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Honestly I'm lucky to be in Seattle period. Thanks to the neighborhood-y layout of the city, it's filthy with yarn shops. FILTHY. I've got Seattle Yarn maybe a quarter mile away, Little Knits is under 2 miles, and then there's an LYS in just about every other major neighborhood. There's also some craft shops... somewhere... though typically for cheaper "workhorse" yarn type stuff I use Knit Picks. Churchmouse is also a short ferry ride away! Only thing that could possibly make this city better would be to transport Powell's from Portland to here. The other great thing about Little Knits is that though it's mostly higher-end natural fibers, they have sales often enough that you can splurge on something nice a little more often if the budget is tight. Not long ago they were trying to get rid of a lot of sock yarn. I think I got $100 worth of wool for $30?
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May 25, 2012 03:47
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Yarn store jealousy!  I got three in my area. One is good but overpriced, one is terrible and overpriced, and one is meh and overpriced.
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May 25, 2012 03:54
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Phishi posted:Honestly I'm lucky to be in Seattle period. Thanks to the neighborhood-y layout of the city, it's filthy with yarn shops. FILTHY. I've got Seattle Yarn maybe a quarter mile away, Little Knits is under 2 miles, and then there's an LYS in just about every other major neighborhood. There's also some craft shops... somewhere... though typically for cheaper "workhorse" yarn type stuff I use Knit Picks. Churchmouse is also a short ferry ride away! Only thing that could possibly make this city better would be to transport Powell's from Portland to here. I got a lot of my Noro from their site for cheap. Like 66% off retail. I could see Seattle having a lot of yarn stores, you get to wear most of what you make! Here in So Cal there's only a few months out of the year where I can wear my scarves and such. That's why I mostly make socks.
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May 25, 2012 03:55
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Dammit, now I'm jealous. I have one that is overpriced and creepy religious culty, one that is out of my way and doesn't really carry the yarns I like so much, and my favourite is a freaking hour long car drive. 
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May 25, 2012 04:17
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Phishi posted:Honestly I'm lucky to be in Seattle period. Thanks to the neighborhood-y layout of the city, it's filthy with yarn shops. FILTHY. I've got Seattle Yarn maybe a quarter mile away, Little Knits is under 2 miles, and then there's an LYS in just about every other major neighborhood. There's also some craft shops... somewhere... though typically for cheaper "workhorse" yarn type stuff I use Knit Picks. Churchmouse is also a short ferry ride away! Only thing that could possibly make this city better would be to transport Powell's from Portland to here. Ooh, you're in Seattle? I'm going there this weekend! Have any recommendations for people bumming around and relying on public transportation? I'm especially interested in spinning stuff, if you know stores that have good selections of roving. Redmond recs also welcome, since technically my friend actually lives there. We'll just be hanging around Seattle most of the weekend.
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May 25, 2012 05:19
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FelicityGS posted:Dammit, now I'm jealous. I have one that is overpriced and creepy religious culty, one that is out of my way and doesn't really carry the yarns I like so much, and my favourite is a freaking hour long car drive. My fav LYS is a good 45min to an hour.
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May 25, 2012 05:48
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MarsDragon posted:Ooh, you're in Seattle? I'm going there this weekend! Have any recommendations for people bumming around and relying on public transportation? I'm especially interested in spinning stuff, if you know stores that have good selections of roving. As well you should! The east side is very... suburban-ey. Well, public transit is good here, so really you can get anywhere from downtown in a reasonable about of time. The hardest part will be bussing to/from Redmond. You should come to West Seattle! It's not so famous, lots of families and stuff but it has it's own weird charm. Every now and again we try to secede from Seattle proper, though it hasn't happened since I've lived here. But really my recommendations are dependant on what you like. Are you a pub or bar-goer? Museum sort of person? Parks? Foodie? Coffee drinker? Although I guess two things you REALLY need to see that are free are the famous statues... There's one of a troll (it's even under a bridge!) and one of Lenin, both in Fremont. The Stranger is a great resource for finding cool places to eat, and shows and the like if you're into that. And just because this one is relatively little-known, the sci-fi museum is pretty sweet. As for spinning stuff... I'm honestly not positive. I don't spin (lord knows I don't need another time/space consuming hobby right now!) so haven't paid much attention. Most of the Seattle yarn shops have decent web sites, though. Bad Woman Yarns (Wallingford), Weaving Works (U-District) and Little Knits (W Seattle) are my favorites, along with Churchmouse in Bainbridge Island if you're up for the adventure of a ferry ride.
