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Sirius Jayne posted:Oh I just love their colors, and I swear if Madeline tosh sold roving I’d become a hoarder. I started the lockdown working my butt off and that was probably a good thing, kept me focused on things but come fall I am always overcome with an overwhelming need to DO ALL THE THINGS WITH FIBER!! I started doing the math about how long it would take to prep materials to even begin making clothing or blankets never mind acquiring said materials and I can say, happy as hell for the Internet!! So this year I plan to FINALLY get my groove on with spinning. I’ve a cheap (crappy) too whorl spindle, a beautiful “standard” wheel that was gifted to me by a friend but it’s intimidating to me, and an eSpinner that I acquired when I was feeling like technology surely would make me a better spinner. So far the only spinning I’ve done is between projects I’ve started or am about to start or probably never will start but bought the yarn just in case!! I think probably after some of the political and holiday shenanigans dissipate, I’ll find a nice quiet evening and a bottle of wine and throw caution to the wind and just start spinning. After all, it’s only yarn and all the better to start another project with!! Yeah, honestly, just take a week or so and go for it. Getting the muscle memory to make consistent yarn takes time, so just be patient. It's a long-term thing. I personally started with a spindle then moved on to a wheel, but it may be easiest for you to start with the eSpinner, since that has the least amount of things to worry about besides drafting. If you're looking for fiber to start with, something just slightly grabby is good. Blue-Faced Leicester is probably the best common fiber to start off with and makes a nice, dependable yarn. And then you fall down the rabbithole of breed-specific yarn and nothing is ever the same....pretty soon you're buying and preparing your own fleeces and then there's no escape.
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Dec 2, 2020 03:37
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Boxman posted:Any recommended resources for learning to knit and starting the craft more generally? There are, of course, a billion hits on youtube and google for "how to knit" but it's all a bit overwhelming. A vouched-for content provider or two would be nice...or even better, a book or kit or something that gets me up and running, especially as someone who hasn't tried much in the way of crafts since junior high. I can find a million videos of how to cast on or whatever, but, like, "this is knitting, here's a good first couple set of needles, here's a rundown on yarn, here's 3-4 different stitches, here's babbys first knitting project" would be great. I learned a lot from knittinghelp, too! I think the best thing to do is to start a project and then look up techniques as you need them, instead of trying to learn all the things and then forgetting them before you need them. If you can cast on, knit, purl and bind off, you can try your first project! When I started, I did a lot of felted stuff, it's very forgiving. I also recommend getting circular needles, even if you're just going to knit back and forth. In my opinion, knitting on (long) single pointed needles gets very heavy and cumbersome when the project gets bigger.
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Dec 2, 2020 09:09
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Midnight Sun posted:I also recommend getting circular needles, even if you're just going to knit back and forth. In my opinion, knitting on (long) single pointed needles gets very heavy and cumbersome when the project gets bigger. THIS THIS THIS I hate straight needles now. I don't even use them for socks anymore, I do two-at-a-time on one circular needle and it's a lifesaver. Also, does anyone absolutely hate the effort that you have to put into blocking, but absolutely love the results? Asking for me. It took me over an hour to get this done with blocking wires, but oh man it looks great now.  
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Dec 2, 2020 17:42
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Sehkmet posted:THIS THIS THIS God yes. It hurts my back every time! I never have enough space! That is absolutely gorgeous! What pattern is that?!
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Dec 2, 2020 17:45
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Bob Shadycharacter posted:God yes. It hurts my back every time! I never have enough space! I have juuuust enough space, but I also have an rear end in a top hat cat who wants to constantly gently caress with everything. Argh. This is the Solidarity pattern from The Blue Brick! It's free (link is in the blog post) and it's really quite simple once you get into the rhythm. (You will need TWO cable needles though, it does some triple-cabling which is really cool.) https://shop.thebluebrick.ca/blogs/test-blog/solidarity
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Dec 2, 2020 17:51
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Sehkmet posted:THIS THIS THIS That is absolutely stunning 
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Dec 2, 2020 17:58
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Sehkmet posted:THIS THIS THIS Gorgeous color and pattern!
