My grandmother was an excellent knitter. She could knit while she watched TV and barely looked at her project or a pattern and end up with a lovely aran sweater. I just now thought of this…something we did not have in common is that she was an outstanding chess player. I wonder if the same characteristic of her brain that let her anticipate the next 6 chess moves is what made her able to memorize some fairly intricate patterns. I’ve made a fairly complicated scarf (Thsi pattern from Fiber Trends) a few times, and one lacy sweaqter for a little girl and had to keep my eyes on the pattern with a ruler marking my place the whole time.
Anyway, both my grandmother and mother undertook to teach me when I was quite young, but I never got further than knit and purl, and never finished anything. About 10 years ago I took a knitting class. While I enjoyed that I wish I’d had the forsight to learn from my grandma while she was still available.
I bought yarn that I ended up never using, and it’s been long enough that I either don’t remember what it was for, or don’t want that thing anymore. I did reduce my stash quite a bit. I think I was planning to make a lot of two color hats, because I had a lot of skeins of one color. I donated those to the knitting group at my sister’s church.
I’m a knitter on a budget. I’ve been intimidated away from much participation in knitting threads or on Ravelry because I knit simple projects with Lion Brand yarn. There. I said it. Lion Brand Wool Ease. I buy it on sale. Would I like to knit with koigu or Debbie Bliss cashmerino? Yes. Yes, I would. Can’t afford it.
Something that’s been lingering in my stash is some Regia self striping sock yarn. I’d planned to use it a long time ago, but the teacher of the class I mentioned had some sort of anti-sock-knitting bias and said some discouraging things about it. I put that away for a rainy day. I’m going to knit some socks for my son for Valentine’s day. I just watched a series of “how to knit socks” videos on YouTube and it helped me make better sense of sock patterns. I also had a notion that before I tried knitting them on two circular needles I ought to knit a pair on DPNs. Sort of like making my son learn to tell time on an analog clock before letting him have a digital watch. A friend of mine told me that’s stupid and I can just dive right in to 2 circulars.
I have some linen yarn I bought to make face cloths for my sister - bought the yarn when I still lived in NY so more than 6.5 years ago. The thesis she wrote for her degree in history is about the regicides of King Charles I. I found a pattern online for “King Charles Brocade” which purports to be based on the pattern of a knit vest he was wearing when his head was separated from the rest of him. I am going to complete those and give them to her this very year. That is the only knit Christmas gift I am committing to completing this year.
If my son’s socks go well I think I’ll make more as gifts for next year.
I’m on Ravelry as meghanm87. I haven’t posted much but did recently photograph a lot of my stash with plans to try and get it into the hands of people who will actually use it. I have some hand spun and dyed boucle, for example that my sister’s group couldn’t use.
Socks aren’t nearly as scary as you think they are! The only teeniest bit tricky part is turning the heel, and if you follow the directions, the magic performs itself, honestly. Not scary at all! I always have a pair going for my take-along knitting – other than turning the heel (five minutes), it’s all straightforward knitting, perfect for when you’re watching TV or chatting with a friend.
The “basic top down sock” in this book is easy, easy, easy. You can get fancy later – or you can just keep buying self-striping yarn and making handsome, easy socks.
And yes, go for DPNs – they look way scarier than they are.
I’m more of a crocheter. Actually what I really like to do is crocheted fabric tapestry rugs, but the prep work is soooooooo laborious. So, I accumulate fabric, and it sits in bins, mocking me
I am thinking of doing some stuffed toys for some of the babies that have/will come into my life recently (brother, best friend, etc). I am digging on this etsy seller’s patterns. But gee, I haven’t got any cotton yarn in those colors… you know what that means… MORE YARN. lol!
What website did you go to with the videos? I find Knitting Help pretty useful. I like that she has two versions of almost all videos: one with the yarn in her left hand (Continental/German) and one with the yarn in her right (English). There are tons of different ways to knit, but these are probably the two most common in the US, and if you try one way and it just doesn’t freaking work, try it the other way!
I also like that website’s videos because she has a pretty clear view, explains what she does, and it’s easy for me to click back a bit so I can re-watch a particular section.
Serious yarn snobs can eat a bag of dicks, quite honestly. I love fancy yarns, my local yarn shops, etc. I also am a fan of different yarns you can get at Joann’s and Michaels. I seriously saw someone on Ravelry say that the onnnnlyyy yarn she’ll use for dishcloths is Louisa Harding Nautical Cotton because it’s such high quality, fabulous long staple length, blahblah. Lady, it’s a fucking dishcloth that’s gonna be used to scrub bits of food off of plates. You’re sneering at people who use Lily Sugar n Cream because it’s from a “big box”? And, btw, SnC lasts a nice long while for dishcloths.
I firmly believe that every yarn has some project that will be perfectly suited for it. I also believe that more expensive doesn’t always mean better. Like Stattua said, Red Heart is good for afghans. It comes in many colors, is basically indestructible, can go through the washer and dryer, and if you wash it with some hair conditioner the first time, really does get soft. Also, Red Heart has a sock yarn called “Heart and Sole” that is seriously one of the best workhorse sock yarns I’ve used.
My stash has fancies like Louisa Harding “Grace”, Schaefer “Andrea” (god, I just take it out and pet it every so often. It’s SO SOFT.) and Mmmmmmalabrigo Lace… and it also has Paton’s wool, the Heart and Sole and Vanna’s Choice. Yes, yes! A 100% ACRYLIC YARN!!!
