The Knitters Thread

Savvy_Sue

PipneyJane said:

Good idea @Katiehound.

@Savvy_Sue I had a look on Ravelry for a shawl knitted point up, and came across this one which was published in Knitty in 2012.  (The link is to Knitty.). Might be worth a try. 

Thank you, I shall take a good look at that: it looks absolutely huge so I am sure I would stop sooner ... and it would save me re-writing the pattern I have in reverse order. 

Katiehound said:

Savvy_Sue said:

  I am pondering a triangular shawl for which I have a pattern and would use up some mohair, but it starts at the long end and decreases, whereas my instinct is to start at the thin end and stop as soon as it's big enough ... 

 my aunt used to knit raglan sleeves from the top downwards so that it was easy to replace worn cuffs  so I should imagine it can't be too difficult to reverse the shaping on a shawl except mohair doesn't lend itself to being unpicked as you experiment!

Mum also used to do that (although my sisters don't remember this): she said it was also easier to check the length was right, or to unpick and add / subtract a bit if she hadn't been able to check on the person. 

PipneyJane said:

Also completed is a Five Hour Baby Sweater, which I knitted for one of DH’s ex-colleagues, whose baby is due any minute now.



(I love the ladybird buttons.)

So, is that really five hours, or is it the same kind of five hours as a recipe which is supposed to only take 20 minutes preparation but actually requires at least an hour in my kitchen? :rotfl: 

It is very cute!

PipneyJane

@Savvy_Sue that sweater usually takes me between 5 and 7 hours.

Sizing is determined by the needles you use, not additional stitches.  I used 6mm needles, so it should fit a 6-12 month old.

- Pip

Katiehound

So what is a SABLE? (apart from the antelope!!)

I guess it could be something like- Used Up Yarn Buy Lots More!

YorksLass

Knitting raglan sleeves from the top down is also useful if you're not sure you have enough yarn.  You can either make the sleeves shorter (eg elbow length instead of full length) or add in some coordinating or contrast yarn in stripes or blocks of colour.  Use the different yarn for the neckband and/or front bands too and it will look as if that's how it's meant to be.     

PipneyJane

Katiehound said:

So what is a SABLE? (apart from the antelope!!)

I guess it could be something like- Used Up Yarn Buy Lots More!

Stash
Acquisition
Beyond
Life
Expectancy

@Katiehound

I won’t need to go shopping for yarn until the 2030’s, if not later.

- Pip

alicef

'SABLE' - love it.

I just realised, that if I hang on for a bit longer, some of my stash can be termed 'vintage'. 

@YorkLass I want to start to get to grips with top down knitting and knitting in the round as I think it helps so much with fit.

Katiehound

PipneyJane said:

Katiehound said:

So what is a SABLE? (apart from the antelope!!)

I guess it could be something like- Used Up Yarn Buy Lots More!

Stash
Acquisition
Beyond
Life
Expectancy

@Katiehound

I won’t need to go shopping for yarn until the 2030’s, if not later.

- Pip

I am guilty of that one! Folk give me yarn & some of it gets used.... but not all!

Found some balls of yarn in the loft, priced, in a paper bag (pre plastic!) with till receipt... Feb 81. I think they were 25 g balls with high wool percentage for.... 15 pence each! I have used them for mittens.

PipneyJane

1981 yarn?  Wow! @Katiehound.  I’m impressed.

I don’t think I have anything nearly as old in the stash.  (It didn’t travel with me from Australia*.). I do have a jumper that I knitted when I was 16 (1981) and another that I knitted in 1985.  I remember standing at the tram stop outside Flinders Street Station in Melbourne and knitting on the latter, while I was waiting for my morning tram to take me to my first job.  The wool was in a bag, dangling from my left arm.

- Pip


* Having tempted fate, DH will now proceed to go into the loft, open a box and find my high school knitting bag full of ancient skeins.

Katiehound

^^^^ I wouldn't have realised it was that old!! Just it had the paper receipt (not thermo paper stuff where date fades) with date & price!! I guess there is more of a similar age as there is a big cardboard box full up there........Used to knit & crochet masses......

PipneyJane

PipneyJane said:

1981 yarn?  Wow! @Katiehound.  I’m impressed.

I don’t think I have anything nearly as old in the stash.  (It didn’t travel with me from Australia*.). I do have a jumper that I knitted when I was 16 (1981) and another that I knitted in 1985.  I remember standing at the tram stop outside Flinders Street Station in Melbourne and knitting on the latter, while I was waiting for my morning tram to take me to my first job.  The wool was in a bag, dangling from my left arm.

- Pip


* Having tempted fate, DH will now proceed to go into the loft, open a box and find my high school knitting bag full of ancient skeins.

I forgot to mention, re the 1985 jumper that I was still knitting on it months later, when I became a student nurse. On my second ward, I remember going into a patient’s room to watch a doctor insert a long, central venous catheter into someone’s arm, thinking “I’m knitting a jumper on that size needle” and promptly having to sit down with my head between my knees.  It’s the only time I ever felt faint while watching a procedure.  That jumper was knitted on 2.5mm needles.

The irony of it all is that I currently have a similar line in my arm, a PICC line, which was inserted in January to give me chemo for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  They’re taking it out on Tuesday, since I’ve finished chemo and am officially in remission.  I will be watching and, hopefully, won’t feel faint.

- Pip