Any knitters in the house?

JoyceH

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I knit and crochet and my sister spins and weaves. When she visits me, we go to the local alpaca farm to buy wool. If civilization falls, we're ready...
 

Cranky

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:roll:

Glad I'm not the only one. DH looks at me all cross-eyed when I start "ooohing" over yarn.

"It's yarn. Supposed to be soft, isn't it?" says he.

Just. Doesn't. Understand.
 

justbishop

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Ya, they tend to realize you're only there for SEX


SEX: stash enhancement expedition

BWAAAHAHAHAAA!!! That is amazing.

:roll:

Glad I'm not the only one. DH looks at me all cross-eyed when I start "ooohing" over yarn.

"It's yarn. Supposed to be soft, isn't it?" says he.

Just. Doesn't. Understand.

You're definitely not alone! I've even managed to get my 3 y/o into it. The rule in a yarn shop (any shop, really) is that she must ask me before touching anything, so our LYS trips sound a bit like this:

C: Mommy, may I touch this?
Me: Yes, Claudie, thank you for asking!
C: Oooooh, soft *rubs on face and replaces it*
[lather, rinse repeat]
 

nicolethegeek

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Nice haul! I'd be stalking my post office if that was on the way to me! :D

I recently got back from my vacation where I literally shopped till I dropped! My BFF and I did a 10 quilt store shop hop, where I won 2 different door prizes. We also hit about 10 more quilt shops and at least 10-15 yarn and craft shops. This was all in less than 10 days. I had to buy another bag and pay for an additional piece of luggage for my flight home. We also had a dye-day where we hand-painted about 24 hanks of yarn.

I even managed to get some "work" in as well. I was able to make contact with several of the yarn shop owners as a designer, and I designed and knit a pair of socks while on the road.
 

justbishop

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Wow, that's ridiculous! LOL!

And you'd never guess what happened with my Purewool...

Got shipping notification today (just a manual email from the lady at Purewool). Figured "yay, she dropped it in the mail today from South America!" Um, no. FedEx guy shows up at my house not 2 hours later with the preciouses!

However, it was pretty wrong. I ordered 4 skeins. There were 6 in this package. I ordered the 3 colorways linked in my last post...only got 1 of those, and 2 skeins each of 2 other random colorways that I'd never heard of.

Anyway, I emailed with the details, and was told not only are they shipping my missing 3 skeins of yarn, but that I am to keep the 4 sent to me by mistake! Awesome CS there, highly recommend :D
 

Calla Lily

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This weekend I finished a sweater with some kind of super-soft tonal boucle from Jo-Ann. Kiddo was petting it as I knitted. So I knitted him a pillow with the leftover yarn. Suddenly I am awesome mom like I was when he was a wee kiddo. :tongue


However, I may have to turn in my knitter's card. I'm online right now actually watching video tutorials on the vertical herringbone stitch. :mad: WHY are there 3 different ways to do this and WHY are the written instructions so frickin' confusing? I haven't had to watch someone IRL or online since I learned the Continental style eons ago. :e2paperba

But I'm making a skirt with gray heather yarn and it calls for this stitch, which is perfect for it. *girds loins*
 

JanDarby

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Oh, Continental style, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I learned to knit that way on a bet in college, and I remember it felt weird initially, but now I can't imagine wasting all that energy wrapping the yarn around the needle American-style. I particularly love it for doing two-color work, so I can have the main color in my left hand, and then do the American style with the contrast color in my right.

It helped, I think, that I also crocheted, and this was before internets or even regular video, let alone streaming video, so I didn't have much choice to figure it out from books and written instructions.

No idea about the herringbone stitch. I keep my knitting fairly simple these days. Knit, purl, increase, decrease, the occasional cable if I'm bored with straight knitting. That's about it. Mostly I make chemo caps, from one basic pattern, but I do like to mix up the colors.
 

Calla Lily

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I learned American style when I was 7, from a friend's mother. Then after college I found Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver mysteries. Miss Silver knits constantly, and only in the Continental style. Wentworth made such a point of how fast and talented and efficient yada yada Miss Silver knitted that I tracked down the style and taught myself. With a bit of help from a sweet little old lady who owned a yarn shop. :) When I show someone the basics, I show them Continental style.

I use both styles for 2-color knitting, too Jan. It's so much easier.

Turns out there are several different herringbone methods. And some YouTube videos are less helpful than others. :rolleyes:
I think I found one that works for this skirt. I'm practicing for a day or two before I plunge into the actual project. I have no desire to cast on 255 sts and then have to redo it all.
 

