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 only began to find crochet easier once I was in the middle of making my lockdown blanket. It sort of clicked, and I could finally see why some people find it easier and quicker than knitting. I'm still better at knitting though!

What a lovely group! Such gorgeous work.
I am a crocheted, and taught myself about 12 years ago now. It was not an easy start, but I eventually got it. I have made quite a few blankets, my first big one was a granny stripe from Attic24s blog. I make quite a bit of amigurumi as presents (Toothless, Groot, elephants, Totoro, Wicket and more but can't remember right now). I made my parents a Sophie's Universe blanket for their 50th wedding anniversary which my siblings clubbed in to buy the Scheepjes yarn for. Loved working with that yarn. I usually use Stylecraft dk as it's cheap and has a great range of colours.
I recently taught myself to knit and have made a pair of dk socks using Winwick mums pattern and now am on the second one of a pair in 4ply. I have also knitted a hat, actually did that before the socks, and it has a relief of trees around. Sadly, the yarn has a wool content so I find it too itchy, as I do my socks, so I need to get a fleece liner for the hat. The socks I wear over another pair so my wellies fit better.

I love that blanket @Soontobe60. Really beautiful.

I have been knitting since I was 7 or 8 (now in my fifties) and taught myself to crochet about three years ago. I've always knitted clothes, apart from the odd cushion cover and baby blanket. With crochet, I have only made throws/blankets so far. I like to make anything that has plenty going on, so cables, fair isle, shaping or lots of colour changes. In saying that, I'm not very good at the tension when I'm knitting fair isle, but at least it keeps my interest. I just ripped out a top down, stocking stitch cardigan because I thought I was going to die of boredom. It has now started morphing into an aran cardigan instead.

@lazylinguist, can I ask what book you used to help you knit socks? They are my nemesis. I have tried and tried to knit socks and am beginning to think the endless failures are something to do with my sausage fingers. I optimistically bought three lots of sock yarn and have not managed one sock beyond turning the heel, at which point stitches were slipping off the needles left, right and centre. One of the sock yarns is now being knitted into a hat!!

Fabulous - I shall watch this with interest.

Longtompot use alpaca. Much less itchy.

Can I join? I've got another thread at the mo cos I'm looking for a pattern for an unfussy but not plain baby blanket for my new step grandchild! I don't want it to look like a load of granny squares sewn together, or be an odd shape, but I also don't want plain or chunky. I'm hard to please. I enjoy crocheting and knitting and am so excited to have a new baby to make for.

Vienesewhirligig, l made this. It was hard, but worth. I’ve made it twice. One of the parents of the recepients now has it as a wall hanging.

Wow that is beautiful! How long did it take you?

@lazylinguist ooh, my kind of thread! Shamelessly place marking here.
I'm also a dedicated sock knitter. On my 14th pair so far, different lengths and degrees of chunkiness, but mostly from brightly & crazily coloured yarn. I wear them instead of slippers but some of my friends wear them in their wellies (rural Wales).

I use the same pattern everytime, from ravelry, but am always on the lookout for new ones.

Not too long. I did it in Aran weight, so it grows quite fast.

3 weeks? The trees😖. The second time l did it, l kept asking myself why l was doing it again! But it is lovely

It’s called The Tree of Life.

@VienneseWhirligig you could do a "Call the midwife" blanket. Its always been a hit with people i made it for.

Thanks for your replies! The Call The Midwife blanket is lovely too. I really like the tree one though, it looks just the thing (but complicated!).

Sadly, the yarn has a wool content so I find it too itchy I find there's wool and wool iyswim, longtompot - there are lots of types that aren't itchy at all (to me anyway). Merino seems to be good.

@lazylinguist, can I ask what book you used to help you knit socks? Definitely- I'm a bit evangelical about it! It's called '(Getting Started) Knitting Socks' by Ann Budd. It starts by taking you through the basic sock construction in a very carefully-explained way, via a pattern for plain women's medium sized socks in aran wool. Then the rest of the book gives patterns based on exactly the same method, but for different weight yarns, different sizes and eventually extra bits like cable, lace patterns etc. Once you've made one pair, it all makes perfect sense, I promise!

