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Amykinz posted:If you look up the yarn on Ravelry, one of the tabs on the yarn's info page is "comments". People will usually say if the yarn is very good or very bad. I usually read through them before ordering a yarn I've never used before. Thanks. I have no idea why I didn't think to look on ravelry.
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Nov 12, 2012 23:50
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| # ? May 31, 2024 00:56 |
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I've knit with Brava Bulky for a baby blanket and I really enjoyed it. I haven't washed it so I can't speak to whether or not it'll bleed. I found it nice and soft and a pleasure to work with compared to other acrylics.
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Nov 13, 2012 01:57
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I've posted this picture before and it's in the dark, but here is a cable blankie I did on Knitpicks Brava Bulky. I was really happy with the cable definition and it knit up so drat soft. I threw it in the washer and dryer and it was fine, it hasn't bled since. I almost forgot it was acrylic.
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Nov 14, 2012 04:23
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So I've got a bag (10 balls, pretty sure) of Mirasol Samp'a. I want to make a light top, but I can't find a good pattern. I'd like something summery, but without a low neckline and an easy way to add sleeves. I'm starting to think this would be easier to just design on my own.
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Nov 14, 2012 21:09
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I hope this is the correct thread for knitting questions (I searched and couldn't find another knitting thread). Besides Ravelry, what's another good website to search for patterns by needle size? I mean, if I have to (or find a pattern I adore), I can get more needles, I just figured it'd be nice to find something that works with the needles I already have. Also, what's the technical term used for knitting with circular needles? 'In the round' seems to bring up tons of double sided needles and not many (if any) with circular needles.
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Nov 15, 2012 23:43
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MarsDragon posted:So I've got a bag (10 balls, pretty sure) of Mirasol Samp'a. I want to make a light top, but I can't find a good pattern. I'd like something summery, but without a low neckline and an easy way to add sleeves. I made this (with some modifications outlined by Ravelry user Larisa) and it turned out nicely. It's knit from the top down and the sleeves are knit out from a provisional cast on. It was relatively quick and easy, except I didn't know how to knit one of the YO stitches from a pearl to a knit (or other way around, I don't remember) so the holes are only on one side of each column. (Turns out I should have been knitting those YOs from the back.) Mine came out a little wonky in the front, but I think that's because of poor tension control. I still really like it and actually want to make it again to make it a little more fitted, but I'm not sure how I'd do that.
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Nov 15, 2012 23:59
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Lullabee posted:
Double points are also used to knit in the round so the patterns should work with your circulars, as long as the diameter fits.
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Nov 16, 2012 00:14
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Lullabee posted:I hope this is the correct thread for knitting questions (I searched and couldn't find another knitting thread). Unfortunately, I don't know of any other sites that let you search like Ravelry does. If you don't have the exact needles called for, you can usually go up or down a size without screwing the pattern up, though. Just knit a swatch about 4x4" first to test and see how it compares to the gauge given in the pattern. Right now I'm using a pair of US6 needles to make a hat that called for 5s, and it works out fine. It helps that there's only a .25mm difference in size between a 5 and a 6, though. Knitting in the round doesn't refer to a specific type of needle. It can be done with double pointed needles (DPNs), a circular needle, or even two circulars. Generally, you can use either of these to complete a pattern, but certain things will be easier on one or the other. Things that are really big (have a lot of stitches on the needles) will be hard to do on DPNs, and things that are very small (have few stitches) will be hard to do on a circular, unless you have one with a very flexible cable and learn the magic loop method.
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Nov 16, 2012 00:16
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I mentioned on the SA Ravelry group that I would de-lurk at some point so here I am. I've been knitting for maybe a month and have completed a couple of projects now. Reading through this thread, it's amazing how a lot of people have started with really impressive knits! My first project was a striped scarf knit in super chunky wool on 10mm needles so it was really simple.  Here's a picture of it modelled by my cat:  I'm currently working on a sweater which is a much larger project than the others I have done. Hopefully it will fit when it's all finished!
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Nov 18, 2012 00:14
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Literally just started knitting earlier this afternoon. I went to the craft store and picked up a couple of the "teach yourself to knit" kits. I didn't want to just buy yarn and needles and have them be completely wrong for a pattern. So I'm currently knitting a scarf that involves a lot of basic stitches. It's kind of ugly/pretty in places as I had to try the different stitches the first couple of times, but I feel stupidly excited as I see the scarf forming row by row. Is that common? And how did all of your first projects and first experiments turn out? I feel like scarves will end up being pretty easy and so I'll want to branch out and try other garments, but am worried that they'll come out so bad that I'll be sad and never knit again. And of course any tips for beginners would be great.
