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!

Awww! I am sure we'd all like you very much, SDTG! So much sympathy for you depression and anxiety sufferers. I had bad anxiety after having dc2 for over a year, but never sought help for it. I was scared of going to the doctors as I didn't like the thought of being medicated and was worried they'd think I was unfit to look after my children. It got better gradually and I'm fine now, with a very occasional blip. Exercise, losing weight and mindfulness helped massively.

Thanks for the welcome. I do still knit European style, which sometimes makes it difficult when I am using British or American patterns or videos.

@Crazzzycat - here is the pattern for the cactus.

www.gathered.how/knitting-and-crochet/knitting/free-cactus-knitting-pattern/

And I attach a photo of the first one. I made a couple of small mistakes, but only took a couple of hours and I learnt so much about knitting on four needles. See photo below! I now need to learn crochet to do the flowers.

I live in the USA now, so today is Thanksgiving. Will be sitting down to knit after I finish de-junking and cleaning the spare room, as my parents are coming to visit for a couple of days. I am excited to show Mom my recent projects. She is a quilter.

@Crazzzycat
I love the jumpers you posted Grumpy. They don’t look too complicated, but may be a good idea to try a bit of that colour work pattern on a smaller scale first?
Definitely. I might try a scarf or something to get into the swing of it.

I've just ordered 3 patterns from that designer - they were on 3 for 2, that's my excuse.

Here’s my current work in progress - I’m making socks for Christmas for my two DDs. If they turn out to be too terrible to be gifted then I’ll keep them for me!

How long do socks take?

Crochetbug

‘ If not I'll send a ball of yarn in my place’

You could add googly eyes to it aka Trumos wig, Spitting Image stylee!

How long do socks take?

Weeks. If you're me. My local knitter friend could probably knock a pair out in an evening or two!

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince

Crochetbug

‘ If not I'll send a ball of yarn in my place’

You could add googly eyes to it aka Trumos wig, Spitting Image stylee!

I was going to say with googly eyes but thought I would seem weird

I was honestly going to say with googly eyes too!

I started the socks last Friday and I’ve knitted one and a half. That’s just evenings in front of the tv (while DH snoozes!) I’m still a sock knitting novice so am pleased at how quickly they knit up.

You truly are my people.

I'm currently lying under my crochet blanket on the sofa feeling a bit sorry for myself, but the shared weirdness and googly eyes are definitely helping!

Who doesn’t love a googly eye?😁👀

Our Alexa has googly eyes 👀

👀
I've been crocheting a granny square this evening, as I'm a bit bored with my paper chain and haven't got any other WIPs until my Lettlopivest yarn and needles arrive! I'll add it to my pile of granny squares waiting for me to make something out of them. I'm thinking maybe a bag - I haven't got enough of the yarn to make a blanket and I'm not even sure what yarn it was, as I bought it soooo long ago! I think it might be baby cashmerino though.

I'm in need of a new circular needle (I know it would make sense to buy an interchangeable set, but I fear once I get gucci kit, I'll stop knitting...bitter expensive experience) which I've had to buy online. Would I be utterly unreasonable to also buy a kg (4000m) cone of merino tweed? It's on special offer...

If it is on special offer, @Barmbraic, frankly it would be rude of you not to!

I am a fan of the knit pro zings - I think their fixed circulars would be as good as the interchangeables.

Barmbraic
I have the knitpro symfonie wood. You dont need to buy a full set. You can buy all the needles and cables separately. I bought a starter set which has 4,5,6mm needles and 3 cables, Knitpro also do a sampler set which has a set of symfonie,
Trendz and nova. You dont even need to keep to one type as they all fit the same cables

I really like the Knitpro Zings too, SDTG, I've got quite a few. I've ended up buying different types for the 4 needles I need for the jumper- Amazon didn't have all the right sizes in the same brand.

Goggly eyes I like how your minds work.

I've broken a good few symphonie needles so I've given up on them except for dpns and use addi lace circulars now, it works out cheaper when I don't have to replace them because they've come apart

It’s good to be weird👍🏻

All of my needles now are knitpro karbonz. I’ve gradually replaced all of my straight ones with them and also have a set of karbonz interchangeables. I find them really comfortable to knit with.

Does/has anyone subscribed to any crochet or knitting magazines in the past? And if so do you think they were worth the money?
Sewing is my main hobby and I used to subscribe to 'simply sewing' which was worth it for the free patterns but now I just have sewing mags lying around that I dont really use
Didn't know if the knitting/crochet ones had a good array of pattens inside? with Black Friday there's some good deals on mag subs!

Some of the best magazine knitting patterns I’ve had have come from “normal” magazines like Prima or Woman’s Weekly. The knitting/crochet magazines seem to have the occasional good pattern and the rest are fillers such as terrible crochet tank tops and other things you would never make!

Ahh thank you @NiceCardigan this is what I thought! It's the same with sewing mags! Maybe I'll just buy the odd crochet mag if I see it has a pattern I like rather than subscribing!