Friday stitch and....gripe? Celebrate? Show off your latest project? Hug your kids? Talk about the project you would really like to do but never started?
Posted on 10/21/2005 10:03:29 AM PDT by Knitting A Conundrum
Friday stitch and....gripe? Celebrate? Show off your latest project? Hug your kids? Talk about the project you would really like to do but never started?
Calling all needleworkers!
Friday is here.
I don't have a theme except I wish that any sisters (and any brothers who are interested) would come join my needlework circle and be friends while we stitch, gripe, talk, complain, share, celebrate and show off our work.
Is this always here on Fridays?
Okay, finishing the sleeves (I always work them together) on a turtleneck. Colinette Skye, I think the colorway (or coulourway *g*) is peacock. Three big chunky cables up the front over 8 stitches by 4 rib.
I picked up a couple of knitting needles yesterday... Failed miserably. Got the slip-knot and couldn't figure out how to cast on.
I can crochet, sew & do cross stitch... But that knitting thing is still a mystery.
Sounds delicious.
Would be nice to meet here every Friday...this is new because the needlework circle is new...
If you know how to a chain stitch for crochet, you can get started with knitting without learning any other caston.
Just make a chain in a needle about as wide as your knitting needle, and then, put the loop on your knitting needle, and pick up a loop from every chain, just like if you were doing afghan crochet. And then start knitting.
You can also use a row of half hitches. And later, when you understand more, you can learn the traditional thumbing cast on, or the knitted on cast on.
I do the thumbing one most, because it was the way people who knitted socks professionally in the 1700s did it. It works great with a rib stitch. But it's not always the best cast on for the job. And guessing how long to have the tail takes experience. And the knitted on cast on can be too tight.
These are things to worry about later.
I'm getting antsy - I have some alpaca yarn on order, and it hasn't arrived yet. Planning to try a new shawl pattern from a book my daughter gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. (Don't know the name of it - and it's at home and I'm not.) It'll be my first project in several years that did not use a washable, synthetic, no-dye-lot yarn.
I've been wanting to crochet Afghans for our wounded soldiers in hospitals. My problem is, when I'm finished with two or three, where and how do I send them?
I finished the first warmer and I've started the sleeve of the second...I'm not anticipating wrestling with that buttonhole again. :-(
My gripe for the day: I'm doing laundry, and discover my (expletive deleted) 17 year old dumped a load of my laundry in the washing machine back into the laundry basket so he could do his own laundry. And left it there, on top of other laundry to get the whole batch damp.
And then, he spent the night out (there is a teacher conference going on now and no classes) so I can't kick his hiney from here to kingdom come.
He IS in a point in his life where I don't like him. And I am fast losing my desire to do anything for him.
MY SECOND GRIPE: adults who buy alcohol that they give to minors. I saw something in the grocery which may have been a 29 year old man in the company of two teen girls talking like he might have been buying beer for them. But I just heard a snippet.
May God remember the actions of every adult who has given my teen and his friends tobacco or alcohol and may He judge them accordingly to the grief they have caused.
Freeper Marmar, I believe, works at a military hospital in...Germany? She might be able to suggest something.
OOOOOH, needlework!!!! Can I play please?
My current (random) project is a baby afghan done with a granny square with all the left over yarn I have from 8 bazillion baby blankets and projects. The square is tiny (just 3 colors) so it will look cute and small for a baby. My question is... since I am a grandmother, how come I have so many friends who are having babies? Maybe I need to find a church full of old people 8-)
My next project will be a sweater for my son. I did one for him in high school that he loved, (and had to keep taking back from his girlfriends) and wore out. Now he has asked for another.
There are several programs out there doing things for our troops. Here's one link:
http://www.theshipsproject.com./
http://www.house.gov/latourette/issues_toasty_toes.htm
(this one is more for slippers and socks)
There are others I have seen, but this was a quick list.
For those projects that are special, I like superwashed wool...you can stick it in the washer and dryer. I have gotten spoiled. I do buy some yarn just like you said for certain projects, especially when I'm designing something big, or want it to be super washable, but I surely like working in high quality natural fibers. I used to think people who said that were yarn snobs...but I learned they feel different in the hand....
Of course you can play! Glad you are here!
I need to finish the sweater I am knitting, but I've been working so much in the library, I'm not moving as fast as I should. I need to knit mitts and leg warmers. Arthritis season is close!
Thanks. Bookmarked.
Arthritis season? Har! How true. I had very ambitious plans for this winter, but I think I'll be fortunate to get half my Christmas presents made...I'll have to start earlier next year.
Thank you. I'll look her up on FR.
http://63.210.199.178/?tsimg=/tszoom/dynapi/src/lib/tsapi/images/cover.tsgif&300x340
Here's a link to see the cross-stitching hanging that I need to start. Right now it's still in the bag unopened sitting in the corner of the room. Right next to my unfinished shell blanket I've been semi-working on.
Things I am celebrating:
I've spent most of my adult life on the heavy side. Probably my average dress size was 20 or 22. About 9 months ago I was starting to move into 26s. Every time I ate anything with a low glycemic index in any real quantity, I would get sleepy. Then I heard my brother had been diagnosed pre-diabetic.
Something in me clicked. I read Dr. Phil's book on dieting, and although I didn't choose to follow his plans, it helped me get real with myself. About 7 months ago I started.
Now I am starting to wear 16 and 16w clothes (I'm still too thick through the waist, but it's coming down. I've lost 11 inches off of my waist, 9 inches off of my hips, and about 8 inches off my abdomen.
I've learned to eat differently, and I don't play the same old games with myself. And I am wearing smaller clothes than I have worn since I was 21.
That is something to celebrate.
link didn't work, but I am anxious to see...
I'll have to look for that for the next project. I have about 30 years worth of magazines and books - every one has at least one thing I want to make! Have you tried any of the soy silk yarns? I've even read about a yarn that is infused with Teflon, so can't be ruined by spilling anything on it.
I am learning to knit, and have gotten to the end of three projects now. The only thing I have left to learn is to cast off to finish each one. How exciting!
Abner, if I can learn to knit, ANYBODY can, LOL! I still think crocheting goes faster and doesn't need as much counting, but the knitting projects have such a lovely texture.
Never mind about the link.
I swear it was working early, until I posted it.
((sigh))
Maybe I'll try after lunch hopefully I can think more clearly then. Otherwise I have no excuse.
Please put me on your ping list. My favorite needle art is needlepoint and bargello, followed by crewel embroidery.
Today I'm not doing nothing. I have a cold and am rather dizzy.
post 27 was meant for you.
LOL--Ping to more fun.
How fantastic for you! I'm so proud of you!
I've been wanting to learn how to knit for some time now. I bought a book (no, I haven't opened it yet) on knitting, but recently a friend of my Mother's came over to visit.
She's a German lady, and was in the middle of knitting a few items during her stay. She claims that there are two different methods for knitting - an English version and a German version (I believe she called it 'picking'). Supposedly Americans switched over to the English version right around WWII for political reasons, but that the German version was much easier to learn and quicker as well.
I know this is a rather broad question, but for someone like myself that has never picked up a knitting needle, what's the best method to learn?
VRWKNC PING!
It is a gloomy, rainy, cold Friday here in northwest/north central Indiana. It would be a perfect day to curl up on the couch with the "Quaker Stocking" (see the last VRWKNC post), put a blanket over my legs, and stitch away!
Man, that visual just about did away with any desire I had to work this afternoon!
Holy cow, that's amazing! Congratulations! Last time my dimensions changed that much, I had a baby! ;-P
That's just...Incredible. I bet you have a good time looking at old pictures.
Teflon in the yarn? Now that would be fun! Would it protect me from tomato sauce? My front is a tomato sauce magnet....
I am so proud of you. Congratulations!
And don't let anyone give you grief about following Dr. Phil's advice. I know there are some on FR who detest the man, but if that was the "kick in the butt" that you needed to get going--what can you say?
I am not working on my needlepoint armorial at the moment but will pick it up again soon. I have forgotten how to crochet even though my grandmother taught me how when I was a child. Can I play even if I am not working on anything at the moment? Winter is coming on and I will have more indoor time to fill.
It's a pattern for a single-stitch scarf, with really nice photograph instructions. Once you finish this, your hands will know what to do (muscle memory), and purling will be a snap to learn, since it's just a backwards knit-stitch.
