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Can you describe what the problem is when you try to knit with the berocco yarn? Maybe it's something that can be fixed 
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Aug 30, 2013 08:10
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I'm not getting the stitch definition I want out of it. If that's a part of using tweedy yarns then forgive me, I'm still learning. I could guess as much since its a mix if mohair and wool and alpaca and maybe angora, so it makes sense that mix would tend to make a sort of blended look. I've knit up 6 inch long things with it in seed, various ribs, etc, and it all looks like crap to me. Again, I am sort of new to knitting so if is its just me picking the wrong yarn, its fine. You all are way out of my league good at this stuff so this all probably seems really dumb. But I have $35 of this stuff sitting around, and I want to put it to use.
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Aug 30, 2013 08:29
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Yeah, mohair tends to be fluffy--and if angora's in it too, then it's probably really fluffy. You're probably not going to get clear stitch definition no matter what because of the fuzzy halo the yarn will have. Could you post a picture of it?
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Aug 30, 2013 08:44
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I've never used Berocco tweed myself and that sounds like it won't get very good stitch definition, but that it'll be warm as balls and would make a great cold weather hat, scarf/cowl, or mittens, in plain stockinette or rib. Also, sup fellow dudeknitter! Totally awkward trips to the LYS 
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Aug 30, 2013 10:07
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Knittin' dudes  The ladies at my local yarn store are all really nice, and the first time I went in, the owner and one of the regular customers mentioned that a lot more guys and young people are doing handcrafts like knitting, crochet, sewing, etc. Nobody ever gave me a hard time over it. Of course, I also promised to bring homemade cookies next time I come in. I honestly don't get it. My old boss probably would have said it sounds "bisexual" because that's the kind of moron he is, but I would have thought other knitters would be the last people to give you poo poo over it. My 80-something grandma is thrilled that I'm knitting, and so is my mother's friend who is such a good knitter that she taught her sister to knit over the phone.
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Aug 30, 2013 13:06
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Bertrand Hustle posted:Knittin' dudes Dudeknitters ITT, all over TT.   Getting that weird reaction for being a dudeknitter depends a lot on where you go. In some of the snootier craft-yarn shops I used to get that a lot. Which is really stupid when you think about it, it alienates a huge potential customer base. I know plenty of other guys who knit. Only thing that sucks is that it's harder to find really nice patterns for guys. There's tons of awesome stuff out there for ladyknitters but not as much for us. Especially when it comes to fair isle/stranded knitting projects. Also, to add to the suggestions, when you're just starting out cheap acrylic craft yarn is actually a really good choice, especially a low-ply yarn. Not only is it cheap, but it's not usually particularly fuzzy or difficult to work with, and you get excellent stitch definition so it's easy to tell when you're knitting too loose or too tight and whatnot. It's also easy to see what the yarn is doing to help you learn how to fix mistakes. Plus you don't need to worry so much about wasting really expensive yarn. Once you're really happy with the basics, then you can move up to the fancier/nicer stuff because you'll have a better understanding of how everything works together. Just MHO though.
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Aug 30, 2013 14:34
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two forty posted:Hey knitters! Welcome, fellow bro-knitter! I've been knitting (and to a lesser degre crochet) for about a month or two. I feel you on the situation with the LYS. The one in my fiancee's hometown is really cool. It is run by a married couple, and the husband is actually the one that taught us how to knit, so it is very guy friendly. However, my town does not have a real LYS, just a big chain store (rhymes with wabi-sabi) that sells craft stuff, and the ladies there used to give me weird looks or weird comments. You just need to stride in there confidently like the drat knitting god that you are. If anybody says anything, just say something along the lines of "Bro, do EVEN knit?!?" or make an off color comment about having "nimble fingers." Seriously though, please do post those pics. Having not dealt with tweed, I'd be curious to see what you are talking about.
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Aug 30, 2013 15:01
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I hate that some women knitters have given male knitters the cold shoulder, I'm sure those exact same women have at least once in their lives felt unwelcome in a traditionally male dominated activity, and been mad about it. I was teaching my niece how to knit and my nephew asked if he could learn as well, and I said of course at the exact same moment his father (my idiot brother) said "absolutely not!" (I taught him anyway, because screw you brother). It's just dumb. And anyway, men have knit forever! Look it up! If any of you man knitters on here aren't on Ravelry yet, you should join for sure. In addition to being completely awesome in every other way, they have a pretty big active group for male knitters.
