The Knitters Thread

angel81uk

Jennyjelly and lynseydee, the shawls you both want to knit both use lace/2 ply as the suggested yarn and I have found the yarns in colourmarts "laceweight" categories match that description pretty well. If you look on their homepage a little way down under each yarn type (e.g. 100% cashmere, cash/merino etc with the small thumbnail images of each) they have cobweb weight, laceweight, 4 ply weight etc sections. It does get a little more complicated when they lump cobweb and laceweight into the same section though.

To give you a rough idea the NM number tells you two things. The first number is the number of plies that the yarn is made from and the second number tells you how many meters per gram. So for example:

The first 100% cashmere laceweight section lists two "types" 2/28NM and 2/36NM.

2/28NM means the yarn is constructed of two plies and you get 28 meters to the gram.

2/36NM means it's again made of two plies but yout get 36 meters to the gram so it's going to be slightly thinner.

With that info you could then go to www.yarndex.com, look up the details for the yarn your pattern suggests and with a little bit of maths work out which of the colourmart yarns would be the closest match.

Alternatively, for a little over £2 you can order a sample pack from colourmart so you can see the yarns for yourself and get a feel for them that way.

If you want to jump in with both feet first though I can tell you the laceweight I have from them is the 2/28NM and that is almost identical to the knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in my stash which is the suggested yarn for the Rona shawl.

It's also worth noting that colourmart will wind multiple plies of a yarn onto one cone for free. So if for instance you find a yarn you really like but it's cobweb weight so too thin you could ask then to wind it double stranded onto one cone so you don't need to knit with two strands from separate cones.

Hope that makes some sort of sense and is of some use!

ETA: I forgot to mention, they have a group on ravelry too for anyone who uses it

angel81uk

Oh, and one more thing, colourmart often sell "odds and ends" laceweight sets on their ebay store which can be a real bargain. They're usually sets of colours that work well together and you get approx 7000 yards for about £20! The only downsides are you don't know how much of each colour you get, someties they're a lucky dip so you might get a bit of cashmere, a bit of cash/merino mix and a bit of silk/cash/merino for example and they're not on cones (they will send you an empty cone for free if you ask which you can wiggle the yarn onto though).

Not something you'd want to buy if you want to make a single coloured item perhaps, but I've made a triangular shawl with different sections to the pattern and done each section in a different colour which worked well.

SiannieLaz

Afternoon all,
Just looking for a bit of advice really. I'm knitting my first pair of socks on 4dp needles and I can't get the ribbing right at the top. It says start with k2,p2 but if I when i just keep going round, it doesn't turn out right. Do I do k2,p2 then change to p2,k2 when I get to the beginning again?
Any help much appreciated.
Siannie x

angeltreats

SiannieLaz wrote: »

Afternoon all,
Just looking for a bit of advice really. I'm knitting my first pair of socks on 4dp needles and I can't get the ribbing right at the top. It says start with k2,p2 but if I when i just keep going round, it doesn't turn out right. Do I do k2,p2 then change to p2,k2 when I get to the beginning again?
Any help much appreciated.
Siannie x

You should just be able to keep going round and round. Are you using a pattern? The problem might be that you need a multiple of 4 stitches for the ribbing to work out. I usually start with either 60 or 64 stitches - how many do you have?

SiannieLaz

Thanks Angel, I'm casting on 44 and using a pattern. It doesn't look anything like the ones in the picture!!

jennyjelly

angel81uk wrote: »

Jennyjelly and lynseydee, the shawls you both want to knit both use lace/2 ply as the suggested yarn and I have found the yarns in colourmarts "laceweight" categories match that description pretty well. If you look on their homepage a little way down under each yarn type (e.g. 100% cashmere, cash/merino etc with the small thumbnail images of each) they have cobweb weight, laceweight, 4 ply weight etc sections. It does get a little more complicated when they lump cobweb and laceweight into the same section though.

To give you a rough idea the NM number tells you two things. The first number is the number of plies that the yarn is made from and the second number tells you how many meters per gram. So for example:

The first 100% cashmere laceweight section lists two "types" 2/28NM and 2/36NM.

2/28NM means the yarn is constructed of two plies and you get 28 meters to the gram.

2/36NM means it's again made of two plies but yout get 36 meters to the gram so it's going to be slightly thinner.

With that info you could then go to www.yarndex.com, look up the details for the yarn your pattern suggests and with a little bit of maths work out which of the colourmart yarns would be the closest match.

Alternatively, for a little over £2 you can order a sample pack from colourmart so you can see the yarns for yourself and get a feel for them that way.

If you want to jump in with both feet first though I can tell you the laceweight I have from them is the 2/28NM and that is almost identical to the knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in my stash which is the suggested yarn for the Rona shawl.

It's also worth noting that colourmart will wind multiple plies of a yarn onto one cone for free. So if for instance you find a yarn you really like but it's cobweb weight so too thin you could ask then to wind it double stranded onto one cone so you don't need to knit with two strands from separate cones.

Hope that makes some sort of sense and is of some use!

ETA: I forgot to mention, they have a group on ravelry too for anyone who uses it

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain, it's really nice of you. I do understnd it more now, though I think it will still be a bit of trial and error making the judgement of which to buy. I do think it will be a good idea to buy the sample card though, and will order that at the weekend. Haven't had a chance to check out the Ravelry group yet, but that's another thing for the weekend. Having to go out to work really gets in the way doesn't it!

Thanks again

JJ

angeltreats

SiannieLaz wrote: »

Thanks Angel, I'm casting on 44 and using a pattern. It doesn't look anything like the ones in the picture!!

That sounds really small!! Is this for the ribbing at the ankle and is it for an adult size sock? Which pattern are you using?

angel81uk

SiannieLaz wrote: »

Thanks Angel, I'm casting on 44 and using a pattern. It doesn't look anything like the ones in the picture!!

As angeltreats said with 44 stitches you should just be able to carry on with a K2P2. Is it possible you've gained/lost a few stitches somewhere (check for stray yarn overs)? If you definitely have the right number of stitches on your needles and your first round of ribbing is correct then I'm not sure what could be going wrong. After the first round you should just be able to knit the stitches as they present themselves (if the stitch below the next stitch was knit then knit it, if it was purl then purl it).

lauhen

I wondered if anyone can help, I want to do my mum a knitting hamper for Christmas, she already knits but all her bits are very old. She has arthritis, so I am getting her bamboo needles and crochet hooks. But what length needles to I get, is there a standard length and does it matter. I can't look at mums as I live to far away and if I ask she will wonder why etc etc, please can someone help.

lynseydee

jennyjelly wrote: »

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain, it's really nice of you. I do understnd it more now, though I think it will still be a bit of trial and error making the judgement of which to buy. I do think it will be a good idea to buy the sample card though, and will order that at the weekend. Haven't had a chance to check out the Ravelry group yet, but that's another thing for the weekend. Having to go out to work really gets in the way doesn't it!

Thanks again

JJ

JJ, just to let you know I got a response back from Colourmart and he suggeted for 2ply laceweight yarn which I would need to buy he said it would be one of their 2/28 yarns or similar which has helped narrow it down for me. He's also going to send me a sample pack with the various weights which he said is free so don't know if it's the same thing that angel was talking about. It might be worth getting in contact with them. They came back to me the following day (7.25am in fact) and have been really helpful.