I'm looking to buy an encyclopedia of knitting stitches and wonder if you could tell me what your favorite book is.

I'd like to have the most complete volume as is possible but I want pretty pictures and it has to be hardcover.

Thanks!

I knit up a lace baby headband with ( a bow. )

I have a friend who will dress her son up in ridiculous hats, so it is very fun to knit for him.

I made him the ( baby chicken hat ) last year.

I decided on the ( Shrek hat ) this year.

I wanted to knit it top-down so I followed the thorpe pattern until I was happy with the length and did some ribbing along the bottom.

The original idea for the pattern came from the ogre my ogre pattern on Ravelry.

I can't crochet very well, so I made up my own knit pattern for the horns/ears. To make them, I picked up 8 stitches in a square (like the outside squares of a tic tac toe board), and knit i-cord for awhile. Then I did a row of k1, kfb in the round. Next row was kfb, k2. Then I just knit for a few more rows and let the natural curl of the stockinette work for me. I tacked the rolled edges in place with the yarn tails before weaving them in.

This was made from Mission Falls 1824 Wool which is superwash. I used US size 5 needles (I'm a very loose knitter). I put it through the washer and dryer to make sure the little ears still stood up. If I were to do it again, I would knit the horns on smaller needles as they did droop a bit after the wash. If this were for an adult I might have woven pipecleaners in.

And very important for those with little ones that we can't give cold medicine to...

TRY THIS 



I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo-rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe these findings on the part of their scientists when they were investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription cough medicines in children as compared to alternative therapies like acupressure. Just happened to tune in AM. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. My mom tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it. If you have grandchildren, pass it on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed by the effect!

I have been working on a blanket project and have reached the final step - adding a border.

The blanket is 5ft x 6ft, so the total perimeter is 22 feet. I believe I have read in the past that you need 3x as much yarn to knit across a length. So a 22 foot border requires 66 feet of yarn for one row. 66 feet = 22 yards. So, if I want to do 6 rows of border, I need 132 yards of yarn.

Is that reasonable/logical? Does that make sense to anyone else? Am I off in my thinking?

I ask because I would LIKE to do a garter stitch border, but I only have 170 yards of yarn, and I feel like garter stitch needs at least 3 ridges (6 rows) to look good as a border. If I won't have enough for that, I'll have to do seed stitch (as much as I don't want to do 22 feet x however many rows of seed stitch, ugh).

Thanks!

I want to make a queen-sized blanket/afghan. I suspect that this will take about 3000 yards of worsted-weight, or heavy worsted/light bulky, yarn, provided i use only knits/purls or a simple lace pattern and no cabling. I figure that as long as I finish this project before I'm dead or I move to a warmer place, it's 100% worth it. I want to make it out of all-natural fibers, I want to to be soft, and I want it to be warm.

Where do you think is the best place to buy 3000 yards of worsted-weight yarn, natural fiber, possibly a low-end luxury blend, for less than $200? Here's some stuff that I"m considering now:

Schoolhouse products Yak/Merino 3000 yards is about $180, but I'm not wild about the colors.
Knit Picks Cadena, if I decide that for a bulky weight yarn I'd need 250 yards, it comes to 23 balls, or about $135.
Valley Yarns Lenox or Stockbridge both come to around $112
Plymouth Suri Merino, comes to about $154
Cascade Pastaza, comes to around $110

Does anyone know of the existence of short metal knitting needles? I am fairly new to knitting (my best friend taught me in June -- seriously one of the greatest days of my life!) and am still in the stereotypical "scarf phase"...and am COMPLETELY OBSESSED. Anyway, I learned on bamboo size 10's, but have scaled down and switched over to metal circular size 5 Addi Turbos (which are positively BRILLIANT and CREAMY), but I was wondering -- specifically as a preference and for ease of use -- does anyone know of any company that makes straight, metal needles that are say, 5 to 7 inches long with a stopper on the end? This length would be easier for me to handle and certainly long enough for the scarves I am making. Do these even exist? Thanks!

My memory is failing me.

Has anyone seen those little clawed clamp things to hold knitting pieces together prior to sewing them?
Do you know where I could get them?
They look like the little clawed clamps that you might put in a child's hair, like these:

But they are used to hold the pieces together.
Thanks so much for your help!

Hey all!

So I'm looking to do some experimental knitting of a large tube collar thing. I was hoping to do this with magic loop, but I'm having trouble finding size 10+ circulars with 40"+ of cable. Does magic loop not work for things bigger than socks? I've used it before to make Kindle covers, but those aren't much larger. Just trying to figure this out. Thanks!

I've cast on for this sweater http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/kwe-mockTurtleneck.html?r=1  which calls for 8 balls of wool-ease yarn. I'm using knitpick's swish worsted weight yarn. I just realized that I mis-calculated the yardage. The swish comes in 110 yard balls, and the wool-ease comes in 197 yard balls. I should need about 14 and a third balls of the swish, and I only have 14 balls.

The pattern calls for 6 rows of stockinette stitch around the bottom, the cuffs, and the neck, which I am cutting out of the pattern because I do not like the rolled edge. Do you think that cutting the rolled edge out will make up for the fact that going by the pattern, I'll be about a third of a ball short? Or should I make a size down, and hope that it will fit?
*edit to fix HTML fail*

I very rarely post here, but I've finished some things recently that I am really proud of and I wanted to share. First up is Margot from the Fall 09 Knitty.

