Knitting Club

[Redstart]

I've joined the Di Gilpin knit club (sic) but the site is currently down. She said they were putting little films of knitting techniques on the site so I hope that's what they are doing.

Has anyone else joined?

[sunflower]

I came accross it by accident a couple of weeks ago and it looked really interesting.

[Redstart]

If there are other knitters out there we could start one here - tell each other what we're knitting, give tips, ask for help, etc.

[Oola]

Brilliant idea, I know I could definitely use some help and inspiration :)

How about an RM knitter's club page?

[Pippa]

Oh yes please. I want to know how to cast on neatly without getting loops.

[Oola]

I'll add it to the list! I'm trying to find some time to get these pages designed, hopefully then Rich can code them properly and we'll have a nice online magazine website to go alongside the forum. Remember that if you've got a specialism or interest that you'd like to write about, you could do an article of a feature :)

[Redstart]

Brilliant - and you will get that article I promised eventually Oola! I haven't even had time to spin recently and reckon I'll be back to square one when I pick it up again. Wonder how long it will take me to knit a sweater with my homespun wool?

[sunflower]

What a great idea. I'm sure I could learn alot from others and sharing info on projects would be great.

[magic cochin]

Oh yes please. I want to know how to cast on neatly without getting loops.

It's a while since I did some knitting but in the past I always had a project on the go - the more complex the better! The last thing I knitted was a cosy sweater with pockets made from wool I bought on the Isle of Skye.

... as for casting on Pippa, make 2 stitches, then for the next one put the needle between the stitches, knit a stitch and put the loop back on the left hand needle. Continue by knitting between the previous 2 stitches and you'll get a nice firm edge. Easy!

Celia :)

[dinger]

Pippa if you want to cast on without getting loops dont cast on with two needles .leave a long enough length of wool for your amount of stitches loop over your forefinger and doing it this way it backstitches at the same time and you get a very neat edge. Not easy to describe really need someone to show you .

[Pippa]

Thanks for the help everyone, going to knitting workshop on Friday so will let you know how I get on.

[Healing Hands]

Brillent idea, I am always needing help.

[eleanor2]

i like knitting but am just knitting a bag at the moment.using knit mostly .then adding a couple of pearl rows using crosstitch silks.then later adding a couple of rows in the new fluffy silky wool.when finished going to decorate with beads.i am finding this plain knitting very relaxing at night.

[Redstart]

I'm really excited as I've just finished the neck shaping on my first knitted adult sweater front and just have to knit the rest of the shoulder (this evening) and then I start the sleeves.

I'm so pleased that I now find knitting relaxing and stress-free as I used to find it really stressful and that is why I've only recently felt like doing any.

Why!

Because an idiot crafts teacher rapped my knuckles with a ruler and told me I was doing it wrong all because I'm semi-ambidextrous and cannot throw the wool over with my right hand (I throw it over with my left hand), even though what I produced was good, even knitting. What a bad teacher and what a lesson in how to put someone off knitting!

[sunflower]

Congratulations Redstart on your jumper. I'm nearly at the end of knitting my jacket. But have'nt had time to pick it up recently. I do sooo love knitting......the colour of the wool, the texture....the smell if real wool....watching it grow. I'm sure knitting positively affects a sense of wellbeing.

[SheepyJames]

I've knitted since Granny taught me when I was about 5! I've always got something on the go - technique could always do with improvement, though. I knit a lot for the local hospital baby unit - very satisfying because everything is so small and I can finish a jacket in a few evenings!

I also spin but don't have a lot of time to do it so an adult jumper can take a couple of years!!! It's always great to hear about other knitters' projects. At the moment I'm trying to finish off a trendy cardigan for my great niece, aged 3. It has a curved front and involves a lot of picking up stitches, which I hate! Will be very pretty when it's finished, though.

Next project will be unpicking the cardigan I spent most of the autumn knitting!! It makes me look like Michelin Man so I might as well unpick it sooner as later. Large sigh!!

[Redstart]

Well, I not only finished the front of my sweater I started the sleeve. And found I'd forgotten how to increase. However, I found a good site with videos for both English and Continental style (what I do) knitting. It's knittinghelp.com which I've bookmarked as often it's the really basic things that don't appear in patterns and books that I've forgotten. I was really pleased to find a site with just the information I need. It showed several ways of increasing, including the ones I once knew and had forgotten.

[jazzactivist]

I have just finished knitting a sweater for my dog, Oscar. It is in striped Icelandic wool, but although the back looks nice I wasn't so good at shaping the front and it is a bit baggy there. Anyway, he doesn't seem to mind. It is the first item that I have knitted since I was a teenager and attempted a sweater for myself. I can manage plain and pearl and casting on and off, but don't now how to do more complicated stitches. An RM knitting page would be excellent. Like everyone here I have discovered that knitting is very relaxing, with a real sense of pride in the outcome. Where I live there is a traditional black and white knitting style called "Sanquhar stitch" and it looks very intricate. I would love to learn how to do it and pass it on.

