The Knitters Thread

Angel_Jenny

I have some daft knitting questions!

How do you know how much wool to leave for casting on? I seem to end up running out and having to start over or wasting loads.

I am looking at a knitting pattern for a blanket (knitted in squares) and it says to knit into the first stitch. What does that mean?

What is the difference between YF and YRN?

Any help welcomed! I am a beginner trying to move onto something more complicated than dishcloths and basic scarves!

judexx

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

I have some daft knitting questions!

How do you know how much wool to leave for casting on? I seem to end up running out and having to start over or wasting loads.

Hi
Haven't got much energy today, so I'll just answer your first question - and it's not daft

I assume that you're talking about a long tailed cast on ? What I do, if it's quite a few stitches to cast on, is to cast on 10 stitches, then undo them and measure the amount of 'tail' that this uses and then multiply up.
Eg if 10 sts uses 8cm, and you need to cast on 100 sts, then the tail needs to be 80cm plus a little bit.

HTH

Angel_Jenny

judexx wrote: »

Hi
Haven't got much energy today, so I'll just answer your first question - and it's not daft

I assume that you're talking about a long tailed cast on ? What I do, if it's quite a few stitches to cast on, is to cast on 10 stitches, then undo them and measure the amount of 'tail' that this uses and then multiply up.
Eg if 10 sts uses 8cm, and you need to cast on 100 sts, then the tail needs to be 80cm plus a little bit.

HTH

That is helpful - thank you! I would never have thought of doing that!

I always feel so daft with my knitting questions as everyone I know who knits have been doing it for decades so it seems really obvious to them.

cuddles123

Been using up some scraps....

homealone_2

not expert by any means but never seen this on a pattern before. was going to just ignore it and carry on with st st but cant even tell if during the line you lose or gain any stitches. this is how pattern goes maybe someone can help, it goes like this

cast on 296 sts with 4 1/2 circular needles
round 1-7 knit
round 8 *(k5,p3-pkp)
round 9-15 knit
round 16 k1,p3tog-pkp, *k5,p3-pkp; rep from * to last 4 sts, k4

obviously it is row 8 and 16 that i am having a problem and wanted to ask if i could just knit the same as the other rows, also as i dont have acceass to a circular needle for time being could i not just use a normal set of needles?

hope some one comes along that can help, thank you

judexx

homealone wrote: »

not expert by any means but never seen this on a pattern before. was going to just ignore it and carry on with st st but cant even tell if during the line you lose or gain any stitches. this is how pattern goes maybe someone can help, it goes like this

cast on 296 sts with 4 1/2 circular needles
round 1-7 knit
round 8 *(k5,p3-pkp)
round 9-15 knit
round 16 k1,p3tog-pkp, *k5,p3-pkp; rep from * to last 4 sts, k4

obviously it is row 8 and 16 that i am having a problem and wanted to ask if i could just knit the same as the other rows, also as i dont have acceass to a circular needle for time being could i not just use a normal set of needles?

hope some one comes along that can help, thank you

Think it might help if you told us what it is you are trying to knit.

I assume that pkp, is purl, knit then purl into the same stitch. In which case there would appear to be both a pattern and increase occurring, so it can't really be ignored

You could try using long straight needles (obviously assuming that the pattern isn't in the round) but it might be bit of a squash to get 296 stitches on.

Have just reread your original post and see that you say can I 'carry on with St st' - does this mean that the the pattern is is the round, else with most rows knit it would be garter stitch ?

judexx

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

I am looking at a knitting pattern for a blanket (knitted in squares) and it says to knit into the first stitch. What does that mean?

Not sure without seeing the pattern, but could it be a 'pick up and knit' ? If this doesn't seem right, explain a bit more of the pattern to put it in context.

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

What is the difference between YF and YRN?

YF is generally used when the yarn is at the back of the work ie ready to knit, to take it to the front ie ready to purl position. It might be used, for example, in a slip stitch pattern which needs the yarn in front when the stitches are slipped.

YRN means wrapping the yarn right round the needle (typically used to create a hole in a lacey pattern). It's often used to create a hole when you're purling - similarly to YO when knitting.

Hope this helps and that I haven't confused you further

homealone_2

judexx wrote: »

Think it might help if you told us what it is you are trying to knit.

I assume that pkp, is purl, knit then purl into the same stitch. In which case there would appear to be both a pattern and increase occurring, so it can't really be ignored

You could try using long straight needles (obviously assuming that the pattern isn't in the round) but it might be bit of a squash to get 296 stitches on.

Have just reread your original post and see that you say can I 'carry on with St st' - does this mean that the the pattern is is the round, else with most rows knit it would be garter stitch ?

thank you for trying to help and sorry that i may hve left out some important information. firstly this is a shrug that if you laid out on floor you would have a piece of knitting that in shape would be 2 pieces of rectangle knitting that would look sewn up with samaller rectangle being the bottom half which when you see the picture it looks like it has the smaller rectangle in a complete and fitted quite tightly fitted as jumper while the top is exactly the shape a shrug would be quite loose plus as stitches are garter (sorry not st st) any ideas of how best to tackel this project

judexx

homealone wrote: »

thank you for trying to help and sorry that i may hve left out some important information. firstly this is a shrug that if you laid out on floor you would have a piece of knitting that in shape would be 2 pieces of rectangle knitting that would look sewn up with samaller rectangle being the bottom half which when you see the picture it looks like it has the smaller rectangle in a complete and fitted quite tightly fitted as jumper while the top is exactly the shape a shrug would be quite loose plus as stitches are garter (sorry not st st) any ideas of how best to tackel this project

Two things come to mind. First, I don't think that you'll be able to do this without a circular needle - there's just going to be too many stitches. And secondly I would think that the increases are a vital part of the pattern that can't be easily modified.

What is it about rows 8 & 16 that's worrying you - maybe you would find they're not as bad as you thought when you actually start knitting ? I know I often find this.

HTH

OrkneyStar

Finished another pair of Circle Socks, this time I continued the pattern down the foot also, I think it works .