The Knitters Thread

lynseydee

What's shadow knitting?

mallyboo

It`s a way of knitting that shows a `secret` picture. you use 2 different colours of wool and just knit and purl stitches. You do 2 rows of your first colour then 2 of the alternate colour etc., when the right side of the piece is facing you then you knit the whole row, on the wrong side you mix knit and purl, it`s this row that makes the pattern, the knit stitches make a ridge on the right side and it`s this that makes the picture or shape when you view the piece at an angle, viewed straight on it just looks like stripes.

I`m probably not explaining this very well, but it`s a lot easier than I make it sound.
I`m probably being very thick, but do you know how I can upload a picture and I can show you the one I`ve done? Or you can check out Ravelry and the designer Steve Plummer, he has lots of patterns including the tigers head one I did. The Mona Lisa, Doctor Who and Marilyn Monroe ones look REALLY impressive, but I`d be too scared to try those I think.(for now anyway)

jaycat

Help needed please?
Has anybody done the Alan Dart gnomes? If so, what are the beads he uses for the filling? My local craft shop has never heard of them. Are they different from the usual polystyrene balls found in bean bags ............ I have a bagfull of these from when mine split!
Any advice greatly appreciated please

Thanks in advance

Apollonia

jaycat wrote: »

Help needed please?
Has anybody done the Alan Dart gnomes? If so, what are the beads he uses for the filling? My local craft shop has never heard of them. Are they different from the usual polystyrene balls found in bean bags ............ I have a bagfull of these from when mine split!
Any advice greatly appreciated please

Thanks in advance

Probably these (or something similar):

http://www.purplelindacrafts.co.uk/polypropylene-filling-beads-250g-bag-6267-p.asp

As the description says, it adds weight to the toy. If you only use the pellets as stuffing it will feel like the BeanieBabies range of toys.



PS If you can't source the plastic pellets locally I have used the online shop I linked to above with no problems. I can give a positive recommendation!

Edit: Alan Dart's website has two other recommendations for suppies of Polypropylene pellets.

http://www.alandart.co.uk/pages/products

scroll to the end of the page to the very last paragraph.

PepPop

mallyboo Ooooh I've just googled shadow knitting - that looks really cool

susan946

jaycat wrote: »

Help needed please?
Has anybody done the Alan Dart gnomes? If so, what are the beads he uses for the filling? My local craft shop has never heard of them. Are they different from the usual polystyrene balls found in bean bags ............ I have a bagfull of these from when mine split!
Any advice greatly appreciated please

Thanks in advance

I've not made the gnomes but I have made other Alan Dart toys. I used polypropylene granules that I bought on ebay. It was a long while ago so I don't remember which supplier I used, but there are quite a few people selling them

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313&_nkw=polypropylene+granules&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Sue

berrybug

had a loook at the shadow knitting as i had never heard of it ( been knitting for nearly 50 years still learning) its really nice not sure if i would be confident to try but maybe one day i will give a simple pattern a try think some would be a bit hard on my old eyesight !!!

ginnyknit

jaycat wrote: »

Help needed please?
Has anybody done the Alan Dart gnomes? If so, what are the beads he uses for the filling? My local craft shop has never heard of them. Are they different from the usual polystyrene balls found in bean bags ............ I have a bagfull of these from when mine split!
Any advice greatly appreciated please

Thanks in advance

I buy toys from charity shops that are filled with the plastic beans and re-use them- they make toys sit well and can be used in the bottom of teddy bears to give a balanced bear!

jaycat

Thank you ladies - that's great

Looking forward to doing some of these as I've not done much handknitting for many, many years. Thought it might be useful in trying to get my stupid hands moving again but couldn't manage the weight of a garment so this seemed a good compromise. Might be tricky doing the sewing up as holding the needle is nigh on impossible but hey-ho, I like a challenge!

Thanks again for your help

mallyboo

PepPop- looks great doesn`t it? and it`s easy...believe me, if it was difficult I wouldn`t be doing it! lol

berrybug- if you have a go sometime I would try something with not too much detail first, the teddy bear baby blanket maybe. I`m doing that one now and I wish I`d done it first instead of the tiger.