[Redstart]

Ooh that would be good Jazz! I'm really interested in historic knitting and plan to knit a gansey and some fairisle once I have the confidence and skill to do so

You're like me, getting back to it after a long gap. What bothers me now that I've discovered it's so relaxing, is the fact that an idiot teacher put me off as a child. That one teacher put me off both sewing and knitting, although I got back to sewing years ago. Still, it's never too late to learn.

I don't know how far south you are but there's a super knitting shop in Perth!

[SheepyJames]

I've toyed with the idea of knitting my dog a sweater, jazzactivist. The problem wouldn't be knitting it, it would be getting it on said dog. She doesn't like being interferred with - even if I promised that it could be a good alternative to being hosed down during the winter months!

[Healing Hands]

At the moment I knitting some egg cup cosy for Easter presents for the family, they have little scarfs and a pom-pom in top!

[Redstart]

I did a load of knitting over the weekend and am now approaching the decreasing part of the second sleeve. I expect to have the jumper finished by next weekend and then it will be off to the sheep/wool centre to get yarn for the next project - a long waistcoat with mohair stripes. Anyone else about to knit something new?

[Pippa]

I attended a Knitting workshop recently and came away with regained confidence in knitting and have discovered moss stitch which I love, it lays flat, no curling up at the sides, it makes a lovely flat fabric. We also learned increasing and decreasing, sewing together with ladder (mattress) stitch which makes a lovely flat seam and how to knit beads in to a design and making buttonholes. The tutor was from Rowan and fired us all with enthusiasm. My next workshop is Domestic Bliss, which is making household articles, let you know how it goes.

[jazzactivist]

Well, I'm not sure if Oscar likes his new sweater, or not. He doesn't like having it put on and for an old dog he manages to sprint all round the house to get away from the ordeal! Once it's been on for a while he seems happy enough, and then doesn't want it taken off. I am going to try knitting him one in finer, softer wool. I have found that, for beginners, charity shops seem to have a good collection of wools. I don't think that anyone ever buys it so it pays to search the darker corners of the shop.

That long waistcoat sounds lovely, Redstart, one day I'll hopefully be able to tackle something like that.

[Redstart]

It's an easy pattern knitted on 5.5 mm needles and should knit up quickly. If it's easy I'll translate the pattern for you if you like Jazz.

[Healing Hands]

Also for me too please Redstart, sounds just what I need to get my teeth into something different.

Pippa, I love the sound of your workshop and the idea of making things for the household. I really wish we had a workshop around here. I have just finsihed making egg cosy for Easter presents.

[Oola]

The moss stitch sounds interesting, I'll have to look it up. I'm making a hideous blanket at the moment, basically making knitted squares that'll be joined together with the stitches alternating between vertical and horizontal. It'll probably look dreadful when it's finished but it'll help keep me warm in bed at night. Hey ho!

[Redstart]

I've just got back from a knitting shop in Burgdorf, Canton Bern - a superb shop and there not only can I buy Rowan yarns but I can also buy Rowan magazines (in German) and books (with separate German inserts) in English; so seeing all those lovely books of pattern, I ended up buying the Rowan book of Scottish Island Knits And this is in deepest rural Switzerland, not in a major town!

The shop stocks gorgeous yarns, including felted tweeds from Rowan and my next project is going to have to do something with that yarn, I love the colours. As it is, for my waistcoat I bought some dark blue-grey wool for the main yarn and the mohair stripes are going to be made with a mohair mix (70% mohair, rest man-made fibres) in a pale grey blue with tiny flecks of other colours. I can't wait to get started.

Needless to say, I'm really glad I took the afternoon off and took the train to that gorgeous shop in Burgdorf - I've definitely found my knitting wool shop (it has a lot more choice than the wool centre, where knitting wool shares space with fleece, felting, spinning and weaving as well as rare sheep and camels) and will be paying regular visits to it. And it's forecast to rain over the next three days (today was lovely and sunny with a clear blue sky) so I'll translate that pattern for you during the next few days. I'll see if OH can scan the picture in.

[Redstart]

There were mistakes in the pattern (it had been translated from English by a non-knitter I think!) which I've corrected and I will mail the pattern to anyone who sends me their e-mail address once I've finished the waistcoat and know the pattern is now correct.

[Healing Hands]

Was it today Redstart that you were going to your lovely wool shop. I envy you it sounds lovely.

At the moment I am knitting Lara a throw for her new house.

