K3tog: ILx Knitting 3

So I'm now at KnitCamp. It has turned into a fucking disaster as the organisers didn't get the workpermits in time for the american teachers. On Ravelry it has turned into a Rubberneck thread: reading one particular thread on the KnitCamp forum is a lot of fun. I posted something positive and of course got a gazillion disagrees. But y'know they are right in a way: this has turned into a disaster. Lots of classes fallen through or reorganised. But they are also wrong: just roll with it, have fun and take another class. Which I am. :-)

I just spent an epic week making a "bolero" (just looks like a short-sleeved cardigan) to wear to my sister-in-law's wedding. I can't believe what I can get done if I stay up until 2 a.m. every night.

I just started a sock on two circs and I think I'm a convert. I was getting really tired of all the picking up & putting down of DPNs.

I am going to learn double knitting in November!

i did a couple pairs of socks on one circ and then i went back to dpns! never done 2 circs. still working on that last pair because i started a sweater. maybe i'll go back to it this weekend.

This puppet from the new Knitty really creeps me out

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEdf10/images/chowALT3.jpg

Okay what the fuck is that?

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1315/5101382391_827837a7d0.jpg

Finished this in a couple of days. Gonna make another one with Noro. Yipee.

You are so good at stranded knitting, Nath! I still haven't given it a shot.

My favorite yarn store in town is having a pretty sweet sale today, I am waiting for my big fucking headache to subside so I can go check it out. (The cool thing about Tucson is it has five more yarn stores than Las Cruces did, (5 + 0 =5))

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/5121332452_ca5ef11ce8_z.jpg

Finally finished the Terra (by Jared Flood). It looks nice - still has to be blocked - but is a pretty boring knit, tbh. Also, his pattern writing can be confusing at times: my version of the pattern neglected to say that you had to keep the three garter edge stitches, which was later corrected/added. I know a bit of lace knitting so I knew you had to keep it going, but others were of course confused.

Abbott, stranded knitting (in the round) is dead easy. Have a go, you'll discover it is especially easy with norwegian patterns. I made the above pattern in a smaller version with black and noro. As I had leftover from the black skein, I decided to make one for my mom.
Then again my drops mittens is MEH. It looks okay but I hated that they didn't include a fully chart for the mittens. Next up will be space invaders mittens for my husband.

Started lady february sweater.

i was doing the manu cardigan but i was so frustrated at how different my gauge is when i purl that i decided to quit. i need to learn to steek so i can knit cardigans in the round. i am doing the lightweight pullover instead using berroco ultra alpaca light. it's going very fast. even when all the stitches are knits i still knit unevenly somehow but it'll come out when it's blocked i guess

Harbl, you should do a KAL with me:

http://images4.ravelry.com/uploads/LuckyinKy/18070904/CCW11209--0422_medium2.jpg

Isn't this lovely????

Finally doing the Lady February Sweater. This is so fucking easy.

That goldfish vest is awesome!

haha i couldn't possibly make that. i struggle with just one color.
but lol i like never finish sweaters and i just ordered yarn to also make the mediumweight pullover for when i'm done with this one. i got excited that malabrigo makes a superwash now because i would not make a sweater from regular malabrigo due to the pilling.

I just made a short-sleeved cardigan out of Malabrigo silky merino but I don't think it will ever get cool enough to wear it. I didn't know they made a superwash!

yeah it's called rios, i guess they started this summer. i just made a hat out of the regular merino worsted, i hope it holds up. i wanna make this too and hide in the cowl http://www.flickr.com/photos/19304313@N03/4921058494

The scarf I made out of their regular merino is annoying as hell because not only does it pill up, but the little pills are magnetically attracted to my favorite wool trenchcoat. It gets little yellow fluffs all over everything, it's terrible. But I have a hat out of their merino I like: it's v soft, and it does not touch any of my clothes, so there's no problem with sticky pills.

i knitted a bunch of the cowl neck today and somehow my stitches became straight and even about 3 inches in. the first 3 inches are bumpy with random loose stitches. i hate how that happens but it'll fix after a soak i suppose

I should really have posted this at Halloween I guess. Awesome knitting powers (or maybe one of you knitting experts will tell me that actually it's really easy and I shouldn't be so easily impressed?
http://bencuevas.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/img_9373.jpg?w=518&h=776
From an artpiece called Transcending the Material by Ben Cuevas.

i think any one of us *could* knit all those parts if given a pattern but it would be the biggest pain in the ass. especially those tiny little teeth and the vertebrae. i think the design & assembly is the impressive part. like how does one decide where to begin when knitting a skull, idk

omg that skeleton is AWESOME!

Harbl, really, stranded knitting in the round is DEAD EASY! I am just afraid of steeks. But I am gonna start that sweater. Finish? Who knows. lol.

skeleton is really amazing.

my knitting never looks perfect u_U

I am making some socks for my husband's stepdad – Jesus Christ, I swear this is the last time I make fingering weight socks for a man.

they
never
end

I decided to Just Keep Knitting the tops of the pair of toe up socks I started last April, to see how tall they would get before the skeins ran out. I'm still working on them - so boringzzzzzzzzz. But I am finally ribbing the cuff.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/5197484727_b9bff8d79a.jpg

Behold my Merry Go Round hat. I didn't do it intarsia wise, the crown. Fuck intarsia. But for the rest this was a breeze. A bit too easy, so I made some mistakes cause I was so absent minded. lolol

Also, love top down knitting. I made Shalom which is worn with much pleasure by MOI. Doing one from Cathy Carron's book. The pics frm the book are horrendous but I love the designs. Sadly this stockinette shit is boring the fuck out of me. Yep, I even start swearing. lol

i am always, always impressed by your knitting, nath

My youngest daughter as well: she demanded one for herself. So I cast on a second one (slightly smaller).

Oh sorry, I want to say: thanks! But I am merely the executor, it's the designer who has to be thanked. :-)

:)

Top down knitting is the best. For the first time in my knitting experience I am knitting things that fit well. It's amazing. And no seaming! You can cast-off and wear immediately! I've just used various formulas you can find online, but I've recently invested in this book which I'd also recommend. It has all the formulas, and covers top-down constructions with set-in sleeves and even saddle sleeves.

I want to make a nice yoke jumper - I bought the Paper Dolls pattern on ravelry, but this 'bottom-up' thing? Meh, meh and more meh. And the designer is THIN and there is a lot of feedback that the pattern is also TOO THIN. Also on this list is the cityscape cardigan. Steeks! I want steeks!

However, I am knitting another Laura Chau project on 2.75mm needles which is likely to take the rest of my life, so I won't buy another pattern for a while. IT WILL BE WORTH IT WHEN I AM FINISHED. Just in time for the Royal Wedding...

Katie M on 29 April
http://www.elizabethannedesigns.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/knitted_wed.jpg

yeah, that city scape thing rules! i also love twist collective. they have some great things!

my teacher dislikes top down because the stitches are upside down. *siiiiiiiiiigh*

i absolutely do not understand how to crochet. i know this is a knitting thread, but it applies because i was trying to learn to crochet embellishments for a knitting project :/

Ugh I tried to learn to crochet and it was awful. You need better manual dexterity than you do for knitting imo

Crochet isn't difficult, but if you try to learn with complicated stuff, it's difficult to learn. I tried learning repeatedly since about 2000, and I only got as far as a simple single crochet stitch. And that's handy, for doing a neat border on knitting sometimes.

And then I found a dishcloth pattern a couple of years ago that was one stitch. The pattern has a link to the YouTube video for doing half double crochet stitch:

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/03/diy-wednesdays-crocheted-cotton-dish-scrubbers.html

Since you're doing the same thing, you get used to it and it becomes much easier. And you learn about which stitches to work to avoid unintentional decreases and the like. When you make mistakes, it's much easier to rip back a few stitches than it is with knitting.

And crochet is really, satisfyingly fast. I'm a reasonably fast knitter, but crochet is naturally much faster. This was my first crochet project, made in an appropriately ugly color to please my grandmother:

http://images4.ravelry.com/uploads/juliaa/7399621/warshcloths_medium2.jpg

those are beautiful

i made my first bottom-up sock this week and i'm never doing top-down again! no picking up heel stitches is the best thing, and being done with the toe already the whole time

Agreed - I started some top-down socks for the first time in years last month, when I finally decided I would see what the "magic loop" method was all about. And when I got to the heel flap I REMEMBERED just how awful it all was. I have 0 problem with picking up stitches, but resuming the pattern correctly and all the *heaving* around of stitches to avoid holes is just awful!

Now I just have to get my head round how to start a toe-up sock with magic loop. I can't quite 'see' it!

Magic loop tho', srsly - I had a knee sock done down to the awful heel in a week, it goes so quickly! And no ladders between joins! I wuv it. And I wuv my knitpros.

PS: crochet is GRATE. I am thinking of making this capelet:
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/lisajohnson/crocheted-capelet

possibly with this yarn:
http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/schachenmayr-nomotta-regia-hand-dye-effect

Or knitty's "frost diamonds". But that does look quite hard, and I can't tell if I have enough yarn. But the blocks look like Tetris blocks, which is pretty wick.

ha the last couple socks i made i used dpns, can't tell if i really like it better than magic loop but i don't mind it. i knit really tight though so i don't get ladders anymore. i think when doing toe-up with magic loop the cable might pull the sides apart? depends how you cast on maybe.

do ppl do short-row heels? i like they way they look but i don't know if i'd fit into them. i have high arches & narrow feet so it's like my heel/ankle circumference is much larger than my foot and i'm afraid to try.