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Aug 30, 2013 16:18
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It also helps if you have slightly adventurous tastes in clothing. I have lots of very lacey scarves and shawls/shawlettes I wear as scarves (or around my waist like a kilt thingy, looks drat good) in fairly masculine or neutral colors and have gotten nothing but fawning compliments on them from all the women at fiber conventions or LYSes. (Unfortunately I like dudes so it does me no good in the romance department  )
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Aug 30, 2013 16:26
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Dudeknitters rock. Dudespinners and dudeweavers even moreso. Knitting's like a gateway drug for fiber arts.  e: Not to derail, here is my current w.i.p.  The blue is millspun, the other is my own handspun. I'm currently suffering from SSS (second sock syndrome) as I've cast on the mate but don't even have an inch of cuff done. TastesLikeChicken fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Aug 30, 2013 |
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Aug 30, 2013 19:02
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That's why I pretty much always do socks two at a time. I hate SSS!
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Aug 30, 2013 23:17
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Thanks for the welcome y'all! I should clarify, the lady at the yarn shop was nice but seemed rather curious as to why exactly I was knitting. I live in a very affluent suburb full of older people, so maybe she was just taken off guard at seeing a young man in her store. My first scarf I sewed up the edges of while waiting for a plane at the gate, and an older woman sitting across from me was amazed that I taught myself how to knit and would work on it publicly. I'll knit up a little swatch to show you what kind of results I'm getting. It is true and should have been obvious to me by now that a fuzzier yarn will yield a fuzzy knit, and perhaps I should work a project where that wont be an issue that bothers me. Oh, and I gave my friend her scarf today as an early birthday present and she absolutely loved it, it made me feel great about the time and effort I put into it. She's already thinking of outfits she can wear with it (but it was about 90 degrees here today, heh.) E: started working a little square in stockinette and it actually looks a lot better than I remembered. Maybe I'm just getting better. A bit of a transition from worsted yarn on #9s to this finer stuff on #7s. Will post a picture when done. pants in my pants fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Aug 31, 2013 |
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Aug 31, 2013 06:15
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I think it's awesome that more men are knitting! I don't get the stigma at all. It would be like excluding women from auto mechanics because it's traditionally a male-dominated skill. I have a male friend who knits, and I didn't know it for years because he's a bit reluctant to talk about it. I invited him to a local craft night I go to, but he's never come yet. I hate the snobbery that sometimes comes along with crafting of ANY kind.
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Aug 31, 2013 19:11
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suddenly cats posted:
Oh man, my attention span is barely long enough to even contemplate making a Doctor scarf. On the subject of man-knitting, one of my best friend's dad (55ish) is an avid knitter. He made them all colorwork Christmas stockings. I think it is super cool. It's making things with your hands, totally tough.
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Sep 1, 2013 01:34
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My dad taught me how to knit, and hem pants. He didn't know anything other than stockenette, but at 10 years old it was plenty to make a whole wack of pot holders. (he's also a better teacher than my mom, but shhhh)
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Sep 1, 2013 01:40
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FelicityGS posted:I have about 8 - 9 projects on the go at all times. I keep some small things I can knit when I am too tired to process, and then my larger projects. I go through spurts with my larger projects where I really want to work on them, and then suddenly want something entirely different. All of my large projects tend to be different styles--a complicated lace shawl, a less complicated one from a different style of lace, a bulky sweater, really complicated socks. That way if I want big, I have big, I want lace I have lace, and so on. I have lots of half finished projects laying around. I usually scrap them before I finish though. I've been working for a good four days on a shawl that is about 3/4 s of the way done, so I'm excited to finish and block it because its looking excellent so far. As an aside, I'm curious to know how long an average knitter takes to complete certain projects. I'm self-taught and I feel like I spend a lot of time figuring things out and fixing mistakes and that slows me down, but I don't really have anything to compare to because no one I know knits.
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Sep 2, 2013 16:55
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I knitted and beaded a shawlette in about 8 days, yet I've been working on this snood for about 2 years. It really depends on motivation, available time, and whether my wrists hold out! I'm a pretty slow knitter, but because I have several half finished projects by the time summer hits and I stop knitting, It seems like I'm quick when I finish them all up within a matter of a couple months once fall hits.