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Nov 18, 2012 23:49
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My absolute first project was a black acrylic yarn square on wooden needles that went straight up on one side, but came out at an angle on the other because I kept pulling the working yarn in such a way that it made one stitch look like two. I put that down, spent some time reading Knitty and lurking in my yarn store, and started my second project with Malabrigo and Knitpicks needles. I knit a Clapotis with only a few visible mistakes and I still love and wear it. Moral of the story? Splurge on nice tools/materials. You'll love your projects that much more and they'll be more enjoyable to work on.
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Nov 19, 2012 02:02
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innocent_deadly posted:Literally just started knitting earlier this afternoon. I went to the craft store and picked up a couple of the "teach yourself to knit" kits. I didn't want to just buy yarn and needles and have them be completely wrong for a pattern. quote:And how did all of your first projects and first experiments turn out? I feel like scarves will end up being pretty easy and so I'll want to branch out and try other garments, but am worried that they'll come out so bad that I'll be sad and never knit again.  The best tip for new knitters is Youtube. When I was in middle school, I tried to teach myself new stitches or techniques from books. It was the worst -- it just didn't happen. Videos are ten thousand times clearer -- you can actually see what's happening -- and knitting is so common that there's a video for any technique you can name.
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Nov 19, 2012 02:44
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i like nice words
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innocent_deadly posted:Literally just started knitting earlier this afternoon. I went to the craft store and picked up a couple of the "teach yourself to knit" kits. I didn't want to just buy yarn and needles and have them be completely wrong for a pattern. Definitely have that whole "omg omg omg one more row thing" when I do colourwork mittens and socks. My first project was some horrible scarf I knit when I was 7 or 8. My mom still has it. Somewhere. She even wears it sometimes. I think she's mocking me, especially considering the stuff I've given her now, over a decade later.
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Nov 19, 2012 03:06
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innocent_deadly posted:Literally just started knitting earlier this afternoon. I went to the craft store and picked up a couple of the "teach yourself to knit" kits. I didn't want to just buy yarn and needles and have them be completely wrong for a pattern. knittinghelp.com is also an invaluable video source. She has many techniques listed and her videos are all great, so not so much searching through youtube and finding a bunch of terrible videos. And as Pucklynn said, nicer tools and materials make it that much better, and easier to stick to. Unless you're me, and then with all the fun stuff to play with you start too many projects and NEVER FINISH ANY OF THEM. First world problems, yo. Felicity, I think your mom is just as proud of what you did when you were 8 as what you can do now... Because honestly an eight year old making something useful is a goddamn miracle, most kids that age couldn't find their rear end with a map. Ignore all this if she's a heinous bitch, though. If that's the case mocking is likelier!
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Nov 19, 2012 03:14
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I've been knitting for a while but am only recently trying to branch out beyond basic scarves and such, lately I've been messing around with making stuffed animal-type things. I just finished a little wizard I'm pretty proud of! 
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Nov 19, 2012 03:39
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I've been knitting for a while and for years I only knew the knit stitch, so everything I made was a garter stitch rectangle. Never even finished my first scarf because I got bored and threw it in a pile somewhere. Never teach someone to knit by giving them us7 needles and saying "knit a scarf".
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Nov 19, 2012 06:30
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Ew, yeah. As excited as I was that the knit stitch was so easy and that I could do it without thinking, after ten inches of it for this practice scarf, I was beginning to get tired of it. So I'm glad that this practice scarf pattern also taught me about stockinette and ribbing. Last night I managed to get a fifteenth loop on my needle when I was only supposed to have 14 and it turned out the problem was about 6 inches below where I was. Ah well, my (not so) handy learning booklet said that it was inevitable to have to rip out stitches. And thanks for the video suggestions. That booklet that I have is not very clear and the pictures sometimes (to me anyway) contradict the words. I think I'm doing it right. It looks like the pictures anyway.
