Knitting Circle! Pruni, NQC, Tamum, Zippi, JimJams, MB, FMF and everyone else...

[Tatties]

Following on from my other thread I would like to thank you all for pointing me in the right direction wrt learning to knit.

That site you linked to NQC was fab, really good, I have taught myself how to cast on, purl, cast off, and reminded myself of the good old knit stitch! (I have a picture of my trial piece if anyone fancies a larf)

And now I have a project - I am going to knit myself a cosy for my cafetiere. There I've said it, can't go back on it now

So what are you all working on? Anyone want to join me in my Knitting Circle?

swirly socks sound lovely pruni.

there is a woman somewhere who makes intentionally asymetrical socks and sells them for quite a lot of money

i'll tell you what I can't get about crochet. its the freedom. I mean you could go mad and crochet anything, in any direction. it just seems like...how do you know if you feck up?

ok looking at thread now

Oooh Pruni, let's see the socks!

Viticella, that Web of Wool site looks great.

Florence, I am normally a black socks type of girl too, but I think one of these yarns in a muted tone would be fine.

fillyjonk, I've just started with the dressmaking (although I feel quite bold for calling it that) Got some good advice from clever MN types as to which sewing machine to buy and will do that soon but in the meantime I made a dress for dd by hand. Cut round a simple dress she liked and fitted it on her. Am so chuffed with myself, lovely Liberty print fabric in their sale too.
Quicker than knitting....

god i need to get me to liberty next time I am in london

is there a thread welshmum?

I want someone to talk to me like I m a 3 year old.

ie

first lay out pattern. a flat surface is best

with your not-best scissors cut round the pattern

that sort of thing

fillyjonk - there is a wool shop in Penarth. I live 8 minutes walk from it .... although I love it, I just spend too much time and money in there!!!

(p.s. there's also a fishmonger!)

ejt

oooh yes, yarns n yarns

its lovely

i also like foxy's

some nice wool and a plate of their scrambled eggs/balsamicised tomatoes...mmmm

sadly-no car . so this is a rare pleasure

Why thenk you Pruni It's not quite as I hoped, as you know, but it's not bad. The wool was Lett Lopi (knitted double), which is quite harsh but felts really well. I've uploaded some photos that show how much the texture changes after felting- close up here and the bag itself here, although you can't see the straps and zip .

Well done Pruni! One week to go until my class. I like the look of that wool on Tatties' link.

PMSL .. one of those pics tamum looks like you've loosely knitted some knickers

have to say I love the little girl's cardigan .. was that difficult?

Oh that's nice Fio. Not karate like at all. The wool was Lett Lopi as I said 2 minutes ago

Twig, I see what you mean now I look Tis actually a rather beeyootiful scarf, hem hem. The girl's cardigan was dead easy, I made it up pretty much but I could easily write instructions if you want- I got the basic measurements from an Ann Budd book that's really useful for that kind of thing. I wanted to make something Monsoon-y, so that was what I came up with.

Tee hee. Don't blush, it makes me feel guilty

need to learn to increase / decrease and shape yet but I might hold you to that

Filly, it is VERY fillyjonkish to be worried by the freedom of crochet

I really like those Noni bags - I want a stripy baguette!

Re crochet, the actual technique seems surprisingly straightforward (those nice ladies in Liberty will give you a tutorial if you ask). I just followed the instructions in the Happy Hooker and so far it seems OK - have made one small skinny scarf and a few flowers. And actually crochet is so structured, if you get it wrong it is immediately obvious (your flowers go lopsided). Granny squares for example will not be square if you dont crochet into the right spaces! There is a lovely granny square scarf in one of the new Rowan books.

I haven't sewn things (mostly ra-ra skirts!) since I was a teenager and really I think it is one of those things that is incompatible with small children at least in an awake state. My mum had a sewing room under the stairs where she could lock away sharp scissors, needles, pins etc - I can't do that!

I did put a thread up about buying a sewing machine but I haven't found one about making a simple dress. Literally all I did was lay out her dress on a flat surface and cut round it (with not best scissors ), in two bits; simple vest shaped top and skirt bit that I gathered on to the bottom of the top. I fitted it on her, adjusted the neck and armholes and length and finished it off. It was easy. We're going to NZ in a couple of weeks so I was trying to make a summer dress as an experiment, how much wear and tear can it take etc I always think anything I make is going to fall apart.

Tamum your stuff is amazing! What stitch have you used on the Noni pocket and navy cardigan?

Kikidee the wool I used for my cosy is Sirdar Nova Super Chunky (got it cheap at a wool sale).

I am going to attempt a blanket for Chubbleigh - how long do you reckon it'll take me guys?!

Oh thank you Tatties . Do you mean the knitting stitch, or how I sewed it? (sorry to be dense)

The knitting stitch (but would also be interested in how to sew up!)

Oh, they're just stocking stitch- it disappears when you felt it (you can see the difference with the bag- the stitches have vanished). The frilly bit of the cardigan is a picot edging; I can find the details if you want

Ahh... maybe it's the angle they were photographed at but it looks different to my stocking stitch

I'm winging it, making matching sweaters for the twins. I bought what I thought was DK wool but it's actually more like 4ply. But I misremembered the pattern specification anyway and should have got Aran weight. Sigh. I don't have a suitable 4ply pattern so, having checked tension, am making the largest size of the aran sweater and hope it will be okay. I don't even have the correct size needles so this is all v experimental for me!