The Knitters Thread

Silvertabby

Used up some of my oddments by knitting stuffed toy animals for my little nieces.  Really pleased with my hedgehog, bear and cat.  Left them on the coffee table - and came back to find the hedgie missing.  Bit odd, as only me and Mr S in the house.  Mystery solved - found hedgie in the cat's bed, covered in hair and slobber.  Oh well, nieces were happy with the bear and the cat ( the knitted one !)

PipneyJane

Savvy_Sue said:

PipneyJane said:

ETA:  Good luck with the sleeves.

Looks like I'm doing something right, two rows in ...

That’s great to see, @Savvy_Sue

- Pip

Savvy_Sue

PipneyJane said:

Savvy_Sue said:

PipneyJane said:

ETA:  Good luck with the sleeves.

Looks like I'm doing something right, two rows in ...

That’s great to see, @Savvy_Sue

- Pip

It all went a bit wrong last night: I don't know if I accidentally went back and forth on the last row instead of round, but I ended up with the working yarn at each end of one needle, whereas I think I need to be able to push the non-working end to the end of the  needle. 

All I had time to do last night was slip one sleeve onto the other needle, and I'll try to work it out again tonight ... 

Looks impressive though!

PipneyJane

Savvy_Sue said:

PipneyJane said:

Savvy_Sue said:

PipneyJane said:

ETA:  Good luck with the sleeves.

Looks like I'm doing something right, two rows in ...

That’s great to see, @Savvy_Sue

- Pip

It all went a bit wrong last night: I don't know if I accidentally went back and forth on the last row instead of round, but I ended up with the working yarn at each end of one needle, whereas I think I need to be able to push the non-working end to the end of the  needle. 

All I had time to do last night was slip one sleeve onto the other needle, and I'll try to work it out again tonight ... 

Looks impressive though!

Fingers crossed, Sue.  Hopefully, you'll only need to tink back a few stitches.

- Pip

Savvy_Sue

PipneyJane said:

Savvy_Sue said:

It all went a bit wrong last night: I don't know if I accidentally went back and forth on the last row instead of round, but I ended up with the working yarn at each end of one needle, whereas I think I need to be able to push the non-working end to the end of the  needle. 

All I had time to do last night was slip one sleeve onto the other needle, and I'll try to work it out again tonight ... 

Looks impressive though!

Fingers crossed, Sue.  Hopefully, you'll only need to tink back a few stitches.

- Pip

I seem to be back on track now. Going to knit more thoughtfully for a bit ... 

basketcase

I know a lot of people have yarn stashes. I even have a modest one myself!  (Mostly 'leftovers'.)  I've managed to avoid just buying yarn because I like it - probably because if I don't have a project in mind I don't know how much I'll need.  But...

Does anyone else have a hoard stash of patterns?  Things you like, even if you'll never make them?

I do, obviously.  That's how DD came to find the 1980s ski jumper.  (Though tbf that was in a volume of crafting projects - one of those week-by-week things - so I hadn't saved that in particular.  And I'd actually done some of those! )

nursemaggie

I got rid of my stash about 16years ago and did not knit for 10 years. It was too painful with my arthritis. I bought a hand kitted jumper from a charity shop, not realising it had those big wide bat wings on it. I'm only 4ft 9in so you can imagine what they looked like on me. I pulled them out and knitted a hooded jacket for DGS, he was about a year old then. He was 7 last month so I have knitted lots for him.

Surprisingly knitting does not hurt any more. I don't knit as tight as I did. After six years I'm sable again.

PipneyJane

basketcase said:

I know a lot of people have yarn stashes. I even have a modest one myself!  (Mostly 'leftovers'.)  I've managed to avoid just buying yarn because I like it - probably because if I don't have a project in mind I don't know how much I'll need.  But...

Does anyone else have a hoard stash of patterns?  Things you like, even if you'll never make them?

I do, obviously.  That's how DD came to find the 1980s ski jumper.  (Though tbf that was in a volume of crafting projects - one of those week-by-week things - so I hadn't saved that in particular.  And I'd actually done some of those! )

Did someone mention SABLE?  (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy)

My yarn stash exists because I prefer to knit with natural fibres and, at one point, the only place I could buy decent-quality yarn at a good price was at shows. For the first 10 years of this century, the only place I shopped was the Knit & Stitch Show at Ally Pally each year. If I wanted anything out of the ordinary - alpaca for instance - there was nowhere else.  The biggest enablers - probably still are - were Blacksheep, who'd bring pallet loads of yarn along and, literally, dump them on the floor.  You'd see women dive into the pile in the hope of securing that one bag of yarn in the right colour/weight for their project.   They sell a lot of end-of-range yarns from Rowan at £2-£3 a ball, instead of the £6-£10 list price.  Even now, the majority of the yarn I own is from shows or the odd gem of a shop, when we find one on holiday.  I like see and handle my yarn before I buy it because computer screens lie about colour. 

On the pattern front, you aren't the only one to have a hoard of patterns. Our electronic age hasn't helped since, four years ago, I subscribed to most of the knitting magazines via apps on my iPad and bought all the electronic back issues at a discount, which means I have hundreds of unbrowsed magazines.  On the paper front, I have nearly all of the first 50 editions of The Knitter - I didn't subscribe until edition 10 and haven't managed to find/buy all the first 9 - and 20 years' worth of Vogue Knitting.  I also have several years worth of Interweave Knits and Interweave Crochet but dropped those subscriptions because they annoyed me when they'd issue "special editions" that weren't part of the regular subscription and charge a fortune to ship them.   

My Ravelry queue has over 430 items in it, most of which are in magazines I own.

- Pip

nursemaggie

I regret getting rid of my patterns than my yarn.  I had some vintage 1930s patterns and lots from the 50s. I had a baby cardigan pattern that everyone seem to love. I must have made it 100s of times. I would give all my baby patterns for pregnant friends and relations and they all picked that one out.

I do sometimes wonder if I could do it from memory as I can knit a cable hat I have done hundreds of times without looking at the pattern and the mittens to match are etched into my memory. Given a ball of wool and some needles I can just sit and do those without the pattern. I used to use up all my scraps making mittens, and decorating them with my very small balls. Charity shops and any sort of fair, bazaar, fete or what ever always manage to sell out of my mittens. Kids lose so many.

PipneyJane

nursemaggie said:

I regret getting rid of my patterns than my yarn.  I had some vintage 1930s patterns and lots from the 50s. I had a baby cardigan pattern that everyone seem to love. I must have made it 100s of times. I would give all my baby patterns for pregnant friends and relations and they all picked that one out.

I do sometimes wonder if I could do it from memory as I can knit a cable hat I have done hundreds of times without looking at the pattern and the mittens to match are etched into my memory. Given a ball of wool and some needles I can just sit and do those without the pattern. I used to use up all my scraps making mittens, and decorating them with my very small balls. Charity shops and any sort of fair, bazaar, fete or what ever always manage to sell out of my mittens. Kids lose so many.

Do you remember the details of the baby cardigan pattern, @nursemaggie?  We may be able to find you a digital copy.

- Pip