but it looks fairly thick. My only available needle is a 3.5mm circular so I hope it'll work for what I have to knit with. And I'm at pretty basic skill level: I can knit, purl, increase, decrease, and look up stitches on Youtube. What things can I make while I'm staying here?

ETA:

vampirefan suggested toys -- I have a half-grown cat who will bite and fight my fluffy scarf any chance he gets, so I'll try making him a cat toy or two! Even I should be able to make something up without a pattern: magic loop method, little ring, increase, decrease, stuff and add tassels. He'll love it.

sharpchick_2011

The community was recommended to me by a DW member whose journal I follow.

I'm loving the photos of your projects, and hoping I can get there someday.

Right now, I'm doing simple scarves - knit stitch only for the moment.

My first one went quite well. Today, I bought some Camp Stove yarn by Berroco and started my second scarf (using US size 11 needles). My yarn shop winds my yarn for me.

And here's my question - I know this is a twisted yarn, but it's really bizarre how the yarn is feeding out of the ball.

Parts of it come out flat, as you see it on the hank before it's wound.

And then, sometimes it comes out twisted into the tiniest bit of yarn, which seems to untwist as I knit with it, before my eyes.

It's like having a visual and tactile hallucination.

Should I have started knitting with the yarn on the outside of the ball instead of from the center? I bought another color use for another scarf, and if the answer to the question is yes, then I'll know better on that one...

rokeon

I'm brand new to knitting, but I learned when I got into making chainmail that my ideal project is not one that has an overly firm due date; I'm the sort of person who starts a project, forgets it exists for six months, then finds the supplies buried under a stack of books and sits down to finish the whole thing in two days without sleep. So I'm looking for charity programs that either accept donations continuously or reoccur every year.

I can find a million search results about charity knitting, but some of them (like helmetliners for soldiers) seem to be defunct and others are just hard to judge from their webpages. Does anybody have any organizations they'd recommend?

ghoti

So I'm working on a pair of socks, and I'm still new enough at socks that I'm not sure if this is a glitch in the pattern or if I'm not reading it correctly, or what.

Pattern is "Just Yer Basic Sport Sock" (ravelry link to pattern).

I've just gotten to the part where I want to start the heel flap ... and it says:

The heel flap is worked over the first 24 (28) stitches of your round. The other 24 (28) stitches are the instep stitches, which will be held in place on the needles while you knit the heel flap. When you reach the end of your last round for the leg, continue as follows:
Set-up:
Row 1: Knit across 12 (14) stitches. Turn your work – you’ll knit the next row on the wrong side (purl bumps) of the sock.
Row 2: Slip first stitch purlwise, purl across remaining 23 (27) stitches. (You’ll be working back across the first and fourth needles of your round.) Turn your work – you’ll be knitting on the right side again on the next row.

If I'm reading this correctly, you knit your first needle, then turn around and purl your first and fourth needles. Wouldn't that make the heel just *slightly* imbalanced, having that extra row on needle 1?

Current Mood: confused

foxyfurs

I did it!!
My very first pair of socks! That actually fit! (I am not counting the crochet ones that are like humongous mukluks I wear around the house.)

So happy! Let me show you it!

Aren't they pretty?

Current Mood: ecstatic

red_eft

So despite the fact I'm a knitting n00b, I've decided to be ambitious and knit a toy for a friend. It's actually coming along well except that it's turning out much too large for my purposes- I'm not sure my friend wants a stuffed animal that is the size of her dog, and also I have to mail it to her. I was wondering if there was an easy(ish) way to reliably reduce the size of a pattern? My brief glance online showed mostly advice for adjusting clothes, and I'm not sure that will help for a toy. The last time I tried to adjust size, I eyeballed it, and it turned out a little... funny. And that was a *much* simpler pattern (this super cute hedgehog, just in case anyone else wants to make one! I recommend it; they're fun to do.)
I'm already knitting on needles smaller than the label recommends so that the stitches will hold stuffing.
If it makes a difference, this (Leo the Lion) is the pattern I'm using.
Thanks in advance!

Current Mood: hopeful

kareila

Things I have learned so far today in the process of beginning my first toe-up sock:

- Judy's Magic Cast On is pretty easy, but dividing it onto 4 DPNs opened up a small hole in the center of the toe. Nothing I can't sew up later, but an annoyance nonetheless. I think to avoid this in the future, I'll have to knit the first few rounds of the toe on 2 needles.

- If your idea of Needle 1 is not the same as the pattern's idea of Needle 1, chances are you will end up with increases perpendicular to the cast on row instead of parallel. As soon as I figured out what I had done, I just reoriented instead of ripping out and starting over, but between that and the hole, my half-finished toe sure does look interesting.

- If the suggested increase stitch involves wrapping the yarn opposite the way you're used to, you will get confused and start wrapping all the stitches the opposite way, leaving them twisted on the needle.

- If you have a ton of twisted stitches, you don't have to untwist them; you can just knit through the back of the loop, and they will untwist as they drop.

... I think I'm ready to do something else for a while.

afuna

My first knitted bag snagged on something which appears to have cut one or two stitches, leaving this ugly hole. It's no big loss. The bag was one of the first things I've ever made, and it's all cheap acrylics. But I don't want to lose it, because it was several months of labor (it has all my beginner's mistakes on it and all *G*).

So I've been trying to figure out how to repair the knitting:

I've done a fingerless glove, so I know how to pick up stitches (for the thumb of the glove). Initially I thought of picking up the stitches at the edge of the rip and knitting circular a couple of rows binding off, but I am afraid that the remaining stitches would still unravel, and also I would end up with a protruding tube, which would look odd!

I could sew up the rip, but I don't know if it would look okay; it might look really obvious, and perhaps not hold.

I've been thinking about sewing up the edges of the hole so that I'd still have a hole, but at least the stitches around it would be stable and it couldn't unravel further. Then I could either leave it as is, or else knit a tiny colorful shape of some kind, and sew it on top of the hole as a patch.

I've never tried doing any repair work before though. Any idea what works, and what may end up in disaster? *g* Any suggestions for doing repairs, that is suitable for a beginner? Note I have no experience with sewing, but I have done some knitting, and also a very little bit of crochet.

zats_clear

Starting parameters: I love to knit on circular needles. I am learning to knit. I am working on Dirty Girl Dishcloths from the Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting book

Problem: I am now working the dishcloth that involves purling and I am pretty darned sure that I am not doing it right. I know I am doing the purl portion correctly, but I believe I might be mucking something up with the using of circular needles and right side/wrong side stuff. I am not getting that defined square in the middle I should be with k5, p40, k5 and I am confoooooooooooooosed!

Plea: Any ideas? tia!

Intrepid Adventures into finding lost projects (and finishing them!)

No matter how badly you knit, I bet it's better than this dude.

Learned several lessons with this one...

Intro + ideas for small non-wearable items

Brand new knitter...

Question about knitting for charity

sock help?

\o/

Adjusting the size of a knitting pattern?

at least it's educational

Repairing torn knitting

circular needles query

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June 2025

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