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May 25, 2012 06:10
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Dead Cow posted:My fav LYS is a good 45min to an hour. I'm in the same boat. It's a an hour an a half to the nearest local yarn store and they don't carry all that much. Thankfully, online shopping keeps me well stashed. 
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May 25, 2012 08:26
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You lot are ALL lucky. Yarn in the UK is expensive anyway, but London rents mean that London knitting stores are horrendous. Here in SE5 the only yarn close to me is nasty acrylic that the local homeware stores sell for £1.50 for 100g. It's scratchy and comes in the worst clashing colours known to man. If I want something I can actually knit with, I have a choice between going to one of the department stores up on Oxford street- John Lewis is the best bet, Liberty's you better be prepared to sell an organ to shop there- or going to one of the more upmarket LYSs. There's I Knit London in Waterloo, All the Fun of the Fair in Kingly Court just off Carnaby Street, and this one in Angel I can't remember the name of. I used to live near Waterloo and the people in that shop treated me like I was invisible (no "hello, can I help you" anything, they were all chatting about this rank little dog the owner had). The other two are way out of my price range, although it's nice to fantasise. The other thing with yarn stores in London is like most independent shops, they're all tiny. You constantly feel like you're going to cause a yarn-avalanche with your handbag if you turn around too quickly, and next thing you know you'll be up to your neck in £20 a ball alpaca hand dyed by Peruvian nuns. Luckily I stocked up on huge packs of yarn at the Knitting and Stitching show back in October. I still haven't dug into my 2 packs of Noro Silk Garden Lite... having seen it on sale for £9.50 a ball in John Lewis, I'm considering trying to flog some of it for beer money.
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May 25, 2012 11:56
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madlilnerd posted:this one in Angel I can't remember the name of. Loop. Which is lovely and where I got some Addis and some Habu bamboo yarn and bankrupted myself.
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May 25, 2012 13:38
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Yeah, there's not a lot of choice in London, especially South London. I have nothing near me. Same issue with haberdashery. Just nothing. Went to Hobbycraft and they didn't have any separating zips but did have poo poo loads of novelty yarn .
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May 26, 2012 23:46
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I'm looking for a good cowl pattern. Any recommendations? The yarn's a super-bulky semisolid, so I'm looking for a textural stitch, not feather-and-fan and probably not cables again. I can't get the stitch from "holding hands, feeding ducks" to come out quite right in the round....
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May 27, 2012 00:03
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i like nice words
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Anne Whateley posted:I'm looking for a good cowl pattern. Any recommendations? The yarn's a super-bulky semisolid, so I'm looking for a textural stitch, not feather-and-fan and probably not cables again. I can't get the stitch from "holding hands, feeding ducks" to come out quite right in the round.... There's not a lot of texture to this so it's probably not what you're looking for, but it's a very cozy cowl and it has a nice look when it's finished. Very easy, relaxing knit, too. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bandana-cowl
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May 27, 2012 00:21
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Anne Whateley posted:I'm looking for a good cowl pattern. Any recommendations? The yarn's a super-bulky semisolid, so I'm looking for a textural stitch, not feather-and-fan and probably not cables again. I can't get the stitch from "holding hands, feeding ducks" to come out quite right in the round.... There's Encompass by the Yarn Harlot. Brooklyn Tweed tends to do pretty "sculptural" type stuff as well, at least when he works in bulkier yarns. e: Remembered another one in my queue! It's for aran weight, but it doesn't look terribly difficult to re-size. Avery. Phishi fucked around with this message at 02:13 on May 27, 2012 |
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May 27, 2012 02:08
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Okay, I just had a brilliant idea. Someone tell me if it's brilliant or stupid. I'm working on a lace shawl, so the question of blocking occurred to me just now. If I want to have any hope of getting the top of it straight I'm going to need to use wires. I've always been loathe to buy actual blocking wires though, since it just seems ludicrously expensive. So I can get a hundred foot roll of stainless steel wire for about five bucks from my go-to chainmail supplier. The only snags I can think of are that I'd have to straighten the wire myself, and that I'd have to eyeball the gauge (Knitpicks' wires are 15 gauge, and they're the only people who tell you wire gauge, at least in my very quick and lazy googling). So how good of an idea is this?
