Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » Yarn and quite a lot of &c
| Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40846] |
Thu, 31 March 2011 21:59  |
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 Black Bear
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Registered: September 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA |
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Yarn... and more...
"The time is always right to do what's right."--MLK Jr.
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40849 is a reply to message #40846 ] |
Thu, 31 March 2011 23:03  |
libby.gorman
Messages: 70
Registered: June 2009
Location: Durham, NC |
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Regarding the photo from Fiona...
Oooooohhhh!!!!
Libby
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40850 is a reply to message #40846 ] |
Fri, 01 April 2011 00:51 |
EMoon
Messages: 664
Registered: March 2009 |
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Lovely picture of yarn. While at the rehearsal this evening, I saw a woman knitting and of course asked what she was knitting and mentioned that I was returning to knitting after a long hiatus--and she knits blankets for a group that provides hand-knit or crocheted blankets for children in troubled circumstances, which is something I'd thought I might like to do. She just happened to have a card.
The rehearsal was very long and very difficult--in the performance venue, which has peculiar acoustics, and on steep risers, with the orchestra for the first time. The sopranos on one end and the altos on the other cannot hear one another; the altos are fortunately near the bass viol which keeps time (so does the conductor, but...singing in a language I don't know, I have to look at the score more than usual.) My mouth hurts from spitting out the consonant clusters, and I'm not anywhere near the people I usually sing with, but stuck on the back-top row near one end, with people whose voices I don't know that well.
Tomorrow night another 3 hour rehearsal, and then...the performance on Saturday.
E
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40853 is a reply to message #40846 ] |
Fri, 01 April 2011 03:31 |
CathyR
Messages: 574
Registered: July 2009
Location: NW England |
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Colin is in Petra installing a ring of eight in a rose-red tower half as old as time
Seriously? WOW!! I've been to Petra, and it was one of the most fabulous experiences ever!
Gaudete - that brings back memories of my Uni days, singing along in the car!
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40855 is a reply to message #40846 ] |
Fri, 01 April 2011 04:58 |
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Ooooohhh!!! LOVELY yarns! I think I may have to start ferreting out a supplier for that Superba Poems yarn, it looks like the kind of thing I adore (well, I'd need to fondle it first, but the colours...).
(Looking, speculatively, at that shop's website ... I don't think they're listing everything they stock. Bother.)
Marion
Keeper of the Knitronomicon
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40856 is a reply to message #40846 ] |
Fri, 01 April 2011 05:12 |
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Mrs Redboots
Messages: 943
Registered: October 2008
Location: London, UK |
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Knitting. And new yarn. And a new and do-able pattern. AND Steeleye Span - does life get much better than this?
The only good reason for knitting, in my opinion, is to be able to make yourself lovely and original and unique sweaters. Because even if you follow a pattern to the stitch, and don't change the neckline, or the drape of the sleeves, or...., chances are you won't have chosen the same yarn, or the same colour, as anybody else.
Mrs Redboots
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40865 is a reply to message #40854 ] |
Fri, 01 April 2011 14:21 |
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3rdragon
Messages: 34
Registered: October 2010
Location: USA |
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| KatydidNL wrote on Fri, 01 April 2011 04:08 |
I don't know why this is only occurring to me now - but - the ability to make yourself beautiful sweaters, in exactly the color, shape and style you choose...wow.
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Sometimes. If you can consistently knit to gauge and are good at matching yarn to pattern (or manage to find patterns you like that use yarn you like enough to knit a sweater with). And even so you probably need a couple of years of knitting and messing up. (Or the patience to keep ripping things out and redoing them.)
Knitting in meetings is good, as long as the project isn't too large or too complicated. So is knitting in class. So long as you don't encounter the dreaded knitting haters, the people who find your knitting distracting, annoying, or personally offensive, and have the authority or the connections to enforce their whims.
. . . I think some people just automatically assume that if you're doing a handcraft, you cannot simultaneously be paying attention. Me, I'll pay much better attention in a boring meeting if I have something to do with my hands. If I can't knit, I rip my fingernails to shreds and then distract myself entirely by coming up with something else to keepy myself entertained.
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40892 is a reply to message #40865 ] |
Sat, 02 April 2011 05:11 |
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Mrs Redboots
Messages: 943
Registered: October 2008
Location: London, UK |
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| 3rdragon wrote on Fri, 01 April 2011 19:21 |
Sometimes. If you can consistently knit to gauge and are good at matching yarn to pattern (or manage to find patterns you like that use yarn you like enough to knit a sweater with). And even so you probably need a couple of years of knitting and messing up. (Or the patience to keep ripping things out and redoing them.)
