If it’s wool, I think it’ll come out all right. Just leave it to dry over a head-shaped, head-sized bowl or basket, stretching it a bit, and it’ll stay that shape when it’s dry. Or you can frog the project and start again. That possibility has always been a great comfort to me. I’m a disaster when it comes to sewing, I always have to double-check seams and work very slowly, and the machine always breaks down. But in knitting, you’re making the material as you go along. There’s absolutely nothing you can do wrong that a little frogging won’t fix (and by the way, as my distant cousin the silversmith and fiddler would say, there are no such things as faults, only artistic variations.)
And it’s perfectly OK to be a casual knitter. Or should I say, to start out as a casual knitter, because there’s always the risk you might end up possessed by the knitting demon. Only a few years ago I thought a pair of plain knit gloves were just on the edge of being too much trouble, and now I just go “Meh, been there done that” over the same patterns. IMO a lot of the yarns and techniques that are most fun look better in small projects than in big ones and are easier to give away. Unless I had a lot of time and money to waste, I wouldn’t invest in a knitting project that might be out of fashion when I’m finished, or turn out unwearable because the yarn itches, stretches, sheds or pills. If I make an adult-size sweater again it’ll probably be something like a simple fitted alpaca cardigan. Unfortunately, simple fitted cardigans also trigger the “Meh” reflex fairly instantly.
I’m a hideous knitter (I don’t have the attention span to count to 2 it appears). Once I learned to crochet I never looked back! Come to the dark side!
All of this knitting talk has inspired me quite a bit (plus the fact that it’s been -30 C here - -40 C with the wind chill) and I’m thisclose to finishing my nursing shawl - should be later today.
Now I have to decide what to start on next - I may go for a sleep sack for my son for Christmas - a friend gave me the book Boho Baby Knits a couple of days ago and this pattern looks really cute - I don’t have the pima cotton that it calls for, but I have some other yarn that I think will work.
a really neat christmas idea is to get clear ornaments and put your yarn orts into it. they really look nifty.
once i get the pillows squared away and wrapped i’m gonna put one ornament with the yarn orts from the pillow on the front with the name of the yarn. that way they get a nifty lounging pillow and ornament!
orts are crumbs or scraps. my aunt does a lot of crossword puzzles and her grandson found the word quite a few years ago. we use it a lot because of his fasination with it.
anyhoo, it is a scrap or bit of yarn, thread, cloth etc that is too small to use but you hate to just toss. pack them into a clear ornament and it is really cool.
i’ve got 6 of them made up from cross stiching, needle point, and knitting. it is fun to look at them and remember the project they were from. i’m gonna have to stock up on clear ornaments on sale in late dec.
For those of you who are beginners/casual knitters: don’t be intimidated! There are lots of easy things to knit that turn out nicely and will help you build confidence. And, if you need more instructions than knittinghelp.com can provide, search on YouTube. There are zillions of videos out there that are very helpful (see link below for an example). I’ve pretty much stuck to single-color items until now, but am planning to start something in two colors soon.
Hat-related recommendation: Techknitting has a great series of posts on ribbed hats. She puts lots and lots of details in her posts and has lots of graphics so that you can really understand what she’s talking about.
Also, I’ve got to agree with Cat on fingerless gloves. I’ve knit several versions of Fetching and also, the super-easy Emerald Green Handwarmers, which are basically a square sewn together on the side with a hole for the thumb.
Nice idea!
Very cute sleep sack, Alice.
Hee, I have orts stuffed into a zip-top bag. I knew there was something that could be done with them.
I’ve joined the group on ravelry and have wandered through several new friends’ projects. Am amused to see that several of us have made the Spring Forwardsocks from Knitty. They were my first pair. For those of you who are scared of knitting socks: I used this series of videos to understand what the pattern was talking about. As twicks said, if you follow (good) directions faithfully, what you’re knitting magically turns (heh.) into a sock.
Just paused briefly to knit a second layer for my Saroyan-ish headband. It was a little too flimsy to really keep my ears warm. I’m kind of chain-stitching it in; we’ll see how that works out.
Gotta go find some instructions that will help me create the rest of my next handwarmers. They’re sock-weight and I want them to be fairly long. Recommendations?
(I’m also in the want-to-like-all-the-posts contingent. Thanks for starting this thread, Alice.
Green Cabled Armwarmers. I made mine and they are too small (:() BUT it’s because I used a (sproingy, but still) heavy laceweight instead of fingering. But they’re fun to knit, not hard, and the cable is like a braid.
And I want to agree with you: don’t be afraid to try “hard” knitting things! What’s the worst that could happen? You’d make a mistake. You won’t burn your house down, your dog won’t get run over, the grocery store won’t run out of milk… if you have trouble with a knitting pattern. That’s why I love Ravelry so much; it really helped me get that attitude, because I was always scared I wasn’t skilled enough for x-project yet.
Also: don’t think you have to be an “expert” in order to be “worthy” of some fancy yarn!. Hazel, you just knitted a triangular scarf with lace edging. You know more than you think you do; just have confidence! And get some damn angora, cashmere, cashgora, mohair/angora, whatever nummy soft yarn you want, and makesomethinglikea cowl. Fantastic with a dressy winter coat, keeps you warm, doesn’t take much yarn and still falls into the “accessories” category.
This is a great idea! Buy something posh, but only buy one ball. Even if you kack it up and have to frog and reknit 10 times it’s small enough that it’s doable, and a very good quality yarn can stand the multiple froggings.
Thanks for the pattern suggestion, zweisamkeit; those look great! I don’t want cables on the current pair, but I’ll have to knit an additional pair with cables because 1) cables are always fun to knit, and 2) I love the look.
The cowl idea is excellent as well. I’m still at a point where I’d be hesitant to invest in enough expensive yarn for a sweater, but I wouldn’t be afraid of knitting something small.
Unfortunately I can’t buy expensive yarn by the ball . . . I have to buy yarn by the pack (usually 6 balls per pack). I don’t have easy access to a yarn store so I buy it off a website - for some reason they don’t sell their really nice yarn except in packs. But I have decided that in the near future I will buy some nice yarn and knit a lacy scarf, since I’m definitely comfortable with scarves.
I also found an afghan pattern that I really want to try out - the best thing about it is that the pieces are individually knitted and then sewn together, which sounds a lot more managable to me than knitting an entire blanket at one go.
Jeffrey the Dog
The yarn is KnitPicks Shine Worsted (cotton/modal blend) in Butter Pecan & Fedora, a dark brown (fedora, I’ll have you know, happens to be on sale right now for $1.62/50g) and having never worked with this yarn before I was very impressed with its softness. I would say my only critque (more like a caution) is that it is slightly slippery so you have to pay attention to your tension, unlike more typical cotton yarns (like peaches & cream) which tend to grip and almost be too tight.
I bought the pattern from “Fresh Stitches” a pattern designer on Etsy. Simple to do yet very cute. The directions were very detailed and had step-by-step pictures for how you put it together, which I really appreciated. Very recommended! It is almost entirely single crochet, with only very simple increases & decreases.
That’s why I love Ravelry so much; it really helped me get that attitude, because I was always scared I wasn’t skilled enough for x-project yet.
