Stitch Whimsy

Grey Beast

Originally uploaded by SockMopTart

here is my Online Craft Club entry for today. What will it be? I dunno really yet. A hat? A Purse? I am thinking I might make it into a purse to go with my awesome Eagle jacket. They have about the same shade of grey in them. Trying a few different things, knitting off the top of my noggin. Check out more Online Craft Club bloggers at the little icon on the left

Technorati Tags: Online Craft Club, knitting

I finished knitting this hat sometime last night. It is based on the basic structure of this pattern, but I modified it and the stitches to an extent. When I make another hat like this, I am going to make it longer to cover more of my ears. I love the feel of it. I might just be getting addicted to this knitting thing.

Tags: nablopomo, knitted+hat, knitting

Here I have talked about how to do the double stitch, turn that stitch, do the half double stitch, and work your way back down the row. Pretty nifty stuff ;D

Tags: work+with+me+wednesday, crochet+tutorial, crochet, nablopomo

I am still going to do a Work With Me Wednesday video. It will come later on today. Right now, I want to share with you a video of a knitter. I favorited this a while back on YouTube. Every avid knitter will identify with this, I think.

Tags: avid+knitter

I was curious as to how much yarn crochet uses versus knitting. A girl from Ravelry said that crochet uses more. I needed to know just how much more.

I made a loop in my yarn and used size 8 knitting and crochet needles and did single stitch rows till I got to the loop. I get 5 rows of 10 stitches with knitting and 3 rows of 10 stitches doing crochet. Who would have guessed? I never thought crochet used more. I really thought that since knitting takes more time and is so stretchy, that it obviously took more yarn.

Boy was I wrong.

Tags: crochet, knitting, crochet+vs+knitting

Here is the list of Yarns I like so far:

Lion Brand Seal Brown (vintage, no longer made) 3.5oz
RH Baby Clouds 6 oz
Bernat Baby Coordinates 5.25 oz
Caron Simply Soft 6 oz
RH Super Saver (in 5 oz, 7 oz, 8 oz, and 16 oz)

All of it seems to be worsted 4 ply, except for the Bernat which is Sport weight. The labels always have a pattern on them. I saw one for a knitted diaper bag.

I have been looking around for yarn comparable in price to that which I get from Walmart. I can get a 7oz RH skein for $1.98. The baby softs are under $4, and I buy those only on sale for like half price. I also get the simply soft for $2.09 a skein. I have yet to find that online. I hate how most sites go by grams. Then I have to go crack the calculator to figure out how many ounces it is.

50 grams is the most popular weight for knitting yarn. Then when you read a knitting pattern and it says use 7 balls of x yarn, you go WHAAA??? That’s a whole lot of yarn. In actuality, it’s 350 grams of yarn which equals a little less than two 7 ounce skeins.

Then you will go through these sites and find 50 gram balls of yarn for like a dollar and you go *whoohoo* because you think you have found a bargain. It’s only a bargain depending on the materials the yarn is made from. A dollar ball of mohair compared to a dollar ball of acrylic… hmmm the mohair is much more of a bargain. Consider that 50 grams is less than 2 ounces of yarn and you will see what I mean.

Frankly, I’m tired of looking through yarn shop after yarn shop online to find great deals only to be shot in the foot. When someone finds a really good yarn bargain online PLEASE let me know!

I didn’t do all these conversions myself, I had a little help.

Tags: yarn, shopping+for+yarn, yarn+shops, nablopomo

Scrunchable Scarf is a simple pattern, the simplest I have found. I am having a lovely time knitting it up. Believe me, it is definitely giving me plenty of practice with the knit and purl stitches. This is what I have after working for under an hour:

A buddy of mine just made a scarf using this pattern. She stressed how simple it was, so I had to check it out. I only wish I had fluffier threads to do this with. Maybe another time. I am contemplating using the striping yarn to knit one of these, see how that crunchy stuff fares in knit. It worked well with Tunisian crochet. I might try my hand at my own design, since I am getting so familiar with the way the knit purl design works. I have also learned how to increase and decrease stitches. I have not crochet since I began this knitting excursion, but I miss it. I have to force myself not to just drop the needles and go back to what I know. I really want to learn and be able to help my son so we won’t both end up frustrated.

Tags: knitting, learning+to+knit, purl, scrunchable+scarf, nablopomo

Well I have the knit and the purl down. I’m a knit purling machine. Now what? Do I fathom that I can tackle a pattern to make something? What would I make? I tried to figure out how to do this “simple” hat pattern, but it got the best of me. It wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Someone point me in th right direction. Where would be the best place to find EXTREME beginner’s patterns? Looking online you can’t really always tell how hard a pattern will be until you have cast on like 100 stitches and you say .. umm wait, what IS that stitch?

Knit Purl Experiment

Originally uploaded by SockMopTart

I am learning to knit, as I told you yesterday. This morning I learned to purl. Yesterday I learned the knit stitch. Here is my experiment with the stitches. I don’t have any formal plans for this yet. Right now it’s just about learning the stitches. I can already see the design possibilities. This is also my entry for the online craft club hosted by Cass Knits.

Technorati Tags: online craft club

Today after all the festivities, I decided to sit down and figure out this 2 needled wonder. I can see how an ambidextrous knitter would be able to turn out projects in no time flat. It’s interesting to watch a creation grow off the needles. I am only on the 3rd row, but it’s interesting nonetheless. I am actually trying to find my Knithym (knitting rythym). I guess that will come in time. So far, I am thinking that knitting will become yet another thread based obsession of mine. I know when my son gets into it, there will be no stopping him, either. I bet the craft section of Walmart will be smiling big every time they see us come through the front door!

Tags: learning+to+knit, knitting