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May 27, 2012 13:46
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Neongrey, I would recommend this method over steel that hasn't been treated to deal with lace. Edges and such may not be very nice and snag the yarn. Knit Picks' are only $20 for a set, and while they're not the fanciest, blocking my last shawl was sooooooooooooo much easier with them! Blocking wires also have little holes at each end for you to put pins through, so the wires will actually stay put. So yeah, you can get a 100 ft roll for $5, but you don't need 100 feet, and it will be a gigantic PITA having to measure, cut, smooth, straighten... Question is, is that $15 difference worth it to you? In the same vein, does anybody have any tips for blocking out a Hemlock Ring blanket that's probably going to be a good 6 feet from tip to tip? Maybe enlist a friend to help? For his lap-blanket Jared used less than 2 skeins of Cascade Eco, I'm using three because I am insane (and it's a wedding present, so I wanted it to maybe cover 2 people...) so uh, it's gonna be a lot of lacy blanket. I need to stock up on pins for sure! I don't think my wires will be much use on this monstrosity.
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May 27, 2012 15:16
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neongrey posted:So I can get a hundred foot roll of stainless steel wire for about five bucks from my go-to chainmail supplier. The only snags I can think of are that I'd have to straighten the wire myself, and that I'd have to eyeball the gauge (Knitpicks' wires are 15 gauge, and they're the only people who tell you wire gauge, at least in my very quick and lazy googling). I think you would be better off buying stainless steel rods, not wire. Should be around the same price looking at UK prices. You could thread string/floss along the top edge but I have never had good results with that.
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May 27, 2012 16:31
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Phishi posted:Neongrey, I would recommend this method over steel that hasn't been treated to deal with lace. Edges and such may not be very nice and snag the yarn. Knit Picks' are only $20 for a set, and while they're not the fanciest, blocking my last shawl was sooooooooooooo much easier with them! Blocking wires also have little holes at each end for you to put pins through, so the wires will actually stay put. Gonna second this. If I didn't have a giant collapsible blocking board specifically for lace shawls, I'd still probably go with just spending the $20 on some blocking wires from KnitPicks because straightening wire out is the death of me.
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May 27, 2012 17:42
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Yeah, I mean I know the material I'd be getting and I know the shape of my own snips' cut well enough to know it should play nice with knitting. Just getting it straight enough is more the concern. And I dunno, the price my supplier wants for it is cheap enough that I'm really kind of loathe to buy a twenty dollar set of the things*. If nothing else the price they want for the wire is under my 'gently caress it, let's give it a go' threshold. If it doesn't work out, I always have uses for wire. Next week on goon seeks advice about doing a stupid thing theatre: I come back, hanging my head and saying 'you told me so'. *It's going to be a bigger price difference than that, shipping those things to Canada from Knitpicks is a pain, and the LYSes always have wires just vanish from stock immediately. neongrey fucked around with this message at 22:55 on May 27, 2012 |
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May 27, 2012 22:49
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I cut some stainless wire (I'm thinking roughly 18 gauge) and used it for blocking wires before. I only needed small lengths, and I didn't make them PERFECTLY straight. They worked really well. The wire got 're-bent' when I threaded the knitting on it, and I just straightened it up when I pinned everything down. Even with the cutting and smoothing the wires, it was was easier than trying to pin out a scarf. I put a pin at each end where I wanted the knitting to be, and then put pins in where I thought one was needed to hold everything in place, it was great.
