The Knitters Thread

Savvy_Sue

London_1 said:

Anyone tried the ten stitch round type patterns I've seen on the 'net I keep thinking perhaps when I move in the summer I'll have a go as you can use up all different colours and odds and ends of wool apparently.

 Cast on ten stitches knit however many rows you want in plain, then do a sort of mitred corner so eventually as it grows in a 'rectangular pattern' it will get bigger and bigger IYSWIM.

Hard to describe really but it looks a different way to knit a blanket and use up odds and ends of wool so any oddments will be used, and you can change the couloirs as you go along I was thinking if I can master it I'd like to try with rainbow colours for one of my great granddaughters.

Just wondered if it was as easy as it appears or do you get totally confused with the mitre-ing bit for the corners.

Only just spotted this thread and I knit every day ,usually for a charity, and also thought the ten stitch method might make a change from just squares.

  JackieO xx 

Yes, I have done this, for a baby blanket. It had the great advantage that I could stop long before it was cot-sized, because I was getting bored. And that was with chunky wool! And a small blanket for a car seat is jolly useful, I knew that from experience because Mum gave me one made out of tension squares ... 

It is perfectly straightforward although I'm quite sure I made some mistakes. I swear by using a row counter so I could keep tabs on the corners: I probably wasn't so good at picking up the right number of row ends. 

I did look at the 'round' option but I'm sure it would have required too much concentration. I shall try to add a photo in a tic ... 

Just found a photo, which reminds me of the other thing I found tricky: picking up the row ends in a consistent way. I think this is the 'right' side, but the other side may have looked better. I don't seem to have taken a photo before delivering it, so hard to tell. And you all now have to say 'aaah' to my gorgeous great-nephew. 

BTW, this is a 'mix' wool which changes colour from blue to - well, this looks pink here, but red on the ball. A jolly useful colourmix when you don't know what's on the way. 

Savvy_Sue

I was admiring a friend's cardigan earlier today: fair isle, absolutely amazing. She said there's 12 colours in it, but cleverly only two different colours in each row! 

marrob

Savvy_Sue said:

C_J said:

@alicef : for your duvet closure, could you also use sew-on velcro?

alicef said:

@C_J  I have used velcro once before on a sewing project.  It could have been the type of velcro I sourced but I found it very difficult to sew the tape onto the garment, (I think I hand sewed it in the end).  The snap tape appears to be either cotton or a poly cotton, which possibly? would be kinder to my sewing machine, (my model is quite basic).  

All experiences and thoughts though, are very, very much appreciated.

Two reasons to avoid velcro IMO: it's nigh-on impossible to sew on, with a machine or by hand, AND you then have the problem that even if you 'close' the velcro before washing, it will attach itself to anything fluffy and clog up the 'teeth'. 

I have velcro down the front of my cagoule, and I'll only wear certain scarves with it because otherwise it just eats anything. Today I bought some of those draining pads and they attached themselves to my coat before I could pay for them! DH has side pockets on his trousers with a velcro fastening and I have to make sure they are closed before I start knitting next to him! 

I know, it's marvellous stuff, but only in the right place ... 

Agree with the above, velcro will be difficult to sew with your machine and getting it to stick together in a large run evenly will probably make you utter some words .....   Snap tape is easy to sew with and it behaves itself well.  It's usually poly cotton and washes well.

Hope that helps.
marrob

Savvy_Sue

Savvy_Sue said:

Doing cables for the first time 

<snip>

It is for a cricket pullover for my Great Nephew: I've done him bootees and mittens and a non-cabled pullover, but when his Dad said that would be perfect for the cricket this summer I thought I should do The Real Thing. 

And now I find myself in a bit of a pickle. I used the original pullover pattern, but realised I needed to increase the number of stitches to allow for the cabling to pull it in a bit. So I did the right no. of stitches for the ribbing, and then increased. But I may have got carried away ... 

The pattern says 83 stitches, but for some reason I can't now fathom I have 103, which seems like far too many for 4 cables of 4 stitches each, on a 4 row repeat. It goes like this on the right side:

19 plain stitches
4 contrast
4 cable
4 contrast
4 cable
4 contrast
25 plain stitches
4 contrast
4 cable
4 contrast
4 cable
4 contrast
19 plain stitches

So I think I'm going to have to work out on knitting graph paper how much to decrease for the armholes and for the V-neck, and what effect that will have on the no. of stitches I need for the ribbing. And I've found a site where I can download some, and even checked which orientation to use it in (been reminded that knit stitches are wider than they are tall, which I find slightly counter-intuitive because to my eye they look the other way round. 