I crochet a row of stitches and then knit into them - never managed to get the hang of "Judy's so-called magic cast-on". Although tbh I had always tried it with dpns and just ended up with tangles everywhere.

I don't think my tension is particularly loose, but I always get some sort of ladder, even if I really heave on the stitches. TBH the ladders aren't *huge* and they disappear once you wash the socks anyway; what I like is that there is way less poking yourself in the tummy with a needle and the stitches are far more secure - you can put yr knitting down w/o losing stitches all over the place.

xpost! ooh like ilx used to be! Anyway, yes - short row heels! They are so easy I've never actually tried another method (will do some day though). This is a very good tutorial w/ loads of photos:
http://www.cosmicpluto.com/blog/as-promised-a-short-row-heel-tutorial/

She does lots of wraps, I'm not sure if I always do these as I don't really find I get holes if I only wrap the once.

It's very very easy to make the heel larger or smaller just by doing a few more or a few less wraps, it's a very flexible method I think.

Think of it like this - you do a toe (using short rows), when you get to the heel you pretty much just do the same thing again!

oh ok, i'll try it on my next pair.
i used this to do the cast-on http://fluffyknitterdeb.blogspot.com/2005/10/knitting-made-easier-turkish-cast-on.html
and this to do the heel (PDF) knotanotherhat.typepad.com/toe_up.pdf

Toe up w/ magic loop is great. I do two at a time, w/ short heel rows and Judy's magic cast-on. The best thing is how simple it is to try them on at every point, so you can fine tune the fit.

Oh I nearly bought the book, "2 socks at a time, magic loop style"*, just the other day. But then I realised it was £11.99, and for £11.99 I could buy a lot of brightly coloured acrylic to make mittens, so I did that instead.

I am going to start some bee gloves tonight using yonder chart:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-bumblebee-socks

£12 for gloves in accessorise? Methinks not...

* = possibly not real title

No intention to derail this thread from its proper business, but my wife has expressed an interest in learning to knit so I'd really appreciate any pro-tips on possible gifts for her with this in mind ie. books, yarn, knitting kit essentials etc.

How did you all learn? Any things to definitely try or avoid? Advice would be *much* appreciated - thanks!

I learnt from an old Readers Digest manual myself, not so sure on beginners books, but I heard this one is good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knitty-Gritty-Knitting-Absolute-Beginner/dp/0713685425/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291123719&sr=8-2

(Are you in the UK as this is a UK book. Warning - the 'stitch and bitch' books are good, but can confuse beginners as you need to translate US terms, which are often confusingly similar to UK terms - also yarns they use are often not available here and beginners will find it difficult to subsitute - in fact I still find it annoying myself)!

A knitting kit isn't a bad place to start! Here's a Rowan kit:
http://www.celticove.com/acatalog/Rowan_Knitting_Kits.html

Or a load of chunky yarn (it'll be called 'chunky' - Sirdar "Big Softee" is a good one) - like 3 balls, and 10mm needles will get you a nice big scarf!

Has she hinted she'd like to knit anything in particular - like bags/hats/scarves/socks/toys etc?

Yeah, we're UK based so I'll bear that in mind, thought there might be some systemic differences.

>Has she hinted she'd like to knit anything in particular.

I think the initial aim is serviceable hats and scarves and then moving on to other knitwear if she enjoys it and the skillz develop. She waivered over whether to try crochet instead, but wasn't sure if this is "useful" for clothes etc? No real aim to knit toys and such (currently at least).

(thanks for the info, those Rowan kits look nice too)

There's loads of those sort of things out in the run up to wobs so just have a look around - I know John Lewis stocks a few for example.

For a fun novelty scarf I actually quite like the Sirdar Snowball:
http://direct.hobbycraft.co.uk/productdetail.asp?productcatalogue=332807

They're so squishy!

nearly bought the book, "2 socks at a time, magic loop style

Same here, when I wanted to try it. But figured if I could manage a single sock toe-up magic loop, I could maybe sort out doing 2. Get the longest, most flexible circular you can find. It helps me to think of it as working the 4 "sides" (front and back sides of each sock). Managing the 2 balls of yarn is the worst part.

Good luck to your wife, Bill A! You might also point her to Ravelry.com - there are lots of resources there for newer as well as experienced knitters, links to videos, free patterns, info on various yarns, etc. If there's a local yarn shop around, they may offer beginning classes.