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Knitting Answers

August 20, 2009

I was able to upload more pictures to my ravelry page for the knit in the last post. While there I posted an updated picture of my thrive sweater:

From these handspun singles. I am loving the progress, and it should be ready to go for a nice comfy pullover this fall.

I get the feeling some people think I'm clever in the knitting department, and I don't really think I am. I do knit quickly, and can read a pattern well, but I rarely deviate from them. When my gauge is off I usually just cheat and go up or down a size, bad Amber. I've recently answered some emails from beginner knitters, and Carmen commenting on the advice I gave her reminded me that I should post here what I've told others.

*Side note: I've been meaning to say that I now answer comments in the comments section. I changed it to be like a big thread, I like it and I hope you do too! So please feel free to ask me anything and I'll chat with you down there.

The main questions I get are, "What baby or easy projects to do you recommend?" and, "What knitting books do you recommend?"

First of all I do not recommend that you start with a scarf. If you must do a little stockinette (see my thrive example above, one side is all knit, the other all purl), do a little dish cloth. It will be a lot quicker, and if you make mistakes you still have something you will use. First things first go, quick, run, and sign up for Ravlery. I link to it a lot because that is where I organize all my knitting. It is a totally free site with lots of great features, like pattern searches (and links to free patterns), yarn indexes, and places to organize your stash (if you are so inclined). Plus forums where lovely knitters will answer your questions likity split.

Now that you've done that I can direct you to some of those quick and easy patterns I love so much. I don't think many of you will be surprised with my favorite beginner pattern:

The tri-peak hat is a crowd pleaser (and a free download(, and you can make it in any type of yarn. I've done it in very light fingering sock yarn to bulky handspun, and it always looks great. No decreases, no purling. Not that those things are hard, but it's nice to have a go to gift hat to show off new knitting skills. Use Ravely's wonderful search engine (you can specify a pattern be free if you like) to find more great projects. Here is one I want to try and get done for Tuesday this winter.

As far as knitting books go you can see all of them I have on my Ravlery library page. I have a lot of books, they are great inspiration and I have made lots of things out of them. But if you are just starting out save yourself the headache and get the Vogue Knitting Book first. This will take the mystery out of a SSK, and help you read all the wonderful patterns in other books. There are no patterns for finished garments in this book, though if you read through the whole thing and did swatches you could probably make one. I used this a lot in the beginning (my mom had an older version, if you find one at a used bookstore pick it up, a few things have changed, but it should still be relevant), and I use it a lot now.

I was just going to do a super quick post about the hourglass sweater progress, but I could talk about knitting for hours! Any other questions? Maybe why am I talking about knitting in the heat of summer? Ask away!

7 comments on Knitting Answers
If I could pull this off I would

August 19, 2009

I love my newest finished knit for Tutu. I brought it as vacation knitting to Alaska and it was just the perfect thing, so easy. Also I got extra knitting time spending time in a car. And since it is still light enough to knit at eleven o'clock at night there that helped a lot!

It's knit in the round (after the opening you see there at the top right) and is so quick and easy. I made this in the 6 month size, but longer I think, as Tuesday is quite skinny. I'm planning on this being a dress for the fall, and then more of tunic/top for the spring. It's big on her now:

Hmm, maybe if I made it again I would figure out how to make smaller arm holes too. I'm not that great at pattern modification. I did finally do my own crochet edging.

Just around the opening and for the button hole, but still! My mother-in-law was here and gave me a little refresher. But she held the yarn differently than Paula showed me, so I'm going to have to figure out what works for me, I'm still really awkward with the hook. I love garter stitch, and purl ridges have that same springy feel and look:

One of my favorite easy most mindless (in a good way) knits ever.

It has the added bonus of taking exactly one skein of Medium Weight Socks That Rock. I am freaking out because I have a lot of skeins of this yarn, and many are only one per colorway. This was fine when a whole sweater took only one skein, but that is not going to be the case this winter! I'm going to have to figure out color-work, or do some striping, or something. Or I might just make a dozen of these. Here's the Ravelry link, but I don't have pictures up yet. My flickr uploader isn't working and I'm too tired to try and fix it.

11 comments on If I could pull this off I would
Tasty

August 18, 2009

Wow, thanks for all the great links and comments. I wish I had more time to explore them this season, but I will have to save some for next season. When I woke up this morning half of the plums I had cleaned were already splitting in their over ripe state. I panicked and went with the easiest thing I could find: a little water in the pan, get it boiling, stick in the plums and cook for 5-10 minutes. Then skin (the skins just pulled right off – and they kind of are like fruit leather, yum, I ate a lot), pit and puree.

I got a lot, it was great. I also saved the juice from the pan, it seemed too good to waste. Ideas on what to do with this part? I'm a little afraid to use it too generously, I mean isn't plum juice basically prune juice? And doesn't that, well, you know.

My friend's mom emailed me with her process and she uses one of these juice cooker things, intriguing, I might have to get one for next year (well, I'll definitely add it to my look for while thrifting list). I think the puree is a bit strong for Tuesday so I'll add it to banana and my homemade rice cereal for now. We (Emilie and I) gave her a little straight up, her reaction was pretty funny.

I also had to take care of another baby feeding issue. Miss Slippery Pants slides all around the old wooden high chair we use. She's skinny and can slip right under. Of course I never leave her alone in it, but I knew Bj would be working late tonight and I wouldn't have the extra hand to help me steady her. I came up with a strap contraption I think works pretty well.

I needed it to fit now and later, and to be sturdy and easy to clean. I used a four inch strip of cotton fabric cut on the bias (how many times am I going to cut the ends wrong to join and make a long strip? I always forget the right way to do this on the first try – you lay them perpendicular, and sew on the diagonal). I folded the edges towards the middle and then backed it with some sturdy grosgrain, sewing it all together on the edges:

I love grosgrain, it's the work horse of ribbons. I made a loop out of the piece that goes under the crotch and put a double seam in to have a place for the ties to cross in the back:

I'll either pull those stitches out to lengthen or use the next loop when she grows. After ends are crossed pull snug and tie:

It's no 5-point harness, but if you are sitting with baby I think it will do the trick nicely. Plus when we take the tray off and pull her right up to the table it will still work to keep her from slipping. I know she likes it because before tonight she was gripping the arms of the chair while we fed her, you know, basically hanging on for her life.

11 comments on Tasty

Knitting Answers

If I could pull this off I would

Tasty

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