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Sep 2, 2013 18:23
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KObot posted:I have lots of half finished projects laying around. I usually scrap them before I finish though. I've been working for a good four days on a shawl that is about 3/4 s of the way done, so I'm excited to finish and block it because its looking excellent so far. Ravelry is really good for this-- you can see the start and end dates on project pages. My project completion times are all over the place-- right now I have maybe 3 hours a week to knit, which aren't always used for knitting, and I'm a slow knitter to boot. A pair of magic-looped fingering weight socks should take me about a month, but I usually get bored after I turn the heel and I won't come back to them for months at a time. A medium-length scarf might take me a month; a hat with light patterning might take me two weeks. I had a lace scarf that took me over a year, though if pressed I can finish a sweater in 30 days.
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Sep 2, 2013 18:28
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HeatherChandler posted:Oh man, my attention span is barely long enough to even contemplate making a Doctor scarf. I stopped at two separate points to work on other smaller projects, because even with the color changes, several hundred rows of garter stitch gets really monotonous. I'm about to start on this afghan pattern. It'll be my biggest project to date, and the only large one I've attempted besides the Doctor scarf (all my completed projects include scarfs, hats, and a few electronics cozies). Wish me luck!
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Sep 2, 2013 21:44
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So I have a lot of wool. Like, a lot of wool. Almost all of it worsted, all of it good for felting. Does anyone have an idea for a crazy big project/pattern I could work on? I'm thinking either a huge rug or blanket, even though I'm not too sure how comfy a wool blanket would be.
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Sep 2, 2013 21:47
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A large felted bag? A rug would be great, either entrance or area. This is one I've thought about making out of tshirt yarn (or buying large swaths of jersey knit fabric on clearance) Could easily be adapted to worsted held double I'd think. Or you could make some of these super huge 1.5" diameter needles to work on a blanket or pouf from this lady! She sells them for around $100 a set, but it's just two large wood dowels (or similar) and fence toppers painted all purty.
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Sep 2, 2013 23:07
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How the gently caress do you even knit with needles that big. 
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Sep 2, 2013 23:12
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PVC pipe is usable too if you put a cap on the ends. Speaking of knitting on those giant needles, don't fall for the "knit a rug/blanket with roving!" thing. It looks neat and goes super quick, but that poo poo falls apart if you look at it wrong. Roving just isn't meant to be used that way, even if you felt the hell out of it to give it some strength. V: Oh yeah, I know you meant yarn. I'm just ranting about all the people I see who knit these 3" thick blankets out of roving (one person I know spent four hundred dollars on about six pounds of 100% alpaca combed top for one one of those blankets). Yeah, show me that thing again in a year. Also, have fun melting underneath six pounds of pure alpaca blanket. Safari Disco Lion fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Sep 2, 2013 |
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Sep 2, 2013 23:15
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I'm not using roving. It's straight-up Patons yarn and yarn similar to it. I just finally sorted my stash and realize over half of it is nothing but wool.  I was thinking of maybe a super huge comforter-like blanket to toss over my other blankets for the winter. Those Go Girl patterns might do the trick if I can find a substitute for $100 needles.
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Sep 2, 2013 23:22
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I've had this one bookmarked for a while, but have never gotten around to making it. http://www.homeecflunkee.com/2011/10/how-to-make-knitted-pouf-ottoman.html
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Sep 3, 2013 00:11
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I'm actually thinking of making a bunch of car blankets for family members for christmas, which would be practical and use a poo poo ton of yarn!  On the other hand, man do I want to make one of those giant crochet poof things. 
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Sep 3, 2013 00:31
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Car blankets are something that don't seem all that useful, until they really are. I usually keep a cheap fleece blanket from the drugstore in the car and I use it a lot, even though the heater works fine. Wish I had it when we were driving to Vegas in December, though. It was hella cold, and turning on the heater was making the driver sleepy.  I also really want to make one of those poufs, but I have no idea what to do with it.
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Sep 3, 2013 05:17
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Does anybody have any experience with the Chiaogoo circular needle sets (more specifically the bamboo ones)? Owner of our LYS was talking them up a lot and saying how great they are but $150 for a set of circular needles seemed crazy to me. So I was curious if anyone owns them or has used them.