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Dec 2, 2020 19:51
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Sehkmet posted:THIS THIS THIS Love! And yes, blocking is both the biggest pain and the biggest friend to knitting. It has turned projects that I thought I had knit terribly into pieces that look nearly perfect. I've never used blocking wire. How is it to work with versus pins?
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Dec 2, 2020 20:39
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a friendly penguin posted:I've never used blocking wire. How is it to work with versus pins? Wires are great for large things like shawls and sweaters and things with straight edges (even a half-moon shawl). It keeps your edges straight because you run the wires through the selvedge stitches on the edge and it reduces the pinprick web-like edging I get when I try to block big things even with a low tension. I used the yard stick to make sure I was consistent in width at the edges and throughout, and it uses way less pins to do. The long part is threading the wires. I knit a lot of shawls for some reason, so I find them helpful.
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Dec 2, 2020 20:52
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Sehkmet posted:THIS THIS THIS Beautiful! All kinds of finishing work sucks IMO, but it makes such a difference! I often just want to rush it to get finished with the project, but when all the small details are really well done it looks so much better.
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Dec 2, 2020 23:37
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Sehkmet posted:THIS THIS THIS Beautiful. I really should get some blocking wires of my own. I've tried using scrap yarn, but it just doesn't work all that well (or it didn't for me).
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Dec 3, 2020 02:19
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Bob Shadycharacter posted:I believe knittinghelp.com is often recommended as a good basic starting place! If you don't have a Ravelry account yet you should sign up, you can search hundreds of thousands of patterns and filter them by difficulty level - and the forums there are a great help too. Midnight Sun posted:I learned a lot from knittinghelp, too! Thanks much! I'll definitely look at that site, and I went ahead and made a Ravelry account. In terms of equipment, I guess I'll just pick this up (seems like it has a few basic projects to be getting on with) and a skein or two of inexpensive yarn to get started on? Boxman fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Dec 3, 2020 |
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Dec 3, 2020 02:51
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MarsDragon posted:Beautiful. For blocking wires I found some welding rods that were apparently terrible to weld with but had a nice case. They work great for blocking knitting!
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Dec 3, 2020 05:16
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Boxman posted:Thanks much! I'll definitely look at that site, and I went ahead and made a Ravelry account. In terms of equipment, I guess I'll just pick this up (seems like it has a few basic projects to be getting on with) and a skein or two of inexpensive yarn to get started on? Both of those are good places to start. Definitely get used to casting on, knit, purl, and cast off. If you can do all of that? You can basically learn any pattern from there, and Youtube is great if you want to learn a specific technique (I have used it for more complicated cabling, socks two-at-a-time, and so forth). If you like it, and get used to it, and want to stretch out, the options are endless for needles, for fibre, for patterns!
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Dec 3, 2020 06:17
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effika posted:For blocking wires I found some welding rods that were apparently terrible to weld with but had a nice case. They work great for blocking knitting! I did the same too, cheap stainless steel welding rods. I had to file a little bit of roughness off the ends but they work ok for the price.
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Dec 3, 2020 07:38
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Well, after a couple of sessions where I made catastrophic mistakes, I finally got a swatch off the needle. 12 cast on, 12 rows knit, and...something horrible happened while I was casting off, lol. Mistakes were obviously made here and there that I didn't notice as I was working, but there's a nice bit in the middle there that actually resembles proper knitting. Things were so tight on the needle i had a hell of a time casting off. Things kept sliding off when I was trying to work the outer loop over the inner one, and I wasn't sure I was really getting things back where they needed to be. I'm assuming I'll get a feel for the correct amount of tension to keep on the stitches on the needle. No, onto learning to purl.
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Dec 14, 2020 02:46
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Hello Hobbyists and Crafters of all sorts! Our friends from Creative Convention are visiting with their Travelling Showcase of Wonders and they want to see all the cool and fantastic things you've been working on! Go show them off and admire the handiwork of other talented goons! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3946255
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Dec 14, 2020 02:52
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Boxman posted:Well, after a couple of sessions where I made catastrophic mistakes, I finally got a swatch off the needle. 12 cast on, 12 rows knit, and...something horrible happened while I was casting off, lol. If you find you're knitting really tightly, just grab a pair of needles a size or two up. But it looks very even and well done.
