Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jay-ell]

Ditto wombat.  Plus, if you just want to get your feet wet, you can do miniatures in shadowboxes, and claim that they are "decorative." 

Smick, I found tube scarves to go faster than flat ones.  I don't purl half as fast as I knit, and without regular end-of-row opportunities to put the darn thing down, I found I was knitting longer at a sitting.  Plus, with a double layer you can get away with working them on bigger needles so that they are be extra-drapey without sacrificing warmth.  I love wool-ease -- my son sometimes sleeps in a pair of experimental wool-ease toe-up ankle socks -- but my friend has a bad reaction to anything with any animal fiber in it at all, including Merino wool, cashmere, or alpaca.  It makes me sad for her.  Never will she know the joys of a brioche-stitch neckwarmer knit from the undercoat of a baby camel. 

wombat -- knitting is magic.  I know how it works, and I am still amazed.  I also love the fact that each individual stitch looks something like a tiny heart.  I have a friend who spins, and that is even more incredible to watch.  She prefers a spinning wheel, but for small amounts of yarn or spinning on the go, she uses this drop spindle that looks like a finial from the top of my parent's old four-poster bed, and she just sort of pushes wool around until it makes yarn.  Then she dyes it herself and knits the result.  Amazing. 

She knows a lady with a farm, so periodically she comes back from a visit to her parents' house in the mountains with a big garbage bag of sheep shearings.  She also goes to thrift stores and salvages old sweaters, cuts them apart, and cannibalizes the yarn to make baby clothes.  Often, if the original sweater was factory-knit, she has to spin several plies together to make it thick enough for handknitting, but she is really amazing when it comes to recycling.  I have a ball of purple fingering-weight cashmere/merino that she plied and beaded, and I am waiting for my muse to bring me the perfect project for it. 

Oh, darn you, internet, for making me expose the degree of my yarn geekitude. 

[wombat]

Oh, I forgot. Knitting isn't just making objects from string - you really start with piles of sheep fluff. 

Piles of fluff turned into sweaters. Seriously, I would be afraid of being burned at the stake.

[AugustWest]

How would you suggest someone learn to knit?

[jay-ell]

Piles of fluff turned into sweaters. Seriously, I would be afraid of being burned at the stake.

Would you be afraid of getting a can? 

AW, I would suggest to someone who wanted to learn to knit to find someone who knits and ask them for a lesson.  We knitters tend to be pretty obsessive and like to share our obsession with others. 

Barring that, find a locally owned yarn store and ask anyone who works there if there are knitting groups in the area.  Show up with needles and yarn and someone will be glad to show you the basics. 

Once you can cast on, knit, and purl, get a good book.  I mean, a *good* book.  Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears is a classic.  I've also heard good things about Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Rhigetti.  Or you can go online and watch video clips of stitch techniques at http://www.knittinghelp.com/.  (That's how I learned almost everything.)  But it's best to learn the basics from someone in meatspace, so that they can tell you how very, very wrong you are when you start out. 

The most important thing about learning to knit is to choose your first project carefully.  It should be something somewhat smallish, so you can finish it someday, but more importantly it should be something you're motivated to finish.  A hat, a pair of fingerless mitts, a baby sweater for your newborn niece...David Demchuck has a great article to this effect over at knitty.com: LINK.  Stitch 'n Bitch (as well as Stitch 'n Bitch Nation), Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, and Weekend Knitting all have good, smallish, but interesting projects that work well for beginners, as does the Lion Brand Website (you'll need to sign up for an account but they won't spam you). 

My goodness.  Do I ever stop talking? 

[smick]

The most important thing about learning to knit is to choose your first project carefully.  It should be something somewhat smallish, so you can finish it someday, but more importantly it should be something you're motivated to finish.

My first projects were all swatches... then I realized, if I adjusted the scale I could be knitting a blanket.  I found the chunkiest yarn, and the highest gauge needles available to me, and I knit a blanket on a pair of size 17 needles (really, they're more like short swords) with some "Thick 'n' Quick".   It still sits on the back of our couch.

[jaydub]

The Cunning Hats I knit for a couple people as modeled by the ladyfriend and the boy-
http://raindog.net/jayne/jayne1.jpg
http://raindog.net/jayne/jayne2.jpg

I got sidetracked about a year ago, when I had to pack up the entire house and move to Portland.   I need to seriously finish my scarf.

Ok, Smick.  You're either a Firefly fan or a member of the Brewing Network.  Which is is?

[smick]

Ok, Smick.  You're either a Firefly fan or a member of the Brewing Network.  Which is is?

Firefly... those are replica cunning hats, for some friends that had moved away, one moved to Portland, where I am now, and the other Chicago.  I imagine the Chicagoan gets more use of his.