And if yarn snobs can’t understand that there are a lot of people who don’t have the cash to use 7-10 skeins of Madelinetosh DK to make a sweater or Mission Falls to make a throw that a kid or pet will eventually barf on… then they can eat the aforementioned bag of dicks.
Knitting Help is actually the one I went to. Couldn’t remember if that was the name of not, but I knew I’d visited that page, as the url in your post is grey. It’s bookmarked. Now I’m just waiting on my damn needles and yarn from Jo Ann Fabrics to show up. I swung by Target on my way home yesterday hoping they’d have some, but they didn’t. Impatient people really shouldn’t order things online.
Maybe in the meantime I’ll brush up on my knitting jargon.
I’m of the mind you knit with what you can afford. Which is what I do (though I have more than once splurged on an expensive yarn that I probably couldn’t really afford…). There are some lovely yarns in the cheaper stuff.
I want to take a class in doing two socks at once. They had one at my LYS, but I couldn’t squeeze it that weekend. Ah well. Maybe I’ll buy a book.
I’ve started using a loom and thus far, I’ve made three hats all using really thick yarn. I’m working on more for Christmas (the most recent using really thin specialty yarn), but what I’m looking forward to most is learning to make socks. Then we’ll have a sock boom.
I love Red Heart. Since I do so much amigurumi, the cheap stuff is actually the preferred yarn, so it works out for me. Lion’s or Caron is a splurge for me. Sugar N Cream are perfect sized for when you need just a little.
Doing one inside the other is just a matter of not crossing the yarns (which is actually very straightforward if you knit both english and continental). Doing them side by side is the same as the two long circular technique for doing something in the round.
I’m actually probably considered a bit of a yarn snob simply because I’ve bought $85 skeins of yarn, and I’ve made loads of things with Lion Brand Wool Ease - it’s dandy, felts up beautifully and won’t cost you 50 brazillion dollars if you’re making a large item.
The only reason I struggle with all the acrylic stuff from my grandma is that I have quite sensitive skin that objects greatly to synthetic fibers - if I could get away with making the stuff in sweaters I would in a second.
Frankly, I think anyone who would dis you because of your yarn selection is a douche bag. They probably have uneven tension too.
I’m there too (as Seeye) - as I’ve been reading this thread I keep trying to click “Agree” and “Love”
I probably do most of my knitting on public transport, or in pubs, so that - combined with a dislike or sewing - means that I usually stick to small projects, accessories … hats, teddy bear like toys, scarves/wraps etc.
As an alternative for socks can I put in a word for fingerless gloves (or mittens) ? They’re “easier” in that there’s no heel or toe to worry about (you don’t even need to have a thumb) AND they’re more readily on display - it’s win win win !
Whilst I’ve enjoyed using some of the more expensive yarns mentioned here - Malabrigo, Louisa Harding, Schaeffer my favourites have been the essentially bog-standard pure wool picked up in Ireland and Nova Scotia. A lot of baby stuff gets done in Phildar yarns because they’re machine washable. Acrylic has it’s place.
This made me laugh out loud! You too, zweisamkeit. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate or covet fine expensive fibers. They’re just out of my reach right now. If you can afford them, more power to you. I love to spend time in yarn shops, and if I ever had stupid money to spend on yarn I can imagine keeping bowls and baskets of some of the lovelier hand dyed stuff around my home just for decoration. It’s actually a good thing that I have to watch my spending, otherwise, I’d have to decide what to buy. This way’s okay for now.
Twicks, I just placed a hold request for that sock book at my library. Visually is exactly what I need. I’d forgotten posting in that expensive yarn thread. Apparently this is more of an issue for me than I was even aware. I need to reorganize my priorities.
I have a scarf started that’s 3 x 3 ribbing. I’m getting ladders when I switch from knit to purl, no matter how carefully I try and control the tension. Any advice? It’s Caron “Simply Soft” if that matters.
Re-reading the linked thread, I see I mentioned plans to knit up a certain ball of expensive yarn I own in September.
Well, September has come and gone, October has come and gone, November is not quite gone yet, but my plans do not include digging up my ball of linen rope yarn and knitting it.
Maybe January.
A previous version of this thread inspired a group on Ravelry called SDMB Yarnies. It’s not real exciting–the primary poster seems to be me, showing off whatever I’m working on most recently, but since I’m not sure anyone else contributing to this thread is in the group, I’ll try to send out invitations later tonight.
I’ve mostly got Christmas presents on the needles. An Anthemion wrap in Madonna blue merinosilk for my mom, and a woolly cap for sis. I’ve been finishing a couple of to-be-felted-when-there’s-time winter hats too. Then there are two or three projects where I’m suffering from second sock-or-mitten syndrome, and others (such as the Print o’the Wave stole in cobweb weight) which will have to wait for warmer weather.
Right now I’m wondering what to do with all the leftovers from my experiments with self-striping yarns (and I’m bound to have more shortly; the persuasive power of Austermann Step yarn is too much for me), apart from knitting doll clothes. Ideas welcome.
Couldn’t remember if that was the name of not, but I knew I’d visited that page, as the url in your post is grey. It’s bookmarked. Now I’m just waiting on my damn needles and yarn from Jo Ann Fabrics to show up. I swung by Target on my way home yesterday hoping they’d have some, but they didn’t. Impatient people really shouldn’t order things online.