I'm working on the winecozy from knitty, and I'm having a bit of a problem at this point in the pattern:


Work in 3x3 rib until work measures 1.5 inches from beg, ending with a RS row.
Next row [WS]: K2, [YO, p2tog tbl, p2, YO, k2tog] to last 4 sts, YO, p2tog tbl, p2.
Cont in 3x3 rib until work measures 3 inches from beg.
Work in St st until work measures 8 inches, ending with a RS row.

The next step after that is forming the ridge that holds the winecozy up.

Keeping in mind that the thing is supposed to be 11-11.5 inches tall according to the pattern, should I do 8 inches of stocking stitch?
If I do what the pattern says, it will be 8 inches long from the beginning, which, last time I checked, isn't 11!!

HELP!! Has anyone else made this?
Thanks!

I unraveled a wool vest knitted some years back, worn probably twice and dry cleaned.
The yarn came out really really curly and refused to slacken even after weeks of being rolled into a ball.
So I decided to 'skein' it and soak in a basin of water hoping that it will relax somewhat.

Not only has it stubbornly stayed just as curly but some sections of it took several hours to get wet!
The water smelled really foul after 3 rinses and half a day of soaking.

Can dry cleaned wool be successfully recycled?

I'm thinking about making the gift bags on pg. 156 of HANDKNIT HOLIDAYS: anyone ever made them before?

I haven't done much Fair Isle, so I don't know all that much about it. I was going through the intstructions yesterday, and under "Notes" it says "Use Jogless Color Change (see Special Techniques, page 175) to minimize disruption of the color pattern." So I scoot to pg. 175 and it says this:

"To minimize the jog where colors change when working stripes in-the-round, work one round with the new color, remove beginning-of-the-round marker, lift the previous color st below the next new color st onto the left-hand needle; k2tog (lifted st of previous color and first st of new color), replace the marker. The beginning of the round will move 1 st to the left at each color change."

3 kinds of "Huh?" or "WTF?" going on here:

1. First, what's "jog"? I.e.... what disasters will happen if I don't do this?

2. If you're k2tog there and not adding any more stitches, aren't you decreasing by a stitch each time? If I'm adding a stitch up there, for the love of God, man, where is that happening? :) "Lift the previous color st" to me implies moving the last stitch on the right hand over to the left hand, which does not increase by 1.

3. How does this fit into the grand scheme of following the pattern? I take it I do this only when I'm changing colors at the beginning of a row?

I dunno, this is the second Melanie Falick question I've asked this group in a couple of weeks (some of you might remember my flower washcloth issues from before). Why does this lady confuse me so?

Also, any general Fair Isle tips would be appreciated. The last two (read: only two) fair Isle items I've attempted, my contrasting color stitches were all loads tighter than the other guys, and as a result, the thing looked puckered. I'd like to go for the gold this time!

Thanks muchly for all the help! Hope I didn't bore anyone to tears. :)

Tags: technique - fair isle, technique - jogless join

I just need to vent for a minute:
My grandmother is 80 and has everything she needs, so it is pretty rough buying her presents. This year I decided to knit her a matching hat/scarf using broken ribbing [(K2, P2...) K1]. I bought 2 skeins of yarn (cannot for the life of me recall what kind) and had some leftover when I finished the hat, so I decided to add it onto the scarf to make it a bit longer. I was almost done everything (just had to add the fringe to the scarf) on Saturday, when what do you know... my mom and I were at my grandmom's house when she commented on the hat I had made for my mom. A stockinette hat knit in the round... you know... the kind with the rolled brim. Totally different style from the one I had made for her christmas gift. So that night I went home and frogged the hat. Re-knit it using DPNs. And of course since it's a different pattern the gauge was different and I ended up having to knit about 5 inches off the scarf to finish up the hat. Ugh! Has anyone else had any last minute "you wanted what?" type issues with knitted gifts?

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: fall out boy (on the radio at work)

Does anyone know if such a thing exists or where I could purchase such a thing? A shop here in MN sells pre-felted hats just knitted up and ready to be felted and then needle felted. I am seriously running out of time, and I wanted to make my mom some felted slippers, but being seriously ill and having a lace project and a Baby Suprise sweater to finish, there is no way I'd have time to knit my own. It's more important that the needle felted design be my own, than the slippers themselves.

Anyone? Bueller?

I? I am a moron. I brought my Christmas-gift-Hourglass-Sweater-in-Progress with me to start the sleeves today, along with needles and necessary yarn...but I left the book itself at home. ARGH!