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Dec 14, 2020 04:04
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If you're knitting so tightly it's hard to move the stitches then going up a needle size won't necessarily help, since you'll just have trouble moving them on bigger needles. I've had some luck with consciously relaxing and wrapping the yarn around the needle with less tension when I notice I'm getting too tight, but it's a thing I have to pay attention to. Are you giving the yarn an extra little tug when you finish a stitch? I notice that I tend to do that and have to make myself stop. Other than that, tensioning is a thing you learn as you go, but it doesn't hurt to establish good habits now. You're trying to encode new muscle memory, after all, might as well make sure you're happy with it.
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Dec 14, 2020 08:31
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Sehkmet posted:Also, does anyone absolutely hate the effort that you have to put into blocking, but absolutely love the results? Asking for me. It took me over an hour to get this done with blocking wires, but oh man it looks great now. This is so pretty Blocking is definitely a chore but it's so rewarding, I get such a kick out of seeing how neat everything is after. Is that one of those play area mats you're using to pin it on?
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Dec 14, 2020 08:56
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Christmas knitting finally done! This year EVERYONE'S GETTING MITTENS! (And one headband.)          
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Dec 20, 2020 14:15
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Those all look amazing and so well-made, but I especially love the ones that say "kaldt som faen". Danish?
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Dec 20, 2020 19:44
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 Those are jawdropping. How long did they take you? When did you start?I'm trying to get one pair done for Christmas and I don't think I'm going to have one mitten done. And yours are picture perfect.
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Dec 20, 2020 22:20
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Jesus, Midnight Sun - your work is always SO BEAUTIFUL! And you crank it out at such amazing speeds! That's going to be my challenge for 2021, figure out Fair Isle/intarsia/colourwork knitting properly and do something cool. Another secret santa gift. The last one was for DIY SASS (haha!) and this one is for GBS SASS. Full on scarf about six feet long, blocked roughly but I didn't want to overdo it and pull things out. Pattern is Owls in the Forest Scarf on Ravelry. The yarn is from a local farm called Longmeadow Farm - she raises her own sheep and dyes the wool herself, so that's cool, and it's quite reasonable!  Close-up of the hidey owls with bead eyes. The variegation makes it a little hard to see them but I kinda like it. Makes it more ... natural? I also colour-altered this picture to get the actual colours more true to life. 
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Dec 21, 2020 17:11
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Admiral Goodenough posted:Those all look amazing and so well-made, but I especially love the ones that say "kaldt som faen". Danish? Thanks! It's Norwegian, so it's technically the same.  I think there's an English version too, Holy gently caress It's Cold. I think the English version is prettier. a friendly penguin posted:
Thank you so much! I started these in the end of September, finished the last pair yesterday. I said I wasn't going to knit anything else until next year, because I was so sick of knitting those motorcycle mittens (I've knitted another Harley Davidson pair that's not pictured). But last night I remembered I had some beautiful yarn in my stash, so I just had to cast on a pair of Isrosen (Ice Rose) mittens. I guess it's much more fun knitting when you don't have a deadline. Sehkmet posted:Jesus, Midnight Sun - your work is always SO BEAUTIFUL! And you crank it out at such amazing speeds! Thank you! And that scarf is beautiful! I love the beads and the colors of the yarn. Lace is so much fun to block, it's like magic when the pattern emerges.
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Dec 21, 2020 17:35
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Midnight Sun posted:Christmas knitting finally done! Wow, lucky recipients
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Dec 21, 2020 19:21
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The crochet post appears to be a RIP. Would it be ok to share my finished projects with yall as fellow fiber artists?
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Dec 22, 2020 19:01
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Yes, please, I would say all fiber arts are welcome here! There are some really lucky gift recipients upthread, wow!
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Dec 22, 2020 19:22
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I have been semi-teaching myself to knit (badly) and been reading this thread a bit and there are some great things in here!! Would y’all have any interest in rebooting this thread as a new, broader, fiber arts or w/e thread? Crochet, knitting, idk even what other things there are? Maybe with an informative OP for beginners? Or just some helpful links? We recently rebooted the horticulture thread and it seems to be getting a little more/different traffic now. We linked to the old thread in the OP and moved it to the Goodmine so it is still accessible for posterity and won’t be locked in archives.