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Nov 19, 2012 14:23
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innocent_deadly posted:Literally just started knitting earlier this afternoon. I went to the craft store and picked up a couple of the "teach yourself to knit" kits. I didn't want to just buy yarn and needles and have them be completely wrong for a pattern. My first project was a tube scarf. It was full of holes but it actually didn't look too bad. My second project was a ribbed vest for my son that ended up way way too short. I also did some washcloths. They are good for experimenting with different stitches and patterns. If you have kids or know people with kids, kids' clothing is pretty good for practicing because they are not so big that they take forever! e: this is a pretty good resource for knitting tutorial videos: http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/video.php?sort=&thumbnails=&categoryid=1 bilabial trill fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Nov 19, 2012 |
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Nov 19, 2012 14:49
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Davedave24 posted:I've been knitting for a while but am only recently trying to branch out beyond basic scarves and such, lately I've been messing around with making stuffed animal-type things. I just finished a little wizard I'm pretty proud of! That's adorable. Was the beard fun? I love knitting little things like that and accessorizing. Tiny three-stich-wide scarves! Two-inch-long capes!
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Nov 19, 2012 14:56
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I distinctly recall my mother teaching me cast on, knit, purl, bind off when I was pretty young - maybe middle school or before - but I don't think I even made an actual "project" at that age...unless a semi-rectangular thing counts as a project. Then I just didn't do any knitting until I was 23 or so, and made some online friends who were into it. Specifically I remember one of them saying "I haven't bought a sweater since I learned to knit" and that was pretty impressive. Picked up "Knitting for Dummies" and it all just came flooding back immediately. I think I made a hat which was WAY too big and also I stupidly used baby yarn for it so I never even wore it. Man, did I make some poor yarn decisions when I started out.
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Nov 19, 2012 17:02
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Davedave24 posted:I've been knitting for a while but am only recently trying to branch out beyond basic scarves and such, lately I've been messing around with making stuffed animal-type things. I just finished a little wizard I'm pretty proud of!  That's very cute - you've done a great job! I wonder if you couldn't use that pattern modified slightly to make a toy Santa too? I want to try my hand at making something like that but I think I need to practice more before I try it.Bob Shadycharacter posted:Man, did I make some poor yarn decisions when I started out. This is something I would definitely like to know more about! I've almost entirely stuck to one type of yarn (the wool used in the beginners booklet I've been using) but I really don't know what kinds of yarns are best for what at all. I've been looking for some decent but inexpensive double knit yarn to make my husband a hat (and to learn how to knit in the round) but I don't really know what I'm looking for. Are there any basic rules to follow for how different types of yarn should be used?
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Nov 19, 2012 20:37
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innocent_deadly posted:Ew, yeah. As excited as I was that the knit stitch was so easy and that I could do it without thinking, after ten inches of it for this practice scarf, I was beginning to get tired of it. So I'm glad that this practice scarf pattern also taught me about stockinette and ribbing. The cure for boredom is cables. Lots of cables. Without a cable needle  .They aren't hard, and look awesome.
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Nov 19, 2012 21:09
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Ghost-Slug posted:
 I was thinking of making a snowman for Christmas but somehow Wizard -> Santa didn't occur to me...
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Nov 19, 2012 21:59
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Ghost-Slug posted:
Well, it all depends on what you're trying to do. A whole sweater out of 100% angora would be way too warm. Cotton has no stretch, so it's annoying to work cable patterns with. Acrylic isnt very good for lace because it has no memory. Alpaca droops. All of these qualities might be good in one project and bad on another. I would suggest paying attention to the suggested yarn for patterns you want to make. If you want to substitute, try to find something of similar composition (50/50 wool / alpaca, say), not just yarn weight. Check ravelry for projects other people have made and what yarn they used. Also there's a great book called the knitters book of wool that will go into absolutely ridiculous detail about pretty much every kind of fiber. Worth a glance at least. And stay away from fun fur...
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Nov 19, 2012 22:47
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Hey, I like fun fur..  I'm kind of a weirdo though. I like to knit with one strand fun fur and one strand of either matching or totally clashing plain yarn. Currently planning to do a scarf with denim blue furry yarn and bright orange worsted weight acrylic. I don't plan to ever wear it, but for some reason I really want to make it, and I've had both yarns in my stash for a while. I'll probably try selling it to some poor sucker on Etsy.
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Nov 20, 2012 02:16
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So I posted back a bit about trying to fix my umbrella swift. Well, I am ridiculously lazy and the pin was really hard to get out, so I just went and bought me a new (and hopefully better!) swift! I got one of these and it's shipped already and he's only one state away and I might actually get it before Thanksgiving and OMG CAN'T WAIT. I almost got this one but decided the yardage counter was going to be too freakin' useful. Especially since it turns out I like doing two socks on one needle, I can now split my skeins evenly! And measure skeins from my (terrible) spinning, that I can put right onto the swift with no niddy-noddy! This thing is gonna be awesome.
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Nov 20, 2012 05:10
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I finished my first project! 9 days, and my hands are killing me. It's not perfect, but it's the first thing I've ever started and finished, so I'm a bit proud of myself. Edit: It's a baby sleep sack, for infants.
