The Knitters Thread

homealone_2

Hi, am new on here and wanted to say hello. You may see me a lot while I try to figure out knitting. I really to sew these lovely red slippers I have seen. But can't get a free pattern fot, they look like mocassins on the front. Seems all nice ones are crochet, can only do a chain then in to each hole
So if any one knows what I am talking about or even have the pattern it would make my year 🙄

nursemaggie

I could do with some of them to finish mine. I have a Christmas stocking, 2 snowmen, 4 toy soldiers, a fluffy polar bear, a monkey, sewing up.

 A father Christmas made with horrible scratchy shiny  eyelash yarn. It makes my hands sore, he just needs his trousers sewn to the waist, a jacket making, and a belt sewing on. I also have over 300 squares to sew together and a band needs knitting. I have a pattern for the band and the wool ready.  

I thought the elves finished shoes.

Wraithlady

homealone_2 said:

Hi, am new on here and wanted to say hello. You may see me a lot while I try to figure out knitting. I really to sew these lovely red slippers I have seen. But can't get a free pattern fot, they look like mocassins on the front. Seems all nice ones are crochet, can only do a chain then in to each hole
So if any one knows what I am talking about or even have the pattern it would make my year 🙄

Hello, Homealone.
It may be worth joining Ravelry if you haven't already - it's free and they don't spam you. You can then search for a free pattern for the slippers you're looking for.
You can even search for projects based on how much wool you've got, should you get to that stage! (Very useful for when I 'inherited' 3 balls of chunky wool)

Savvy_Sue

PipneyJane said:

Savvy_Sue said: 

ah, now you might be able to help me. The waistcoat I'm planning to tackle as my next 'big' project. It's a very old and tatty pattern, and it says it needs 16 x 25g balls of something particular in my size, can't instantly find it so don't know what but it was a wool / wool mix. 

I have 8 x 50g balls of something different, BUT what I have is a cotton mix, and definitely knits shorter than eg the cardigan yarn. 

Now, I could do contrasting rib / pocket inserts, but is there a way of working out how far the yarn is going to go before I start the bottom ribbing? 

It’s all down to the yardage required and the gauge you get when you knit your tension square.  Find the pattern @Savvy_Sue and make a note of the brand, etc, of the yarn plus the tension given in the pattern.  If the pattern doesn’t mention the yards per ball, we can look it up on Ravelry.  Then it’s a case of multiplying that by the number of balls specified for your size, to get the total yardage required.   

Once you’ve got that, we can look at your substitute.   How many metres do you get per ball?  Divide the total yardage calculated above by the metres per ball to calculate how many balls you need.  Are you short?  If so, by how many balls? 

What tension does the ball band specify?  Is it in the same ballpark as the tension given in the pattern?  Knit a tension square based on the needles etc, given in the pattern.  Measure the outside then wash it.  Does it change dimensions once dry?  Measure your tension.  If you’re out by a stitch per 4 inches, then you can compensate by changing up/down needle sizes.   If your gauge is considerably off, then you’ve got a bigger issue than just yardage, because you’ll have to recalculate the pattern to fit your gauge. 

Let's start with the easy stuff ... 

The wool it recommends is Patons Pure Wool DK (Superwash) or Patons Trident DK. The recommended needle sizes are 8s and 10s, which translates to 4mm and 3.25mm. I've found previously that I need to go up to 4.5 and 3.75 to get the right size tension square so I might start using them for the tension square and see how we get on. 

The yarn I have is Sirdar Amalfi DK: 75% cotton, 25% viscose, and I know cotton tends to knit 'short'. Each 50g ball says 110m / 120 yards. Recommended needle size is 4mm. A tension square of 22 stitches over 28 rows should be 4" x 4" or 10x10cm. 

The tension square on the pattern is 11 stitches over 15 rows of stocking stitch, should give a 2" x 2" square, or 5x5cm. So the width is functionally equivalent, but the length is different. 

The thing with the sizing is that both the two smaller sizes say 16 x 25g - that's bust 36" and 38". But for 40" they add another TWO balls, and for 42" they add another TWO after that! If I thought I could get away with 36" I would, but who are we kidding here?

I have 8 x 50g balls ... 

catherinekate

PipneyJane thank you for the wool suggestions. Lots of excellent ideas. I'll let you know how I get on!