[Crocus]

I've knitted Pinky quite a few jerseys, and I put her on a diningroom chair in order to get it on her. One for everyday kind of! I also knit blocks (not very large though) in every imaginable colour for a community project where the women choose the colours they want from the knitted blocks. They then sew it together for blankets. Or knit 10 colours in a strip to resembles blocks - it's not as time consuming to sew strips together than single separate blocks.

[franbee]

My late Mum was involved in a knitted blanket project for Save the Children. Wool was delivered to her house which she sorted and distributed it to her knitters, mostly very elderly women. Then she collected the knitted strips and along with another lady stitched them together into blankets. Altogether she stitched and sent off over 250 blankets, I still have a couple here, which I throw on the bed when it's cold. She finally gave up after she turned 90.

[Healing Hands]

I remember when I was a child and my mother trying to teach me to knitt, now I cannot be sure but I think it was my grandmother making square, someone collecting them and the stiching them together to make a blanket, but I just cannot remember which charity it went too. That was why I wanted to learn to knitt.

I must say though I was never any good as a child and it is only the past few years I have picked up the knitting needles again, and wished I had be more patience at the time.

[Redstart]

Isn't that the problem Healing Hands, as children we simply haven't go the patience. And there is the fact that hand knitted garments were totally out of fashion for decades and have only recently become fashionable again. Coming back to knitting I'm amazed at the wonderful yarns and different patterns we now have available.

I went to the wool shop again yesterday and ended up buying seasonal pattern magazines from Lang and Trio and enough yarn (tape type) to knit a summer top in the Trio magazine as well as cotton for the Rowan pattern I actually went for. The sweater has a lacy yoke and the summer top has a lacy welt and lacy sleeves. And the Lang magazine has a several gorgeous things in it in cotton and silk . . . I think I've seen the pattern for my smart festival silk sweater!

But before all that I have to finish my waistcoat; I've just got the sleeve and front shaping to do on the second front, then the armhole and front bands - I hope to finish it this weekend.

[Redstart]

I finished the main part and did the armhole bands. Just got the front band to do now.

[JacquiMcR]

I have always loved knitting and usually have a few small things on the go. I recently finished a few cupcake motifs, embellished with beads, that I added to some special cards I made. I am currently finishing a rag doll for my niece. She has stipey legs and lovely plaits. I'm on the skirt at the moment and will probably finish it off with a knitted bag so that she can be carried around. I keep a blue basket stocked with lovely yarns sitting on my fireplace, because even when I'm not knitting the colours and textures are so inspiring.

[littlemiss]

they sound really pretty, you should post a picture, i'd love to see them x

[JacquiMcR]

In case anyone wants to use the cupcake motif, it is one of the free patterns on the "little cotton rabbits website"" written by a marvellous lady with a very big heart. I've never had the courage to post pictures before, but I may just try.

[littlemiss]

well i think they sound lovely and would love to see them x

[Oola]

JacquiMcR if you have any probs or questions about posting pics, just give me a shout. I have read about these knitted cupcakes before, they sound very interesting!

[JG]

Congratulations Redstart on your jumper. I'm nearly at the end of knitting my jacket. But have'nt had time to pick it up recently. I do sooo love knitting......the colour of the wool, the texture....the smell if real wool....watching it grow. I'm sure knitting positively affects a sense of wellbeing.

I'd love to join your knitting club. I've always knitted (am approaching 50) and feel as though I am an anachronism. I too feel like a kid in a sweetshop when confronted with all the colours, textures and smells. I've recenlty given up work, which means that I don't have the disposable income to buy much of these lovely yarns. but sometimes buy oddments, and then delight in mixing colours and textures. I've knitted scarves for sale, but struggle with finding outlets, as I only want it to be a hobby. I find knitting therapeutic and slimming, as I don't wander to the kitchen for nibbles as often. My treat is to splash out on wool when I'm, on holiday. I have bought wool in the Isle of Man, Wales, Somerset, Canada, New Zealand, Chile and the Falkland Islands and I would never part with the items I have made with these.
I look forward to reading your knitting news.

[sunflower]

Well, about a month ago, I finallly finished my cardigan/jacket knitted from wool I bought in the Isle of Skye. Originally, it started off as a jumper, but then I changed my mind and turned it into a cardi! Had to do some maths as I could'nt find an appropriate pattern. The colours are heather purple and grass green which I've made into a pattern as I went along. Though having said that, each yarn are in shades of purple and green because it is hand dyed. I made a round collar and have bought funky green and purple buttons to finish. It's lovely and warm

[JG]

Hi Sunflower - didn't know you were a knitter too when we corresponded yesterday about birds eggs. Couldn't resist creeping up again today and an angry blackbird shouted at me, so I think we're right.

Any way, wrong thread - wanted to say here that your cardi sounds lovely.