( Margot )

Next up is Bella's Mittens for my sister for Christmas.

( Bella's Mittens )

The next thing I finished was a Christmas stocking for my son. I did all of the knitting back in September, but finally finished it off with a braided loop and duplicate-stitched name the other night. I wanted to get some languishing projects out of the WIP stage. I love how the stitching came out and I think my son will really like the stocking. I've got it hidden away until we decorate, though.

( Christmas stocking )

The last thing I finished was just tonight - a log cabin blanket for my son. It's his "baby" blanket because I never knit him one when he was a baby. He'll be six at the end of the month and I started this blanket when he was 4 1/2! I felt guilty after knitting my nephew a baby blanket and I cast on for this in July 2008. I set it aside for huge blocks of time, but picked it up two days ago to finish the last two strips.

( Joshua's 'baby' Blanket )

Thanks for looking! I'm really proud of all of this stuff. I feel really accomplished for finishing off two languishing projects and now I'm being productive by working on some more Christmas gifts. I don't have anything outrageous planned - a mini scarf, a dishcloth, and finishing up two more WIPs. I've got so much weight off my shoulders with that blanket finished that everything else is gravy. :)

I'm knitting a pair of slippers for a friend and I'm using LionBrand Wool-Ease. My question is: Should I block it? It's 80% acrylic and 20% wool so I'm not sure if I can and should block it. Has anyone used this and did you block it?

What ever happened to Sweet Baby Jane's ( shoes? )

I have lots of FO but I especially liked this one...

( a pic and a cut to my journal )

Don't faint... I have finished items... which will be Christmas gifts.... BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

First scarf is for my sister --- It's made from a pattern called "Ann's Neck Warmer Knit Scarf". I used some lovely merino sport yarn, which I got from the NYS Sheep and Wool Fest, last year. Hand dyed -- a lovely color called Saffron. Is it bad to not want to give this away?

( Neck Warmer )

Next is a scarf for one of my best friends... pattern is from Morehouse Farm "Merino Knits" book....a simple 2x2 rib -- made with Merino yarn from Schaefer Yarn, also purchased at 2008 NYS Sheep and Wool Fest. This is a hand painted yarn called "Miss Priss"

( Fringe Binge )

Now if I can just get the pictures in, and under a cut....

Hi knitting friends,

Every once in a while I run across a posting or a blog comment about how there are so many more kinds of yarns in many different luxurious fibers than there used to be. Particularly this comment comes up when people who were alive before I was even born say things like, "I've been knitting for forty years, but for many years I did only afghans and dishcloths because we did not have the nice yarns back then like we have today with all the great colors and natural fibers available," etc. This thought naturally horrifies me, but I suppose if you don't know what you're missing, it's not so bad.

But I will know what I'm missing, and I'm a little worried...what are we going to do when/if the Golden Age ends? Will I really be stuck with having only Red Heart for all my knitting during the supposedly golden years of my life? (I don't want to stir up the acrylic/wool wars again, and I do respect Red Heart for the situations in which is useful, but I don't want that to be my only option for knitting.) Most critically, should I be stashing up now in case there is a yarn-pocalypse and the bottom falls out of the market and all these great little dyers and spinners and designers are unable to support themselves? Or what if a "sheep flu" starts going around and threatens the world's sheep population? Or if there is a worldwide infestation of yarn-eating moths?

Just in case, I am learning to spin. Eventually I will know how to card/comb fiber, and if things look grim I'll even learn how to raise and shear a sheep in the two square feet of grass that exists on our property. Or I'll learn to spin cat hair. It can be done, if it must, I'm sure. I also plan to add a good bit of fiber to the household emergency kit (with the flashlights, water bottles, etc.). Knitting can be done without electricity and a warm sweater is very useful if you have no power or heat. I can grow lavender in our little kitchen garden to protect all our clothes from pests. I also intend to recruit as many people as possible to start crafting - the more crafters we have, the less likely we are to ever be in such a position that there is simply no market for quality yarns/fibers simply because they have a slightly higher price point.

We should be prepared for all eventualities. If you have any other good ideas, please let me know!

Heather

A few years ago (maybe two) I've bookmarked a free pattern for Christmas ornaments. They were these little mice, with hats and scarves, and I think I found it through this community. Sadly, my laptop where the pattern was saved burned out :'( and I lost it. The ornaments were very similar in style to these here, just mice instead of snowmen.
I've looked at Knitting Pattern Central with no luck, as well through this community tags but came out empty. My Google fu is failing me and I was hoping maybe someone had any idea where can I find this pattern.

Thanks in advance, you guys :).

Hello,

I'm taking a trip up to Toronto this weekend, and would love to drop by an LYS or two if anyone has recommendations. I'd particularly like to find some of Veronik Avery's new yarn line, St. Denis.

Thanks!

I finished knitting a shrug today, ( pictures here )

I'd had a big skein of some lovely colourful, but entirely unlabelled, 4-ply yarn in my stash for a few years, that needed using.
My Mum had a copy of Serrano from knitty.com printed out, didn't want it, so I had a go.

A bit fiddly in places, but a lovely result! And only uses a little over 300g in smaller sizes.

( pics under the cut )