This may end up a very odd shaped pullover. Any tips appreciated! 

annieb64

I've not heard of the ten stitch method, Jackie but it sounds interesting. One of our knitting group knits lap blankets in strips using oddments of brightly coloured yarn. She then crochets the strips together with dark yarn . They look really good.

PipneyJane

Savvy_Sue said:

London_1 said:

Anyone tried the ten stitch round type patterns I've seen on the 'net I keep thinking perhaps when I move in the summer I'll have a go as you can use up all different colours and odds and ends of wool apparently.

 Cast on ten stitches knit however many rows you want in plain, then do a sort of mitred corner so eventually as it grows in a 'rectangular pattern' it will get bigger and bigger IYSWIM.

Hard to describe really but it looks a different way to knit a blanket and use up odds and ends of wool so any oddments will be used, and you can change the couloirs as you go along I was thinking if I can master it I'd like to try with rainbow colours for one of my great granddaughters.

Just wondered if it was as easy as it appears or do you get totally confused with the mitre-ing bit for the corners.

Only just spotted this thread and I knit every day ,usually for a charity, and also thought the ten stitch method might make a change from just squares.

  JackieO xx 

Yes, I have done this, for a baby blanket. It had the great advantage that I could stop long before it was cot-sized, because I was getting bored. And that was with chunky wool! And a small blanket for a car seat is jolly useful, I knew that from experience because Mum gave me one made out of tension squares ... 

It is perfectly straightforward although I'm quite sure I made some mistakes. I swear by using a row counter so I could keep tabs on the corners: I probably wasn't so good at picking up the right number of row ends. 

I did look at the 'round' option but I'm sure it would have required too much concentration. I shall try to add a photo in a tic ... 

Just found a photo, which reminds me of the other thing I found tricky: picking up the row ends in a consistent way. I think this is the 'right' side, but the other side may have looked better. I don't seem to have taken a photo before delivering it, so hard to tell. And you all now have to say 'aaah' to my gorgeous great-nephew. 

BTW, this is a 'mix' wool which changes colour from blue to - well, this looks pink here, but red on the ball. A jolly useful colourmix when you don't know what's on the way. 

Awww……

Excellent idea, re the colourway for a baby’s blanket @Savvy_Sue.

- Pip

PipneyJane

Savvy_Sue said:

I was admiring a friend's cardigan earlier today: fair isle, absolutely amazing. She said there's 12 colours in it, but cleverly only two different colours in each row! 

It’s easier than you’d think to knit.  There are two methods you can use for Fair Isle:  

• Either hold one colour on your index finger and one on the second finger, tensioning them both in the usual way but swapping which finger wraps the yarn around the needle, depending on the colour; or
• Hold one colour in each hand and knit accordingly.  This is the traditional method.  (Fair Isle sweaters were traditionally knitted in the round and then steeked to form cardigans, etc.)

The most important thing is to just be brave.    

- Pip

YorksLass

@London_1 - I've done mitre square throws before but not the 10 stitch type.  They look interesting and I think you're right about them perhaps being easier to do than you would at first think they are.  There are some free download patterns for them on Ravelry (I think they're under Frankie Brown's knits) - there's a rectangular one, a round one and the one I like is the zig zag one.

London_1

YorksLass said:

@London_1 - I've done mitre square throws before but not the 10 stitch type.  They look interesting and I think you're right about them perhaps being easier to do than you would at first think they are.  There are some free download patterns for them on Ravelry (I think they're under Frankie Brown's knits) - there's a rectangular one, a round one and the one I like is the zig zag one.

Gosh thanks YorksLass I'll check them out, I just thought it would make a change from doing the same squares to try something a little different . I ask some of my friends and they had never heard of it I was beginning to thinkI was imagining it  

JackieO 

Savvy_Sue

YorksLass said:

@London_1 - I've done mitre square throws before but not the 10 stitch type.  They look interesting and I think you're right about them perhaps being easier to do than you would at first think they are.  There are some free download patterns for them on Ravelry (I think they're under Frankie Brown's knits) - there's a rectangular one, a round one and the one I like is the zig zag one.

I also found some tutorials available. hadn't found the ZigZag pattern, that looks lovely but unlike the one I did, I think you'd have to decide what size you were doing! Of course I may be wrong about that ...