Learning to Knit

Daisies

Knitting can be cheaper - it depends what you're comparing it with! You can probably buy a cheap acrylic jumper for a few £s in Tescos or Primark but it might only last one season. If I'm knitting a jumper for myself I usually estimate paying £40-50 for the yarn for it (usually pure wool, or a wool mixture), but then I would compare that to a jumper from M & S's Per Una, or Monsoon, somewhere like that, that will also have jumpers in natural fibres.
eg, the scarf I've just finished used some really nice variegated, mainly wool, yarn and cost about £18 to make. But I've seen one very similar in Accessorize for £22!

You can buy superwash wool, which is machine washable and dryable, and doesn't felt. My current obsession is sock knitting, which, on the face of it, doesn't make sense economically as it is SO cheap to buy socks in a pack at the supermarket. But once you've worn handknitted socks you never want to go back! They fit much better, they're much warmer at this time of year, you've had the satisfaction of knitting them, environmentally they're great as they last for years and you can darn them after that. For sock yarn (usually 75%ish wool, 25%ish nylon but it varies) I'd expect to pay anything between £4-20 for 100g - but from that I'd get a pair for myself, plus 2-3 pairs for my little nephews.

Yes, there's some nice acrylic yarn out there (it's not "wool" if it's not from a sheep!), like James C Brett "Marble" that seem to wash and wear well, but I still prefer natural fibres as they're breathable, especially for babies and small children.

shona_2

Quite agree Daisies - I'm about to embark on my first socks - quite a daunting thought, but I think the luxury will be worth it!

Shona

Tracey04

where do you get socks patterns and wool from
also looking for a pattern to make a bag that can be used for shopping (grocery shopping - with a zip on or at least fastens) and not a going out bag. Any ideas and is it possible to knit a bag- or tapastry/cross stitch one?

Thanks Tracey

rach

i hadn't knit for years but knitted a scarf for my mum for christmas, it was a bit hit and miss but she loved it (or so she said). its best mate's birthday tomorrow and i am sitting here looking at a call of wool and needles for the scarf i promised myself i'd do for her. should only take a few hours hopefully so will do it tonight!

sheng719

I love knitting now...I have acquired a great amount of wool from freecycle last year and I was then thinking of crocheting them to turn into granny square blankets for gift purposes. I had finished one but i was unsatisfied with the results but it is passable. I then started to teach myself how to knit and I am really enjoying it! I really love the fact the you can create nice clothing such as cardi that are quite expensive and hard to find and now I am attempting a double granny square blanket for our best friend who has been always there to help us in times of trouble. I am currently, doing various patterns that I have in my book which I bought 4 years ago and then I'll go from there. As most of the wool that I hae are not enough to make a clothing...I have decided to make the most of it into blankets, scarfs and other bits and pieces that does not require so much wool. I have a couple of birthdays coming up in the next couple of months, so my knitting needles which I have purchased in the charity shops are now on fire to finish at least two blankets in time for the up comings friends birthdays... Happy knitting all!!!I do hoep each and everyone of us produces the best knitted stuff ever!!!:p

buxtonrabbitgreen

Knitting is very trendy at the moment and apparantly knitters meet in pubs for knitting evenings. i can hand knit but find the instructions quite illogical so I machine knit. You know the bit that you get to that says ' keeping pattern correct' increase/decrease etc I never know if the pattern is still correct and it usually goes wrong. With machine knitting it is obvious. well to me anyway. Though if you think knitting needles are noisy don't get a machine. The whole house shakes when i am getting into my stride. (don't take that the wrong way though please)

fwoodles

tracey04 wrote:

where do you get socks patterns and wool from
also looking for a pattern to make a bag that can be used for shopping (grocery shopping - with a zip on or at least fastens) and not a going out bag. Any ideas and is it possible to knit a bag- or tapastry/cross stitch one?

Tracey - I started on my sock obsession last year - I started with sock kits from a couple of internet sites - they sent a pattern, needles (5 dpns), stitch markers and the yarn for around £10.

http://www.angelyarns.com/opal-yarn/sock-kits.php

http://www.getknitted.com/acatalog/Lana_Grossa_Sock_Yarn_-__Sock_it_to_Em__kits.html

The self patterning yarn is great - everyone wonders how it works and makes you look like a genius. I have now started pair number 8 - this time a sideways knit rather than in the round.... There are lots of other sites that sell sock yarn in many colurs - I've grabbed some off ebay as well - once you know the brand name it's easy enough to search.

As to bags - I've started with a small felted bag - you can obviously make them bigger so they'd do as a shopper. Things like:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter02/FEATfelting.html

http://sasw.blogspot.com/2006/03/felted-tote-bag.html

http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter02/PATTsuki.html

If you want them bigger - just knit more!

Pepita_2

My local newsagent told me that the Knitting weekly part work is his best selling part work ever - he is selling about 30 a week to people who have ordered them, mainly to young people. Knitting really is on the up now. A lot of people who started off with the thick yarn and the fancy yarns making scarves are now moving on to thinner yarns and more complex designs and realising how therapeutic and creative a hobby it is.
Other good sites for free patterns are:

https://www.magknits.com
https://www.theanticraft.com
https://www.crochetme.com
https://www.straw.com
https://www.texere-yarns.co.uk
https://www.macadirect.com
https://www.knitting-yarn.co.uk (for buying yarn online)

ebaybaby

I found this a great site:
http://www.learntoknit.com/home.html

Also when I was learning to knit I made 6"x6" squares in different colours and when I had x amount sew them together to make a patchwork blanket! A great way of using up odd balls or if you pick up cheap odd balls in charity shops etc. Either do it big or smaller for a doll/pet. It gives you good practice at casting on/off and you dont get so bored as your changing colours/yarns.

Another great site is this:

http://www.lionbrand.com/

You have to subscribe, but it is free, you get weekly emails with loads of info and a different stitch each week!

Rikki

Lizzieanne wrote:

I made lots of those fluffy scarves for Christmas presents this year - everybody loved them!

Your an angel. I got given the wool and told to knit my own.:rotfl: