MOL knitters

Knitting is just better. There, I said it.

Hah--generally speaking, as regards a finished product, I'm with you on that, j r. I just whipped up a big fat Gap-tastic cowl in no time (you can see zuccatween modeling it on my ravelry page). But I have this tiny little granny-squares scarf that I scooped up at a yard sale. I got it when there weren't even any tiny people left in my house, but the colors are so exquisite I couldn't resist. I could see aspiring to creating something like it sometime.

Hey, Peggy, I wouldn't mind having the DVD. I'm a non-knitting crocheter. I just can't seem to get the feel for knitting, but have been crocheting on and off since I was about 10. I'd like to find a project that can take me to the next level beyond scarves or blankets, which are my standard fallback because they're easy.

OK, Jasper, I'll have a look around for it (I think it might be floating in the car in case I wanted to drop it off for a friend -- Hauscat crochets, but she's said before that she's not ambitious, either).

Zucca, if you don't like the stitching up part, there are ways to do granny squares that are connected to one another as you crochet. You do slip stitches to join them up as you start each new square.

Certainly, crochet "enjoys" a far less sophisticated and fashionable image than knitting, and it's more difficult to make a garment that has a nice, fluid drape. But I've learned that if you use sock yarn, you can make a very soft piece with hardly any trouble. Takes longer, but then again, crochet work goes faster than knitting.

This is what makes me want to learn to crochet (sorry for the poor picture quality: Photobooth). The colors are amazing in real life. It's got to be a sock yarn, as it's so nice and drapey. I can't imagine I could ever develop my color sense enough to pull something like this off.

My other knitting pet peeve is weaving in the ends, so that would make granny squares problematic for me, too (I tried out "spit-splicing," but with water, for my most recent knitting project -- love!--but that wouldn't work for granny squares). I guess I'll stick with the knitting for now.

Getting rid of the loose ends is SO easy with crochet work! You just lay the loose end across the top of the piece you are working on and wrap the stitches around it as you go, so it's basically buried in the middle of the row you're working on. You can do it as you go, so the ends all tidy themselves away. I find getting rid of the ends much easier in crochet than in knitting. I haven't tried spit splicing yet... I'm afraid I just don't believe it will hold.

That granny piece is beautiful. It would be pretty easy to duplicate it by taking it to a yarn store and choosing a good number of colors that almost match the colors in the sample piece. Then, you just mix them up randomly as you work.

I've got a pattern for a granny squares shawl in a Rowan book that I want to make. The squares are small and crocheted in a range of colors similar to your piece, Zucca, only a little more subtle. But what makes it beautiful is it's crocheted from a lightweight yarn that's mostly kid mohair and silk. The result is incredibly soft and drapey. I haven't gotten around to that one yet... but it's on my list.

I'm giving myself headaches and fits today, because I'm working on my first-ever cable project in knitting. I'm making a cowl for my mother for Christmas, and it has a combination of cabled ribs and lacework. The pattern SAID it would be "easy," but the first row of cabling nearly killed me. It's a bulky yarn, and my cable needle is slim and straight. I just ordered a "bulky" cable needle that will hold the yarn better, because what I'm doing now looks like I'm trying to use two sets of chopsticks all at the same time. I dare not let go of the cable needle, because it will slip straight out of the loop! Yikes.

Until the new cable needle arrives (it looks like a fish hook) I am going to substitute a paperclip that I will open up pretty wide. That should work for now.

Zucca:

I am doing a granny square project now (afghan for the livingroom couch). To weave in loose ends resulting from color changes, I am threading the end in a large eye tapestry needle and bringing the needle under enough stitches to hold it in place. Very easy to do.

Peggy:

Have you tried using a stitch holder to keep the stitches you are not working in place when you do your cables? Works much better than a paper clip, which can snag the yarn.

PeggyC--I have a cable stitch holder you can borrow till yours comes, if you'd like. It doesn't look like a fish hook. It's straight with a bump-out in the middle.

Actually, the big paper clip is working pretty well. I'm being careful not to split the yarn as I work, and it's a heck of a lot better than the straight cable needle. But a stitch holder is a good idea, Joan, I might try that.

Zucca, the one I bought from knitpicks.com is specifically for bulky yarn, and it looks like it will hang onto the stitch better. But thanks for offering! I think I'm fine for now. In fact, on the last row, things were going very smoothly. It looks like I've already gotten the hang of it.

This is very exciting stuff for me, because it opens the door to SO many patterns I've been dying to do. Yay!

Possibly not close enough, but if you have a lot of sock yarn leftovers and want a somewhat similar feel, check out
http://www.shellykang.com/all-about-the-blankie

a blog with instructions. The banner at the top gives you an idea of what the blanket looks like.

Have you made one, j r? I've always admired that sort of thing. I love this one: http://knitalong.net/?page_id=35

But I'm afraid it might take my whole life to complete one. I tried starting one square of the Barn Raising Quilt and realized why they'd done it as a group project. I'm not good with double-pointed needles, so I started it with two smaller circulars. Maybe I'll try again sometime.

Nice! And you're right, it would take a long time. For something faster, you could adapt the technique to a smaller blanket, or even a scarf or wrap.

You might be interested in trying modular knitting, which can be accomplished on two straight needles. Here's a good book.
http://www.amazon.com/Domino-Knitting-Technique-Vivian-Hoxbro/dp/193149911X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

Lots of ends to weave in, but no sewing -- each diamond or square is knitted onto the last one.

That looks like a cool book. I made a felted bowl out of mitered squares--should have made it a little bigger, because my cat likes to sit in it, and it's not really good for much else.

ARGH. I did very well with the cable portion of the cowl I'm making, and I got cocky. When I got to the lace portion of the pattern, I didn't bother to set up a life line, and wouldn't you know it... three rows into the lace pattern, I made a mistake I couldn't recover from. Whole thing frogged, because I couldn't figure out how to pick up from any of the lace rows or the cable rows. Too twisty.

Oh, well. Time for a break, then back to work, and this time I'll set up life lines every six rows or so.

*sigh*

Oh, Peggy, I feel your pain. I've been working on a shawl since May, for just such reasons. It has been frogged back so many times it's comical (to my family members--not to me). Like with your project, I'm incapable of tinking (love that word) back, so the whole thing has to come out. That's how I've come to embrace lifelines, but even those have failed me--the shawl is so long, and all I have to miss is just one stitch for it not to work. It's currently on hiatus, but I'm determined to finish it.

I'd love to have a binary scarf. Just sayin'.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTbinary.html

zucca said:

That looks like a cool book. I made a felted bowl out of mitered squares--should have made it a little bigger, because my cat likes to sit in it, and it's not really good for much else.

That's hilarious.

ahm, you could knit that. Just sayin'.

My dream project:
http://boingboing.net/2010/02/22/knitted-frog-dissect.html

That's hilarious, j r. Was that on the knithacker blog? I see an alien autopsy featured there currently that's clearly from the same series. . . .

That's excellent, j r!

Good grief. Someone who knits very quickly has WAY too much time on his/her hands. That frog is hysterical.

I'm now working on a wonderful scarf using big fat cables, using Debbie Bliss's Glen yarn and (wait for it) a pencil that has its lead broken off as my cable needle. It works beautifully to hold five stitches to the front or back when I'm using size 10.5 needles.

I did start a sock yarn blankie and decided I was okay with it taking the rest of my life to finish--it will be a scrapbook of shawls, socks, etc., that I have knit. Of course now everyone is buzzing about hexipuffs (like the beekeeper's quilt: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-beekeepers-quilt) and I'm kind of wishing I were doing that instead. I only have one lifetime, however, so I think I'm sticking with my blankie.

That hexipuff quilt makes my fingers hurt looking at it. What is the stuffing?

PeggyC, you might like to learn how to cable without a needle. Ignore the thing she says about "three or more."

Here is the Wendy Johnson method. She's amazing, although her manicure makes me nervous.

And speaking of the intersection of science and cabled knitting, I made a DNA helix scarf for a science-y friend that was incredible fun to knit.

http://www.twosheep.com/helix/

That is such a handsome scarf, j r. Good to know about, as many of the geeky knits are so, well, geeky. In my household, we've always been astonished by the sheer number of hand knit dwarven battle bonnets to be found on Ravelry.

I discovered those hexipuffs recently, frances, and am so happy I don't want to make them. Though they are very cute--i know myself better than to think I'd ever make enough. Which sock-yarn blanket are you making?

I'm happily making a "one-row handspun scarf" (but mine's bulky and not handspun) at the moment. Nice and fast. Love that.

I'm making a Chicknits Basic V-neck Cardi, acres and acres of nothingness, perfect for movies.

The best scarf I ever made was one that used two colorways of Noro Kureyon. If you haven't made one, you should. It's impossible to stop.

Yes--that Noro scarf has been on my list forever. Zuccatween wants a Lanesplitter skirt, which is not dissimilar. I really want to make some vests for winter. I love wearing them.

One of my early knitting projects was a basketweave shawl that used five different colorways of Noro Silk Garden. It came out beautifully, although I've always thought there might be a little too much of the Mexican awning look in the colors. But I still love it.

My big fish-hook cable needle came, and I LOVE it. Definitely better than the pencil, and MUCH better than the paper clip. So I'll stick to this.

That Kureyon scarf is gorgeous.

I have the pattern for the beekeepers quilt. I wonder whether I'll ever start making it? I have about a zillion skeins of Koigu KPPPM in thousands of colors that would be perfect for that. I guess I can just start on it and use it as my TV-viewing project. Not everything I knit these days is conducive to watching TV at the same time. Lace, for instance, is a disaster when I try to do anything else. It takes total concentration.

By the way, another great scarf to make with Noro is the Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf. Totally addicting. I made one with Noro Silk Garden Sock. The pattern (below) creates a woven texture that is gorgeous.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64378841/scrappy-lengthwise-scarf-knit-pattern

I'm with you on the lace issue, Peggy. But I really like knitting when I'm doing something else, which I guess is why my lace project (http://brooklyntweed.net/blog/?p=664) is languishing.

Lucky you to have stashed up all that Koigu!

My tweenager wants one of these: http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/pattern.php?id=4751&lang=en
I'm trying to decide whether to go out and get some big fat needles to make one for her. I have yarn on hand for the smaller size but not the larger, but I think it wants to be big!