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Nov 20, 2012 07:32
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But how will they be able to find their invisible baby once it's in the sack? 
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Nov 20, 2012 08:23
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Pile of Kittens posted:But how will they be able to find their invisible baby once it's in the sack? Edit: VVV OH. How obvious!  I wasn't sure if it was a comment towards the camouflage or the fact that it was empty.
Lullabee fucked around with this message at 08:55 on Nov 20, 2012 |
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Nov 20, 2012 08:51
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It's camoflauge. 
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Nov 20, 2012 08:52
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A baby sleeve! I should make a couple of those.
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Nov 20, 2012 14:56
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Does anyone finish a project, and a few weeks later after it's blocked, look at it and go "hmm, I want to redo this in a different way..."? I finished this a few weeks ago: And I love it, but I've noticed that anything double-wrapped around my neck overheats the hell out of me. I mean yes I wear my stuff indoors, but it's cold enough in the lab I work in that I don't notice. Or maybe wool warms me up that much more? But anyway, I wanted to rip out the entire thing and then redo it as a shorter cowl. That way, I can also just use one skein and use the other half for something else (not that I'd know what to use it for). What's preventing me from doing it is the fact that now I think the pattern is a little boring so I don't really want to redo it. Please tell me I'm not crazy!
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Nov 20, 2012 16:01
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Mizufusion posted:I've been knitting for a while and for years I only knew the knit stitch, so everything I made was a garter stitch rectangle. Never even finished my first scarf because I got bored and threw it in a pile somewhere. Never teach someone to knit by giving them us7 needles and saying "knit a scarf". I can't count how many 4 inch starts of garter stitch scarves I threw away over the 20 years I knew how to knit before I picked it up for real. My first finished project was a (simple) lace shawl. I think diving in is the way to go sometimes.
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Nov 20, 2012 19:48
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HeatherChandler posted:I can't count how many 4 inch starts of garter stitch scarves I threw away over the 20 years I knew how to knit before I picked it up for real. My first finished project was a (simple) lace shawl. I think diving in is the way to go sometimes. For real. Also for a long time I really hated garter stitch so I was never going to knit something with it. I thought it didn't look like "real" knitting. (I changed my mind a while back, now I like it ok).
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Nov 20, 2012 20:20
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ackapoo posted:Does anyone finish a project, and a few weeks later after it's blocked, look at it and go "hmm, I want to redo this in a different way..."? I finished this a few weeks ago: You're not crazy. I just knit a cowl twice because the first time I did it stocking stitch with a moss stitch border and it curled at the edges (should've done more'n five rows moss stitch, silly). The second time I did K2, P1 rib edge then K5, P1 rib for the main part. Much better. The wool was just too nice to leave as something I wouldn't use.
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Nov 21, 2012 09:02
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So I made a beret, I quite like it. Too bad it isn't for me. I'm too blonde and fair to wear green anyway, a redhead will suit it much better.  The pattern is http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cascade-beret, altered to be slouchy. I wish I could get the yarn to photograph true to color, because it is very rich in real life.
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Nov 21, 2012 22:05
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Hi! Does anyone know of a classy gent's scarf that knits up pretty quickly? I really want to knit something for my dad this christmas, so I only have between now and the 24th and I'm not the fastest knitter  I'm reasonably confident with different stitches and stuff, the only requirements are that it looks nice and isn't too time-consuming.
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Nov 21, 2012 22:59
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I knit a New York Scarf recently and finished it fairly quickly, but the real trick to fast knitting is using bulky yarns. It also helps if the pattern isn't too repetitive, although that can't really be helped much with scarves.
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Nov 22, 2012 01:40
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I've knit the Brisbane Scarf three times now, twice for guys. Knits up very quick since it's a super bulky and looks much more complicated than it is. Not just sayin that cuz they picked one of my FO photos to showcase on the project page, either!
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Nov 22, 2012 02:25
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| # ? May 31, 2024 00:56 |
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I just did a Scholar Collar (by BrooklynTweed) for a guy friend. It's basically a short garter stitch scarf with buttons to hold it closed. That means no ends flapping around! I used a really nice yarn since I only needed ~200 yds worsted weight, and then two classy looking buttons. Hardest part was figuring out where to put the buttonholes, Jared never really said where he put his and it's kinda hard to tell in the pictures. But it's not too bad to make it work for whatever you've got! It made for fantastic travel knitting.
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Nov 22, 2012 04:27
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