That blanket is beautiful, TheEmoji. I've never knitted anything for a baby! I didn't learn until I'd already had my own, and by the time I was good enough to knit presents (if indeed I am ), I knew nobody at the baby stage. I guess I'll have to wait for grandchildren...

@lazylinguist Thank you. I will have a look for that sock book. I will NOT be beaten by socks

Jolly good - that's the spirit! I keep meaning to go back and have another go at the sock pattern that beat me - the first one I ever tried, which caused me to buy the book in the first place. I don't think it was a dodgy pattern- it's one of the most popular ones on Ravelry. It was obviously just too much for my brain to cope with!

Getting started knitting socks you say @lazylinguist?

It's what I use for my socks too!

It's great isn't it, NerrSnerr? Straightforward, sensible and practical! I haven't made any of the fancier ones in there yet (cable, lace etc). Have you?

Inspired by this thread i have decided to knit some socks for DS, this morning I found a digital pattern on Lovecraft for £1,24, so not a lot of money.
Downloaded it, 2 pages most of it waffle but
No details on what type wool to use, how much wool you need.
Starts "i assume you know how to knit socks" and says your favorite type of heel.
It was worse than useless. Lovecraft have gone back to the designer to review the pattern.
Trouble is you can see nothing of the pattern before you buy it.

How infuriating, bruffin! "I assume you know how to knit socks" . Hope this doesn't put you off making some socks though - maybe there's a free pattern on Ravelry that might take your fancy?

I tend to only buy patterns from designers who've made some patterns freely available so I have a good idea that they know how to write a pattern.

My next job is a pterodactyl, I was going to order the pattern online but found I could get a book containing it and load of other patterns for £10 instead so I'm having to be patient and wait until it arrives on Wednesday.

It means I should get on and finish the sloth i'm making before then but i have 12 fiddly claws to make and I'm lacking the motivation!

A few years ago, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to learn to knit socks. A long time later, I have knitted 1 whole sock and approximately 90 of the second one. All I need to do is to knit the last part of the foot and the toe - but am I doing it? Am I heck.

I think that, technically, I have kept my resolution - but I should finish the second one too. One sock is not much use to dh.

I am currently knitting a scarf, in feather and fan, for ds2’s girlfriend, for Christmas - I have given ds3’s girlfriend, and ds1’s fiancée something hand knitted, so I feel I need to do something for ds2’s. I was hoping to crochet a virus shawl - I love this pattern, and I could have completed it quickly, but he doesn’t think she would like it, so I’m knitting a scarf instead, and it is taking me longer.

Perhaps, when it’s done, I’ll have time to knit the rest of dh’s sock, and he could have the pair for Christmas - I know - I spoil him!

@VienneseWhirligig - I have knitted the Apple Tree Blanket for a friend - if you can do cabling and bobbles, you can do this blanket. And it is knitted in DK, so it does knit up reasonably fast.

stdg that's lovely! I've never done bobbles before but can cable, I will check out the pattern to see how to approach the bobbles and if I can work out what it means I'm self taught so my skills are very much sporadic depending on what I've had to learn for a specific project.

SDTG yes the only problem with knitting socks is the slight sense of 'second sock ennui'. Apparently there's a method whereby you can knit two socks simultaneously on the same circular needle or something. Sounds like witchcraft to me though.

murmurgam - I'm intrigued by the thought of a knitted (or crocheted?) pterodactyl! My dc are a bit old for knitted toys. Well, in theory they are... I suspect they'd actually go mad for a knitted/crocheted otter, pterodactyl, Toothless or Groot.

So many things I'd like to make, but rl gets in the way! I suspect if I lived alone I'd turn into a mad knitting woman, sitting hunched over my needles surrounded by a house in chaos and squalor.