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I think I disagree - a plain stocking (stockinette, for USA people) stitch sweater is very easy, although it does require a great deal of patience. A good "knit in the car" project, as you don't really have to look what you are doing, and you can always knit in wide stripes of different colours if you think you would be bored. Once you have done one or two - and you might want to start with one for a baby or small child as they are much quicker to knit - you feel ready to venture into slightly more difficult sweaters, and before you know it, you are tackling the most daunting-looking patterns without thinking twice about it. Well, perhaps not Kaffe Fassett, but Arans and ganseys and pretty intarsia, fair isle and lace patterns.
Mrs Redboots
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40926 is a reply to message #40906 ] |
Sun, 03 April 2011 01:01 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2729
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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| Robin wrote on Sat, 02 April 2011 09:04 |
Ma'am. I wish to submit, humbly, that you are a GOOD knitter. 
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Yes, she is, but Mrs. Redboots is also right about a simple sweater being easy to knit. And you learn a lot more doing it than you would with, say, a scarf.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40930 is a reply to message #40906 ] |
Sun, 03 April 2011 04:03 |
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Mrs Redboots
Messages: 943
Registered: October 2008
Location: London, UK |
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Yes, but do bear in mind I've been knitting on and off - mostly on - for well over 40 years now, so I ought to be!
But really, once you can knit and purl, cast on and cast off (bind off, if you are American), the world is your oyster. And yes, there are a zillion different ways to cast on and cast off, and to increase (and at least 3 different ways to do a left-sloping decrease), you only need to know one of each to be able to tackle a basic sweater.
Mrs Redboots
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40964 is a reply to message #40930 ] |
Mon, 04 April 2011 02:36 |
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KatydidNL
Messages: 35
Registered: March 2011
Location: The Netherlands |
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| Mrs Redboots wrote on Sun, 03 April 2011 10:03 |
But really, once you can knit and purl, cast on and cast off (bind off, if you are American), the world is your oyster. And yes, there are a zillion different ways to cast on and cast off, and to increase (and at least 3 different ways to do a left-sloping decrease), you only need to know one of each to be able to tackle a basic sweater.
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Erm...Yikes. This is already a foreign language to me. Purl? Cast off? (Isn't that a fishing term?) Increase? Decrease? (Sounds suspiciously like algebra. Or statistics.)
I think, if I do end up pursuing this project, the first thing I'll need to find is someone around here with LOTS of knitting experience who can be my teacher.
And it also seems that I should be prepared to accept that my first sweater (first few sweaters?) will probably be ones I'd only want to wear inside the house. When no-one else is around.
Still...the siren song is beginning to make itself heard... 
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40966 is a reply to message #40964 ] |
Mon, 04 April 2011 03:17 |
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Mrs Redboots
Messages: 943
Registered: October 2008
Location: London, UK |
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Just the two basic stitches - knit, where the loop of the previous stitch ends up facing away from you, and purl, where it ends up facing towards you. And once you have mastered these two, you can make all sorts of different patterns. Casting on is getting the wool on the needles in the first place, and casting off is finishing it off so it doesn't all instantly unravel.
You start, of course, by making squares - things like face-flannels (there are many very lovely and incredibly easy patterns out there) or bibs for babies, or an insulator for your coffee cup, or wristlets.... and then you take it from there!
And AJLR isn't quite right, because for 99.9% of knitting a simple sweater it is just either a knit stich or a purl stitch - there is very little shaping on a basic sweater. And there are plenty of sweater patterns with almost no shaping and just garter stitch (every row knit), too.
Mrs Redboots
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
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| Re: Yarn and quite a lot of &c [message #40984 is a reply to message #40964 ] |
Tue, 05 April 2011 00:27 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2729
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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| KatydidNL wrote on Mon, 04 April 2011 01:36 |
I think, if I do end up pursuing this project, the first thing I'll need to find is someone around here with LOTS of knitting experience who can be my teacher.
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Most yarn shops offer knitting classes--everyone in the class learns the basics (casting on, knit and purl stitches, increases and decreases for simple shaping, casting off, finishing) while working on a specific project. It's a very good way to get started, and being in a class provides some structure so your project gets worked on and finished. And yarn shop employees all know how to knit, so you can ask them for help any time.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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