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Craft club topic of the month - knitting!

Thanks, they're a bit of a favourite - I made a pair a few years ago but in shit wool which has gone all bobbly, and RubyToogood had a pair too.
 
Biddlybee said:
First place I checked, nope. It's either 2.5 or 3mm, or 2.75mm.

I have found a picture of me knitting, so I know they are silver needles which should narrow it down :hmm:
Click to expand...
If it makes you feel better, I've now gone back to the jumper I was supposed to be knitting when I interrupted it to do the cardi, and although I made a careful note of the needle size, I now apparently have no 3mm needles or tips in the house. I don't know how this can be but apparently it is so.
 
I feel a theme developing. Today I dug out another project thats been hanging around for probably 3 years, to find I'd pulled the needles out at some point to use for something else.

I spent about two hours faffing about trying to get the right tension with various sizes, only to notice a little PostIt in the bottom of the bag, in my handwriting, saying 'Use 4.5mm when you carry on'. :mad: :D
 
In fact why the hell was I using a 3mm needle anyway when my gauge is clearly too tight? :confused:

It's quite tempting to abandon it and knit something else, except I've already done the sleeves and a bit of the back :oops:
 
RubyToogood said:
It's quite tempting to abandon it and knit something else, except I've already done the sleeves and a bit of the back :oops:
Click to expand...
Grief - you are practically finished!
The second sleeve usually does me in...and I now do the neck as soon as possible since I have also given up on stuff with only the neckband left to finish. I recently finished a jumper (half a sleeve) I had started for my oldest when he was 8....so 31 years ago (back when Rowan brought out their 'denim' wool). Still a tiny bit too big for grand-daughter but I am hanging on to it - what's another couple of years?
 
I realise I am a relative newbie to knitting, but I don't get the leaving stuff.

Atm I am really grumpy because my new yarn hasn't arrived so I haven't knittted for a week. I could have done some of the squares for the throw from the magazine that started me on this road, but I want my new top!!!

I am never leaving ordering stuff for the next one until I've finished the current one again.
 
Me76 said:
I realise I am a relative newbie to knitting, but I don't get the leaving stuff.
Click to expand...
Having more than one project on the go and choosing the faster/smaller/more interesting pattern. Change of season, change of size. For me it's mostly endless stocking stitch on tiny needles *snore*
 
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Me76 said:
I realise I am a relative newbie to knitting, but I don't get the leaving stuff.
Click to expand...
I knit for fun. If I'm not enjoying it, there's no point, so I drop it till I feel more like it. There's a moss stitch cardi in a bag that's been going for about 3 years because I get so bored with it. I do something new to get fired up again, then keep going back to it till the boredom sets in again.
 
I really don't knit for fun - I don't particularly enjoy it and often find it deeply dull...but I do like the things which result from it. A lot of my life involves the repetition of small tasks - some of which are enjoyable (weeding, pricking out seedlings, dog walks), some of which are hateful but necessary (cooking, laundry) and some are avoided to the extent I am willing to change my attitudes completely (grass cutting, hair styling). Knitting is fairly neutral - I can go for years without feeling the need for a woolly garment...and have many projects I no longer chastise myself for not finishing (and in some cases, such as felting, not even starting apart from making one papier mache foot shape).
 
I knit for fun and enjoyment, I need patterns that will keep me interested from start to finish. I get so bored and mythered if I come face to face with problems or stitches I've struggled with in the past and just give up. That's why I have so many unfinished pieces.....but this year I WILL finish some of them off, I will, honesty :facepalm:....I have so much beautiful, and expensive, yarn left laying half finished in cheap carrier bags, it's such a crime and a shame. I need to pull my finger out and not buy anything new!....like that's going to happen! :rolleyes:
 
Siouxsie, back in the day when we had to fathom out opaque diagrams in books, I also simply gave up...not least because I have a weird brain thing where I am absolutely unable to distinguish between left and right when I have to extrapolate from the page...but thankfully, we now have YouTube and absolutely loads of knitting tutorials on the web (I recently learned how to cable)...which has revolutionised my knitting. In fact, having just done a complicated structural piece for D-i-L, I have pulled out the yak disaster and am adding a short-row, sideways peplum. True, I will have to frog most of the body again...but otoh, yarn which cost me upwards of £100 will finally be used up...and I think it will look quite folkloric for this aging hippy type. Pics to follow.
 
Campanula, I shall be following your lead, regarding your return to the yak disaster, and force myself to finish, at least one, of my projects! With or without the help of youtube and the like :)
I can't wait to see your almost mythical yak creation finished! :D
 
Excellent - we can do our things together then virtuously boast, Siouxsie..

In truth, it is also displacement after buying a shitload of yarn based solely on colour...and now being too addled to actually work out a way to use it apart from the vaguest of vague jumper notions.
 
Because I hate knitting sleeves in the round - either 4 needles or magic loop, I thought I would knit them flat and join the yoke on DiL's jumper with Kitchener stitch (grafting)...somehow forgetting what a total fucking nightmare this is...and 3 (terrible) attempts down the line, almost despairing... but a fortuitous stripe means I can do an inside out 3 needle cast off. An exploratory swatch has turned out brilliantly...and when blocked, completely invisible. I have a little Elizabeth Zimmerman mantra ' I am mistress of my own knitting'...which I repeat...often.
 
