Knit, Crochet and Natter into 2021

[lazylinguist]

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

Previous thread here

@MindyMalik have you checked out finished projects for that CAL on Ravelry, I always find that's gives me a good idea of whether my colour choices will work or not.

I follow #knit.love.wool. My next project is going to be the Goldfern design when the yarn (and all the circular needles!) arrives and I’ve finished my latest pair socks.

I follow #knit.love.wool.

Yes, so do I, thanks to this thread! I love her jumper designs. Goldwing is the one I'm planning to make - I love the main colour/motif colour reversal in it.

I’m sure one of the contestants on Only Connect a few weeks ago was wearing the Goldwing design!

Thanks everyone. Sorry I'm always going off on a tangent. I "stole" my weighted blanket back from DS1. Its really helped. I think ordering the beads to make him his own is top of my list for next pay day.

My CAL will be a riot of whatever yarn I have spare. It will probably end up hideous

All my crochet blankets are made from leftovers @CrochetBug with varying degrees of tastefulness!

Hideously beautiful 😁

Tell me about ordering beads.. Its that to weight the blanket? I really love wrapping in blankets and have been considering making my own weighted blanket. Even in summer I've the heavy fluffy blanket on me causer I like the weight of it.

Have you a picture @crochetbug I'd love to see.

That pink and white pattern is beautiful up thread, sorry I'm not very good at remembering who posted what 🥴

@Myshitisreal yes beads to weight the blanket. I'm just going to sew pockets into an old duvet cover and then attach cam snaps so we can fix it to his duvet. That's the plan anyway

What did you want a picture of? (Sorry. Confused)

I hate making squares. They always look fine till I try to sew them together and then it looks rubbish. Is there a trick I'm missing?

@crochetbug sorry I thought you had crocheted a weighted blanket.

Ill look at pictures of anything 😂

@reachersloveinterest what method are you using to join them?

In what way does it look rubbish?

Do you have any pictures? would just be checking the sides are even etc . The joining method dictates how flat they lie, how much seam you see etc so hard to know without seeing. So if I join two squares back loop only it will lie flatter etc
. So many variables.

There are also join as you go methods but I've always been a bit unsure of those,

The first blanket I crocheted was made from worsted weight merino wool. It weighs a tonne (and cost a fortune in wool), would be no need for extra weight.

Haha no I bought one! I looked into crocheting one, but it cost as much in yarn as buying one so seemed a little pointless. Other than enjoying making it that is!

I can't really show you my most recent one as it will totally out me! It was a gift and though the recipient liked it, I wasn't happy with it. I think the squares were a tiny bit loose and the the holes in the corners between joined squares a bit big. I'll keep practicing.

Urgh; black wool

I'll be standing in the window tomorrow making the black crewmate & making white's top hat!

@Myshitisreal here's some pictures of stuff I made ages. A 6 day kid blanket made with Caron baby cakes. A vampire hunter doll (she has 'wooden' stakes in her bag) and hearts i made for my mum to hang in her window for the NHS.

Also a cardigan and the hat, cowl and mitten sets I made my nieces last Christmas.

Wow - they are all absolutely lovely, @CrochetBug ! I particularly love the blanket and the rainbow cardigan. Another thing in my 'haven't tried that yet' list is anything with buttons!

Do you have a link for the hearts @CrochetBug ? They look a great shape compared to some I've seen.

Mr Duck now has a friend. I gave up on the jacquard pattern it was supposed to have after several attempts and just did a solid colour with some surface crochet.

I'll try and find one @tizwozliz. My mum gave me a printed pattern, but it was the same as one I'd used online previously. They are a really good shape.

Hello, what’s the best technique you’ve found for casting on (knitting)? Mine always looks ok but could be neater, the rest of the knitting is nice and even I just feel that I’m missing a trick with the casting on...

@Gardenerboo

Hello, what’s the best technique you’ve found for casting on (knitting)? Mine always looks ok but could be neater, the rest of the knitting is nice and even I just feel that I’m missing a trick with the casting on...

I don't know what it's called, but i cast on as if knitting but catching the stitch, if that makes sense? Anyway, I find it near impossible to avoid it turning into loose loops when I get to the next row unless I knit into the back of the stitch on the first row, then it turns out beautifully (if I do say so myself )

Ahh top tip thank you!

I used to just use the long tail cast-on, but I've used that one that's variously called 'twisted German ' or 'Old Norwegian' cast-on, which is good when you need a stretchy one.

I need top tips for finding the back loop using black yarn or I really will be standing in the kitchen window this afternoon 🙄

I hadn't realised how much difference dark-coloured yarn made to being able to see what you were doing, but had similar problems doing a dark navy crochet square last night, lucysmam. The 'boob light' is my only recommendation (mine was out of charge last night unfortunately).