[Arachno-capitalist]

How would you suggest someone learn to knit?

Dogg, do not let me think of you knitting. For some reason it would burst a neuron to see big frank esq. talking about crochet in that kentucky accent.

When I returned to my all-dude high school for some kind of recent alumni brunch, we toured the classrooms and I immediately denied any future donations to the place when I saw, literally, a knitting circle of high school dudes in the corner of a classroom. Apparently one of the sisters thinks its cute to require the young men to knit for her class. God help us.

[AugustWest]

Dude, you need to broaden your mind regarding gender roles. 

I actually asked because I've been trying to get my daughter to learn to knit.  But I've considered taking it up myself.  Something to do with ones hands whilst watching football.

[CortJstr]

Dude, you need to broaden your mind regarding gender roles. 

I actually asked because I've been trying to get my daughter to learn to knit.  But I've considered taking it up myself.  Something to do with ones hands whilst watching football.

Besides drink beer, eat junk, and masturbate furiously? That's why football has so many beer commercials, food commercials, and cheerleaders, respectively.

[AugustWest]

Besides drink beer, eat junk, and masturbate furiously? That's why football has so many beer commercials, food commercials, and cheerleaders, respectively.

Oh, of course.  But I'm getting tired of being drunk, fat and blind so I thought I'd try another option.

[jay-ell]

Dude, you need to broaden your mind regarding gender roles. 

Before now, I didn't understand why people seem a little put off by A-CAP.  Suddenly, I get it. 

I actually asked because I've been trying to get my daughter to learn to knit.  But I've considered taking it up myself.  Something to do with ones hands whilst watching football.

Your daughter is...twelve now?  IIRC she was about ten when Pearce was born?  I would suggest starting with crochet if she is less than into the idea.  Crochet is less versatile, but it gets one accustomed to handling yarn, it's easier to learn (IMHO), and one's work tends to "grow" faster -- read "less frustration, more gratification".  Plus, picking up knitting is easier if you've got a little experience with crossover skills like gauge, reading patterns, etc.  Linnea, would you agree? 

I have personally taught kids as young as four to crochet.  I view it as a gateway craft.  Both knitting and crocheting are a great things for kids to learn because they both teach patience, perseverance, math skills, creativity, problem-solving, and following directions.  I plan to teach my son when he's a little older. 

However, if you or your daughter have a particular type of item in mind you want to make, figure out the best technique for that item and go with that.  Don't feel like crochet is a prerequisite to knitting.  They're quite different crafts.  I learned to knit first, and picked up crochet because I had a pattern I really wanted to make that was knitted with a crochet border.  Now I can do both interchangeably, and I often add crochet borders or other embellishments to knitted items. 

Hats and scarves can go either way.  It's possible to crochet socks, but knitted ones are more traditional.  Lacy things are considerably easier to crochet; colorwork is easier in knitting.  I generally prefer the look of knit sweaters, although there's nothing quite like a crochet cardigan for warmth.  Afghans can also go either way, although having done both I would choose crochet over knit for a project that large any day of the week. 

I've not done a careful study, but based on my experience I feel that in general knitting requires more math, while crochet involves a greater degree of intuition.  Most people who do both have a preference for one over the other.  I'm primarily a knitter; my grandmother was an avid crocheter of lacy things (think doilies, bridal dresses for Barbie dolls) but "never could get the knack" of knitting.  So if you try one and don't like it, don't give up.  You might be a natural at the other. 

Let me know how this goes.  I wish we were local to each other, I'd teach you both myself. 

[AugustWest]

Your daughter is...twelve now? 

Actually, 16 and 14.  The 16 year old is the one I want to learn.  She likes making hemp bracelets and stuff like that so I thought this would be a good progression. 

[linnea]

Dude, you need to broaden your mind regarding gender roles. 

I actually asked because I've been trying to get my daughter to learn to knit.  But I've considered taking it up myself.  Something to do with ones hands whilst watching football.

Dogg, knitting is exquisitely soothing. I highly recommend it. I enjoy listening to music or watching TV while I knit. I have to look down a lot but I'm getting better at not watching my hands quite so much.

And JL...I think that knit v. crochet is pretty much six of one, half a dozen of another. Regardless of which one you pick up, the other is gonna come easier because you're down with the yarnly arts. I taught a little girl in Alaska how to knit and she had never crocheted before. Side note: I only taught one kiddo because I made the mistake of offering a knitting class at our community center during the summer...DOH. 5 little girls signed up but only one of them showed up every session. She loved me because I would let her turn on the TV and we'd watch Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

[AlohaDawg]

Not to knock anyone's hobby, but performing a 'soothing' activity while watching a football probably wouldn't work for me. I could probably stand to be physically soothed, but, well, who wouldn't. Even then, though, don't pop up between me and the screen...