Posted on 11/04/2005 4:17:07 PM PST by Knitting A Conundrum
The Vast Right Wing Knitting and Needleworkers' Circle
Weekend Chat!
Want to gripe?
Want to share?
Want to brag?
Need some care?
Then pull up your chair, get out your workbasket, and come tell us about it!
VRWKNC Ping! Weekend Chat!
...and I'm Sewing in a Snit. LOL Your screen name is great.
What exactly do we do here?
We talk, about needlework, our lives, our hobbies and things we would like to do. Sometimes I suggest a topic, but the weekend is sort of a stitch and...whatever freeform thingie.
Right now, I am working on the toe of the second of a pair of baby socks, and need to get back to some mitts I started, and to finish a sweater.
And there are other things I would like to do, but I take it easy on my hands once the cold starts.
Awesome! By the end of next week I will be in the midst-of/learning to make eight quilting or sewing projects. Three of the classes are next week.Thurs-Sat. One is for a Christmas present...maybe two.
Are the baby items for a family member?
Yep, I promised my niece that I would knit socks for her kids. And so I am getting there.
I'm here in Orlando..working on an afgan knitted with Manos yarn. The afgan consists of 12 blocks..each one different a pattern. I also knitted up a sweater for my toddler this week but am stuck on the knitting the straps which require working with 3 double pointed needles. I'm fairly new to knitting. I did find one knitting store in Orlando and go every Saturday and knit with beginners so I hope to get some instruction on the straps tomorrow. I just relocated here in June from RI. I miss the knitting shops at home. I also love to sew but have been very discouraged by the lack of places to buy quality fabic or find what I am looking for.
I know what you mean about fabric shops. There are some good ones that do mail order, but nothing beats walking through the shop, picking out and feeling the fabric...
well it's plain to see that I can't compete with anyone on this thread. I re-taught myself how to knit and made several scarves last winter with that new fun yarn.
That's about as far as I can go. That's all the talent I had.
I have two choices in my area..Hancock & Joann's. I'm looking for material to sew a dress for my daughter for Christmas..neither one have anything appropriate. As for yarn shops it's not much better. My sister works for a yarn store in RI. I have to call her for yarn because of the poor selection here.
Hey, this is kinda cool. CAn you put me on your ping list? So, this is a whole weekend thing, huh. Cool!
"...and I'm Sewing in a Snit"
I've sewed in beads, ribbons, labels, and even my finger -- how do you sew in a snit. I have a couple X-mas presents I'm working on that I wouldn't mind including a snit in them. lol
Here is a great website with actual videos to help you learn stitches and some advance techniques. I use it all the time and you can just keep replaying them (like I do LOL)until you get it. I'm a visual learner.
knittinghelp.com
Bah! Everyone's moved on since last week and I'm still working these bleeding armwarmers...Fear of the buttonhole is slowing me down. :-(
I appreciate the invitation, but I'm trying to get ready for class next week - have a couple of presentations, a paper and a billion pages to read before Wednesday afternoon.
Y'all have fun! (and feel sorry for me)
Happy to have you join in. I'll put you on the ping list pronto!
Scarves was all I did for years and years, Queenkathy...but then I went crazy after I got married and started knitting socks...and now I sell knitting patterns (not in a big way, but I do do it.)
So don't think you're hopeless!
Button holes aren't usually that hard. You scared of yarn overs?
Hancock's and Joann's is mostly what i have here, too...We do have some nice quilting shops, but I now look online a lot at fabric.
We do feel sorry for you! Come back when you feel you can!
I just can't figure it out. I stumbled through the last one, but I had to rip it out three times; Now I've forgotten how to do it again. I bought the book "Knitting in plain English", though, so hopefully that will help. :-) I don't know why it gives me such fits.
what's the directions to do the button hole? A lot of the time they are as simple as doing a Yarn Over, knit two together one row, and then knitting (or purling) across both the next row.
Here are the instructions; They are pretty involved, but the pattern says this is the strongest, so I'd really like to master it.
As if to knit, slip one stitch. Between the tips of the needles, bring the yarn to the front of the work and drop it. As if to knit, slip the next stitch from the left-hand needle to the right-hand needle and pass the first slipped stitch over the second slipped stitch and off the needle. Not using the dropped yarn, bind off the required number of stitches in this manner.
Slip the last stitch on the right hand needle back to the left needle. Turn the work around. Bring yarn to the front. At the edge where the buttonhole was started, using the twisted method of casting on purlwise, cast on one more stitch than the number that you bound off.
Turn the work around. Slip the first stitch from the left hand needle to the right needle as if to knit. Slip the extra cast on stitch over the next stitch and then slip this stitch back onto the left-hand needle.
I should admit that I don't know what half of these terms mean; I've only made scarves before, so the whole 'yarn over', slip one stitch, etc are all fairly new concepts to me.
check out this page:
http://knitting.about.com/library/bllearnyo.htm
I just learned to knit about three weeks ago, and the ONLY stitch I know is to knit: no purl, no decrease, etc. I had to have a friend come over and show me how to "bind off" at the end or I would have had to keep knitting, LOL!