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Sep 3, 2013 17:40
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laertes22 posted:Does anybody have any experience with the Chiaogoo circular needle sets (more specifically the bamboo ones)? Owner of our LYS was talking them up a lot and saying how great they are but $150 for a set of circular needles seemed crazy to me. So I was curious if anyone owns them or has used them. I'm assuming you mean the interchangeable set? I've got the steel ones, and I love them, though not quite as much as I love my fixed Chiao Goo steel circs. The joins for the cables are nice and smooth, though I've had some problems with my needles coming un-screwed from the cables because I'm lazy and don't use the cable key to tighten them. If you're not sure about the set, try getting a pair of the bamboo fixed circulars to see if you like the cable and all.
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Sep 3, 2013 17:45
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GabrielAisling posted:I'm assuming you mean the interchangeable set? I've got the steel ones, and I love them, though not quite as much as I love my fixed Chiao Goo steel circs. The joins for the cables are nice and smooth, though I've had some problems with my needles coming un-screwed from the cables because I'm lazy and don't use the cable key to tighten them. If you're not sure about the set, try getting a pair of the bamboo fixed circulars to see if you like the cable and all. I did indeed mean the interchangeable set. drat, I was kind of hoping you were going to say that they weren't worth the hype because I saw them and immediately lusted after them. Maybe if I am good this year, Santa Claus will get them for me. I have used steel needles, but don't really like the "slipperiness" of them, although I know some people love them. When I first started knitting, I started off on bamboo needles and much prefer the friction you get with bamboo/wood. This may be because I am a relative newbie and am always scared my work is going to accidentally slip off the needles, so maybe I will like steel better one day.
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Sep 3, 2013 19:19
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I have the bamboo set (the smaller one too, so about $80) and love it. Only thing I don't like is the steel set comes with a nylon-coated braided steel cable that I like MUCH more than the pure nylon cable the wood set comes with. But you can buy the pieces individually to do that if you want rather than get it all in one go.
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Sep 3, 2013 19:35
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All of the ladies at my local yarn place swear by Knitter's Pride Dreamz needles. They do come in pretty colors.
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Sep 3, 2013 20:01
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Bertrand Hustle posted:All of the ladies at my local yarn place swear by Knitter's Pride Dreamz needles. my husband bought me this interchangeable set of Dreamz and I love them more than any circular I've ever used.
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Sep 3, 2013 20:13
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I have the Addi Click lace long tip set, and I have to be honest: for the price of the set, I expected a smoother join. I do, however, love the click system which means no need for a cable key, and the built in lifeline slit in the cables.
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Sep 3, 2013 21:42
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Do most people just use circular needles for knitting in the round? Or do you use them as your main needles even for things that would normally call for straight needles?
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Sep 4, 2013 00:46
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laertes22 posted:Do most people just use circular needles for knitting in the round? Or do you use them as your main needles even for things that would normally call for straight needles? I use circulars for everything. I enjoy not having to worry about dropping a needle under my desk or in a huge lecture hall because I'm terrible at keeping a hold on my things, haha.
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Sep 4, 2013 00:58
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I use my interchangeable set for everything except small diameter stuff where I use double points because I haven't gotten the hang of magic loop yet. I have an addi turbo set that I use less than my cheaper set of knitters pride nova.
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Sep 4, 2013 01:20
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laertes22 posted:Do most people just use circular needles for knitting in the round? Or do you use them as your main needles even for things that would normally call for straight needles? I use circs for everything. I feel like a bug with big long antennae sticking out when I use straights now.
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Sep 4, 2013 01:22
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I use circs for everything because straights are usually too heavy for my arthritic hands, and knitting is one of the things I do to keep my joints moving and in somewhat working condition.
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Sep 4, 2013 03:48
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Depends on what I'm doing, though usually it's just what I have on hand in that size. If I use a set of straight needles for whatever reason, I knit like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kArQ2jpaKw So I don't have problems with the weight of the needles or wrist strain or anything. But it's not practical for things like lace or colorwork (for me anyway, I haven't been doing it nearly as long as The Yarn Harlot), so for that I get out the circulars.
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Sep 4, 2013 04:30
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