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May 27, 2012 23:08
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Cool, thanks, I was looking at around 18 gauge, I'll add a three-dollar roll of 16 in there too. I wanted some bigger rings for stitch markers anyway, so I'll get it all at once. Shiny copper stitch markers! 
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May 27, 2012 23:16
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Have any of you folks ever knitted using obscenely large needles (25 mm specifically)? They look so awkward, but I'm kinda trying to find ideas on what to knit with them. Would I have to use super bulky yarn for these, or would using worsted weight make a lacy effect? Either way, the comedic value of looking like a tiny person knitting with giant needles is enough to give it a go.
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May 27, 2012 23:26
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dixnarbles posted:Have any of you folks ever knitted using obscenely large needles (25 mm specifically)? I keep hearing the excuse "You can knit rugs!" but I have yet to see anyone pull it off. Or, you know, be able to physically use them. I have size 35s and I can barely knit with them.
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May 27, 2012 23:31
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I think if you did it more like cottage style knitting, it might work better. You know, the one where you tuck the right needle under your arm to keep it stationary and the left one is the only one that moves? I can't imagine knitting like I normally do for something that huge! It would be fun though.
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May 27, 2012 23:35
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^^Cottage style! That could be helpful if I can coordinate myself to do that. I guess my fear would be figuring out how to weave in ends, particularly on anything more elaborate than a rectangle, since it looks like most of the patterns out there require knitting with 2-4 strands of super bulky yarn. Also, this scarf is freaking hilarious: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/weaverknits/knitting-huge-chunky-a-10-page-tutorial-with-photos-galore I guess I'll have to find some random scarf or baby blanket pattern and try it out for science. I have some alpaca yarn that I've been wanting to use for quite a while. Will report back! dixnarbles fucked around with this message at 00:02 on May 28, 2012 |
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May 27, 2012 23:59
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dixnarbles posted:Also, this scarf is freaking hilarious: I'm trying to figure out what would take 10 pages to explain regarding how to make this scarf..
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May 28, 2012 00:27
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For getting lace shawls straight I thread cotton yarn through the top before wetting it, then pin it taut over the edges of the mattress in the guest bedroom--or tie it to my bed posts. One time I tied it over the edges on to the sides of the frame (the part the box spring sits in). I'm cheap.
HeatherChandler fucked around with this message at 02:30 on May 28, 2012 |
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May 28, 2012 02:26
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 Ok, here's my 1-1.5 hours worth of knitting with giant needles. It's a cabled cowl, which may have been a scarf if I hadn't hated knitting with the giant things. I did this with 4 strands of alpaca/wool blend yarn held together. I guess it's OK, but it's hard to even see anything beyond a pile of knitted poo in this pic. And it's too loving hot to be taking pictures of cowls outside. Ugh. dixnarbles fucked around with this message at 00:05 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 28, 2012 23:59
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I love the texture of that but knitting it must have been a nightmare.
