KnitWit - the ultimate knitting thread

Also got two books in the mail today: Finishing techniques and the Zimmer Almanac book. HURRAH!

gifts:
-lace-y scarf in lovely knitpicks andean silk for my grandmother, 3/4 done.
-gruff, cable scarf for my grandfater, 1/2 done
-another tychus hat, different colors for my bro, 7/8 done

to do:
-simple watchman's hat for george

to finish (as in weave ends, line, block, etc.):
-cat ear hat for niece
-beanie for nephew
-monogram purses for nieces
-cardigan for mother

won't go into my sewing list.

On the needles:
ski cap for stepfather
the baby blanket that will never be finished at this rate

to finish:
need to cut the brim insert, sew it up and wash the Topi for my brother

to start:
multicolored hat done with some Malabrigo and sari silk. Just wound the Malabrigo into balls last night, damn if it isn't the softest wool ever.

two more hats for friends, both guys. I'm tempted to make one of them a crazy fuzzy Russian thing.

Tempting, from knitty. I want armbands! plus, it's finally something for me.

http://www.lanagrossa.com/journale/filati_32/20.jpg

I want to knit that!

Dude, I've had this on needles for nearly a year now.

perhaps soon I will emerge from crippling, isolation-depression and we can have a knit-a-long.

that's my only knitting project at the moment. the crochet will have to take a backseat until the season of gift-crafting is over.

The one regular knitting circle thing I attended, at the LYS, featured women in their 50s talking about their mothers' sex lives. It was certainly interesting!

cables are very simple, give them a try on a purse or a scarf first.

I was actually thinking of doing that pattern this morning. . .

I have one skein of a bulky, handpainted rowan I need to do something with and I thought of fingerless things. I don't think it'd be the right yarn for this pattern though.

I found a couple of knitalongs for the Fetching that indicated that there's another way to do the thumb that adds less bulk--they did a gusset instead. I don't know how to do this, but I think I can dig up the link.

My course lasts three whole YEARS. Eep. I don't know if I'll manage to do all three but I'm more than willing to try. YAY. :-) Lace making however... I know I should just enroll in a course but I'm not up for it as I already do the knitting course and, well, it ain't for fun (but for zee job mostly). (This is PROPER lace making not that knitting thing. hah!)

geez louise.

I've only been knitting for about one.

I think after xmas I want to do this for myself:
http://www.chicknits.com/catalog/ribbycardi.html

I guess with a three year course they are expecting you to already be committed to knitting (hence the other beginners being more advanced than true beginners).

You are right in that way. I'm happy I didn't know that it was such a *full-on* course - kinda silly cause if it's three yrs you sort of have to expect that. The teacher is very nice. A bit stiff but deep down a VERY nice lady. And such a GR34T name: Gudrun!

Woha Nelly, I just saw the program for the third year. FULL ON crochet and also making your own frigging design.

*boom*

I like how one of my best friends was so *negative* about it - YOU KNITTING COME ON! READ SOME DOSTOYEVSKI! - but now is practically begging me to make her a scarf! *roffle* I'll probably do it. What I most likely want to do (in a year or so) is do RETRO knitting: make old stuff. I already ordered some old patterns. (http://www.yesterknits.com/)

I RRRRREALLY would LOVE to make this one:

http://www.yesterknits.com/sol/Knittingcrossoversmall.jpg

that ribbed cardi is cheap too. the called for yarn is only $2.25 a skein!

off to knit some more on that matinee cardigan.

oh yes! i'm always jealous of these women who can knit and do something else (like read or watch telly). anyone here at that stage? gawd wouldn't that be the bestest thing EVAH? :-)

I have to be more miticulous about keeping my knitting diary: I forgot which nr of needles I used for the sweater (for Ophelia/KnitClass). Christ, I roffled (inwardly) at the fact the woman next to me in class was so miticulous and now I pay the price. :-(

And I have various holiday presents to make.

Nath, soon you'll be able to do all manner of stitches while watching tv.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTblu.html

(and Knitty, Marilyn wasn't in Giant. grr.)

I put the brim in the Topi last night and washed it in cold water, so the damn thing didn't shrink at all. Shrinking is critical for the hat to be the right size, or I will have to make a hydroencephalic friend real soon.

yes marilyn was in misfits. peoples need to get their 50s classics right!

srsly, I need to find a baby to knit those jeans for.

There was a great book of stills and accounts of the filming of Misfits at Half Priced Books... ah, what a film.

I'm sure you can find a baby! I mean: friends, family, make your own? ;)

I frogged my hat. I think it was a good idea: It'll teach me to make a gauge. This was s'posed to be for Ophelia but fucking up the gauge (too small -> less dependent) meant it would be for me and STILL be a little too big. I figured frogging it'd be better.