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Dec 22, 2020 19:38
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I would prefer to keep the knitting and crochet threads separate because they're not just totally different crafts, they also often have different goals. The horticulture thread was rebooted, but it wasn't combined with the gardening thread, the hydroponics thread, and the bonsai thread. I think there's value in having more than one thread for fiber artists the way there is for gardeners. Of course crocheters deserve a space, but I don't think the thread is dead, it just goes quiet sometimes.  If anything I wonder if it might be worth having another thread for spinning and weaving?
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Dec 22, 2020 20:06
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i like nice words
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I have been semi-teaching myself to knit (badly) and been reading this thread a bit and there are some great things in here!! I personally think this would be a great idea! I can understand why people would want to keep them separate, but I think the need depends on how active each individual thread is. There is also the option of creating a new thread that appeals to a specific theme could also be acceptable - for example, doll/plush/finished items as opposed to the individual threads that could discuss issues, techniques, etc. That said, though, we do also have the other post that encourages people to post their works.. 
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Dec 22, 2020 20:35
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I do both but I still prefer separate knitting and crochet threads. Like Anne Whately said, they generally have different goals. If the crochet thread isn't very active, I don't see how folding it into the knitting thread would help it. If anything, crochet content would become harder to find.
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Dec 23, 2020 00:37
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I personally wouldn't mind combining them. I primarily crochet but with the crochet thread being pretty inactive lately, I usually end up lurking here to get my fiber arts fix. Then again, my crochet projects tend to be more in-line with what knitters are working on as well (I never really got into amigurumi, for example) so maybe I'm just more amenable to merging the threads.
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Dec 23, 2020 01:48
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Threads are free! The more the merrier-I just wanted to make sure nobody was lacking posting pals.
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Dec 23, 2020 04:44
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Anne Whateley posted:If anything I wonder if it might be worth having another thread for spinning and weaving? There used to be a spinning thread, might even not be archived. Everyone just kind of slacked off on posting (including me).
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Dec 23, 2020 06:41
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MarsDragon posted:Yeah, honestly, just take a week or so and go for it. Getting the muscle memory to make consistent yarn takes time, so just be patient. It's a long-term thing. I personally started with a spindle then moved on to a wheel, but it may be easiest for you to start with the eSpinner, since that has the least amount of things to worry about besides drafting. Fantastic! Thanks for the insight. I was fortunate enough to get a Jenkins Swan spindle, and I think I’ll give that a go. Right now I’m knitting Christmas Balls with Arne & Carlos, but once we get past the new year I’m planning a spinning holiday (ok a long weekend to play with fiber). I may or may not have already fallen down the rabbit hole of preparing my own fiber. My black lab is blowing his coat and as I’m brushing off his weight in fur nightly, I’m eyeing it, wondering if i should stash it in a bag somewhere until I come across something pretty but maybe too slick for me and wondering how adding a pinch of lab would turn out. . . I will NOT dye my own fiber. There. I said it. Now if I go back on that I’m a liar. I hate liars! Hahahaha
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Dec 23, 2020 06:59
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Dyeing is incredibly fast, easy, and lowkey compared to spinning!!!  Wait a couple months until you can buy Easter egg dye kits. Super cheap and easy, and obviously food-safe so you can use all your regular kitchen stuff.
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Dec 23, 2020 07:03
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Midnight Sun posted:Thanks, guys! Ha! No, she just has sophisticated fashion sense for a girl her age. Oof! High School gonna be spendy!
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Dec 23, 2020 07:12
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BonerGhost posted:I do both but I still prefer separate knitting and crochet threads. Like Anne Whately said, they generally have different goals. I agree about keeping them separate but then again, I do each of them for specific things. I don’t aspire to crochet a sweater, but I sure do with knitting. I want to spin my own fiber, to knit with. Probably garments. Crochet (for me) is much more a utility thing, “I want a blanket but i don’t want to quilt this week” kind of a thing.
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Dec 23, 2020 07:15
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Anne Whateley posted:Dyeing is incredibly fast, easy, and lowkey compared to spinning!!! I’m pretty sure you just got me into trouble hahahahaha! Thank you  oh wait, you don’t do it in the washing machine? All these years I have felt safe from dying because I have a front-loader lmao
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Dec 23, 2020 07:17
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