Can anybody check their book and tell me how many stitches to cast on for the second size? (first size in parenthesis in the instructions)

Also, if you can let me know how long I have before there is decreasing/increasing going on, that would also be sweet...if it starts right off the bat, I will have to wait until I get home anyway, since I'll need the instructions for that. ~cry~

Thank you!

EDIT: One of my lovely two LYSs gave me the number...phew! Thank you, Marie at Stitch DC for keeping my holiday knitting moving, and Thank You as well to Holly at Knit Happens for being willing to look, if you'd had the book in stock!

I'm looking for a winter hat for my best friend's christmas gift. Her favorite color is green. She's a cute, petite, quirky earth girl with a big personality. If you have something that might be cool that I could purchase, I'd love it if you could send me a link or photo with more information. I have to get it by the Tuesday after Christmas for our secret santa, and I'm just not happy buying her a hat from Target, etc. She's much to unique to have a plain jane hat :-)

Much thanks in advance! I'm serious about buying, and am not just posting for the hell of it. I do knit, but not fast, and I'm finding I won't be able to finish a hat for her this year in the time I have.

I'm making a friend's wedding outfit, and she's absolutely fallen in love with soleil, however, she's getting married in September and would prefer something with long sleeves. I know that there's a short sleeved version, but if anyone knows of a pattern with longer sleeves on it, or a good resource on how to draft a sleeve pattern, I (and she) would be grateful. :)

yesterday, i got a little overly excited about finishing some bubby's and posted before i could get any photo's uploaded.

well, the wait is over.

( Bubby and his friends Mondo Bubbies and Monkey Bubby )
I do have one more finished, "frosty the snowbubby" but, he must be out frolicking (look at frosty go) because i can't find him... i hope the kitties didn't get him.

Current Mood: amused

Does 2 X 1 ribbing condense to look like stockinette? I want to make the Mark Cohen sweater, but I'm not sure what kind of ribbing it is. I can tell it's ribbed, but I'm really not sure.

Also, if I have even numbers of stitches on each side (the front and back) how can I do the ribbing so it looks invisible when I seam it? I'm anticipating 114 stitches on the back. Should I increase to 115 in order to have proper ribbing?

So in an effort to distract myself from thinking about the actual amount of Christmas knitting I have left to do, I am thinking about what I will work on after the holidays. I have purchased 2 sweater patterns and I can't decide on which would be the best "first sweater"...

The first option is ChicKnits Scoop Du Jour and the second option is Glampyre's Easy Raglan V-neck.

( both seem to be pretty beginnery, but they both have pros and cons )

I've been planning out my xmas gifts, and I have a friend that loves Hello Kitty. Unfortunately, I've searched the web, and have not been able to find any Hello Kitty charts/patterns/etc. My google-fu has been exhausted!

If anyone could direct me to some Hello Kitty knit patterns, I would be forever greatful!

anyone have stitch n' bitch handy?
i seem to remember it having a handy little blurb in there on how to tighten up loose stitches in your work.
i'm working in stockinette and i have some sloppy looking stitches throughout my work. ew.

any help? my book is 200 miles away :(

i'm attempting to do a horseshoe stitch, and it's repeat is 10+1. so, i want to repeat it twice, so i cast on 21 stitches, right? i follow the pattern- Row 1: K1, yo, K3, sl1, K2tog, psso, K3, yo, K1, that's ten- do i knit the next stitch and proceed to follow that again to complete my row? or does that +1 work it's way in at the end?

Current Mood: confused

You know, I was thinking today (while dreaming of new knitting needles I recently purchased online), that one of the great things about the Knitting community is that it’s such a resource. Here is a place that people around the world can use to gain inspiration, get help, suggestions, expertise, and commiseration. I’ve learned a lot just through asking about yarn preferences.

Now one of the things that we tech-savvy knitters have in common is a general penchant for getting our fix at online retailers. So of course, we’ve all heard about people’s favorite places to shop online for yarn (Kelly Petkun (sp?) from Knit Pix must have constantly burning ears). But one of the things I look for the most online is e-tailers who take PayPal. When I didn’t have a credit card it was a big way for the to utilize my spending money online. And since I’ve started doing business online, it’s my major depository of revenue. So when I go to buy online, I appreciate places that take PayPal, since that’s where my “fun money” resides.

For others who prefer PayPal merchants, I’d like to share a few of my favorites, including a new one I found yesterday. I have ordered from the shops listed below and recommend them. I have to warn that I don’t know these shops international shipping policy.

