Knit, Crochet and Natter Thread

[lazylinguist]

I was hoping to join a local rl knit&natter group, and then lockdown happened. But knitting and crochet are keeping me cheerful during lockdown and as the nights are drawing in!

There seem to be quite a few ongoing chat threads on other MN boards, so I wondered if there might be any interest in a rolling knitting and crochet thread, for anyone who fancies chatting about knitting, crochet and life in general of course! Total beginners and scarily experienced needle-wizards and everyone in between, all welcome.

Share your projects, yarn stash confessions, pattern niggles or newbie questions. Not sure if it will fizzle out after a few posts, but hey ho, worth a try!

I'm also bored of all my projects but I am forcing myself to get on with them. Especially as one of them is hooking together a Candy's Hug. I've been so SO lax...

I accidentally bought all this yarn. Don’t you hate it when that happens!

@lazylinguist I love sewing mainly and have been doing so since I was a child. However, for you to say that you like knitting socks has interested me. For some time now I've been looking for plain (shades of brown) socks which are not too thick. I've given up as most of the ones in the shops are black, grey or chunky. Is my taste really so unusual?

I've started knitting my first pair - it seemed like a good idea at the time. On a great website (winwickmum) it mentions that the first sock should be regarded as a 'sacrificial' sock as it'll never be as neat as further efforts. You can say that again. Have you any tips? There have been times when I fear for my sanity. I think I can see where I've gone wrong on this first effort - the heel is just about right but I doubt it'll be wearable. You learn from your mistakes and there's a lot of learning here!

I accidentally bought all this yarn.

I did my grocery shopping in Aldi once and came out with a trolley load of velvet yarn 🤔

Soupdragon😂

Yeah we’ve all been there.

Genius, those colours are nice. What’s it for?

I used to waste money on clothes, shoes and make up. Now l waste it on yarn and plants.

Lovely colours STDG

The rest of my black friday stash has come, mostly to make presents , but i cantcremembercwhat i ordered the WYS aran for

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince

Genius, those colours are nice. What’s it for?

I used to waste money on clothes, shoes and make up. Now l waste it on yarn and plants.

You mean it has to be for something? I can’t just buy it because!

This hilarious!!! From a fb knitting group!

IS hilarious!

I found the painting . It is by Henry Lamb of his daughter Felicia
I thinks it lovely but not what you expect behind a the Chancellor making speaches

ginghamtablecloths
You can say that again. Have you any tips? There have been times when I fear for my sanity.

I have only one tip. Get the book that taught me how to make socks. Game-changer. I too feared for my sanity. Now I'm better at making socks than anything else. It's called 'Get Started Making Socks' by Ann Budd. Dear Ann - I owe her so much. I now feel I truly understand the way of the socks. Since I bought the book I haven't yet tried a sock pattern from anywhere else, so I don't know if I'd still be stumped by other patterns.

If the girl in that painting is knitting, why does she have no needles?

I did my grocery shopping in Aldi once and came out with a trolley load of velvet yarn

Well, that is the problem with Aldi. At least it was only yarn, not a set of dumbbells, an 8-man tent, a large plastic crocodile and a bassoon. Be thankful for small mercies, I say.

Beautiful yarn haul btw SDTG. I rarely buy yarn without a purpose in mind. The only times I have done, it sits in my stash for years!

@lazylinguist

I did my grocery shopping in Aldi once and came out with a trolley load of velvet yarn

Well, that is the problem with Aldi. At least it was only yarn, not a set of dumbbells, an 8-man tent, a large plastic crocodile and a bassoon. Be thankful for small mercies, I say.

And an inflatable canoe.

Exactly, SoupDragon. I guess you could keep yarn in the canoe. Or sit in it and knit. Ooh I've never knitted on a boat. Has anyone else? I've knitted on a train. I was going to knit on a plane once, but was worried pointy objects might be banned.

I am thinking of using it to make Kieran Foley’s Renaissance Crescent - I’ve made it once already, and I think it would be lovely in the blues, greens and cream.

The pinks and purples, I just fell for - and it made more sense to have a bigger order, thus reducing the cost of postage per ball. Honest guv!

I’ve got 2 great Ann Budd books, top down knitting and one which gives different sizes/ weight to make various items. I use them a lot.
I bought 6x100 g balls of blue acrylic in the range today for £10, making a buggy blanket for newest grandson.

Third time trying to post this so apologies if they suddenly all post at once! Bit chilly so snuggled under both a blanket I’ve made and one I’m making!

Looks cosy, petridishmystery! Lovely colours.
Knittingnanny - I just had a look at those Ann Budd books on Amazon. I'm intrigued by the 'different sizes' one!

I'm after some advice.

I've done a lot of crochet, but although I knitted a couple of kid's jumpers about 20 years ago, I've only really got into knitting in the past year (5 pairs of basic socks and a top-down in the round adult jumper).

Would I be nuts to consider one of the following from Ravelry?
www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fern—feather
www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/starfall
www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/silverlining

I think these are all bottom up and to be honest I'd rather find something similar that's top down, so when it all goes to hell (as it will) when I'm knitting the yoke, I can just frog it and start again, and not have to try and pick up a gazillion stitches....

They're gorgeous and I'm tempted, but I am not a confident knitter at all.

this one is top down

I would probably go for a 2 colours like the fern feather or or aboreal for the first time. When i was using 3 colours The Neville( picture above ) it did get really tangled and i spent a lot of time unravelling wool. I think it would be a bit frustrating if its your first time

Just looked again the fern feather and silver lining are topdown, but silverlining isnt.

Grumpy - I attempted jumpers with colour work (a design on the front, rather than a yoke) when I was really still quite a beginner knitter. My first one wasn't great, because I hadn't learnt how to control the tension of the yarn I was stranding behind the stitches in the other yarn iyswim. So the section with the design was a bit tight and puckered compared with the rest of the jumper. The second one was much better! I didn't really find it technically hard to do the colour work though. For me the worst bit about jumpers is the sewing up afterwards.

I'd go for it! But watch your tension.