want to knit something I'd actually wear......

[lilolilmanchester]

haven't knitted for years, but would like to knit again. I am going to knit some baby clothes for hospitals/hostels etc... but would like to knit something for myself to wear too. I used to knit my own cardis/jumpers etc when I was a student, but spent an hour in local wool shop the other day and didn't find a single pattern I would knit. Any suggestions? (am pushing 50, size 12 -14, average height, not particularly trendy but also not completely conservative).

check out garnstudio, they have free patterns to download for knitting and crochet. I've a stack of their patterns waiting to be done. I can't recommend their wool as I've never used it but I have put a thread up to see if anyone can recommend it.

And join Ravelry, they have lots of patterns for free.

thank you both, will take a look (later - too warm and sunny now so back out into the garden for me!)

Join ravelry. Much better selection of patterns on line than in any old wool shop. Be prepared to spend on some lovely yarn too.

However long you spend, if you knit with pound shop acrylic it'll feel like- um poundshop acrylic!

Think about making a nice simple wrap /shawl first to get your knitting mojo back and you'll be fine.

(I'm knitting an "Iolanthe" cardigan at the moment for me- pop the name in the pattern search bit of rav, it's lovely in wool/silk 4 ply, so not a 1st project as there is alot of knitting in it, but it isn't hard)

I second the Garnstudio, lots of nice patterns. (i've answered your thread, pleiades)

Garnstudio patterns are also listed on ravelry. THey can be "quirky" so it's useful to see if anyone else has any problems with them.

I want to do Vitamin D or Blue Honey when I have time to knit for myself. And I love Iolanthe as well but I agree with Theas, work up to that one!

Garnstudio have some fab patterns in chunky yarn, which means you will see results that much faster. Saralyn has basically forced me to go and look at their website tonight by saying how good DROPS yarn is and so I am toying with Lady of the Lake - at those prices it'd practically be rude not to

tribpot I've added Blue Honey to my queue! It's gorgeous as are the other 2 patterns. Looking at Lady in the lake, it's done on circular needles working back and forth. Do you have any experience of this? I've another garnstudio pattern which uses the same technique and is my next project. I'm not used to circulars and assume the item will feel heavy across the length of the needle. Any tips?

Pleiades45, I do most of my knitting on circulars and most of my knitting is flat (not actually in the round). The reasons for this:

1. If you're doing something big, like a cardigan or blanket, you have much less weight to carry on the needles because most of the stitches are on the cord between the needles, which can rest in your lap. Unlike on straights which (a) aren't long enough unless you get the uber 'tuck in your belt' ones and (b) require you to hold all the weight of the stitches (belt comment refers again!)

1. If you have a kit, you get say 6 different sizes of needle plus 5 or so different lengths of cord, so you can do many projects without needing to invest in new needles all the time (somehow mysteriously despite this I am still always buying them - hey ho! The theory works).

What you will like about this type of knitting is that it's seamless. I think Blue Honey is knitted all in one piece. So this means no/little finishing at the end. However, seamless knitting really depends on using circular needles to hold all the stitches in one go without your arms falling off in the process.

If you don't have any circulars yet, and don't want to go mad buying a kit I think it's still worth getting a cable and the right size sets of tips separately, as then you are starting a modular collection you can build up if you need to. The pattern will probably tell you what the minimum length cable you'll need is (as well as the needle sizes of course). I ordered a 150cm cable from Hulucrafts last week to do the Spiral Blanket of Awesome and you can buy the tips there (or indeed many other places) as well.

Hope that helps! Despite having done a brilliant course on finishing techniques a few weeks ago, I'm a massive fan of seamless knitting, and thus of circulars.

Tribpot, I actually have a full set of bamboo circular needles from ebay! I needed to purchase one to finish the neck of a jumper and I was also wanting to try the magic loop technique for socks which required a finer needle so the full set was quite economical, especially as they are sat collecting dust look pretty.

I hadn't thought about it being a way to avoid seams, now I am intrigued. I think I'll finish this child's tank top quickly and progress to the circular needle project this one

Seamless knitting rocks Pleiades!

For small things like socks (well, sleeves or legs of baby things in my case) I am currently liking the two circulars method as you don't have all the messing about pulling the cables through that comes with magic loop. Plus it's less stress on the stitches at either end that tend to get stretched by the circular process.

i've got vitamin d in my queue too

tribpot i love the colours in your bsjs

Thanks WillieWaggle, I adore doing the Baby Surprise Jacket. Her Zimmerness is a legend. The Knitcol is just soooo cute, I am hoping to do another one for a baby boy later in the year, possibly in Renoir. Although now I see they've branched out from painters to composers, I have to do my mum something in Mozart!

I love the idea that i am a bad yarn buying influence, tribpot and yes, it's almost rude not buying at those prices.

If you are doing Lady of the Lake i would strongly recommend using Andes and not eskimo. eskimo is ime good for felting but for other stuff. It easily starts to shed (that's not really the correct English word is it? I mean when you start wearing the garment and bits of the wool curls up on the outside and it looks shabby).

saralyn - you are an ambassador for your nation's knitting industry, you should let DROPS know

I think what you mean is pilling rather than shedding, shedding being more like when the fibres start to fall off and spread over all your other clothes. But that's a good tip, thank you!

Btw I love the colour range for Andes although I think we may only be able to get some of them in the UK.

ah, yes, googled pilling now and that is what I meant.

Do you think Drops might give me a commission? (paid out in yarn of course)