1. The Knitter A lot of people already know about this one, but for those that don’t, Judy is very helpful and she doesn’t charge any shipping. She has a large selection of yarns, and an extensive collection of sock yarns, including Lorna’s Laces, Mountain Colors, Cherry Tree Hill, Trekking XXL, Regia, Fortissima… the list goes on and on. Also carries books, patterns, and knitting needles. This is a personal favorite.

2. Elizabeth’s Fiber Shop Medium selection of yarn, as well as knitting patterns, needles, and tools. Great place to buy something for the spinner in your life, or pick up supplies to try your hand at it as well.

3. Copper Moose Small selection of yarn, more geared towards those who spin or felt.

4. Spin Blessing Large selection of knitting needles, including 40” Inox Express (woot!) which are a cheap alternative to Addi Turbos when using the Magic Loop method of making socks. Modest selection of yarn (nothing to write home about) but lots of accessories and notions for knitters. This store is new to me, but I ordered some needles yesterday so we’ll see how it goes.

I thought that making a list of shops that people recommend would be useful and something that members might put into their memories to refer back to. What is *your* favorite paypal fiber merchant?

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: Christmas Music

So today I ventured over to handpaintedyarn.com and promptly dumped all my extra cash on some yarn! I bought a couple colors in the Superbulky wool...the colors looked wonderful. I thought it would make some great, fast last minute scarves for xmas gifts.

Now I'm wondering if I was too hasty! Have any of you used this yarn before?? Is it soft enough for a scarf? Do you like it??

Current Mood: hopeful

I have never knitted with cables, but last night I got bored and was experimenting with the DNA scarf. When it got to the point that called for a cable needle, I whipped out a thin crochet hook (since I don't own a cable needle) and used it to hold the stitches. It seems to be working fine, so do you really even NEED a cable needle to knit cables?

I'm knitting some Bartlett Yarns 2-ply on Clover bamboo US9 circs, and the yarn keeps getting caught on the join. Is there anything I can do to make the yarn slip easier, like lubricate it or whatnot?

Also, has anyone used Addi Natura circs? How would you describe the joins, and are they worth the price?

Current Mood: frustrated

So I'm fancying myself a sweater, preferably the Hourglass one from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

I knitted up a swatch in some leftover Andean Silk I had, and with US6 circs--a size smaller than called for in the pattern--and ended up with a dramatically different gauge--the pattern calls for 19 stitches per 4 inches; I had 14. This was my first time knitting up a swatch to check gauge.

I'd really like to knit this sweater, but have not the time/resources to test different size needles. So, what needle size would you recommend I go down to? US5, or even lower? I will probably order them online so I can't even look at them.

Another ponderment I had, for the same project, is the nature of Andean Silk itself. As I said, I've already handled it and I love it, but have since gifted the scarf away (and it had a lot of openwork, so might not have been a reliable test anyway) and don't know how the scratchiness is next to bare skin. Does it really soften up after the wash?

Then of course, the colors. I hadn't considered any of the Twist options at first, but have since seen this gorgeous WIP in a knitting blog. I would never have guessed that the colors would have turned out so well from the pictures that KnitPicks provides, and so I'm wondering about the other Twist colors. If anyone has any other WIP or FO pictures with any of the AST colors knitted up, they would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I know I know ... I said that I would work on my blanket until I was comfortable with the stitches.  But knitting is so much fun!  I can knit, purl, bind off and make my first pair of fingerless gloves.

The pattern I am following is here.  And I am using some very old black yarn.  I am trying to get rid of the old stuff still.  These hand warmers are very cool!

The first one is still on the needles, but I am doing the k1, p1 ribbing at the end.  Just gonna sew it together, and here is the question:

What the heck is a mattess st?

( Check under the cut for the photos of my WIP )

Current Mood: chipper

Since going out into the stores is a frightening thought at this time of the year ... thank goodness I am done with the Hexmas shopping ... I am in need of a "sampler blanket" type of pattern. A block per pattern, and a way of joining them.

Is there anything like this online? I have seen the Leisure Arts book "60 Easy to Knit Pattern Stitches", and I would really like to do something like that.

Thanks in advance and I hope this isn't a repeat question!

Happy knitting!

Current Mood: curious

I just got 3 skeins of Lambs Pride Worsted, and I can't seem to find the end of the yarn. I've never had a problem with this before, but I've never used Lambs Pride before either. I assume it's a center-pull (I can find the end that's on the outside). Anyone have any tips?

EDIT: I found it! Thanks everyone!