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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41292 is a reply to message #41291 ] |
Wed, 13 April 2011 19:50   |
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Looooooooooove!!!!!
I was even admiring your variety of beautiful knitting needles before you mentioned your thing for knitting needles. Goodness. *fans self*
And yes you have been knitting.
Smooshes!
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41295 is a reply to message #41291 ] |
Wed, 13 April 2011 20:33 |
 libby.gorman
Messages: 72
Registered: June 2009
Location: Durham, NC |
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It looks good to me. You are a much more diligent knitter than I am!
I really like the green (if it's really green) pattern squares at the end--very pretty color, whatever it really is.
Libby
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41296 is a reply to message #41291 ] |
Wed, 13 April 2011 21:18 |
Annagail
Messages: 68
Registered: August 2009
Location: PA |
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Such lovely knitting! Yay!
Fiona's bag makes me think that Buffy should have taken up knitting, simply because then she would always be within arm's reach of several pointy sticks. (Not that she wasn't usually, but couldn't you imagine Buffy taking out vamps with a knitting needle? It's almost as good as Sunshine taking out a vamp with a table knife...)
~Annagail
[Updated on: Wed, 13 April 2011 21:18]
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41301 is a reply to message #41299 ] |
Thu, 14 April 2011 00:37 |
EMoon
Messages: 670
Registered: March 2009 |
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A knitter who made gauge...my mother. I'm sure it was the engineering mind. Everything she made by hand (whether sewn, knitted, crocheted, or constructed of wood) fit perfectly where it was intended to fit. One time she arrived at our first house with a carful of already-cut-to-fit wood and fiberboard (can't recall name of it) to make me stuff for the house. She had measured on a previous visit, gone home, and made up the kits 400 miles away.
When her eyesight began to fail, making gauge was much harder for her...her last granny squares were not identical and all her topstitching wasn't perfect and it annoyed her.
E
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41304 is a reply to message #41291 ] |
Thu, 14 April 2011 11:54 |
CathyR
Messages: 577
Registered: July 2009
Location: NW England |
Senior Member |
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Wow! I am impressed!
And not only by the quantity of the knitting (and the stripy squares of secret project #1 look lovely) - but by the quality of the stash bags!
No plastic supermarket bags *slides two such stash bags out of sight under the table* for you, I see. Very classy!
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41502 is a reply to message #41344 ] |
Thu, 21 April 2011 23:47 |
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equus_peduus
Messages: 437
Registered: September 2009
Location: France |
Senior Member |
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| HeiQ wrote on Fri, 15 April 2011 14:27 |
Yay for double pointed needles and knitting in the round and socks!!
I feel like some kind of crazy knitting-in-the-round-with-double-pointed-needles advocate. But it really DOES make knitting certain kinds of things soooo much easier.
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I have uh, just started my first sock.
Eep.
You knitting people here are evil. 
But I have found that I don't think I'm a huge fan of magic loop knitting. I had to go find a set of double pointed needles, which is difficult where I live (nearest actual knitting/yarn store is over half an hour away, which I haven't been to yet; miraculously, the one set of DPNs in stock at the local Michael's (on the way home from work) were the same size as the long circular needle I'd ordered online, so I was able to switch on the the DPNs when I got home). I am following a video series, so I have no idea what the socks are going to end up like, and I'll probably switch back to the circular needles when I get to the next step so it'll look the same as what the video person is doing though...
[Updated on: Thu, 21 April 2011 23:51]
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41511 is a reply to message #41502 ] |
Fri, 22 April 2011 11:48 |
claning
Messages: 266
Registered: February 2010
Location: California |
Senior Member |
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Go you! There is no "wrong" way to knit, whatever works for you.
I have never really understood why people will go to such lengths to avoid double-pointed needles, but some people really do hate them. I reciprocate by hating the "Magic Loop" method (knitting around on one long circular needle by pulling out a loop of it so it doesn't get in the way). It always seems to need re-adjusting, whereas my fingers will go happily along knitting on double-points and switch to the next needle without my having to pay too much attention. I realize everyone's mileage may vary here, though.
A third alternative is to knit on *two* circular needles, which is advocated by people who have a lot of trouble with stitches slipping off the ends of double-points.
