next »

[melba_frilkins]

Any knitting or crochet fans out there?

My big question is: Has anyone mastered knitting or crochet to the point where you can stitch and read at the same time? Since I took up the yarn arts a year or so ago, my reading has plummeted. Just wondering if there's any hope to combine the two activities.


And more broadly, if you do knit or crochet, what are you working on now?

[toni52]

Although I love to knit, I find that I don't knit much anymore.  But knitting was one of the things that kept me sane during grad school.  I still have at least two (maybe more) storage totes full of knitting needles, yarn, etc.  

[inthelab]

I can knit and watch TV or listen to radio/CDs. When I read, I want to read.
A lot of folk on Ravelry knit and listen to audiobooks or podcasts.

[thrillcheese]

I knit slowly and crochet quite fast. I can do neither while reading. I find TV rerun marathons on USA, especially NCIS, to be great background noise. Also the full runs of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly.

I'm currently making a wrap our of Noro silk garden.

[inthelab]

Forgot to list my WIPS (works in progress):
1) circular lace shawl with beaded edging for me
2) triangular lace shawl with beaded edging for niece (Shetland lace pattern)
3) triangular lace shawl (Estonian pattern); not sure whom this is for yet
4) new long-sleeved top for me

UFOs (unfinished objects):
1) pair of socks for D#1 (1 sock is 95% done, you'd think I'd finish it already)
2) lace scarf for D#2
3) afghan for D#2

[grasshopper]

I love yarn. Can't do either while reading, though. I marvel at Tyne Daly's knitting on Judging Amy. She never looks down. I find I watch a lot more tv than I used to before I took up crochet and knitting. Which is probably why I know about Tyne Daly's knitting.

I currently have three large tubs and a basket of yarn. I had a ton of odd-coloured ends and half-skeins, probably enough to fill another large tub, so last winter I used them all up in a granny square afghan. It turned out a bit floopy, though, because the yarn was all different weights. I like granny squares, but weaving in all those ends? Ugg.

I also knit my first sweater last winter (a simple one-piece raglan), and am working on my first "fancy" sweater. Recently learned how to make i-cords (sp?), and so now have a use for all that scratchy wool I got on sale a few months ago. They're going into a floor mat. I-cords are nice because it's mindless work. None of those fancy stitches and counting that inevitably get screwed up, and have to be ripped out.

Am currently down to just these two projects. It's nice not to have a bunch of half-finished stuff hanging around! Last year was a banner year for babies, and it seemed like every few months, I was putting aside a project to whip up a baby blanket or something.

Oh, wait. I lied. I do still have a half-finished crocheted triangular shawl I'm making with some really beautiful yarn I got for gloves a few years ago. I'm thinking of ripping it up, though, and making a simple rectangular wrap with it. The yarn is too warm to be used as a shawl except in the dead of winter, and in the dead of winter, I'm not going to be wearing anything that bares enough skin to warrant a shawl. So maybe a thick wrap that I can use as a scarf would be more useful.

[grasshopper]

Forgot to list my WIPS (works in progress):
1) circular lace shawl with beaded edging for me
2) triangular lace shawl with beaded edging for niece (Shetland lace pattern)
3) triangular lace shawl (Estonian pattern); not sure whom this is for yet

These sound lovely. What weight yarn do you use for them?

I recently bought a book of patterns for very fancy sweaters, and they all require 1 or 2 weight yarn, and it has been so difficult to get the right yarn for these projects at a reasonable price.

[inthelab]

Forgot to list my WIPS (works in progress):
1) circular lace shawl with beaded edging for me
2) triangular lace shawl with beaded edging for niece (Shetland lace pattern)
3) triangular lace shawl (Estonian pattern); not sure whom this is for yet

These sound lovely. What weight yarn do you use for them?

I recently bought a book of patterns for very fancy sweaters, and they all require 1 or 2 weight yarn, and it has been so difficult to get the right yarn for these projects at a reasonable price.

