More knitting chat ...

[NotQuiteCockney]

Ok, new pictures, photobucket.com/albums/c176/NotQuiteCockney/?sc=6 . I like both new hats, although the photos are rubbish. (Am I not holding the camera still?)

Not sure what to do next, am slightly uninspired. Thinking about tubular knitting? DH has a colleague whose wife is having a baby, so I should do one for them ...

NQC and Tamum -Thanks for the links! I like the idea of the cashmere blend! I love the stuff so it should be fun to knit with... but it would probaly go terribly slow,no?

btw, NQC saw your hats. They look really cool! Would love to see the new one!

lua, you can get cashmerino in lots of different thicknesses. The thicker it is, the faster it knits up, and the thicker the resulting hat. But, the thicker it is, the more expensive it is, and the more yarn you'll need.

I've recently started knitting everything on 3mm, and yes, it takes longer, but you also don't use up yarn ever, essentially.

Ok, took pics of new hat, so it can go away. And have packed up green triangle-and-pleat, to go to the sneaky scaly one. Another link to the photo album.

NQC - are you talking about soupy? she did pop....

lua, yes, I know SD popped (hadn't realised she'd been pregnant until today), the person who hasn't popped is one of the parents at DS1's school. I have two more hats sitting in the drawer, waiting for me to see the relevant parents. And I've given away two more this year, all to babies born since Jan 1. Very odd.

Ooops.. just re-read your message...
it must be time to go to bed....

Oh, the zigzags look great, and that single colour rib is just right- two colours wouldn't have worked, would it? Are you down to 50 balls yet?

I have just looked through Texere, and I really shouldn't have because they've got their wonderful mohair in again in a beautiful range of colours. And so cheap.....

I have almost used up the ball of green that I used for:

• all of the triangle-and-pleat hat
• the detail on the greek frets hat
• half of this hat.

So, no, still not down to 50.

I'm really pleased with the zigzags, they were very easy to do, and such a nice effect.

Oooh,just checked the new hat. Gorgeous...
Have I mentioned I just had a baby girl ? . Just kidding! Last and final offspring is a boy! There's just not as many cute patterns for boys out there, is it?

ok, now I'll really go to bed!
Thanks again for the links!

Well, the cabled hat in purple is a boy's hat. And I think triangle-and-pleat, in a dark colour, would be fine for a boy. Also, the zigzag hat would be good for a boy, in different colours, and possibly more of a straight hat, not so beret-ish.

And oh, there are no patterns for any of these, they're all stuff I made up.

Hmm, and a websearch about the tubular cast on is showing me lots of sites that recommend using a provisional cast on sort of technique. Well one with waste yarn, anyway. The knitty explanation is good. I will look and see what Montse says about this, but it looks like a good technique ...

Message withdrawn

And of course, Montse recommends a different method than all the websites do, if you're doing it with some temporary yarn. Grrr. I think I will use Montse's way, though.

tamum, if you're trying this, I really don't recommend the first technique, at least not on circular needles. The cast on row gets really twisted and weird, and it's hard to tell what's what. The third method she recommends (saying that it's the slowest, though) seems a lot clearer and simpler.

Meant to say, I bought Knitting magazine over the weekend. It seems ok, but very very advertorial. I keep wanting to go through and connect all the (very very positive) reviews and stories to the adverts for the same products/shops/whatever.

Are knitting mags all like this?

Can I butt in please? Could someone please explain what "loop yarn" is? I've been looking for a mohair yarn and have found one with texere which is very very reasonably priced but I have no idea if it's suitable. Thanks in advance.

NQC, I bought this month's simply knitting and I seem to recall most of the ads were at the back, not so in your face iyswim. Is that what you meant?

Lulabell, I think "loop yarn" is yarn with loops in. If you go to this page, type "loop yarn" in the search box, you will see some loop yarn. (Couldn't get the search results to come up in a link.)

Adverts at the back would be ok, what I mean is, I don't think the walls between adverts and editorial are very thick at Knitting magazine. There seem to be a lot of very nice articles and reviews of people putting adverts in. So much so that it gives the impression that people buy an advert and are guaranteed a good article. Which makes it hard to trust their editorial stuff, iyswim.

Oh, and again, you're not butting in! This is knitting chat: as long as you're not posting about brunch or shoes or something, you're not butting in!

Oh I see, hmm that seems a bit sneaky of them actually. Would be interested to know how much they charge for an ad then. Wonder if ads come witha free trial for the staff. Also, any company that knows you write for a knitting mag is going to go out of their way to be ultra helpful. Simply knitting sucks up to rowan and debbie bliss a bit, but then everyone seems to .

Thanks for the help with the yarn, I see what they mean now. Not sure it'll work for a tote bag though. Shame!

I couldn't agree more about the mags. I have yet to see to single bad review of a yarn, or book, or needles, or anything, which kind of defeats the purpose. The Knitters Review website is far better for that- Clara rocks. Not completely comprehensive, and US based, but when she reviews a yarn she really reviews it

Oh, that's worth knowing about. I think I might give the magazines a miss. Do any of them just do patterns and so on, rather than all the bumf that's in Knitting?

Next two projects:

• some sort of hat, done in tubular knitting, made from albatross yarn. For the plane etc, while I'm tired and out of it. For the mum at school who hasn't still popped. (The green scaly hat went off to the green scaly one today.)
• a jumper, made from albatross yarn, two strands held together. For DS2. 2 strands tog, because the Denise needles don't go small enough, and I only have 40cm circulars in other needle sizes. I'll follow one of the make-it-up patterns.

I think the most pattern-dense ones are Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting. They still have a fair bit of review stuff but less gushing, and far more patterns per issue (I guess because they're quarterly rather than monthly though, to be fair).

Hmm, I think I can buy Vogue Knitting in Canada. Maybe I'll ask a Canuck to pick one up for me ... Canadian magazine stores have racks of knitting mags, it's all very depressing.

You can get it in our local newsagents so it shouldn't be too hard to come by I think W.H.Smith sell it, and Borders definitely do (and IK).

Ok, I had a tiny go at tubular knitting last night, using Montse's second cast on, and that worked fine. I can really see the point to provisional cast ons, all of a sudden.

I've realised, tubular knitting would be perfect for making a tie!

I am liking the tubular knitting. Just working on a tension square, then will make a hat. But it's very nice and squishy, iykwim.