The Knitters Thread

RicardaRacoon

Evening folks

Back from a little holiday and a stop at my favourite yarn shop. Could just about control myself by thinking of my stash at home, so I only got some grey and pink yarn for a scarf, different shades of blue for a scarf for my sister (might do a wavy pattern) and yarn in different blues and greys for a baby boys jumper.
Also knitted a bit, took the cowl for my Mum with me and almost managed to finish it, it is the Leaving Cowl ¨from Ravelry and it is such a lovely knit, it is very intuitive, once you've done a few rows you don't have to think a lot and still it gives a very nice pattern that looks far more complex than it is to work.

So that is christmas knitting almost done, ten seedstitch rows on the scarf and a sock for a friend and once that is done I will go back to the baby blanket which should be done in time, unless baby comes too early (both my friend and her husband are notorious for coming late, so I don't expect the baby to make its appearance before due date...)

Nonnadiluca, if you haven't yet found a yarn for the scarf you could also try Red Heart, their yarn is syntetic but quite soft.

plumduff, sounds amazing with the knitting group on the cruise! A friend of my Mum is going on a cruise and told us that she will not take her knitting with her and we told her that she might regret it when she sees other people knit on the boat... She said that there will be no other knitter on bord as "noone takes their knitting on a cruise"

So, off to finish the cowl. Since it is only a seed stitch I might even be able to multitask and knit while on the phone with my "substitute granny"

Have a nice evening everyone

Paddee

I always take my knitting and cross stitch with me on a cruise, sailing from Southampton entails a few sea days before arriving at the first port and knitting and sewing are a form of relaxation for me It is surprising how many ladies take their crafts with them ( I have even seen ladies making jewellery on board but how they fare if the seas are a bit rocky I am not sure). Your mothers friend need not fear of being the only knitter and quite often it is an icebreaker when people stop and enquire about your project.

THIRZAH

A knitters cruise sounds like my idea of heaven. We went on a cruise to Norway earlier this year and I took my knitting. DH played bridge every afternoon while we were at sea. I went to concerts or a craft group then would sit in the lounge knitting until he joined me. I noticed quite a few women knitting.

The Christmas knitting-three pairs of socks, a hat and a jumper are finally finished so am doing a bit of knitting for the neo-natal unit until I decide what to knit next. DD is having a baby in the summer so will start on baby things after Christmas.

FrugalinShropshire

I am finishing off Christmas socks here and a scarf fro me in Baa Ram Ewe Titus yarn which is gorgeous. I have done really well with stash busting this year as I am off to Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March as my birthday present. My £2 jar has £128 in it now for spending money !!!!!!

mardatha

I'm going this year as well, for the first time

RicardaRacoon

Evening folks

Busy working on the baby blanket to keep me from starting yet another project before Christmas... Already swatched and casted on a scarf for my sister yesterday evening, although I told her that she will have to wait until after Christmas...

The cowl for my mum is finished and already blocked, once it is completely dry I will wave in the ends and will take a photo to post here.

We should all go on a knitting cruise together. Would be good fun! I knit in the camper van while my sister drives (my Mum thinks it is not nice to knit while someone else has to do the driving but my sister doesn't mind) and on our last holiday we got caught in a massive traffic jam somewhere in Germany and there were a lot of motorhomes on the road and in almost all of them the women were knitting in the passenger seat. So I guess knitters are people who go on cruises or go camping.
I also knitted on the airport this week by the way, after carefully checking if Heathrow would allow knitting needles to go through security.

Ember, there isn't much you can do using only knit stitches on straight needles beside scarfs. You could knit a hat, but you will have to sew it up later.
I try to explain it as simple as possible, it might be a bit of a novel once I finish... :-)

Check on the yarn label how many stitches you need for four inches and cast on four times this number. Idealy you can devided them in 6, otherwise just take or add enough stitches to make it work.
For the first 10 rows you knit two stitches, purl two stitches, knit two stitches all the way across and repeat that on the back row, so knit on knit and purl on purl.
Once that is done you can just knit every stitch, every row until you reach about 6 inches.
Devide the number of stitches in 3 and put a marker in between the sections (loop of yarn works fine) and in every other row you knit the first two and the last two stitches of every section together, so six decreases par row. The next row you knit every stitch. Once you have only six stitches on your needle you cut the yarn to a tail of about a feet and tread it on a tapestry needle. Move the needle through your six stitches and pull tight and then use the yarn to stitch up the side of the hat.

Happy knitting everyone

EmberJ

I don't have any issues in sewing up, I find it ratherratherr peaceful. I'm more interested in baby clothes to be honest, as I can crochet hats but baby jackets etc look nicer knitted. I will try that hat though, its good practice

[Deleted User]

I almost finished a very nice cardi for a seven year old girl

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/grannys-favourite

masses of sizes, from baby to 12 years old. I am using a rico self striping baby yarn and it is turning out lovely, gdd is loving the colours. If I make any more baby presents, then it will be from the same pattern and obviously different colours as gdd grows. It uses size 4 needles but I didn`t measure tension and just used a 3.75, no side or sleeve seams. I did the bodice pattern but it could easily have been left out. I used chaigoo circular needle but only like two straight needles, I do like the silky feel of those metal ends. For the sleeves I am using dpns as it requires a 12" circular, which I don`t have

Am waiting for my etsy yarn, should be here next week and will be making two more hitchikers in sparkly yards for girls. Then at last, I will get back to spinning wool as my shoulder will need a rest and I need to tidy up my knitting things

plumduff55

Hi everyone, I thinks it's right what Paddee said - knitting is a great icebreaker. This year it was too cold to sit on the deck but last year I would sit on the promenade deck knitting and so many people stopped and commented - most were knitters regretting not bringing their knitting with them. So Ricarda you should tell your Mum's friend to take her knitting and you never know they may have a knitters group on board.

I am posting pics of the reindeer jumper I knitted for dgs while I was on holiday. It was to be a Santa jumper but the Xmas challenge last month was for a reindeer thing so there was a quick change of plan. I don't know how long the Pom Pom will last but there's a knitted red nose underneath so he'll still be Rudolph :rotfl:



and the rear :rotfl:



I've just been checking out the Edinburgh Yarn Festival and think I'll try and go as well but only if I can make a big dent in my wool stash before then.

Happy knitting

hiddenshadow

plumduff, that's adorable. Almost tempted to knit myself something similar...not quite though. :rotfl: