Post Punk Kitchen Forum

You can do it!!!!! <3

I started a new project - a garter stitch scarf with lots of offset one-row buttonholes... Had to frog a lot before I figured out how to make it not as wide and still keep the holes symmetrical. Hopefully from now on it will be the "mindless knitting" the pattern promised me.

It's like knitting with an ornery hedgehog!

You are so brave. I tried knitting socks on dpn's and it was like torture!

Finished my dandy neckerchief (like forever ago...)!



Cast on for my Gretel Tam




Also. I bought a knitting machine. I am beyond excited. I scored a 3 year old SilveReed standard gauge with a ribber and lace carriage for a price I am very happy with. Now who wants some forking sweaters!?

Ooh, ooh, me!



Hilarious!



You're brave yourself, I don't think I will ever attempt a sock!

I want a sweater too! A stripey one! :D

Seriously, I don't even know how a knitting machine works.
Does it need special patterns? What do you do with it?
When it comes to, you know, modern technology, think of me somewhere in the Middle Ages, training my hedgehog friends to knit socks.

Attempt is the key word here. I got about two rows in and gave up. I would love to try again seeing as I have a whole book dedicated to sock knitting!

Yes. Don't be afraid of the hedgehogs! I learned to knit socks with DPNs when I was about ten or eleven. And it wasn't hard at all!
You just have to ignore the other needles (the ones you're not using ATM), and they will behave.

Phoenix, I found that it was difficult because there never seemed like enough room between the needles or something, like the knitting was too tight (but it wasn't). Does that go after the first few rows? I kept trying and just kept giving up because of that (and also that it gave me a headache concentrating so much!)

Oh, I always hate the first couple of rows after the cast-on, no matter what I'm making. I'm convinced it will get easier!
I'm the other way round, incidentally: Since I learned to knit with long needles and DPNs, I'm extra cautious of circular needles. They feel utterly alien to me, haha.

If you think it will get easier I will try again! I am looking for a new project at the minute anyway. I was trying a pair that were made of 100% cotton yarn which probably didn't help much because there wasn't much give at all!

@ fisticuffs- get the needle end protectors or just a bunch of rubber bands to hold the work together when you're not doing it- I remember at the beginning learning DPN i kept putting down my work and when i took it up again, it was all coming off the needles, and i kept getting so frustrated and stabby, which made the whole thing even worse.

Not only that, but cotton will drive you mad by splitting up into individual mini-threads.
I say try again with a more yielding yarn, and if it still bugs you, you may punch me on the arm.

ETA: Pure cotton socks might not be perfect anyway. I have one or two pairs that my granny made for me, and they get saggy at the rims - simply because they're cotton.
(They're lovely to wear, though. I love the feel of cotton on my skin.)

Thanks for the tip! When I get frustrated I'm inclined to just frog everything, throw it in a corner and angrily glance at it for a while.

I didn't have much time yesterday but I managed to do about 12 rows. Without poking mrs. lap kitty in the eye with a needle. I claim success!

edit: I've never specifically looked for it but non-wool sock yarn seems difficult to find around here.

Knitting with DPNs definitely gets easier with practice and I actually prefer it now, because it's much easier for me to keep track of stitches.

I swore I'd never knit socks but nebraskalaska finally convinced me and I'M LOVING IT OMG. Coming together pretty quickly and I chose a relatively simple pattern, and with some help from her, I'm doing pretty well! Would definitely recommend it! Plus vegan sock yarn = <3

they look something like this



That's just the machine, without the ribber attachment.

It's not really a shining example of modern technology, machine is kind of a misnomer, it's kind of like a loom. In fact, most of them are not electronic and you still do everything by hand. The machines that are electronic just store different stitch patterns to help you do fair isle and intarsia, kind of like a sewing or embroidery machine.

The bed of the machine has about 200 needles (they look like latch hooks) and you wrap the yarn around each needle to cast on. Then you move the carriage (that thing with the handle) across the bed to knit a row. Knitting just plain stockinette is super easy, but doing anything else like lace, cables, or ribbing without a ribber, requires a lot of hand manipulation; it can get quite complicated and headache-inducing.

There are patterns like hand knitting patterns for machine knitters, but from my understanding most people don't use them and just design things themselves.

Oh hey, wanna know what's not fun? Forgetting that you have an extra knitting needle in your lap, letting it roll off onto the bed, and then plonking your leg down on top of the forgotten needle such that it is now protruding from your ankle.

Missed my Achilles tendon by about a millimeter. It still hurts (almost a week later) and I've still got it bandaged up, but at least I can still walk. Who knew knitting could be so dangerous??

The upshot, though, is that I now know how to knit cables WITHOUT an extra needle, so I no longer have to worry about where I put the extra needle.

Phoenix:



Giant plastic knitted squid! From http://whodunnknit.com/.

ZOMG!

Aaaaaah the hunting tentacles! Love love love.

Oops. *MAJOR BLUSH* I thought I'd clicked on PM.

*dies*

ETA: Not the post above. That's okay. I meant to say that out loud.

Hahahaaaaa! <3

Jesus! Glad you're okay!

I just finished knitting a pair of fingerless gloves for my husband:



The pattern is free, it's Dashing from Knitty:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTdashing.html

Lovely!! :) I knit myself a pair last year.