Eh, that matinee cardigan is a hellalot of work. But I'm doing the left panel (70 procent finished) and will then proceed to do other panel... and sleeves... and collar... AND SEAMING. Urgh. Probably will take it with me to class just for practice/check-up by teacher.

Other sweater: Oops, used wrong needles, so sleeves a bit larger. Ahum. Ah well... :-)

Live'n'learn, right?

Bought MORE yarn.

Oh and that frilly scarf:

Sort of like Wendy Knitit ribbon but bettah (duh) colours and much larger scarf:

http://www.art-of-craft.co.uk/acatalog/CP161s.gif

I got a needle gauge that has a handy gadget along the side--you set it as wide as 10 stitches and it tells you how many stitches per inch you've got. It has made gauge swatching much faster for me )especially after I got a couple of inches into a hat for my little sister and then realized it was big enough to go around my waist).

I think my youngest niece is too old for them so I shall have to make a baby of my own so I can knit them!

man, I'm dying to get started on post-xmas projects. . .

I also have to knit 1 and a half sleeve for that other sweater but I PH34R that I used the wrong needle (4,5 instead of 4) as it seems so big. Then again it's a baby sweater and they have to be roomy, right? (Excuses excuses.)

Anyone do entrelac?

Oh yes! Do you guys buy yarn without basing yourself on a pattern? HOw do you buy yarn?

I am v happy there is a knitting thread here! I even signed up to the sandbox! Erm, and I also see managed to typo my heerlarious login name. Oops.

I am FIVE ROWS from finishing the straight section of clapotis! The end is in sight. Am still undecided whether to give it as a present thus checking someone off the list or whether I will like it too much and I have to keep it! Suspect the final decision will be made once it's blocked out.

SOX: I am practicing SHORT ROW HEELS. They are so much better than the heel-flap method! Except I keep making them gappy. However, with a bit of utterly terrible mangling I can make them go almost perfect - I printed off a guide to a double-wrap method of short-rowing heels/toes which I am going to try at the weekend.

Making socks on 4mm dpns with dk yarn is AWESOME. Stuff you 2mm needles and sock yarn! It is even better if the yarn is shocking pink :)

Also - secret christmas knitting. There is lots of it. LOTS. Argh! I am going to have to take days off to get it all done which I WILL spend knitting and not just watch episode of House and LOOK at the knitting...

I want to try it, I like the look.

I'll often buy yarn with the thoughts of making something. and then it sits. this is how you build a stash.

the latter was written by a girl whom I replaced at a previous job. Had no idea she knitted. am envious. I want to write a book. :(

xpost: I'll send you that yarn THIS WEEK. Promise! :-)

what sweater are you working on?

http://www.lanagrossa.com/journale/filati_32/15.jpg

In charcoal grey colour. HURRAH!

Still need to finish hubby's shawl though. :-D Will do once I quit having migraines. Gawd headaches are a f*cking b*tch. :-(

I also bought a ton of pattern magazines (Lana Grossa) and fell in love with a gazillion things I want to knit. And I also bought that pattern book which seemed too difficult for me at first, but now I understand it and I think it'll be GREBT when I want to knit something simple (and maybe, in the future, sth with a fancy stitch).

I also cleared some records in a cupboard so I can have my collection of books and mags in one place. HURRAH.

Bought some jumbo sized crochet hook (?) and want to crochet a blanket. But I don't know how to *turn* in crochet. Bummer.

The lesson was EXTREMELY hard this week. We have to do a V-collar with dpns. Urgh! I think I messed it up. :-) I found out that the one who's most crap at knitting is a bit... I don't know how to say this... I think I overheard saying she lives in a community (for people with slight mental disabilities). :-( She doesn't really follow the difficult parts anymore, the teacher just guides her a bit doing her sweater.

What equipment? Hmm, yarn, needles (I prefer bamboo or plastic), a sewing needle (if you cant to do a sweater), scissors, something to measure,... I would also suggest some notebook so you can write down your progress. I should follow my own advice, cause I'm quite lax when it comes to writing everything down. :-(

Do they have the Stitch'n'Bitch book from Debbie Stoller in yr library? If so GET THAT ONE PRONTO! It's ACE! Debbie Bliss also does good (beginner) books for baby garments. There's also the Vogue KNitting book which is great but will come more in handy as reference (once you're a bit more experienced IMO!).

YAY, a new knitter! :-)

yay knitting talk!

Let me know what you decide about Etsy Molly. I'm curious too. I like looking but have never bought anything, more inspiration really. Does anyone besides other crafters know about it?

