The Knitters Thread

NannyJanny

cuddles123 wrote: »

ginnyknits - so pleased you like the pattern. I've knitted loads for my Grandson.

I'm feeling really chuffed as I've just finished my first sock............:j



You know I'm going to blame Orkney and NannyJanny cos I can feel the addiction starting and I know I'll spend a fortune on sock yarn now :rotfl:

But doesn't it feel good! They are so easy to take anywhere with you. Socks are my favourite journey knitting.

valk_scot

When you sew your squares together the curling will flatten out so don't worry about it. It's quite normal for the edges to curl in stocking stitch. You'll find it helpful to press out the squares before seweing though. Check the ball band for ironing instructions....you mustn't hard steam or use an iron directly on acrylic, for example, but you can pin them out on an ironing board, spray them lightly with water and allow to dry. Wool can be pressed gently with a damp pressing cloth in between square and the iron.

I'm knitting a blanket atm using chunky yarn, Rowan Soft Tweed, on 6mm needles. (Old imperial 4s?) It's still taking a while. It wasn't cheap yarn either have to say, even on a 50% discount. A good place to find good bargain yarns is Kemps. They have some lovely wool mix yarns on offer atm. I would agree a wool mix is the way to go...you want to be able to wash the blanket eventually, and some pure wools will felt.

There is a book called 200 Knitted Blocks btw. It gives patterns for lots of different squares and if you stick to the same yarn type and needle size throughout you're guaranteed to get the same size of squares. It gives the necessary stitch numbers for all the different squares.

The other idea is to check out the charity shops for knitted and crocheted blankets. I've bought several over the years, very lovely ones, and they've always been great bargains given the amount of work in them and how much the yarn costs. You can never have too many blankets!

NannyJanny

NualaBuala wrote: »

Ooops, sorry for the size of the pic - I tried to make it smaller but it didn't save the changes.

Nuala Buala

Over on Ravelry The British Knitters Group has a discussion thread about this jumper

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/british-knitters/1570350

You are not alone!

euronorris

Keiss_21 wrote: »

Sounds like a great idea for a library euronorris.

Don't think we ever got to Haarlem, but I did love living in The Netherlands. The language can be a bit tricky, but I found it easier to speak than many of my English friends as I am Scottish and managed do some of the sounds (eg the soft g, like the ch in "loch") with much less difficulty.

Are you out there permanently, or just for a while?

Oh yeah, that bl00dy 'g'! I've just about got it down now, but I still have to actively think about it sometimes before I speak! :rotfl:

I'm here permanently, I hope. But as with most things in life, this is dependant on certain things. OH getting a permanent local contract being the main one. So, we shall see.

My book arrived yesterday, and I love it! Checked the basic stitch explanation and it was 'Ohhhhhh, yes, I remember now.' moment for me. But, my Mum never taught me the purl stitch and some other bits and certainly never how to knit on circular needles, so it's going to come in very handy! OH was then jealous of the attention the book was getting! :rotfl::rotfl:

I've hurt my little finger again I broke it in May, and tore the ligament away from the bone too, and it was healing nicely (albeit slowly), but I fell on it last night. Poor finger, the first time I hurt it, it was because one of my male colleagues fell on it during a team building day and then I follow up by falling on it myself last night! *sigh* Woke up with stiff neck too. *double sigh*

Right, enough whinging, I've got work to do, and lots that needs doing tomorrow too

mioliere

If you just slip the first stitch on every row, the knitting will be less inclined to curl. Another thing to try is knitting the first two and the last two stitches in garter stitch (knit not purl) on every row, including purl rows. You'll end up with a border effect on each row but that looks nice, anyway, and having the same stitches on each row means that it's easier to sew the squares together.

As Valk-Scot has said, the charity shops are a good place to find blankets and you can sometimes find oddments of yarn there, too. Most of them sell knitting needles, too, but nowadays they have to keep them out of sight (in case people use them as weapons, apparently!), so you'll need to ask at the counter.

If you can crochet, you'll find the squares a lot quicker to do! I crochet more than knit these days because I have tendonitis in my hands and one hook is less painful to use than two needles!

adelight

Oh wow I love that first blanket! Doing little squares is such a manageable way for us novices to get fancy knits without jeopardising the rest of the blanket You could just look up different stitches and patterns on youtube.

Thank you for the idea, it's gonna be a brill winter project for me :j

Keiss_21

Hope your finger feels better soon euronorrisxx

Good grief USA have just scored against Australia!!:eek: Might have to go and watch this match and get some ironing done...or I could do some knitting..mmmm such a choice!! Well, dad's socks do have to be finished before next weekend!

Oh, I have bought a few patterns from tiny owl knits, including the beekeepers quilt! They are now printed off, and I can't wait to get started!! :j

Have a great day everyone x

euronorris

Thanks Keiss. Thankfully it's nowhere near as bad as last time, painwise, or bruising. So, I'm hoping a little TLC will see it back on the healing path asap

Have a great day also! xxx

NualaBuala

meanmarie wrote: »

Nuala....I know the sock is not finished!!

Can't help with the gansey I'm afraid....did you have a look at Drops site....can't remember details but they have lots of FairIsle patterns and you just might get a pattern there even if you want to use the snowflake motif.

PipneyJane...I agree with you 110% about the lack of value placed on hand made stuff in this part of the world, shame!

Happy knitting everyone

Marie

Marie - stand by for breaking news and you'd better sit down for this ...
one sock is finished! :rotfl: I will post proof later!
Great thinking on the drops site except that I want everything on it! Thank you! How are you? Hope all's well!

PipneyJane wrote: »

Hello Nuala

You've already mentioned Ravelry. Browsing someone's version there led me to a chart for the star. Unfortunately, I now can't find it! Thought I saved it in my favourites but it isn't there. It might be linked from this discussion thread, though.

However, more importantly, I've found a couple of suggestions for you for free patterns you could use. This one uses worsted weight (Aran) and comes from Lionbrand.



Whereas, this one is more of a sweater recipe and might be better in the long run.



Both links are to the Ravelry pattern pages. (Oohhhh I love Ravelry!!!)

Forgot to add: having knitted both ways, I think top down is better if you are working something out for yourself because you avoid the problems of "is it long enough to break for the sleeves or will the yoke be too big/small?" and "do I have enough yarn?". Since you can measure on your own body before you break for the sleeves, you'll be the best judge to work out if you've made the yoke big enough without having to rip out too many rows if you've made it too long. And, if you're worried about yarn quantities, I'd do the body first then the sleeves because you can always say that 3/4 sleeves were a design feature.

Good luck.

Pam

Thank you so much Pam - wonderful advice and linkies! I love the v-neck you posted, the shape really appeals to me and I'm sure I could make it round necked. So am going to figure out the "recipe" and then write it out in idiot-proof steps. Top down is the way to go from what you say. I have a link bookmarked somewhere for the star, just got to figure out how to include it! Why am I so over-ambitious when it comes to knitting?:D:o I wish Silver (of the sock tutorial) did a How to Knit a Sara Lund jumper step by step guide lol! :rotfl:

NannyJanny wrote: »

Nuala Buala

Over on Ravelry The British Knitters Group has a discussion thread about this jumper

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/british-knitters/1570350

You are not alone!

Phew! Thanks a mill for the link - nice to know I'm not the only one! It became a bit of an obsession while I was watching the series on BBC4 recently. I found I was more interested in watching The Jumper than figuring out whodunnit! :rotfl: Well actually both aspects were good - it was a great programme!

OrkneyStar

Just finished this little guy for DS, pattern from Knitty.