The Knitters Thread

JackieO wrote: »

Nursemaggie hope your treatment is progressing OK, I have lymphodema which is a left over from my cancer treatment and found that if I don't knit then my right arm siezes up as its twice the size of my left one.

I knit blankets for The Linus Trust which donates them to children all over the world who have nothing often than the clothes on their backs. I have been doing it for the past 8 years and have lost count of the amount I have knitted over the years, but I like to think that somewhere on this planet a child goes to sleep a little warmer for one of my 'blankies' as my DGS used to call them I find wool from all sorts of sources, often handknitted stuff at a boot sale which I will unravel and wash and reknit up (very handy for plain white wool which I use for edging the blankets.)

I am always on the look out for inexpensive websites for DK wool and if anyone knows of any I would be grateful for a heads up. I have never seen wool in my local Aldi's or Lidl's but sometimes there is wool in Wilkos but for some reason never any yellow

My friend crochets for the same charity and any left over bits of balls I knit in stripes to use them up nothing is ever wasted

My grandchildren are now past the age for knitting things for and I am hoping I live long enough to have some gt.grandchildren then my needles will be clicking away again I did for awhile knit prem baby things for the local hospital in 3 and 4 ply as they were always looking for bits for the tiny little early babies.

I really enjoy knitting, as I like to be doing something useful when watching TV

Nice to see that there are other enthusiasts who like it as well

JackieO xx

JackieO wrote: »

Thank you for the link shami I have bookmarked it and will probably get some as it looks really good and saves me hunting round the few shops that sell wool locally .I don't have a poundland near to me unfortunately and very few knitting shops , so free posting might be a good idea .I do sometimes find off bits in CS and I am off to lancashire for a weeks holiday next Friday and my friend and I search all of the chazzers when we are away as she likes material as she makes patchwork quilts for The Linus Charity as well. Nearest Age UK shop I think to me is around 10 miles away but I will check it out when I am next in the area.

JackieO xx

hiddenshadow wrote: »

There are a variety of decreases, k2tog is probably the easiest. There's also ssk (slip purlwise, slip purlwise, knit 2 together through the back loops).

k2tog produces a right-leaning decrease, ssk produces a left-leaning decrease (pro tip: whichever way your needle is pointing through the stitches is the direction the combined stitch will lean). It might be irrelevant for your pattern, but some patterns rely on decreases leaning a certain way to produce the visual effect.