Here's my latest knitting (and crocheting and sewing) pic posts. Finishing a second pair of mittens before I post them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/misery/

I don't think my yarn is very bulky so maybe I had better just do a small scarf - or a belt!

If you're keen to do more difficult things, I would suggest doing swatches first. THat's what I did. I wanted to try cable, so I only did a swatch and started something else after that.

If you REALLY are serious or want to progress quicker, look out in yarn shops for one day courses.

(Oh dear, I think I must be old; I am excited about going home on a Friday night to knit!)

In my experience metal needles have been very hard to knit with. they're inflexible and hurt your hands and the stitches slide off easier. The first pair I ever tried to knit with were metal size 8s and it was a disaster. I am not saying this to discourage you as you may not find getting started hard at all (I fully accept that I may be "special"). But I just want to encourage you that if you find it hard going at first, it could get easier with different needles. (and practice)

have fun!

Liz, I second Sam and Nath with getting big yarn. I've taught people in the past who've started off with 2 strands together, and they got confused really quickly. If you can find a big fat yarn, that takes 10 1/2 (US), for example that might be easy.

And Stitch'n'Bitch is a SUPER book to have if you're learning. It explains things so clearly. I've been knitting for about 4 years, and I still reference it all the time. It's a good purchase.

Don't get discourage if your first scarf comes out terribly! It's a learning experience. I still have the first thing I knit and I used it as a potholder. It was supposed to be a scarf.

I'm knitting a bib from the Mason Dixon book for someone in Mr. Pike's office who recently had a baby. It's turning out really well!

I wanted to mention not doing the two threads simultaneously, it can be somewhat hard in the beginning to do this. I'm actually doing this for a cardigan I'm making and it's going pretty well, but I doubt I could have done this way back in July when I started knitting again. :-)

In regard to the acrylic, there's different types. I bought some at Wibra (cheapass store) and I could heard the yarn crackle'n'pop when I knitted. Awful! But I bought some other acrylic in Veritas that was slightly more expensive but still dirt cheap and it was AWESOME. You can tell after a while which yarn will work and which won't. (Well, for me that only works when it's acrylic, other types I'm not used to YET).

I can more or less knit while watching telly now! ONly for stockinette (?), no fancy stitches (yet). HURRAH!

OTN: cardigan for Ophelia
cardigan pour moi
sweater pour moi
bag pour moi (i'm so selfish)
lacy shawl for mummy (if she wants it)

I bought some pattern books and fell in love with a gazillion items.

I want to knit better. harumph!

I was going to go and get more blocking pins today but I appear to have stayed in watching season 2 of Popular instead...

http://cache.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/faq-search.cgi?store=/stores/eyarn&faqKey=278

http://www.knitnet.com/sampler/current/page5.htm

I like the way this sweater looks from the front, but it really bugs me that they don't show the back. Since it's tied around the waist, it could look like a lumpy mess. Thoughts?

I'm knitting *blind*. I did frog it as the stockinette didn't work on the scarf: it curled up! So I'm knitting to and fro BLIND! I watched six episodes of 24 this way (on DVD). HURRAH!

I'm getting really hooked on knitting now. My daughters have asked me to knit some clothes for their Barbie dolls, and I've found some free doll's clothes knitting patterns online which I might have a bash at next week :)

Haha, whoops. WHY O WHY did I not use his supermodpowers for eevil deeds when I had the chance?

I'm fascinated by lace knitting!

I also sewed a teddybear for my aunt which was awesome fun. I think, much like knitting, I prefer sewing things rather than garments. Perhaps this is because I'm not really into clothes. I should try to sew myself a hoodie and see how that goes.

I loathe knitting buttonholes and therefore suck at it.

I also sewed a teddybear for my aunt which was awesome fun. I think, much like knitting, I prefer sewing "things" rather than garments. Perhaps this is because I'm not really into clothes. I should try to sew myself a hoodie and see how that goes.

I loathe knitting buttonholes and therefore suck at it.

I do quite a bit of card-making (I've got one of those sizzix die-cutting machines and everything!) and I've just bought these from ebay :

http://i14.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/83/28/4829_2.JPG

They were really inexpensive - but I'd like to be able to knit card embellishments for baby cards like this myself. Being a total newbie to the knitting world, I'd need a pattern ...... i've tried searching on google to find something, but have failed. Does anyone know where I might find free patterns for knitting tiddly little things like this, to go on greetings cards??

Help/advice appreciated! Thanks :)

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory.php

I need something tiny though, which is knitted on cocktail sticks. I can't find anything on that site, but thanks for the link! I've seen several things there I'd like to try.