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May 29, 2012 02:37
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dixnarbles posted:
That cowl looks awesome, I might have to knit that up myself one of these days. I recently made my mother in law a lap blanket using this pattern http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/textured-treasure-speed-stix-afghan and it knitted up really fast and nice. Seems to be pretty warm, I'll have to see what she says about it when I give it to her this fall for her birthday (I'm trying to get knitting gifts done in advance rather than waiting until 2 weeks before Christmas/birthdays this year)
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May 29, 2012 03:04
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Phishi posted:As well you should! The east side is very... suburban-ey. Well, public transit is good here, so really you can get anywhere from downtown in a reasonable about of time. The hardest part will be bussing to/from Redmond. I asked for recs and then never got back to the computer until I'm sitting in the airport waiting to go home. Turns out we had tons to do as it was. I did actually go to Churchmouse and Weaving Works, though! Churchmouse didn't have anything I really needed, but Weaving Works honestly convinced my friend to start spinning after holding out for over a year. I just picked up 50 bucks worth of fiber. (I got yaaaaaak. Just an ounce, but still! Still!) Next I'll try to see more stuff, like the statues and the sci-fi museum, because those both sound great. Thanks a lot for typing that all up, even if I didn't get to see it until now.
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May 29, 2012 04:28
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I take my shawl over to my other knitter friend. Very very loose, laceweight on #6es loose, so it's very easy to see my stitches. She looks at my stockinette and goes 'hey, everything's all twisted'. I go 'huh, what am I doing wrong', as I look. I hem and haw and try to think about it. So I look and a nagging suspicion comes up on me. I check a video. And  So every single purl I have made since I started knitting has been tbl. And I need to keep doing it through the last 12 rows of the body of this shawl. 
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May 30, 2012 00:34
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 Sup ktbl buddy. I spent the first 12 years knitting wondering what the hell this 'knit through the back loop' technique was and why it never looked right and why it was SO HARD even though all the other things were pretty easy. Turns out my 7 year old brain decided that knit = knit through back.
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May 30, 2012 02:37
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Oh thank god I'm not the only one. A friend of mine taught me to knit about 8 years ago, but I gave up pretty quickly. She only taught me how to cable cast on (ugh! still my least favorite co to this day) and knit stitch. With 4-ply wool blend on US7 needles. I hated that project and never finished it. I was also constantly paranoid that I'd dropped a stitch and kept picking up bars between stitches so it got a bit wonky. When I decided to try knitting again I got bigger needles and just sort of made things up as I went along.. which resulted in all of my projects from that time using a loose, ugly knitted cast on, and everything through the back loop. I don't even remember if she taught me to knit through the front loop or not, but tbl just made sense and it didn't even occur to me that tfl was a thing until last year when I encountered a pattern that had certain stitches knit tbl. 
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May 30, 2012 05:33
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Okay, I see how to purl tfl now. And now to stop doing it until I finish the body of this shawl, because if I suddenly change the stockinette section like that, it'll be pretty noticable. I figure I should be good to change to tfl once I start the lace, though.
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May 30, 2012 06:08
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Isn't one of the non standard knitting styles (Norwegian or Portuguese or something) knit stitches are tbl but the perls are worked differently so it all balances out?
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May 30, 2012 06:34
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Dead Cow posted:Isn't one of the non standard knitting styles (Norwegian or Portuguese or something) knit stitches are tbl but the perls are worked differently so it all balances out? That's generally just called combined; I've also seen it referred to as Eastern Combined, but am not entirely sure where "eastern" is.
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May 30, 2012 06:38
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nerdpony posted:That's generally just called combined; I've also seen it referred to as Eastern Combined, but am not entirely sure where "eastern" is. That's probably what I'm thinking about. I went on a weird spree a while back reading about non standard knitting techniques and a good majority of them were nearly the same just with different locales attached to the name.
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May 30, 2012 07:02
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Guys I feel like the worst knitter. I was blowing through my sweater I'm knitting out of handspun because I was so pumped to be done spinning and it was still chilly. I am done with the body and halfway through both sleeves (had to stop two at a timing due to cables on upper half). I've spent roughly 2 weeks with it as my sole knitting project. One 80F day and seeing the shawl posted earlier and realizing the alpaca I hand-dyed like three years ago would be perfect:  What is wrong with me? Why can I not finish one project to completion?!
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May 31, 2012 02:54
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I got a project by my computer, a project by my laptop, one in my purse, one in my knitting bag, AND one by my bed. Just give in. 
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May 31, 2012 03:06
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