Is that yarn manufacturers' weights 1 and 2? Do they also list wraps per inch (wpi)?
I suspect the 1 is laceweight and the 2 is fingering weight.
To answer you with regard to my projects,
#1 is with a laceweight yarn, JaggerSpun Zephyr 2/18
#2 is with a fingering-weight yarn, Beaverslide Dry Goods Light Sport
#3 is with Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift wool in fingering weight
#4 is with a DK-weight cotton-alpaca blend, Classic Elite Mistral

[nebo113]

When I first learned to knit, back in the time of the faithful Penelope, I learned the American method of casting on and cast on much much too tightly.  Then my cousin "taught" me Continental cast on, which I can sorta do, but I'm still casting on too tightly.

Any suggestions for loosening up when doing continental?

[inthelab]

When I first learned to knit, back in the time of the faithful Penelope, I learned the American method of casting on and cast on much much too tightly.  Then my cousin "taught" me Continental cast on, which I can sorta do, but I'm still casting on too tightly.

Any suggestions for loosening up when doing continental?

Umm, casting-on is neither American nor Continental.  There are dozens of ways to cast on.  There are about 5 major knitting styles: British, Continental, Eastern-crossed, and acouple of others.
Major methods of casting on are:
1) long-tail (sometimes called the double cast on)
2) simple or thumb or backwards loop cast on*
3) cable cast-on*

Exotic cast-ons include:
1) Twisted German cast-on
2) Estonian lace cast-on*
3) tubular cast-on (several ways to do this one)*
4) Channel Islands cast on*
5) Guernsey cast on

To loosen a tight cast on, you can cast on to a needle several sizes larger or cast on to both needles, then pull one out or choose a stretchier cast on technique (I've put an asterisk by these).

Nebo, do you have a knitting reference book? Do you ever read knitting blogs?

[thehanks]

Yes! Yarn! Yay! I learned how to knit when I was 9 or 10, and just picked it up again recently. I'm working on the February Lady sweater for my mom.

If I'm knitting something that's *just* knitting or *just* purling, then I can knit and read at the same time. But right now doing this lace project I have to pay attention to it. I bring it on my commute and knit while I listen to podcasts on the bus, though now it's getting rather big and the weather's too warm for me to have it sitting on my lap so methinks today I will start some socks on the bus.

Today I'm visiting a yarn wholesaler I've heard tell of on Ravelry - good bye tax return!

[unoriginal]

I had a big pile of end-of-semester grading to tackle this weekend.

Instead, I cast on a shrug for my daughter.  It's almost done - just have to finish off the sleeves.

I haven't knit much this year, but am getting back to it.  It's a much better thing to combine with TV-watching than eating.  I doubt that I could knit and read at the same time, but I don't think I've ever tried. 

Last year I did a ton of charity knitting - socks and sweaters for an organization named Warm Woolies.  Sadly, they ceased operations at the end of the year.  I liked knitting for them because I got my knitting fix in, and since the garments weren't for a particular person, size/fit didn't matter.

I plan to try making something for *myself* this summer.  Pattern is picked out, and yarn is sitting next to my desk.  I'm going to (try to) resist casting on until grades are submitted...

[fourhats]

Longtime lurker here, who's been waiting for months to dip my toe into the fora!

I learned to knit as a child, and throughout the years have made many sweaters while reading.  The first trick is to have a good book stand (I like the fold-up wire kind).  The second is not to use the slow American method of knitting, where you pause and wrap the yarn around the needle--the continental method works better, or simply using the index finger of the right hand like a shuttle.  And as hankertons said, simpler patterns work better, although you could manage cables and not too many colors.

Projects?  Like inthelab, usually 3-5 going at once!

[lolar2]

I can knit while watching TV, but not while reading. I haven't knitted or crocheted anything this semester, though. No time. I hope I have time after it's over.

[prof_gnu]

I sometimes knit and read stuff on the internet (including the fora), but I don't think I have ever knit and read a book.  (Like most of the other responders, I tend to watch tv while I knit.  Sometimes, I knit, watch tv and read the internet.)

Current projects:
(1) Striped sweater (in fuschia, dark red, orange and yellow) based on the striped sweater in Stitch and  B itch.  I started this sweater over two years ago.  I'm on the second sleeve and just cannot bring myself to finish.

(2) Socks for me (green hand-dyed wool).  I love knitting socks since you can really see the progress on them quickly. 

Once I finish those two projects, I have a lot more sock wool calling my name (self-striping, boring for husband, a zauberball (sp?)).