Knit, Crochet and Natter into 2021

[lazylinguist]

A thread for chat about woolly crafts. All welcome, including complete beginners.

Previous thread here

The purple is www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/duinen

The yarn was from someone on Etsy but I think there are similar colours on Hobbii.co.uk

@MindyMalik if you have genuinely got narrower you can put a stitch at the end of the row in the other direction to straighten it out like: |||- and then put a border round the whole thing. I agree a border makes a big difference, especially a nice scalloped edge.

Actually more like: |||=

Hard to draw on here!!

Borders are definitely a help when it comes to slightly wonky edges. Picot edging is really easy to do in crochet, just make sure you don't do the corners tight.

Finished 'Reyna' (almost ran out of room on the needle!), just needs weaving in and blocking

Borders make a massive difference! I ditherered a bit over whether I could be bothered to do one on my Seaside Stashbusting blanket, but it looked sooo much better when I did.

I don't really need any more scarves...but I also rather like the idea of a scarfy wrap thing I saw on Pinterest where the sides became sleeves.

Ooh - any chance of a link to that? I keep getting adverts on Instagram for something similar (to buy, not make) which I really like, but fancied making rather than buying one!

I was going to treat myself to some of those needles someone recommended for sewing in ends to try and motivate myself to sew in the ends on this blanket which I "finished" 2 years ago. Delivery time is ages away though and no doubt I'll have gone off the idea by then!

Oh that's a lovely blanket, tizwozliz!

www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/faux-sweater-scarf

I was looking at this one yesterday, lazylinguist.

That blanket is beautiful tizwoozliz.

I couldn't work out turning the heel of my sock so I am nearly finished a tiny little baby sweater for my friend whose baby is due in a few weeks. I'm making it in Sublime cashmerino which is the most beautiful yarn ever.

@lazylinguist it's this I like the look of I've only pinned that one so far to remind me. I spend half the day wrapped up in one of my big blanket scarves but they flap about when I'm doing stuff so sleeves seemed ideal!

@Barmbraic I love that sweater scarf!! I've never seen anything like it before!
Unfortunately I only crochet but what a great find!

@lucysmam These are the bane of my life! I keep making them but I never manage to make them big enough or sew them up properly! Am determined to get it right tho. I don’t know why I find it so difficult, it’s just a sewn up rectangle!

@Barmbraic there’s a similar pattern available for the loom but I have yet to try it!

Two of my attempts

Ah ok - the one Barmbraic linked was more the kind of thing I'd seen. Annoyingly I can't find the one I liked on IG now. I think I might have linked to it on the first thread though.

Ok so I found and tested my crochet rings. I have 2 types.

The one that looks like a coiled spring doesn't hold the yarn . The loops for it are too big so it slips out again. I need to find some pliers to try and tighten it. It also came in 2 sizes, one sat over my knuckle which was not comfy and meant I couldn't bend my finger. The other, as you can see was rather tight (I do have fat fingers though)

The other one, which looks like a peacock and is actually really pretty held the yarn but I didn't find it helpful. I don't know if its because I wrap the yarn round the hook by moving the yarn rather than the hook (if that makes sense) or if it just needs practice. It is however size adjustable so you can make it fit, kind of.

Personally I probably won't persevere with it, I might try it again once or twice so my Mum doesn't think she wasted money, but I certainly won't be recommending them based on this mornings attempt.

I might wear the peacock one occasionally as a ring though

petridish the second one is more what I'm after than the first.

I'm just trying to work out whether to buy more than one yarn cake, I can't visualise the lengths & not having picked a pattern probably doesn't help either. Or I could just buy one more expensive one because the colours are shouting to me

Mmm. Yarn cake. Yarn... and cake. I've never actually bought a yarn cake!

Thanks CrochetBug that's really helpful. I tend to move yarn rather than hook to so maybe it wouldn't be as useful as I thought.

I'll order one of the ones that was a quid or so from overseas instead of the one I linked, not much money wasted if it's no use to me then.

Thats probably a good idea @lucysmam. You could always treat yourself to a better one if you find the cheap one useful. :)

IIRC one yarn cake makes 1 scarf, I think I used 2 and a bit to make a baby blanket. I always need more yarn than I think I will. Quite often the patterns on Ravelry will tell you how much yarn they used which is helpful. One of those sleeved blanket things is on my 'to make' list. When I've finished some WIPs that is.

Aha - I found the sleevy scarfy thing I saw on Instagram here it's quite like the one you posted, Barmbraic.

@lazylinguist

Mmm. Yarn cake. Yarn... and cake. I've never actually bought a yarn cake!

I got a winder and swift for Christmas - now I can bake my own yarn cakes! Yarn cakes are so squishy and lovely, and lovely to use, too.

Before I click go on my Wool Warehouse order which I've deliberated over for aaaaages, do they ever offer discount codes?

@lucysmam sc23 should get you 10% off

Yay! I'll try it now, thanks CrochetBug!

Unless anything is already discounted - the codes don't work with those items.

My caron cake scarf , colour was turkish delight, i really enjoyed making it,
I am very tempted to buy more caron cakes, they have some lovely colours.