I am grumpy as I ordered new yarn theee weeks ago and it hasn't come yet. She was out of stock apparently and is waiting for it to come from her suppliers. If I had know it was out of stock I wouldn't have ordered from her :mad:

I am left with making squares from the knitting magazine that got me into all this two years ago. They aren't that exciting.
 
Help please. It occurred to me that I could knit a tension square for the next project while waiting for the yarn to come as I have some f the same stuff in a different colour. I have done that and the pattern looks lovely. But I can't work out what I need to change.

Pattern states 20 sts 26 rows
My square 26 sts 26 rows

If use a smaller needle, that will muck up the rows won't it??
 
Me76 said:
Help please. It occurred to me that I could knit a tension square for the next project while waiting for the yarn to come as I have some f the same stuff in a different colour. I have done that and the pattern looks lovely. But I can't work out what I need to change.

Pattern states 20 sts 26 rows
My square 26 sts 26 rows

If use a smaller needle, that will muck up the rows won't it??
Click to expand...
You don't usually need to worry too much about the row gauge. Practically all patterns say "knit until it measures 20cm" or whatever. What are you knitting?
 
View attachment 98069

RubyToogood said:
You don't usually need to worry too much about the row gauge. Practically all patterns say "knit until it measures 20cm" or whatever. What are you knitting?
Click to expand...
You are of course right about the pattern saying knit until it measures. So I just have to make sure the stitch count is ok so it doesn't end up being ridiculously wide!

Edit. The picture didn't show, but I think it does if you click on the thing.
 
Me76 said:
View attachment 98069


You are of course right about the pattern saying knit until it measures. So I just have to make sure the stitch count is ok so it doesn't end up being ridiculously wide!

Edit. The picture didn't show, but I think it does if you click on the thing.
Click to expand...
Yep. It's a bigger needle you need by the way. I'm slightly worried that your row gauge is going to be really far off though once you've changed needles, purely because it might mean you're using something very different than the pattern expects. What wool is it intended for and what are you using?
 
RubyToogood said:
Yep. It's a bigger needle you need by the way. I'm slightly worried that your row gauge is going to be really far off though once you've changed needles, purely because it might mean you're using something very different than the pattern expects. What wool is it intended for and what are you using?
Click to expand...
It's a cotton dk on the pattern, and I'm using a cotton dk. Thanks for reminding me I need a bigger needle btw. I had started a new tension square today with a smaller one :facepalm: Monday brain.
 
Mmm. not quite sure either - do you mean you are getting 26 stitches across 10cm? Or 26 rows to 10cm? Also, the length will stretch and the width will decrease on a finished garment (gravity) if doing stocking stitch...I never do lace so I am vague on that.

Finished DiL jumper...but bought a shedload of Manos Del Uruguay clasica to get back into knitting for me with a quickie thickie...as well as the numerous reds from before Xmas. Getting out of hand as I have also been thinking of socks.
Also, 3/4 way round the bottom peplum edging of yak nightmare...has potential (sort of). I am trying to sort piccies.
 
I've gone up a needle and I still have 3 too many stitches to my 10cm and it doesn't look as nice.

I'm tempted to use the smaller needle and knit a smaller size.
 
Me76 said:
I've gone up a needle and I still have 3 too many stitches to my 10cm and it doesn't look as nice.

I'm tempted to use the smaller needle and knit a smaller size.
Click to expand...
Larger size! As your gauge will be tighter than the pattern recommends.

Best do the maths before embarking... So:

If your bust is, say, 40 inches, work out which size the pattern thinks you should knit eg 16.
Look at the final diagram with the dimensions of how big the knitted pieces should be. How big is the size 16 across the bust (the last bit before you start shaping the armholes)?
Roughly how many stitches at your actual gauge would give you the same measurement? (There's a knitting calculator here, you want "How many stitches do I need to knit?" Knitting Calculator)
Which size approximates that stitch count most closely?
Knit that size.

Your decision may also be influenced by how tight or loose you want the thing to be. The picture shows something quite loose so your size 16 would probably measure 44 inches for a 40 inch bust. You might want it more closely fitting than that.
 
Storming on with my 'garden' jumper - the colours are based on a somewhat lurid combo of orange geum and deep pink callirhoe...with numerous greens, corals and reds. Doing same pattern as D-I-L (Lila) and am just starting on bottom rib. Sleeves will be touch and go but using many colours makes substituting easier. 4 projects on the go now - a much better idea than monogamous knitting since a change is as good as a rest.
 
I really need to pull my finger out and finish this tiny cardigan, my mate is due any minute :oops: :facepalm: This weekend, I will do it! :D

Then, I want to make a blanket for another that's due... any recommendations for nice soft cotton that will keep it's shape and is washable? :hmm:

I made my niece this a few years back, with a mix of Blue Sky Fibers Worsted Cotton (which is really lovely but too bloody expensive) and knitpicks worsted cotton (which I can't find here anymore).

Any ideas?
 
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