The Knitters Thread

blueberrypie

ASC wrote: »

Hi all, been awol and trying to catch up! I've got that owl jumper/cardigan bookmarked on Ravelry 'cos I thought it was soooo cute. For those who want to try something smaller, I remember there was a cupholder using the owl motif and there may have been other projects. I'm thinking that maybe a hat and scarf set wouldn't be too difficult...

I've done the headband a couple of times - it's nice - and I've recently seen a hat based on the same stitch-pattern, which I'll probably do soon (though the hat-pattern isn't free so I'll build my own pattern from the headband).

yummymummy85

Just been having another look at the pattern and the wool that it says to use is cascade 220. I've had a look for this on the web and it looks like it can only be bought in the usa. Does it really matter what brand of wool I use, can I not just pop down to hobby craft and buy some that takes my fancy?

blueberrypie

yummymummy85 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I'm a relative beginner at knitting, I knitted a couple of cardigans for my first son when I was pregnant and haven't touched the knitting needles since! I've found a lovely pattern for some christmassy jumpers for my two boys which I'd love to make for them for christmas however after looking at the pattern I'm now confused!
The pattern asks for circular needles and double point needles. First of all what on earth are these and how do I knit with them? The jumpers are also striped so require to change colour every now and then, can anyone explain or point me to a real simple instruction of how to do this?
Thanks in advance!

Imagine taking a pair of ordinary knitting needles, and removing the little knobs at the end - the ones that stop your stitches falling off the top of the needle. Now imagine you connect the top of one needle to the end of a bit of wire, and the top of the other needle to the other end of that bit of wire. Now you've got circular needles.

Now hold your two needles exactly as you would to knit with them if they still had their top bits and no wire - that's how you knit with circular needles. The difference is that when you get to the end of the row, you don't have to stop and turn - you can keep going with the *beginning* of the row, because it will slide along the wire and onto the left needle again. If the wire is the right length, you'll have a circle of knitting, so "rounds" instead of "rows".

Double-pointed needles (DPNS) work in the same way - you usually have four or five of them, with your knitting spread across all but one, and then you use that one extra needle as if it was the right-hand needle (assuming you knit right-handed), knitting your stitches onto that. When you finish the stitches on your left-hand needle, the left-hand needle becomes your new right-hand needle and you make a start on the next needle along.

Changing colours - just drop one strand of yarn and start with a strand of the new colour. You can weave in the ends as you go, or at the end, or, depending on the pattern, you can simply pick them up again when you come back to them a row (or round) or two further on.

Given that you've not done any of this before though, have a practice with each technique first. None of it is particularly difficult, but it helps if you know what you're doing before you start. There are other ways of doing all of this, but how I've described is the most simple way if you're just starting out :-)

yummymummy85 wrote: »

Just been having another look at the pattern and the wool that it says to use is cascade 220. I've had a look for this on the web and it looks like it can only be bought in the usa. Does it really matter what brand of wool I use, can I not just pop down to hobby craft and buy some that takes my fancy?

Yes, absolutely - just make sure it's the same "weight" - how many fibres are twisted together to make it. Worsted-weight is similar to double-knitting yarn, for example (not exact, but close enough that it doesn't usually matter). The salesperson in a yarn-store will be able to help you choose if you take your pattern in. Also look at the ball-band on the yarn to check that the recommended tension is similar to the one in your pattern. If you knit a swatch first - that is, a square that allows you to measure how many rows and stitches you get per inch/cm - you'll know your yarn is okay and whether you need to change the needle-size to get the right size of finished object.

lynseydee

yummymummy85 wrote: »

Just been having another look at the pattern and the wool that it says to use is cascade 220. I've had a look for this on the web and it looks like it can only be bought in the usa. Does it really matter what brand of wool I use, can I not just pop down to hobby craft and buy some that takes my fancy?

If the wool the pattern uses is a dk then most dk wools should be ok or alternatively try and get a wool that matches the same tension, although saying that I started knitting from a pattern with the wool it said to use and the tension square on the pattern was completely different to what it said on the wool :rotfl: I have decided from that that as long as what I want to knit I can get the tension square the same I'm not going to worry too much.