Savvy_Sue wool suggestions always annoy me. I recently finished a jumper that asked for 3 balls white cotton, 2 blue, one orange. Well when I finished I had six inches of white left and a whole ball of blue! And I had more or less matched the yardage! (the orange was only needed for a single stripe). A second one wanted 5x50g balls and I couldn't find the yardage of the original yarn. I had 2x100g in the right colour so I thought I'd risk it and do different collar and cuffs if needed - well it's finished now and I still have 50g left so it only used 150g!

I am about to start knitting a Christmas pudding hat - can't find a pattern that meets my exacting specifications so I'm designing my own - wish me luck!

nursemaggie

One of the things about how much you need is they only give an average. I'm only 4ft 9in so I need as much yarn as a 9 - 10year old. I can quite often get a sweater for me  with less than 300g. Anyone extra tall needs a lot more.

PipneyJane

Savvy_Sue said:

PipneyJane said:

Savvy_Sue said: 

ah, now you might be able to help me. The waistcoat I'm planning to tackle as my next 'big' project. It's a very old and tatty pattern, and it says it needs 16 x 25g balls of something particular in my size, can't instantly find it so don't know what but it was a wool / wool mix. 

I have 8 x 50g balls of something different, BUT what I have is a cotton mix, and definitely knits shorter than eg the cardigan yarn. 

Now, I could do contrasting rib / pocket inserts, but is there a way of working out how far the yarn is going to go before I start the bottom ribbing? 

It’s all down to the yardage required and the gauge you get when you knit your tension square.  Find the pattern @Savvy_Sue and make a note of the brand, etc, of the yarn plus the tension given in the pattern.  If the pattern doesn’t mention the yards per ball, we can look it up on Ravelry.  Then it’s a case of multiplying that by the number of balls specified for your size, to get the total yardage required.   

Once you’ve got that, we can look at your substitute.   How many metres do you get per ball?  Divide the total yardage calculated above by the metres per ball to calculate how many balls you need.  Are you short?  If so, by how many balls? 

What tension does the ball band specify?  Is it in the same ballpark as the tension given in the pattern?  Knit a tension square based on the needles etc, given in the pattern.  Measure the outside then wash it.  Does it change dimensions once dry?  Measure your tension.  If you’re out by a stitch per 4 inches, then you can compensate by changing up/down needle sizes.   If your gauge is considerably off, then you’ve got a bigger issue than just yardage, because you’ll have to recalculate the pattern to fit your gauge. 

Let's start with the easy stuff ... 

The wool it recommends is Patons Pure Wool DK (Superwash) or Patons Trident DK. The recommended needle sizes are 8s and 10s, which translates to 4mm and 3.25mm. I've found previously that I need to go up to 4.5 and 3.75 to get the right size tension square so I might start using them for the tension square and see how we get on. 

The yarn I have is Sirdar Amalfi DK: 75% cotton, 25% viscose, and I know cotton tends to knit 'short'. Each 50g ball says 110m / 120 yards. Recommended needle size is 4mm. A tension square of 22 stitches over 28 rows should be 4" x 4" or 10x10cm. 

The tension square on the pattern is 11 stitches over 15 rows of stocking stitch, should give a 2" x 2" square, or 5x5cm. So the width is functionally equivalent, but the length is different. 

The thing with the sizing is that both the two smaller sizes say 16 x 25g - that's bust 36" and 38". But for 40" they add another TWO balls, and for 42" they add another TWO after that! If I thought I could get away with 36" I would, but who are we kidding here?

I have 8 x 50g balls ... 

I don’t understand why they don’t change the yarn quantity between 36 inches and 38.  My guess is that there is a typo and the quantity for 36 inches should have been 14 balls.

OK.  You have 880 metres of the Sirdar Amalfi.  Paton’s Trident is 59m per 25g, so 16 balls gives 944m, which means you are 64 metres short.    One thing you could do is use a provisional cast on and start knitting your waistcoat after the ribbing.  Then, when you get to the end of the body and know how much yarn you have (and whether you need to do contrasting ribbed edges), you just unpick the provisional cast on, pick up the loops it reveals and knit the rib downward.   Does that make sense?

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, hat's similar to my approach just now knitting a jumper with not-quite-sure quantities of yarn - I knitted the body, casting-on at the neck and knitting downwards; then I left that sitting on three long DPNs while I picked up and knitted each cap-sleeve and the big cowl neck, so now I am about to start the waist rib and can just go til I run out!  