That new "fun fur" yarn is fantastic. I also have liked working with the Red Heart Bright and Lofty, because both of those yarns are good for covering up flubs, and the latter goes really quickly.
:::Pounding my head on the desk:::
Okay, NOW it makes sense! I swear, I was just moving the yarn front to back with out turning it over the needle, and wondering if I was supposed to knit or purl the next stitch! THANK YOU. Geez, I feel dense now! :-P
Learning new skills usually makes everyone feel awkward and/or stupid until you get enough mastered.
Been there and done that already with the knitting. I'm good with certain things, but there are parts of knitting that I'm just a novice at myself.
Well, thank you again! This should help...Actually knowing what I'm doing, you know. ;-P
Isn't strange how knowing what you're doing makes things easier?
Most sweater knitting is kind of mindless. Afghans, too...it takes more stick-to-itiveness than smarts!
1/2 an inch to go the button hole...I'm excited now! I have a pattern for a shawl I'm going to make next. If you were here, I'd give you a hug; I should have looked up what a yarn-over is a long time ago...Thank you so much!!
Hi, I'm new to you guys. This is my first night to get on and talk to anyone. I'm usually over at the politcal boards screaming a trolls. This is so nice to have a place to come and not have the blood pressure go up.
OK, I'm just teaching myself how to knit lace. Has anyone out there tried that?
Yep. I do lace knitting. I like it. Lots and lots of yarn overs and knit 2 togethers.
Take a peek here:
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=2425419&uid=408952
Did you do that beautiful collar? I'm starting with a cowl scarf its suppose to be easy, lets hope so.
I'm also knitting poncho's by the 1/2 dozen. That's what you get for having 7 granddaughters and one of them wants a cardigan sweater.
I certainly did.
There's a story behind it, too.
I have a little book printed about 1845, that has a lovely selection of lace trim patterns...but it's sooooo filled with typos that you have to really work at it to figure out what she intended.
This collar pattern was worse than most of the others. I don't even claim it's the true pattern...I claim it's a recreation of the pattern, because of the errors. Took me three or four attempts to get it to work. But it's a lovely piece of lace.
Seven granddaughters to knit for...you better keep those needles flying to try to keep up. Have you considered a knitting machine ? ;)
Just got a knitting machine, but it isn't a real expensive one, but its a good one to start and learn. I'm a wee bit overwhelmed with it at this moment. But I'm going to stick with it. But in the mean time I am hand knitting these ponchos. Have 3 already done and 1 cardigan almost done, so 3 more to go. Its my first try in adding a hood. It's kind of fun, kind of. LOL
I hope by this time next year I'll be a whiz on the machine.
What a cool idea!
I don't have a creative bone in my body and have to do everything by shortcuts, so I think I can learn or thing or two here. I'm working on a baby blanket for my 6 month-old (our last of 4 children) and I'm using one of those 'Nifty Nitters' I know the spelling is off but I think that's how the brand spells it. It's a big circle with pegs on it. It's not traditional knitting, but it's the best I can do. I've tried knitting with needles several times but I am such a spas, I don't keep the tension right and one row is loose then the other is too tight and on and on.
Anyway,,,glad to be here!
So, can I be part of "the Circle" if I knit in a circle?
Welcome. I knit in a circle as well when I'm doing the hoods for the ponchos. I had troubles learning how to knit in my younger years, but I had a very patient mother who was an outstanding knitter. She use to knit her dresses, that's how good she was.
I was one of those knitters that if something was really scary on the television my knitting would get so tight that you had no idea as to what I was doing, let alone knitting.
Now as I watch Nascar, I don't knit to tight or loose, I just go like h#$*.
Of course you can! I've got a set of those things, too.
Yarn tension takes lots of practice. I still have rows that are looser than I like.
Thanks for the nice welcome. It's so funny, but even with my limited talent as a knitter, I have family asking me what I'm making and when I tell them it's a little blanket, they like it and ask if I might have time to make one for them sometime. It's cute, they say it like, 'well, if you want to practice on another one, my favorite colors are,,," It's kinda nice but I'm wondering if I am in for being the go-to person for the homemade blankets. Not that I mind, I'm just really, really slow.
Some folks need to be given a set of knitting needles and a ball of yarn....
Speaking of baby footwear, I need to rip out the seams in a pair of booties that didn't come out right. And my favorite yarn shop is having a sale this weekend. :-)
Yarn shop sales are a blessing...and a curse!
Anybody want a rude, bad mouthed, son who skipped school, didn't come home until very late and then didn't want to get up this morning do to something he's legally required to do today?
O my aching tummy. And I have to set an alarm clock to get his butt up on Saturday. And he doesn't want to deal with the fact that I am angry because he wanted me to call him in sick...(by making me mad, he can be mad at me for being mad at him....)
I hold the working needles in front of me, like knitting anything on straight needles.
It is easy to turn the work inside out though (which can be a useful technique if you want to make a cuff.)
I have to pass on the belligerent son. Mine is sweet but lazy and it wears me out keeping after him.
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