KNITTING, is there any point?

[stitch]

i have never knitted anything for dd, and last wweek bought some wool, and a pattern to make her a jumper. spent a great manyhours today making about one inch of it. havent ever done the twisting over thing, and first time i am doing it. its easier than i had always assumed it would be, but so time consuming.
considering that i can buy her a jumper for less than what i paid for thewool, and it will probly take me a year to make this jumper, is there any point in knitting?

One Thousand Sweaters. Is it any good? I asked the woman in Loop, and she said you had to be good at maths.

Now I want Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. Well, DH needs stuff to buy me for Xmas.

I am embarassingly proud of the stuff I'll be sending off to you guys, particularly the 30cm x 30cm one I'm working on.

I like looking at it but have yet to knit anything from it, mainly because my stash consists mainly of aran weight yarn, and it only deals with DK. I want the Ann Budd book because it's more open-ended, basically just the shapes and counts you need for any weight, and I want to design bits myself.

Oh, I'll have to look at at that.

I was expecting to have to change all the values, anyway, as I think it doesn't really go that big, and I'm fairly large (16 or 18). Oh, and none of it's circular knitting, and I can't be bothered with seams.

What I really need is something just giving measurements and techniques for fitting it all together. Must hassle the St Martin's woman again, I ran into her in a coffee shop and she was encouraging and positive, which was good. (She really really doesn't want to teach a beginner's knitting class, and is not encouraging and positive when that sort of subject comes up.)

Maybe, mostly, I don't need a knitting book at all.

Oh, I think my stash is mostly DK weights, as I like detailing (cables etc) too much, and aran weight doesn't let you detail so much. And anyway, anything I knit for me has to be thin, as I am always too warm.

It sounds as though the Ann Budd book might suit you really. I've got her other one with basic drop shoulder sweaters, gloves and hats, but I want access to more sleeve styles, and that's the part that's a pig to work out from scratch IMO

I haven't done gloves yet, am working myself up to it - I bought a vogue book of gloves.

I am so coming back with a giant suitcase full of yarn, next time I go to Canada. There are no big yarn stores here! You should see Romni Wools in Toronto, absolutely huge, completely chaotic, tiny aisles, and loads and loads and loads of wool.

We'll talk when I'm about to go, and I'll bring you back something again, ok? (Or, don't you need to go to any conferences in Toronto or somewhere?)

How is mainland Europe for yarn? So many nice yarns are from Europe, they must have some good shops, right?

Ooh, thank you- I wasn't meaning to hint . I have made a lovely scarf with the hand-painted alpaca, came in very useful in Aran this weekend I can tell you. I don't know about mainland Europe- people are always asking about specific places on UKHK and often seem disappointed, strangely. Again, quite small shops I think. I guess Scandinavia should be good for heavy stuff, and I think there are good shops in Italy, but nothing like Canada and the US.

That should be Arran, freudian slip.

I should join UKHK. I spend enough time thinking about knitting these days.

OMG. That's one busy Yahoo group.

so...where can i get some circular bamboo needles...I'm afraid the only place i've venture so far for knitting stuff is our John Lewis ( has a big knitting section). I think I'll buy a cheap ball of similar wool and knit a few rounds (inc crocus) to see how it goes first...then i'll search for THE wool!!

thanks!!

plain knitting is not that bad....I get confused with multi coloured knitting...but have done a jumper with a star pattern all over!!

Next project will be to knit the ds's hats for next year...

LOL, I thought "knit your own womb" was a euphemism (sp?) for people who have gone a long way down the self-reliance/earth mother road, but apparently not. Look at one of the patterns on monstrousmummy's link to Knitty.com.

I'm still thinking about a scarf BTW, but I think ds might still be too little to keep one on. I might knit one for next winter though, if I'm really daring I might even do matching gloves.

Or maybe I will make a scarf, this one looks amazing.

I would do a snood (aka ski tube) for a little one maybe ... only they don't actually have necks, do they?

Hats are more useful, and not actually hard.

Dunno where to get bamboo circulars in this country. I got mine in a place I can't talk about or tamum will go all green again

Circular bamboo needles here.

Oh, Addi are meant to be good - I do find my bamboos snag a bit ... well, the stitches get stuck at the join. I'd expect Addi to be better. (I hadn't know they made non-metal ones.)

If you thought the womb was weird you should see their latest . Bamboo circulars seem fairly widely available now, I am pretty sure I saw some in JL last time (not your branch though probably!). If you get into circulars in a big way you could invest in Denise interchangeables which are rather fab.

Denise interchangeables...drool

thanks..I suppose the reason for double point needles is to work in the round too???

I am now looking for double point bamboo needles too

thanks for your help bran!

Yes, double points are for smaller things where circulars would be too tight a circle IYSWIM. So socks and so on are usually done on DPNs, and garments on cicrulars.

Sorry, I just read the stuff next to the pattern from Knitty I just linked to and realised I was being crass.

ahhh..makes sense now...the dpns are for the sleeves!!