I have one more row, then will bind off, the final piece in my first sweater (which I made in Coral Gables, and which will probably look a trifle funkier than the one pictured. 
)
Anyway, it says next I sew it all together – here’s my dumb question – what do I use to sew it together? The yarn frays badly, but I could seal the ends and use that – thread wouldn’t be strong enough, right? Or would it?
Thanks for not laughing,
twicks
The (one) sweater I’ve made I used the yarn I made it with to sew together. I don’t think you’d want to use thread for it, though there may be some circumstances where it could be better.
Yeah, that’s what I thought – but I didn’t want to make it any funkier than it would otherwise be by doing that. 
Well by sewing it with thread, the material is heavier than regular sewing so the thread would probably break sooner rather than later (even using those nifty strong threads out there now). I can see maybe using thread if you knit something in a lightweight yarn, and were seaming like you would if you have just cut it out of material but generally you don’t sew the pieces together like that. The seams in knitting and sewing are fairly different.
Hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask. 
How else would we learn anything?
I’m on Ravelry, as oonagh. I don’t have anything posted in anything because I spend too much time on line to ever finish any of my projects, but gahhhh, I loves me some Ravelry.
I typically use the yarn used to knit the sweater for seaming. However, in rare cases this is just not a good idea (such as with extra bulky yarns). In such a case I would either find a matching thinner yarn, or more likely find DMC embroidery floss in a matching color. I also use the embroidery floss for sewing on buttons. It’s sturdier than thread and comes in lots of colors.
When using yarn for seaming, I tend to stick to shorter lengths than I would for hand sewing. Eventually the ends get all fuzzy from being pulled through the fabric of the sweater so many times, then it’s time to weave in that end and start with a new piece.
My knitting work du jour is Alce Strm*re’s “Cromarty” which will be finished in the year 2012 at the rate I’m working on it. Tonight, given the opportunity (read: if I still have the energy after getting the girls to bed) I will be cutting out pieces for Easter dresses.
By trial and error, and more error.
I came this close to asking if anyone had any tips for keeping track of which stitch was which in a pattern I’d been knitting and unknitting all weekend. And then I had an epiphany which seems obvious in retrospect. Duh! Use something to mark the repeats. Since sectioning my knitting I’ve only had to take out 2 and a half rows–and if I’d counted that one section before moving on to the next, I wouldn’t have had to do that much.
(Um, some exaggeration there, but I think I did cast on 131 stitches close 5 or 6 times before I finally managed to go enough rows without catching any errors to make it worth not ripping my way back to the beginning).
What yarn are you using for Cromarty? I fantasize that I’ll knit an AS design someday, but I don’t have enough patience to knit so much on tiny needles.
Actually, true. I’ve done lots of that lol.
Also lots of reading books, and searching online.
Thank you – that’s extremely helpful.
I’m building a figure of a comic book character–a Bride of Frankenstein. Here’s a link to a message board where I’ve been posting sporadic progress reports:
http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=59034
Although I’ve been working in Milliput mostly, I just tried Procreate on part of her coat; it’s quite a change–they’re very different materials.
Oh, but Cromarty calls for size 5s! Except I’ve yet to find anyone anywhere who has achieved the correct gauge for this sweater using 5s. I’m using 3s. I’ve seen people mention they had to go all the way down to 1s!
I’m using Queensland Kathmandu DK. It’s weight and yardage are almost a perfect match to the Rowan Designer Double Knit that the pattern specifies (which, of course, is discontinued). I suspect that my yarn is a bit fluffier, though. It’s a right pain in the wrist to knit at this gauge, which is why my progress is slow. The resulting fabric feels a bit “bulletproof” until you wash and block it. This yarn blooms and grows more than anything I’ve ever used. (which is a large part of why I had to go down two needle sizes) Once it’s been washed, it’s the softest most fluid stuff with a beautiful hand and the cables really pop. While knitting, I’ve got to say, it’s not a joy. I suspect it’s the silk that’s doing it.
The Kathmandu (which happens to be the same yarn as one of Jo Sharp’s “Silkroad”) is tweedy (lots of tan and darker blue flecks in my light blue yarn). I saw one person frog their Cromarty that they were knitting in Rowans felted tweed because they thought the tweedyness competed too much with the pattern. I like the tweedy flecks, though. It makes the cables look rustic and stony, which appears to be the aim of the designer if you read the blurb in the pattern.
Can you tell I’ve given a lot of thought to this sweater? It’ll probably end up too wide for me and I’ll hate it when it’s done.
Then I sat down to knit last night and the cat had broken my circular needle and absconded with the needle tip. So I did get those pattern pieces cut out after all!
And it only took 2.5hrs! (but it really adds up to five dresses when you consider I cut two underdresses, two pinafores, and a dress for myself - I LOVE my rotary cutter!)
I recovered my desk chair. It is very pretty, but the pictures aren’t all that hot because it gets dark so early here. Just trust me that vintage teal brocade is a vast improvement over gross black paper cloth (that synthetic stuff that’s not woven or knit, but fused together out of little short fibers and yet is not felt).
I love unexpected fabrics on things! That looks very good Purl!