Knitting! (and other needle arts...)

tardistraveller · Post by **tardistraveller** » October 2nd, 2007, 6:59 am

Ah-ha! Found the knitting thread!

(Pun intended?)

I've recently re-taken up knitting thanks to a knitting-mad friend here at university. My specialty so far appears to be tea cosies, because my family, in its alleged Britishness (this according to my friend), pretty much lives off tea.

I knitted a tea cosy for each of my grandmas a few Christmases ago in the shape of a plum pudding, and I am currently knitting a striped tea cosy in popcorn/trinity/bobble stitch (choose name to suit) for one of them, to match her recently repainted kitchen. If I'm lucky, I'll finish it before she paints the kitchen again.

I also like making stuffed animals: my couch is home to a penguin named Zeugma and a rabbit named Monty. Monty looks somewhat angry because I attempted to embroider his eyes on and they didn't turn out so well. Zeugma has buttons for eyes, so he just looks kind of dazed.

My current project, though, is certain to be a masterpiece (modest I am!): a Doctor Who scarf that will be my friend's Christmas present. Since it's just garter stitch, it's a great project to knit in front of the TV, unless said TV is airing "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords" back to back. (CBC aired that here last week, and man that was the most exciting two hours of TV I have probably ever watched.)

And speaking of Doctor Who, here is a picture of my new favourite knitting bag:

My friend made that for me -- sewed the bag herself and stencilled on the Dalek. And the lining fabric has little robots on it, which we insist are Cybermen. Yes, we are nerds.

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » October 2nd, 2007, 7:19 am

Welcome tardistraveller! We're glad you're here! Knit on! =)

Aperi · Post by **Aperi** » October 12th, 2007, 10:02 pm

Umm...sort of new around here, but trust me to find the thread about knitting. (No, I'm not stealing Tardistraveler's pun, it's just true that if there's knitting discussion going on I tend to find it) Just wanted to say hi.
I'm currently poking around looking for a pattern for a sweater dress, not much else going on as far as projects go, since I finished my mum's tea cosy and the shrug I was making.
BTW that knitting bag is awesome 8)

kri · Post by **kri** » October 14th, 2007, 5:59 am

OK, I forgot to post this a while ago, and I figure I'll post it here since this is also for other needle arts. I heard about a website in one of my podcasts where they're posting public domain sewing patterns, and trying to create a sewing community sort of similar to Ravelry around it (the comparison is mine, not theirs). It's called BurdaStyle.com

kristin · Post by **kristin** » October 24th, 2007, 8:28 pm

I'm working on something with cables, I've never done them before and I've hit a snag. I can't visualize how this is going to work but I was under the impression that the cable moving yarn over bits should be worked in the same place in the next row you do it in. I'm wondering if this is yet another error in a lionbrand pattern or if I'm just confused. I don't want to have to pull it all out if I do it wrong.

Here's the pattern: http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/60486A.html

I just finished row 12, looked at row 13 and am not sure about it. It just seems wrong to me.

Aperi · Post by **Aperi** » October 25th, 2007, 12:17 am

That capelet looks adorable

The pattern looks fine to me...On the cable row, you move five stitches on to the cable needle, then ignore them for a moment while you knit the next five stitches from your regular needle, then knit the five stitches from the cable needle. This means that the first five stitches, which were on the cable needle, now come after the ones that you knitted between putting the first five stitches on the cable needle and knitting them. Because the order of the stitches has changed, it makes the part of the cable where it looks as if it's crossed over itself. When you come around to that part of the row again on your next round, the stitches are already in their new order, so you don't have to move them again.
Sorry I couldn't explain it more clearly, but it's one of those things that you see how it works as you do it (at least it was for me).
Hope this helped
Aperi

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » October 25th, 2007, 4:39 pm

kri wrote:OK, I forgot to post this a while ago, and I figure I'll post it here since this is also for other needle arts. I heard about a website in one of my podcasts where they're posting public domain sewing patterns, and trying to create a sewing community sort of similar to Ravelry around it (the comparison is mine, not theirs). It's called BurdaStyle.com

This is really interesting (awesome and cool)... Burda used to be a big pattern company ... I wonder if they are still producing patterns and putting them into the PD (kind of like Netscape released the source code for their web browser)... or if something else is happening here... I'll take a closer look ... thank you for pointing it out to us =)

Rowen · Post by **Rowen** » October 28th, 2007, 2:07 am

Woo I'm finally on Ravelry

as kaitharshayr *goes off to explore the site*

kristin · Post by **kristin** » October 28th, 2007, 8:39 pm

Me too!!! kristinlv

I've found the librivox group.

@Aperi - Thanks, I'm going to blame the pattern, it's just not coming out right. Time to scrap it and try something else, or maybe I can figure out how to modify it so it works better. hmmm...

Aperi · Post by **Aperi** » October 29th, 2007, 7:42 pm

Oh, that sucks. Sorry! Hope your new project turns out better

catchpenny · Post by **catchpenny** » November 1st, 2007, 8:13 am

How about rug braiding? I braid rug. (That is intended to be singular, as I have not got past the first rug yet) You use a needle to lace the braids together, so I guess this counts for needle craft. If anyone else is starting a rug, do not start with clothes wool and switch to blanket wool half way through. I would advise against it. The rug gets pulled in such un-rugly positions. Oh well. Maybe mom can use a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g pot holder.

Rug braiding is 8) .

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » November 1st, 2007, 5:18 pm

Rug making definitely fits in here! Welcome! We'd love to see photos of your project too =)

catchpenny wrote:How about rug braiding? I braid rug. (That is intended to be singular, as I have not got past the first rug yet) You use a needle to lace the braids together, so I guess this counts for needle craft. If anyone else is starting a rug, do not start with clothes wool and switch to blanket wool half way through. I would advise against it. The rug gets pulled in such un-rugly positions. Oh well. Maybe mom can use a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g pot holder.

Rug braiding is 8) .

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » November 1st, 2007, 5:20 pm

Just saw this posted in my Historical Knitting group on Ravelry:

"Plimoth Plantation is looking for volunteer knitters to supply handknit hose and gloves for the costumed interpreters at the Museum. The wardrobe department supplies the material and patterns and you supply your time."

(Follow link for more info.)

Jc · Post by Jc » November 9th, 2007, 8:42 am

Hi all!

I'm still a beginner at knitting, and I'm trying to recycle some of my old sweaters by undoing them and using the yarn to knit myself a new one.

I've done a couple of scarves in the past, all using the knit stitch. I've got some questions, though.

- What's the difference between a knit stitch and a purl stitch?
- How does the size of the needle influence the stitching? (thick needles for thick yarn? looser knit?)
- How tight are the knots supposed to be? (or the stitch, I don't know how to call them)

THanks!

gypsygirl · Post by **gypsygirl** » November 9th, 2007, 8:54 am

Jc wrote:Hi all!

I'm still a beginner at knitting, and I'm trying to recycle some of my old sweaters by undoing them and using the yarn to knit myself a new one.

I've done a couple of scarves in the past, all using the knit stitch. I've got some questions, though.

- What's the difference between a knit stitch and a purl stitch?
- How does the size of the needle influence the stitching? (thick needles for thick yarn? looser knit?)
- How tight are the knots supposed to be? (or the stitch, I don't know how to call them)

THanks!

In simplest terms, the purl stitch is the reverse of the knit stitch. A row of knit stitches looked at from the back is all purls, and vice versa.

In general, you'll use larger needles for bulkier yarns (it's very difficult to knit a bulky yarn on small needles), but this isn't a hard and fast rule - it's not unusual to use fairly large needles with very lightweight yarn to get a lacier effect. The fun thing about large needles and heavy yarns is that your projects grow at a very encouraging rate.

The stitches should be tight enough not to fall off your needles, but not so tight that you won't be able to get your needle into them next row. What's more important is consistency (which you'll acquire with practice), making sure that all your stitches are of an even tension.