Looks like Blueberrypie beat me to it.

yummymummy85

blueberrypie wrote: »

Imagine taking a pair of ordinary knitting needles, and removing the little knobs at the end - the ones that stop your stitches falling off the top of the needle. Now imagine you connect the top of one needle to the end of a bit of wire, and the top of the other needle to the other end of that bit of wire. Now you've got circular needles.

Now hold your two needles exactly as you would to knit with them if they still had their top bits and no wire - that's how you knit with circular needles. The difference is that when you get to the end of the row, you don't have to stop and turn - you can keep going with the *beginning* of the row, because it will slide along the wire and onto the left needle again. If the wire is the right length, you'll have a circle of knitting, so "rounds" instead of "rows".

Double-pointed needles (DPNS) work in the same way - you usually have four or five of them, with your knitting spread across all but one, and then you use that one extra needle as if it was the right-hand needle (assuming you knit right-handed), knitting your stitches onto that. When you finish the stitches on your left-hand needle, the left-hand needle becomes your new right-hand needle and you make a start on the next needle along.

Changing colours - just drop one strand of yarn and start with a strand of the new colour. You can weave in the ends as you go, or at the end, or, depending on the pattern, you can simply pick them up again when you come back to them a row (or round) or two further on.

Given that you've not done any of this before though, have a practice with each technique first. None of it is particularly difficult, but it helps if you know what you're doing before you start. There are other ways of doing all of this, but how I've described is the most simple way if you're just starting out :-)



Yes, absolutely - just make sure it's the same "weight" - how many fibres are twisted together to make it. Worsted-weight is similar to double-knitting yarn, for example (not exact, but close enough that it doesn't usually matter). The salesperson in a yarn-store will be able to help you choose if you take your pattern in. Also look at the ball-band on the yarn to check that the recommended tension is similar to the one in your pattern. If you knit a swatch first - that is, a square that allows you to measure how many rows and stitches you get per inch/cm - you'll know your yarn is okay and whether you need to change the needle-size to get the right size of finished object.

Thanks for your reply, I'm going to print your post off so I have it to refer to! I am left handed but not sure whether I knit left or right handed (I'm one of those lefthanders that does some things like a righthander!)

Think I'm going to print the pattern off and take it up to hobbycraft and see if I can get someone to help me find the right stuff!

blueberrypie

yummymummy85 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, I'm going to print your post off so I have it to refer to! I am left handed but not sure whether I knit left or right handed (I'm one of those lefthanders that does some things like a righthander!)

If you start with the stitches on the needle in your left hand and transfer them to the needle in your right hand, you're knitting right-handed (for the purposes of my explanation above).

Robson65

Hello,

Lidl have wool in their special offers from Monday August 30th .

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg//lidl_uk/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=13408&idcheck=true&ar2=&id=1247&country=GB&zipcode=ST6+5EG&city=Staffordshire&district=STO-Tunstall&street=High+Street&ar=7&nf=True

I'm not sure if its every store or just the ones local to me in Staffordshire.

Robson

Caroline73_2

yummymummy85 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, I'm going to print your post off so I have it to refer to! I am left handed but not sure whether I knit left or right handed (I'm one of those lefthanders that does some things like a righthander!)

Think I'm going to print the pattern off and take it up to hobbycraft and see if I can get someone to help me find the right stuff!

I only use circular needles now, I just knit from left to right on them. They are a lot lighter and more compact to use/store. Good luck.

Caroline73_2

Robson65 wrote: »

Hello,

Lidl have wool in their special offers from Monday August 30th .

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg//lidl_uk/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=13408&idcheck=true&ar2=&id=1247&country=GB&zipcode=ST6+5EG&city=Staffordshire&district=STO-Tunstall&street=High+Street&ar=7&nf=True

I'm not sure if its every store or just the ones local to me in Staffordshire.

Robson

It's the ones near me too. Thanks for the link.

angeltreats

Robson65 wrote: »

Hello,

Lidl have wool in their special offers from Monday August 30th .

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg//lidl_uk/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=13408&idcheck=true&ar2=&id=1247&country=GB&zipcode=ST6+5EG&city=Staffordshire&district=STO-Tunstall&street=High+Street&ar=7&nf=True

I'm not sure if its every store or just the ones local to me in Staffordshire.

Robson

The sock wool they have is lovely, I made a few pairs from it last year as Christmas presents.