You are added.
Bargello is really neat. In the 1700s, they called it Irish Stitch and used it a lot to make cushions and wallets and other things...I am supposed to be making a strap for my hubby out of it, but haven't worked on it in a long time, shame on me...
LOL! Mine, too, that's why it caught my eye.
And congrats on the dramatic weight loss! You didn't do that by sitting around and stitching!
If you crochet, I suspect that the Continental method is easier in how you handle the yarn. At first, just hold it like you crochet. I think it's a bit faster, too.
The American style is slower, but might be a bit easier to manage the thread at first.
There are actually a few other ways to handle the yarn. But these are the two you'll find most often in the US.
I bet! Stitchery is more fun than most work!
I've got an excellent pic of me at my top weight, in period costume.
This year, I wore the same clothes to the same reenactment, and took a similar pic. Boy there is some real difference!
I will have to make new period clothes. The old ones didn't fit me this year.
You can see a combined pic here:
http://shrinkingtosanity.blogspot.com/2005_09_04_shrinkingtosanity_archive.html
Here's an article about the Teflon yarn...
http://www.knittersreview.com/article_yarn.asp?article=/review/product/040219_a.asp
I love the costume, btw. If I may ask, did you make it from a pattern, or just wing it?
My grandma started me on Crochet when I was nine. She had one of those knit/crochet/tat how to books, and I was trying to teach myself that when a neighbor came over and showed me more how to do the knit stitch.
Mostly, though, I did crochet. Over time, I would crochet doilies, afghans, hats, potholders and lace edgings. One filet stitch shawl which was supposed to be a tablecloth, but I decided I had done enough. Mostly I did afghans. Tried to do rugs, but I had trouble with tension. Learned how to make baskets by knitting very, very tightly (like a size seven hook with knitting worsted) from a book called Hard Crochet.
When I was about 12, my grandma had decided to take up knitting and me, my mom, and her spend a summer together where we all knitted a good bit.
Somehow, though, I learned to do it backwards (probably after my grandma went home, and I picked it up after not doing it for awhile), with the front leg of the knit stitch in the back instead of the front. (there are places where this way is standard. I evidently handled my purl stitches backwards, too, so they didn't cross.)
Didn't realize it was backwards until much later when I was in college. I became a nut about Dr. Who and HAD to have some Dr. Who scarves. I made 3 eventually, two knitted, and one crocheted. One of my girlfriends, who was also a Dr. Who fan, had learned to knit in a more organized fashion. She taught me the knitted on caston, and taught me to do my knit/purls the standard way.
Didn't do much more than scarves at that time. After I got married in '99, I decided I needed to learn to knit socks, now having a husband to take care of. So I searched the internet for a good beginner pattern, and did one of the "Another Joan's Socks." It was made out of some cheap white synthetic yarn, and it was defintely not to the proper gauge.
I made another. It seemed more appropriate. I started knitting them in woolease, which made some nice looking socks, but the yarn pilled.
There was a nice yarnstore in Boise where I was at that time. Some of the regia sock yarns were coming out. I bought some. It was fingering weight, and I had the dickens of a time getting used to knitting at that gauge. I knit a ragland sweater about the same time. Decided that socks were more my cup of tea.
I then discovered lace knitting. I got a book called Traditional Knitted Shawls, and started knitting a shawl. Sort of learned to read from charts, but I admit, I'd rather read regular directions. Finally mastered knitting fingering yarn. Became a proficient sock knitter. Designed some socks, and began learning to interpret early Victorian knitting patterns. Ended up putting together some knitting pamplets on Victorian patterns.
Along the way, I discovered many good sites on the internet, and moved to Ogden where I had access to the Needlepoint Joint, which is a great yarn and needlework store. Hung out on the Knitlist and and the Socknitter's list for awhile, and some other crafting lists, and as I moved more and more into reenacting, began to focus mostly on historical stuff.
And that's how I got to where I am today!
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question, it is appreciated!
WOW!! That is so fantastic! Congrats on the weight loss. You look great :) Happy you found a weight loss program that works for you.
I just LOVE hearing happy/good news like that!
"Man, that visual just about did away with any desire I had to work this afternoon!"
Mine too! At least I get to go home now :) Hope you get to do the same soon.
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