Savvy_Sue

PipneyJane said:

Let's start with the easy stuff ... 

The wool it recommends is Patons Pure Wool DK (Superwash) or Patons Trident DK. The recommended needle sizes are 8s and 10s, which translates to 4mm and 3.25mm. I've found previously that I need to go up to 4.5 and 3.75 to get the right size tension square so I might start using them for the tension square and see how we get on. 

The yarn I have is Sirdar Amalfi DK: 75% cotton, 25% viscose, and I know cotton tends to knit 'short'. Each 50g ball says 110m / 120 yards. Recommended needle size is 4mm. A tension square of 22 stitches over 28 rows should be 4" x 4" or 10x10cm. 

The tension square on the pattern is 11 stitches over 15 rows of stocking stitch, should give a 2" x 2" square, or 5x5cm. So the width is functionally equivalent, but the length is different. 

The thing with the sizing is that both the two smaller sizes say 16 x 25g - that's bust 36" and 38". But for 40" they add another TWO balls, and for 42" they add another TWO after that! If I thought I could get away with 36" I would, but who are we kidding here?

I have 8 x 50g balls ... 

I don’t understand why they don’t change the yarn quantity between 36 inches and 38.  My guess is that there is a typo and the quantity for 36 inches should have been 14 balls.

OK.  You have 880 metres of the Sirdar Amalfi.  Paton’s Trident is 59m per 25g, so 16 balls gives 944m, which means you are 64 metres short.    One thing you could do is use a provisional cast on and start knitting your waistcoat after the ribbing.  Then, when you get to the end of the body and know how much yarn you have (and whether you need to do contrasting ribbed edges), you just unpick the provisional cast on, pick up the loops it reveals and knit the rib downward.   Does that make sense?

Right, so I'm more than half a ball 'short'. 

I have never done a provisional cast on! 

But I think knowing I am that short, I might as well start by knitting the ribbing in the cardigan wool, but I'll start by doing a test piece of ribbing in cardigan wool and joining on some stocking stitch to do a 'proper' tension square and wash that. 

It will make a nice break from picking up stitches for the bands on the cardigan. Three hours so far and I have still only got half way up the right side. :-( 

PipneyJane

Savvy_Sue said:

PipneyJane said:

Let's start with the easy stuff ... 

The wool it recommends is Patons Pure Wool DK (Superwash) or Patons Trident DK. The recommended needle sizes are 8s and 10s, which translates to 4mm and 3.25mm. I've found previously that I need to go up to 4.5 and 3.75 to get the right size tension square so I might start using them for the tension square and see how we get on. 

The yarn I have is Sirdar Amalfi DK: 75% cotton, 25% viscose, and I know cotton tends to knit 'short'. Each 50g ball says 110m / 120 yards. Recommended needle size is 4mm. A tension square of 22 stitches over 28 rows should be 4" x 4" or 10x10cm. 

The tension square on the pattern is 11 stitches over 15 rows of stocking stitch, should give a 2" x 2" square, or 5x5cm. So the width is functionally equivalent, but the length is different. 

The thing with the sizing is that both the two smaller sizes say 16 x 25g - that's bust 36" and 38". But for 40" they add another TWO balls, and for 42" they add another TWO after that! If I thought I could get away with 36" I would, but who are we kidding here?

I have 8 x 50g balls ... 

I don’t understand why they don’t change the yarn quantity between 36 inches and 38.  My guess is that there is a typo and the quantity for 36 inches should have been 14 balls.

OK.  You have 880 metres of the Sirdar Amalfi.  Paton’s Trident is 59m per 25g, so 16 balls gives 944m, which means you are 64 metres short.    One thing you could do is use a provisional cast on and start knitting your waistcoat after the ribbing.  Then, when you get to the end of the body and know how much yarn you have (and whether you need to do contrasting ribbed edges), you just unpick the provisional cast on, pick up the loops it reveals and knit the rib downward.   Does that make sense?

Right, so I'm more than half a ball 'short'. 

I have never done a provisional cast on! 

I’m not an expert, so would resort to YouTube.   Do you crochet by any chance?  There’s a really-easy-to-unravel crochet provisional cast on, which is based on a crocheted chain stitch.    Years ago, I did a class with Woolly Wormhead, who demonstrated it.  She may have a video lesson on her website.

Good luck.

- Pip