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Craft club topic of the month - knitting!

wayward bob said:
k2tog slants right, ssk slants left, if that helps work it out?
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Well, not really because you don't know whether the designer intended it to slant right or left. Although I think right looks better for the first decrease because it stands out more from the pattern, so that's what I've done on sock #1 and may as well continue.
 
i saw something called a sock loom at the wool shop - anyone ever used these? Looks like the 'french knitting' we used to do using cotton reels - just wondered about heels (I love that miracle of woolly engineering - 'turning the heel')
Cheers, Ruby - I got the buttons ( a snip compared to the cost of the wool). It is true though, we all have hippy 'tendencies' in my family
 
moose said:
Debbie FUCKING Bliss! :mad: just spent the best part of an hour untangling a brand new ball of 4 ply before I could even start knitting. And there are 2 knotted joins in the wool in the first 20 yards. I do not know how that woman gets away with it. BITCH. :mad: :mad:
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I have very little knitting experience. Of the two scarves I have knitted in the last year a ball on each project had a knotted joint (both Rowan so not inexpensive wool; both bought at John Lewis). What does one do? I am taking great care to end/start on the same side so a sudden bump is really annoying. Does one complain to JL who will feed back?
 
as long as it's wool you untie the knot and splice the ends. separate the plies by untwisting then "cut" them to slightly different lengths by pulling so the end is fuzzy and tapered. do the same with the other end, overlap them across your palm, spit a little and rub hard together all along the length of the join. felts the yarn together, you'll get a slightly thicker bit where it's spliced but not as annoying a a knot :) the other option is just to leave the ends hanging and weave them in when you're done using duplicate stitch on the back.
 
Schmetterling said:
I have very little knitting experience. Of the two scarves I have knitted in the last year a ball on each project had a knotted joint (both Rowan so not inexpensive wool; both bought at John Lewis). What does one do? I am taking great care to end/start on the same side so a sudden bump is really annoying. Does one complain to JL who will feed back?
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you don't. most of the wool companies will shrug shoulders and say that is within acceptable limits. idk abour rowan, but a lot will say up to 3 knots per ball is fine. the most they will give you is a replacement ball and expect the return of the yarn you had. cut out the knot and join. how you join depends on what yarn you're using and what you're making. and how much of a perfectionist you are. knitting 2-3e stitches holding both yarns together suffices for a lot of projects. then sew in the ends. but you can do felted joins with wool, russian joins if you want it absolutely perfect.
 
toggle said:
you don't. most of the wool companies will shrug shoulders and say that is within acceptable limits. idk abour rowan, but a lot will say up to 3 knots per ball is fine. the most they will give you is a replacement ball and expect the return of the yarn you had. cut out the knot and join. how you join depends on what yarn you're using and what you're making. and how much of a perfectionist you are. knitting 2-3e stitches holding both yarns together suffices for a lot of projects. then sew in the ends. but you can do felted joins with wool, russian joins if you want it absolutely perfect.
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Thank you. See, I don't know what is acceptable or can be expected. I had taken care to finish and start on the same end so it is a little annoying. Never mind; it still looks great.
 
I use the same method as Bob with wool. It's annoying having to do it, but better than knots. Doesn't work with cotton yarns, though, then I just knit 4 or 5 stitched with the two strandes together, and weave then in afterwards.
 
I had a little trip to the sales and bought 3 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite if anyone has any suggestions for it.
$%28KGrHqNHJBsE60e3usicBOztNSFJIQ~~60_35.JPG


It's a dkish weight. I also have various similar shades of plain dk I could eke it out with if necessary.
 
purdy rubes :cool:

can anyone explain intarsia to me please? i've found a stranded pattern (2 colours) but i want to work it without strands on the back. are there limitations on designs you can use for intarsia or is it simple enough to knit the same pattern using a different technique? i'm thinking that because it's a repeating design across the row that it won't work, if it were a single one it would :hmm:

i guess my other option would be to work it stranded but catch the strands more often at the back? i'm sure i remember doing something like that before :hmm:
 
wayward bob said:
purdy rubes :cool:

can anyone explain intarsia to me please? i've found a stranded pattern (2 colours) but i want to work it without strands on the back. are there limitations on designs you can use for intarsia or is it simple enough to knit the same pattern using a different technique? i'm thinking that because it's a repeating design across the row that it won't work, if it were a single one it would :hmm:

i guess my other option would be to work it stranded but catch the strands more often at the back? i'm sure i remember doing something like that before :hmm:
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Have you got a picture of the pattern?

A repeating design would be quite annoying to do in intarsia. Intarsia is best used when you've got areas of a solid colour - like a jumper with a picture on it frinstance. You're using a different piece of wool for each area, so if you've got lots in a row (2 stitches of red, 2 stitches of black, 2 stitches of red again etc) it could end up as spaghetti junction behind your work.

It helps if you put the bits of wool on bobbins, but they still get tangled.

Having said which I've used various combinations of intarsia and stranded knitting on the fly and it's worked out ok.
 
RubyToogood said:
A repeating design would be quite annoying to do in intarsia. Intarsia is best used when you've got areas of a solid colour - like a jumper with a picture on it frinstance. You're using a different piece of wool for each area, so if you've got lots in a row (2 stitches of red, 2 stitches of black, 2 stitches of red again etc) it could end up as spaghetti junction behind your work.
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cheers rubes this is what i thought. i've found instructions on weaving the strands so there are no long floats which i think is what i need. it'll slow me down but not as much as juggling a load of bobbins. now to see if i can work out the chart from the photos so i don't have to shell out for the pattern ;):D
 
Oh it's easy enough to weave the strands in a bit more. I normally do that every 2-3 stitches anyway. You don't want to be catching your finger in things every time you put them on.
 
having had a go at knitting stranded in the flat (purling back across) i just wanted to say fuck that for a game of soldiers :mad: my new plan is to work it stranded in the round with steeks :eek:
 
@toggle .... again. Or anyone with felting experience.

I am thinking of working the leftover threads from the previous balls (before your marvellous tip) into the side in a looping manner and then felting the edge slightly. Do you have any experience of doing this?
 
I've changed a pattern slightly so instead of one lonely cow, I have many cows around a jumper so I can do them two-handed-stranding, instead of intarsia, and it's an arse. Three colours in almost all of the rows so I keep having to stop and rearrange my wool. :mad:

Oh, and doing it in the round instead of flat, but that's a change I make to almost all commercial patterns. :D
 
So... I have decide to attempt knitting again :rolleyes: but I always seem to get confused as I'm very left handed.

Anyone got any tips on a teach yourself book/YouTube clips? I have knitted scarves in the past iif that helps
 
I have 4 rows of knit and a row of purl! What is stocking stitch though? Have a pattern for a beginner and its asking for stocking stitch although the beginners book it's come in describes all sorts of stitches apart from stocking stitch
 
Dovydaitis said:
I have 4 rows of knit and a row of purl! What is stocking stitch though? Have a pattern for a beginner and its asking for stocking stitch although the beginners book it's come in describes all sorts of stitches apart from stocking stitch
Click to expand...
Stocking stitch is one row knit one row purl (if knitting on 2 needles)
 
thanks to wayward bob and FiFi I do believe I may have cracked this now! After 4 (possibly 5) unravel and restarts, the rib of my *cough* simple *cough* tank top is looking like it does on the pattern!

May be back though once I reach scar stuff like increase, decrease and armholes.......
 
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