Turning sock heels is a Great Mystery: for the first several years I just blindly followed the directions and it magically worked. Eventually it got so I could see and understand what I was doing, but it took awhile.
O Chris Laning <claning@igc.org> - Davis, California
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41517 is a reply to message #41511 ] |
Fri, 22 April 2011 15:39 |
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equus_peduus
Messages: 437
Registered: September 2009
Location: France |
Senior Member |
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| claning wrote on Fri, 22 April 2011 08:48 |
Go you! There is no "wrong" way to knit, whatever works for you.
I have never really understood why people will go to such lengths to avoid double-pointed needles, but some people really do hate them. I reciprocate by hating the "Magic Loop" method (knitting around on one long circular needle by pulling out a loop of it so it doesn't get in the way). It always seems to need re-adjusting, whereas my fingers will go happily along knitting on double-points and switch to the next needle without my having to pay too much attention. I realize everyone's mileage may vary here, though.
A third alternative is to knit on *two* circular needles, which is advocated by people who have a lot of trouble with stitches slipping off the ends of double-points.
Turning sock heels is a Great Mystery: for the first several years I just blindly followed the directions and it magically worked. Eventually it got so I could see and understand what I was doing, but it took awhile.
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My first knitting-in-round project was a cup cozy. I knew there were three methods for going around in circles, and I figured I'd buy whichever type of needles were available at the yarn shop I visited (I stopped at a place in berekeley not far from where my viola teacher is). It happened to be DPNs. Once I figured out the mechanics, it turned out that I didn't mind it at all. Lots of needles was intimidating, but not difficult.
I found that I can follow video instructions of different knitting techniques, but have a really hard time with illustrated instructions. So I thought, if I was going to try to make a sock, I wanted a video version, or to go to an actual class - except the sock class at the local yarn place, according to their websites, is a 30 minute drive away, on Thursdays, at the same time I get off work. Obviously, that does not work.
And then I found an online video sock class, so that's what I'm doing. She does spend the first three or four videos talking about yarn choices, needle choices, and how a sock is put together, and how the various parts of the sock work. We shall see how it goes once I get there. But since she's demonstrating using magic loop, I shall do the crucial bits in magic loop. But the loops kind of get in my way in a way the DPNs don't. I'll have to try the two-circular-needles version sometime once I have two sets of same-sized circular needles and see what I think of that.
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41526 is a reply to message #41511 ] |
Fri, 22 April 2011 19:07 |
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blondviolinist
Messages: 1076
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
Senior Member |
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| claning wrote on Fri, 22 April 2011 11:48 |
I have never really understood why people will go to such lengths to avoid double-pointed needles, but some people really do hate them. I reciprocate by hating the "Magic Loop" method (knitting around on one long circular needle by pulling out a loop of it so it doesn't get in the way). It always seems to need re-adjusting, whereas my fingers will go happily along knitting on double-points and switch to the next needle without my having to pay too much attention. I realize everyone's mileage may vary here, though.
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I agree with you, here. I can do Magic Loop, but *much* prefer double points, for exactly the reasons you list here.
I'm glad I know Magic Loop, though, because for some people it really is simpler than dpns, and this way I can teach Magic Loop if necessary.
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41533 is a reply to message #41526 ] |
Fri, 22 April 2011 21:08 |
b_twin_1
Messages: 2620
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
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| blondviolinist wrote on Fri, 22 April 2011 19:07 |
| claning wrote on Fri, 22 April 2011 11:48 |
I have never really understood why people will go to such lengths to avoid double-pointed needles, but some people really do hate them. I reciprocate by hating the "Magic Loop" method (knitting around on one long circular needle by pulling out a loop of it so it doesn't get in the way). It always seems to need re-adjusting, whereas my fingers will go happily along knitting on double-points and switch to the next needle without my having to pay too much attention. I realize everyone's mileage may vary here, though.
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I agree with you, here. I can do Magic Loop, but *much* prefer double points, for exactly the reasons you list here.
I'm glad I know Magic Loop, though, because for some people it really is simpler than dpns, and this way I can teach Magic Loop if necessary.
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I've started circulars with Magic Loop because I thought several DPNS would be waaaaay too confusing. I may give them a try though as well.