AZ_Dawn

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Anyone know of a good substitute for the Knifty Knitter loom tool? Mine's at the stage in the middle of the picture. I don't have the means to buy another online and they're out of stock at the local Jo-ann's. Sadly, a Google search didn't provide me a lot of useful links.

Thanks!

P.S. If it helps, the tool's about 5 1/4 inches long.
 

JanDarby

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Have you tried using a crochet hook? I would think one of the smaller sizes, for thread crochet, would work.
 

aokva

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I knit for my kids. Sweaters mostly. Some knitted longies (pants) and an occasional hat. Nothing for literary characters but I have thought about making "thing 1" and "thing 2" sweaters. Just haven't yet.
 

AZ_Dawn

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Have you tried using a crochet hook? I would think one of the smaller sizes, for thread crochet, would work.
The smallest yarn I work with is size 3; would the thread-sized hooks mess up the yarn? On the other hand, at least it would fit in the groove on the back of the loom pegs.

Thanks for the suggestion.
 

AZ_Dawn

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Someone found an old thread-sized hook, so I tried it out. Unfortunately, it kept getting caught in the yarn. Guess I'll have to figure something else out. :e2bummed:
 

AZ_Dawn

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Sadly, the local Michael's doesn't sell the hooks separately and it didn't occur to me to buy spares while Jo-Ann still had them. :e2smack:
 

nicolethegeek

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Just popped in to beg for some sympathy. I had been waiting almost 3 months to hear back on the results of a design contest I had entered. Last year I won first place, and found out that they had wanted to give me all three places. I just discovered that they finally announced the winners just over a week ago, and I wasn't one of them. :cry:
 

juniper

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Hey there, I can finally call myself a knitter! I've been making a New Years resolution for a few years that "This year I will learn to knit" and then never did.

I tried books, DVDs, YouTube - none of it made sense. I went to a free group at a coffeeshop but they all knew how and didn't really want to take time to teach me.

A year ago I paid for a set of 3 classes at a yarn shop about 30 miles away - I had a year before the coupon expired so I finally went. I took classes the last 3 Friday evenings - and now I can knit and purl. I'm working on a sampler scarf. It's kind of funny looking - a little bumpy and wider at the start than it's ending up - but I'm doing it.

I took it on a bus trip yesterday. I knit at night watching movies, although I'm still having to pay a lot of attention to what my fingers are doing, so missing a lot of the movie.

I've gone to yarn shops for years, and bought yarn, and needles, and went to a fiber festival and bought the raw stuff (is it called roving?) just because I like it so much.

My middle-aged crisis includes learning to knit. Yay!

Oh - the teacher uses continental style so that's what I learned. She says she does that because she crocheted for years before knitting.

After seeing other styles, continental seems much more efficient. A woman at the shop who was just there to knit learned in England and she uses a style that's a variation on the standard English, wrapping the yarn a little differently.

I heard the Scandinavian way is different too - but they all produce the same fabric. Interesting.

I'm going to go back and read this whole thread - I just wanted to say, "I can knit!" :hooray:
 

nicolethegeek

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Hey there, I can finally call myself a knitter!
I'm going to go back and read this whole thread - I just wanted to say, "I can knit!" :hooray:

Congrats! Get theeself over to Ravelry and sign up (if you haven't already). I too am a continental knitter... well kinda sorta anyway! I crocheted for about 15 years before actually getting my hands to be able to manipulate two needles instead of one hook and the yarn. My right hand refuses to hold the working yarn no matter what I do. I have also heard from others that continental is easier on the shoulder joints.
 

JanDarby

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If you're concerned about joint stress, and aren't already using circular needles, try them. Even for flat, straight knitting -- just go back and forth instead of around and around.

They're really light and don't seem to put as much stress on my wrists or elbows as straight needles. And they're particularly good if you're knitting on a plane, because they don't stick out beyond your hands/lap, and you're a lot less likely to jab the person sitting next to you with the non-pointy end of the needles (and if you jab them with the pointy ends, I'll assume it was intentional).
 

Calla Lily

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The one upside to our router going kaput? I finished both nun dolls way before the giveaway event! Yay!

Now I'm starting the "slouchy hat" from the most recent Michael's mailing. Size 15 crochet hook! Bulky yarn! (well, 3 strands of yarn from my stash held together) I may make more than one of these.
 

AZ_Dawn

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I purchased extra loom hooks for my kids at Michaels.
Me said:
Sadly, the local Michael's doesn't sell the hooks separately...
Looks like I spoke too soon, thankfully. On Saturday, one of my sisters needed something from Michael's and I went with her to see about finding a reasonable substitute. Michael's had loom tools sold separately! :banana: You better believe I stocked up!

They also had a lot more knitting looms than they usually do. (They usually have just have the round loom set.) I wonder if their stocking up for Christmas.