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!

Because matching socks are for boring other people

Very pretty colours CrochetBug

They are gorgeous CrochetBug. What kind of yardage do I need for a pair of socks? I was looking at the sockalong tutorial and it seems to be American and only give weight of yarn needed

Thanks @bruffin. I can't claim any, erm... whatever (can't think of the word) on choosing the colours. They came in a subscription box I used to get.

@Barmbraic each sock used just under 1 50g ball which is approx 205m (or 224yds) apparently. (That sounds like an awful lot of yarn!) I would imagine the amount you need would vary slightly depending on which pattern you use.

Wow - they are fab,CrochetBug! I am a boring wearer of matching socks, but dd(15 ) makes a point of wearing odd socks most of the time (including to school, where she's supposed to wear plain black ones ). It's annoying trying to pair her socks in the laundry!

I wear odd socks precisely so I don't have to pair them in the laundry I've been doing so since I was about 13.
Weirdly when my dc were small their socks not only had to match the other sock, but also the general color of their outfit
They are teens now and I'm not convinced they wear clean socks everyday. Never mind matching ones

I gave up matching socks a few years ago. The deal was, I got them washed and dried and it was up to dh and dc to match them and put them away. The feckers would leave the bag for weeks at the top of the stairs and just dig out what they wanted. I may have had a hissy fit. These days the socks still aren't matched but at least they are put away

All those sock examples are so impressive. I am a matching sock person, definitely. But I need to learn to invest in good quality yarn. The blue I am using is really nice quality, not like the cheepo stuff I normally get! I have also asked for yarn for Christmas, so my stash is about to grow!

Ok - so here is something I need help with. I will take all the advice and guidance you can give me on blocking. I have never done it before, did not even know it was a thing. I just finished a cute scarf for a friend, and at the end, it says: use your preferred method to block ( or something to that effect). So I looked it up and I am terrified of ruining it. Advice, good tutorial, any help ver very welcome!

@spamm I've never blocked anything. I'm not entirely sure what it does tbh.

I often don't bother with blocking, but sometimes you pretty much have to. I made a leaf pattern scarf with wavy edges, out of very boingy wool. Unblocked it scrunched together to the point that you couldn't even see the leaf pattern.

I bought some T pins and cheap foam interlocking mat tiles. I then sprayed the scarf with water and pinned it out to its proper shape and left it to dry. No probs! It's one of the few things I've bothered to block though.

I probably wouldn’t bother blocking a scarf but then I’m lazy! I only do it with clothing when I want to stretch it out a bit. I pin the offending item to a towel once it’s been dampened in the washing machine (I am also too lazy to hand wash 😂🙈) and fling it over a radiator...

However I am not lazy when it comes to socks... Matching all the way!

I bought DS a pack of socks from Sainsbury's once that were unmatched on purpose, I had to go and buy another pack as pairing them was doing my head in

I always block my stuff, it neatens up the stitches and makes them sit all nice and even but I wouldn't pin it out unless it's lace, just wet it and dry it normally.

Squiiiish! This should keep me going with the occasional granny squares for a while!

Ooh lovely colours @lazylinguist! Are they for your Lotti.... whatsit called

With the blocking... what I don't understand is, if you have to wet the garment to block it, doesn't it then get 'unblocked' when you wash it?

Here's my (wildly inaccurate regarding colours) Mary for my Nativity set.

Omg @CrochetBug Mary is amazing! well done! Love the colours 😂

And @lazylinguist those colours are beautiful!

When I've blocked before (once haha) the jumper had a really damp smell to it afterwards? Obviously it dried too slowly or maybe I over wet it

That's adorable, CrochetBug! (if it's not disrespectful to refer to the Virgin Mary as 'adorable' ).

No, my Lettlopi whatsit is being made out of Drops Nepal. The stuff in the picture is for my very slowly ongoing collection of crochey granny squares which I may eventually turn into a blanket.

Oh and yes, you'd need to pin out or stretch out the thing again if you washed it. Although as Flavia points out, some things are fine just being washed and laid out to dry.
sophs - I think wool can get that damps sheep smell if you just wet it rather than wash it!

Thanks. I don't think adorable is at all disrespectful, and if it were then its less so than "derpy" which is the description DS2 kindly gave to Mary's face

Derpy Not one of the characteristics usually attributed to her, I don't think.

My friend sent me this photo of her newborn wrapped in a c2c rainbow blanket that I made for her. She said all the midwives have commented on it.
Im loving all the photos of your work so far.

Hi all- I love this thread, I hope it’s ok to join so far in but I just finished a blanket I started more than a year ago and I wanted to share with you...
I started crochet about 2 years ago. I love it. Have made several big blankets and acquired more wool than I’ll ever be able to get through. I admire all of your creations, I love scrolling this thread every few days. That rainbow c2c is beautiful. I might have to copy it...

Wow - more beautiful photos! Isla gorgeous blanket on a gorgeous baby!

spinningheart - stunning! That's just the kind of thing I hope to eventually turn my granny squares into, but they are my little 'in between knitting projects' things, so it will take a while!

Oh how lovely Isla! They're beautiful!

Wow spinningat the amount of work in that! Impressive!

I've done no knitting except for altering my DDads jumper which I finished thankfully.

I'd bought a dye kit a while ago and I've been giving it a go dying some lace wool that was beautiful but a bit wishy washy in colour. I was so pleased at how it turned out I thought I'd attempt a goldish yellow by mixing brown and yellow. It came out green a goldish green but still green. So, more practice needed I think...

Lovely blankets! DD2 is just getting into knitting and has asked for a knitting kit for a beanie hat for Christmas but my goodness they are expensive. Has anyone got an suggestions of a good source for a kit or is it better to just buy everything separately and make a DIY one?