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41542 is a reply to message #41533 ] |
Fri, 22 April 2011 22:47 |
claning
Messages: 266
Registered: February 2010
Location: California |
Senior Member |
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| b_twin_1 wrote on Fri, 22 April 2011 21:08 |
I've started circulars with Magic Loop because I thought several DPNS would be waaaaay too confusing. I may give them a try though as well.
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As I'm fond of pointing out, double points are really not as hard as they look: at no time are you ever using more than two of them, the rest are just sitting there.
The only time DPs are really tricky is when you are just casting on. It takes a certain amount of patience and concentration to get everything set up just so, and for the first couple of rounds you may feel as though you are knitting in, through and around an uncooperative porcupine. The needles are also more likely to slip out of the stitches on the first couple of rounds, and it's less easy to pick the stitches up again (you have to be very careful not to let any stitches pull out before you get them back on the needle).
Once you have a few rounds on the needles, it gets MUCH easier.
When I teach my beginning knitting class, I have people do a small pouch on a 16-inch circular needle (60 stitches in worsted weight yarn is just about right for this). The two big advantages are: (1) you only have to learn to knit -- no purling is required, and (2) you learn circular knitting un-encumbered by the prejudice that it is supposed to be "hard." So far, everyone in my classes has succeeded with it.  I also tell them to get a set of DPs in the same size and try using them, starting when their pouch is a couple of inches long, to get the feel of how DPs work without the distraction of trying to do those first few rounds on them.
Also, don't take the needle size recommendations in knitting instructions too seriously -- and even less so, the ones that come on yarn wrappers. It is absolutely routine for people to have to go up or down as much as two full needle sizes to get fabric with the right number of stitches per inch (or a fabric that looks and feels the way you want). Yarn labels in particular tend to recommend needle sizes that require you to knit very very tightly, which is a strain on your wrists and arms. I routinely recommend size 5 or 6 (US sizes) for knitting worsted, whereas labels often recommend size 8.
O Chris Laning <claning@igc.org> - Davis, California
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41552 is a reply to message #41542 ] |
Sat, 23 April 2011 10:52 |
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HeiQ
Messages: 78
Registered: February 2011
Location: Canada |
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| claning wrote on Fri, 22 April 2011 22:47 |
Also, don't take the needle size recommendations in knitting instructions too seriously -- and even less so, the ones that come on yarn wrappers. It is absolutely routine for people to have to go up or down as much as two full needle sizes to get fabric with the right number of stitches per inch (or a fabric that looks and feels the way you want). Yarn labels in particular tend to recommend needle sizes that require you to knit very very tightly, which is a strain on your wrists and arms. I routinely recommend size 5 or 6 (US sizes) for knitting worsted, whereas labels often recommend size 8.
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I've often wondered about this!! I usually just go with what I think will work, or the size of needle I feel like knitting with, regardless of the weight of the yarn, but a few times I've gone with the size recommended on the package and my knitting always turned out too big and loose because I don't knit that tightly.
I find dpn's a little annoying when I'm finishing off mittens and socks... then I find the number of needles REALLY starts to feel porcupine-ish as I start to reduce the number of stitches, and if I reduce the number of needles that I'm working with (which I usually do), it can get a bit awkward and tricky too. But still, the advantages of knitting in the round are such that I never knit flat unless it's something like a scarf or blanket.
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41599 is a reply to message #41291 ] |
Sun, 24 April 2011 17:52 |
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equus_peduus
Messages: 437
Registered: September 2009
Location: France |
Senior Member |
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First sock finished. I think I am doomed.
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| Re: I told you I was knitting [message #41676 is a reply to message #41511 ] |
Tue, 26 April 2011 06:44 |
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I was taught to knit in the round (lo, these many years ago) on DPNs, and *hated* it. I found the ones I wasn't using either got in the way, got tangled up in the rest of the knitting, and/or fell out of the stitches. In consequence, I knitted in the round only under duress until about seven years ago, when a filkish knitter of my acquaintance moved over to the UK from America to marry another filkish friend, and taught me first how to knit socks on two circulars, and then how to Magic Loop. And I've never looked back!
Marion
Keeper of the Knitronomicon
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Re: I told you I was knitting
