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Subject: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 13 Sep 03 - 04:53 PM Does anyone know of a site where you can get pictures of how to knit (English style)? I used to knit a bit, and have gotten past casting on, but none of the books I can find have any decent pictures about where one sticks the needles into the yarn. I want to start again, bought two big books which are useless -- they leave you hanging at exactly the wrong moment. You would think by now someone would have written a book that has a sequence of pictures and explanations, but none of the books I have checked (not just the two I bought) has anything remotely clear or explanatory. Just shows how hard it is to do a decent description of something as simple/complex as simple knitting. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Sorcha Date: 13 Sep 03 - 05:02 PM Try PMing Mario. I think he knits....and there are some threads over at Pip Freemans Annexe. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 13 Sep 03 - 05:16 PM I knit, Peter. I suggest that you could come here for a free lesson (you know where I live) OR I could loan you a how to knit book with pictures OR you could get yourself to a knitting store and ask someone there for help OR you could go to a library and look at for a knitting book - the Leaside library has lots of knitting books OR I could go with you to the Leaside or other library to look for a knitting book OR all of the above. ~black walnut |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Lyrical Lady Date: 13 Sep 03 - 05:25 PM |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Willa Date: 13 Sep 03 - 05:26 PM These sites might help; they do have pictures. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Lyrical Lady Date: 13 Sep 03 - 05:28 PM Oooops...wrong button!! I, too, am thinking of starting to knit again.. helps to keep the hands busy and off the cigs! If you come up with a site, please let me know as well. I think this would be very helpful! LL |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 13 Sep 03 - 06:10 PM Hi, b.w., I may take you up on this (actually I have no idea where you live). I have two damn knitting books with pictures, but they are no use when the going gets tough! yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 13 Sep 03 - 06:19 PM The DIY site is a classic example of my point: pictures too small, and it gives instructions like: "the right hand needle goes behind the left" which is completely useless. What one wants to know is exactly where to insert the right hand needle into the left hand loop. As I said, it shows how few people have any idea about how to give useful instructions in writing to novices. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 13 Sep 03 - 07:03 PM Peter, weren't you at my house for a house concert - Eileen McGann or David Francey? Does that ring a bell? I helped somebody with their knitting at the Eaglewood Festival. It was a teenage guy knitting beside his mother who was a new knitter. I think that learning with someone, 3D in real life with real needles, is so much easier than trying to learn from a diagram. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: akenaton Date: 13 Sep 03 - 07:30 PM Amos is apparently very good at the old plain and purl. Ake... |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 13 Sep 03 - 07:51 PM What exactly do you need help with - plain? Purl?? Whatever??? Have you got past knitting a single row without making or losing any yet? LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Kim C Date: 13 Sep 03 - 11:27 PM The Readers Digest Guide to Knitting is very good... also a little spiral-bound book called the Knitter's Companion. I think there's also a knitting web ring... you may be able to find something there. I don't know offhand a home page for it but I'm sure you could search on the Almighty Google. Also try the Knitting & Crochet Guild of America, or the Craft Yarn Council websites. Again, I don't know the addresses offhand, but a search ought to bring them right up. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Amos Date: 14 Sep 03 - 12:10 AM Ake, I? Knit? Surely not. If I have slipped as much as one stitch, it was in dreamtime far from this mortal coil. I suppose you just said that to needle me, eh? I doubt they would even let me through the Purley Gates.... A |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Barry Finn Date: 14 Sep 03 - 12:21 AM Hi Peter, give MMario shout. He does some fine, fine work in this area. Barry |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Sep 03 - 12:52 AM I bought a lovely cotton shawl that MMario made, but it's crochet, not knit. Peter, are you right handed? Then the needle in your right hand has the cast-on stitches, and as you transact each new stitch, it slides onto the left needle. Stick the left needle into the material on the bottom side of the right needle. Pay attention to the stitch that is (should be) closest to the right needle's point under your index finger. Knit and purl are simple. It has been many years, but I think knit when you pick up the new loop (through the stitch under your index finger) from the far side of the needle and slide it onto the left. Purl is when you poke the left needle through from the outside and pick up the yarn from the inside of the right needle. If you want a solid "knit" side in the finished material then you have to knit all of the stitches off of one needle onto the other, and alternate each row as knit or purl. Otherwise you end up with distinct raised and recessed rows. Is this too simplified? Ignore it if so. I was just trying to see if I could describe it clearly. I understood what I was saying, if that's any measure. :-) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,Wyrd Sister Date: 14 Sep 03 - 08:21 AM SRS, are you American? (which explains everything)If not, then you certainly knit back-handed. MY cast-on stitches have always travelled from left needle to right! |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 14 Sep 03 - 09:09 AM Mine too. Left to right. ~b.w. (Canadian) |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 14 Sep 03 - 09:34 AM (In knitting, not in politics). ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 14 Sep 03 - 11:13 AM Hi b.w., I do remember the concert very well (Eileen McGann) and had a wonderful time. No idea how I got there, or away. Actually, it is very difficult to describe (I was aware of that when I made my points) in words, and pictures have to be very synched. I imagine video is better, but as anyone knows who has bought an instrument video, they can be even more frustrating. Not to pick on Stilly River Sage but "Stick the left needle into the material on the bottom side of the right needle," doesn't say whether the needle goes in front of the loop first then back, or under the loop or what. And that is not Stilly River Sage's fault -- I have not set out the problem as I see it, nor set up the problem in such a way that a set of instructions would be helpful. I didn't say that the way I learned (and forgot) was to have the "old stitches" in the left hand needle, and the new ones on the right, and so on. I find it fascinating that it is so hard to speak clearly about something that a few seconds with an expert would clear up. I only waste people's time with this because I find exactly the same phenomenon with learning to play the guitar!!! yours (with knitted brow) Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Sep 03 - 11:37 AM Ambidexterous. And this is how my mother knitted. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Sep 03 - 12:11 PM Later. Another cup of tea, thinking about knitting. . .I think Mom taught herself to knit--it worked, as she did some very involved projects. My knitting was only sporadic and based on mimicry, so Peter, you may have to turn the description to make it line up with the photos you're looking at. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 14 Sep 03 - 12:43 PM I like to knit 2 colours with one in each hand. It's a great old traditional way to do it. You knit in a round (with steeks) and the right side always faces forward. Then you cut the steeks to make armholes and neckholes. We won't do that right away, though, Peter. I only mention it in that it reminds me of the upcoming Ontario election, except that in the election, all of the faces are backwards. ~b.w. (reptilian kitten and buffy-lover) |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: harpgirl Date: 14 Sep 03 - 01:39 PM ...I don't know about you Peter...I think you should learn how to tie a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue! |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 14 Sep 03 - 02:26 PM Reminds me of a high school teacher friend of mine who a week or so ago was sitting in the cafeteria and asked one of his grade 9 girls what the fascination with having your tongue pierced was. She said, oh its great for oral sex, boys really love it. He spewed his coffee. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 14 Sep 03 - 02:54 PM Look, Peter how hard can this be? Stick the needle into the loop 1)from below and 2) right next to the other needle. Next wrap the yarn around the point and pull the new stuff through. Repeat indefinitely. If you can't get this from books, then you need to find someone who knits who will show you "hands on." Nothing to be ashamed of there. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,Duckboots Date: 14 Sep 03 - 03:25 PM I can help you with this Peter, bring your wool and knitting needles the next time you come over. Heather |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 14 Sep 03 - 06:50 PM What are the books that are no help? (BTW I second the Knitters Companion. Also, Knitting Without Tears (I forget the author) |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 15 Sep 03 - 08:16 AM Thanks Heather, don't think I won't. Can't remember the titles of the books (I am in the wrong office). One is Beginning Knitting, another is Everything Knitting, and the third is something like Knitting for Life. I checked out the Knitters Companion, but the directions were obscure (So what else is new). All these books are great, I am sure, once you get past stage one. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST Date: 15 Sep 03 - 10:46 AM Take up the offers to have some one show you, it's one of those things that you either can or can't learn from books depending on how your mind works -- not an insult, just an observation on how people process information. If your nearby 'Catter's schedules don't fit with your timetable, how 'bout stopping by the coffee hour at a local house of worship or old age home, or some other place haunted by elderly women. I'm sure one (or more) of them would be delighted to help you. You'd learn have the fun of learning, they'd have the joy of teaching, and you both would have a new friend. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,Wyrd Sister Date: 15 Sep 03 - 02:19 PM Stilly River- whatever works! I THINK I remember a friend, who was from the Shetland Isles (N UK, nearer Oslo than London) telling me that the women there knitted the beautiful traditional patterns by knitting backwards and forwards. Does anyone have any info on this? Sounds like something you could do. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,Penny S. (cookieless) Date: 15 Sep 03 - 06:06 PM Wyrd Sister, I may have a book which refers to Shetland knitting, the history of - unfortunately it is at the other end of my spare room, behind a number of largish objects. I will look for it when I can, and get back. If not, my mother's collection may include something, and I'll look when I visit Dad next. The author I'm thinking of is Mary Thomas, if anyone else has anything by her. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Mrs.Duck Date: 15 Sep 03 - 07:17 PM Most of the knitting done up there was on three needles using double pointed kneedles and a padded belt with holes in it. Much like using a circular needle the knitting is always done from the right side. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: harpgirl Date: 15 Sep 03 - 07:32 PM I can attest to how right-brained and therefore soothing knitting can be, having recently started knitting again after a thirty five year hiatus. Shetland knitting sounds difficult but interesting! My mother taught me the basics. She is one of those individuals that can knit almost anything without even much of a pattern. I did not inherit that gift. She still knits up a storm at age 79. Her last stroke interefered with some of her bridge playing ability but not her knitting ability! |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 16 Sep 03 - 01:34 AM In my family, it was always the grandmother who passed on her skills. Consequently it ran in generations. My great grandmother knitted but couldn't sew a straight seam to save her life. Her daughter, my grandmother, could sew but not knit. My mother was one of those infuriating women who could knit all day and every day, without a pattern and apparently whilst watching endless mindless programmes on TV. I can sew almost anything wearable, but knitting is restricted to small squares, frequent referal to the pattern (even for stocking stitch!) and more foul language than my forebears (well, three of them, anyway) ever knew! I'm trying to teach Bratling to do both. Her control skills are there, but she has the concentration of a vacant butterfly. Consequently, she has a dolls scarf that is sort of zig zaggy and has taken 8 months to get to 8 inches. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,MMario Date: 16 Sep 03 - 09:24 AM Peter - try http://www.valleycafe.com/knitting/ click
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 16 Sep 03 - 01:28 PM WOW!!! That is the coolest thing, MMario!!! Well done!!! ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,MMario Date: 16 Sep 03 - 04:30 PM the forum at http://www.pagebypage.com is also very helpful. and they have a chat room you can request live help from! |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: katlaughing Date: 16 Sep 03 - 04:50 PM FWIW, I'm in the US and learned from my grandma with input from my mom and big sister. We've always done it left to right as Wyrd Sister noted.:-) Ambi would be too kewl and the Shetland Islands stuff sounds relaly interesting. I personally prefer crocheting. Great thread! |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Burke Date: 16 Sep 03 - 07:04 PM MMario's site is cool, but it's continental style & may not be what you want to learn. The knitting that way is easy, but I never could get the purls down. I'm also surprised at the demo pushing the finger against the end of the needle when finishing the stitch. That is completely unnecessary. A personal demo is your best bet. I have the Reader's Digest book & love it. It has lots of information on adapting & design. It also shows different ways of casting on & off, increases, decreases, etc. with pictures so you can decide which method suits the look you want. Lots of knitting instructions are written row by row, this is straighforward, but not much good if you loose count or otherwise make a mistake. Try to break the patterns down into their component parts & you'll soon be able to see what you need to do next without counting. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 16 Sep 03 - 08:49 PM I almost bought the Reader's Digest book but it was too expensive! I think I will stay away from continental knitting for awhile. I am a lefty, and someone said it would be best to do that, and I did that for a few weeks, and then shifted over to English normal right hand style, and that worked o.k. -- but then when I stopped and didn't start again for three years, I completely lost both methods (They may have interfered with each other, typical). yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Sep 03 - 10:32 PM Go to the library! Check out a book or three! Maybe they have the Readers Digest book there. Get it through Interlibrary Loan. (We're all so busy looking for everything online, but like knitting itself, go back to the basics and visit the local bibliotech!) :-) |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: LadyJean Date: 17 Sep 03 - 01:11 AM Try the "Leasure Arts Knitting Book". I'm probably the wrong person to ask about this, since I'm an auditory learner, but it does explain things clearly, and there are plenty of nice, big, pictures. A friend reccomends "Knitting for Dummies". But the Leisure Arts book is fairly reasonable. If the people who make Valium and Prozac ever find out about knitting, they'll have it banned. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 17 Sep 03 - 07:29 AM I was just taken by the animation, Burke. I still get excited by inventions like the steam iron. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: KathWestra Date: 17 Sep 03 - 12:48 PM Jennifer Woods (her Mudcat handle is KnitPick) is an extraordinarily good knitter who is never seen around these parts (Washington, DC environs) without knitting needles and yarn. She also has one of the largest libraries of knitting books known to humankind, and spends a number of hours every week working at a yarn store. I'm hoping she'll weigh in on the subject of clear instructions. Oh, and she's also a lefty--dextrously speaking, so maybe she can give you some tips, Peter. KW |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:28 AM Continuing thanks. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,kendra Date: 18 Sep 03 - 11:00 PM as delightful as it is to knit...the sculptural quality of crocheting comes to mind |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 22 Sep 03 - 09:02 AM Peter is an excellent student. A+ for knit one, purl one. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 22 Sep 03 - 10:58 AM She got in first! B.W. and I had a fine time, sitting out in her yard, watching me bumble through; but I think I can see, far off in the distance, beneath the fog of my ineptitude, something akin to knitting beckoning. I bow in her direction. I tried to tempt her into making a harp cosy, but I don't think she bit. yours, Peter |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 22 Sep 03 - 12:45 PM Before you know it, Peter, you'll be sittin' in a boat, knitting banjo cozies. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Morticia Date: 22 Sep 03 - 02:32 PM so now you have the basics , you might be wanting a look at this? http://knitting.about.com/library/blstitches.htm |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 23 Sep 03 - 12:16 PM Great stitch library - I may even take it upon myself to learn cable now.... after 30 years I think I'm ready... It's got some bastard adverts attached though, took ages to get rid of them. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: lady penelope Date: 23 Sep 03 - 07:35 PM Knit, pearl, add, reduce. You now have my entire repatoire. I'm REALLY good at scarves. My main trouble with knitting is that it REALLY relaxes me. I start falling asleep in about 15 minutes. I'm not joking. I've just started beading and it's beginning to go the same way.... hey ho TTFN Lady P. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: LadyJean Date: 24 Sep 03 - 12:47 AM A lady I know knitted a snake cozy for her friend's boa constrictor. The boa would crawl into it when it was changing it's skin. She had to knit another snake cozy for her friend's husband. That one was smaller. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 24 Sep 03 - 04:49 PM But did it change into a bigger snake once inside it? I'm about 2/3s up one side of a cardigan for Bratling. I suspect my patience will run out before the wool does. I'm also about 20 squares off completing 2 patchwork jackets, one nearly finished for my god-daughter and one to sew up for me. Don't hold your breath in waiting to see any of the garments! LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 26 Sep 03 - 01:05 PM How's it going, Peter? ~'nut |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Sep 03 - 01:41 PM What is MMario working on these days? |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,MMario Date: 26 Sep 03 - 01:51 PM you asked. Remmeber that... 1) an afghan as a "everything this year" present to my sister. In six shades of kidsilk haze to match our fieldstone fierplace and new couch. it's slightly under half done. 2) an experimental washcloth - supossed to be done in size 40 cotton thread on size 1 needles. I'm using worsted cotton on size four needles. 3) a peacock tail shawl in variagated yarn. (This is what I had with me in Portsmouth) 4) a pi-doily in crochet 5) several crocheted shawls 6) a vine lace scarf in linen yarn 7) a knit shawl in 'ostrich plume' lace pattern 8) a knit shawl in white cotton thread 9) a very late christmas present from two years ago for a friend in filet crochet. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,mmario Date: 26 Sep 03 - 02:12 PM number three is being done in Red Heart 'painted desert' |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 26 Sep 03 - 03:15 PM Will I ever finish that beautiful celtic spiral llama wool sweater which only needs another arm, and a neck? Not anytime soon... I have a grandneice and a grandnephew (twins) to worry about. I love knitting for babies. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 26 Sep 03 - 04:20 PM Entangled in life. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 26 Sep 03 - 05:16 PM Knot surprising. ~b'nut |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: LadyJean Date: 26 Sep 03 - 09:24 PM Attention all knitters! Check out cas@seamanschurg.org and make the world an ever so slightly better place. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Sep 03 - 12:01 AM MMario, that's an impressive list of projects! I just gave my 15-year-old daughter a Singer sewing machine for her birthday. My next-door neighbor gave me the sewing machine she was going to give it to a garage sale, but she had hardly used it in the 45+ years since it was given to her. It's a Series 15, with a gear instead of a belt drive--they call it the "farmers" machine because of all of the heavy duty utilitarian use they're put to. I had it cleaned and oiled and a new power cord put on. Just as knitters probably amass materials for projects that sometimes never get started, I have drawers and drawers of fabric and patterns. I have told her that as long as we're sure the fabric will fit the pattern, she can ask me to use some of this fabric and I'll probably say yes. But she's beginning to understand how I accumulated this cloth (and inherited a lot from my mother when she died a few years ago). I took her to the local fabric store last week and she saw how you can go a little nuts when you see some of those great materials. It was a lot of fun making MMario's Secret Santa gift last year. The cost of the fabric was within the Secret Santa guidelines, but when it is handmade there is certainly value added. The materials weren't all those traditionally used for a throw, but they were a lot of fun to buy and work with! We do like to experiment! SRS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 27 Sep 03 - 04:43 AM Don't even get me started on how much fabric I have squirrelled away in the back bedroom, nor how many half finished projects I have. There's at least one suitcase full of half finished cross stitch stuff, 2 cases of kits bought/acquired and not started, 1 case of balls of wool, mostly virgin and untouched, a whole drawer full of patterns, a drawer full of embroidery silks, another of sewing threads, a wardobe full of scraps and enough needles to hide a haystack in (incidentally, the needle in a haystack was from the old tradition of thatching hay stacks so that the rain ran off them. Thatching needles were used to 'sew' bundles of thatch together to make the roof and these needles are about a foot long. It was easy to drop one through the thatch and lose it in the hay. Guess who got a book of useless information for her birthday....). And then there's the loft. Bratlings cardigan has progressed to side 2, where I'm just starting the bottom rib. I'm impressed, it may even be finished whilst she can still wear it. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 27 Sep 03 - 09:12 AM LadyJean, the link didn't go anywhere for me. Could you describe the destination please? ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 09 Oct 03 - 12:57 PM Helping Peter with his stitches the other day got me itching to get back to some knitting myself. I could have finished that difficult sweater that only needs a sleeve and a neck, but no, I'll do simple no-brainer hooded cotton blankets for my niece's twins. BUT I've lost ALL of my knitting needles - a zillion of them - in a house renovation. They are somewhere. But where? So I went out yesterday and bought yarn, and needles, but I'll be darned, I sure wish I could find those needles. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,MMario Date: 09 Oct 03 - 01:14 PM now that you have bought replacements you will probably find the originals shortly. update on my projects: 1)kidsilk haze afghan to match fireplace - over 2/3rds done. 2) 3) 4) 5) several crocheted shawls - languishing in neglect 6) a vine lace scarf in linen yarn - I did two rows on it! 7) a knit shawl in 'ostrich plume' lace pattern - in progress - it has become my "car project" 8) a knit shawl in white cotton thread - I thought about it. 9) a very late christmas present from two years ago for a friend in filet crochet. I thought about it with a great deal of guilt.... |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Oct 03 - 11:19 PM Any of those items headed for the Mudcat auction in time for the holidays? |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,Basket Weaver Date: 10 Oct 03 - 05:43 AM Heard that Cosmopolitan magazine had an article on how to 'Knit your own orgasim |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,MMario Date: 10 Oct 03 - 08:10 AM yes, Mary - there will be some items in the mudcat auction soon - just after getaway! |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Sleepless Dad Date: 10 Oct 03 - 11:31 PM Singer Christine Lavin is coming to town soon. We received a post card from the venue that said she wanted to meet with fans who were into knitting and crochet before the concert so they could have a session together. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 11 Oct 03 - 12:40 AM Pearl two....
The Mudcat is the home for you....
Sincerely,
Keep posting....it might take three weeks...... but you can build a thread at this site! Don't give up.... |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 11 Oct 03 - 06:48 AM Garg - it's PURL. I'm stunned - I finished the back of the Bratling's cardigan - at this rate there may be sleeves too by Christmas! And I know what you mean about needles - I had a posh matched set of everything, plus all the left overs and cast offs (sorry) from mothers' collection. Can I find a pair that match now? Can I buggery. I had to buy some more. Still haven't found the originals though! I've been using a set of half length needles - about 6 inches in length, they are really easy to carry round in my bag or a pocket. Trouble is, I knitted so many squares on them, to make into jackets, that I've had to buy some extra long ones (about 18 inches and nearly impossible to use anywhere but in the middle of the room) to knit up the ribs! The short ones are so neat that I've even used them on the Tube with no ill effects to other passengers (apart from the man who got tangled up in my wool but that's another story). LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 11 Oct 03 - 08:01 AM Christine Lavin is terrific - she finds very creative ways to break down the performer/audience barrier. Good for her for thinking up this one. Notice....this is now a music thread! ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 11 Oct 03 - 08:31 AM Great Peter I'm glad it's going well. Can I contribute a song to sing while you work. Shearing the Wethers Tune -- Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet. by me during the shearing season of 1999. Death is an angel sent down from the blue With thin bony hands he will clip me and you Crutching and wigging he'll sort out the dags To send to the Devil in calico bags. Cho. Shearing the wethers for the Master's wool coat And a nice fluffy muffler to wrap 'round His throat. Angels to sort out the sheep from the goat Each soul is a staple in the Master's wool coat. Loved ones are passing each day and each hour Right through the sheep-dip and traeatment for scour* Pure and pest-free and woolly we'll wait For the last bell to ring at the last wool-shed gate. Let us be passive till grazing is through And shearing and sorting and spinning is too Then we'll be gathered without burr or stain And knitted by angels in rib, purl and plain. * a cattle disease actually but it rhymed well. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 11 Oct 03 - 10:59 AM WOW. this is a truly great song -- have you recorded it?! (I don't know about the "Let us be passive" part though -- Let us be peaceful, maybe, but passive? Jesus may have likened us to sheep (and he knew his humans, and he knew his sheep), but I see no reason to be passive). yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 11 Oct 03 - 12:58 PM Ooh - knitted by angels - what a lovely phrase! That could become a slogan ..... I suspect that to be passive is to just let it all flow, and go with it, rather than fighting against life, which will get you in the end whichever way you go, so best to go with as little stress and fuss as possible. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 11 Oct 03 - 01:30 PM Going with the Master's "shearing" would doom all science, medicine, and most of the struggle against the way things are. We can peacefully work against suffering; being passive is sheeplike in the bad sense. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 11 Oct 03 - 07:09 PM Thank you Peter and Liz. I suspect I was having a bit of a dig at the idea of being a sheep in the Christian sense. I'm not passive at all actually and I know that my Christian friends aren't either. Jesus certainly wasn't. The real sheep around here are extremely passive and they put up with so much I wish I could cheer them up. Passive is a nice sounding word but maybe it's a bit unfair. Feel free to change it if want. I have always been particularly proud of the knitting bit. No I've never actually performed it. It just landed in my head one day and has been lying dormant I think. Please go ahead and sing it around. My husband drew a picture of an Angel-shearer to go with it but I don't know how to send that here. I'm so glad you like it. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Peter T. Date: 12 Oct 03 - 11:55 AM I think it is the real thing, a good song, so nicely knitting the themes together. Already working on it. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Penny S. Date: 12 Oct 03 - 02:26 PM Liz, have you tried circular needles? Two short needly ends with a nylon loop joining them. Much easier to manipulate in confined spaces. Available in various lengths, and can be used for to and fro knitting as well as in rounds. Open up a range of ways of knitting whole garments seamlessly, too, but it can get a bit heavy near the end. Penny |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:14 PM Never had the opportunity to use a circular needle, but as I rarely do anything bigger than a 6 inch square anyway, it's a bit of a moot point. I've used 4 double ended needles, for gloves and sleeves, they were fun. I liked making gloves, wish I could find the pattern again. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:36 PM Great Peter. The song needs a good airing. Think of us out here as you knit and sing and good luck with both. The shearing is starting about now. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 12 Oct 03 - 08:15 PM Ah, but the shearing's no for you, ma bonnie lassie-o! LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 13 Oct 03 - 08:53 AM Oh no and I'm very glad. My laddie-O has never been tempted to shear either. Our neighbour gets in teams of shearers - usually Kiwis and last year most of them were women. Hell of a job for anyone, even big muscled males. There was a time when women were not allowed anywhere near the shearing sheds but that's all changed. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 13 Oct 03 - 09:32 PM I FOUND MY NEEDLES!!!!! :-) ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 14 Oct 03 - 02:20 AM HUZZAH!!! I spent the whole night on Sunday untying a huge mares nest of a knot that had got into the middle of my ball of wool. I suspect it was one that got stuck on the spindle of the winding machine, it looked fine from the outside but inside was one great twisted mess. It took me a total of 7 hours to unravel it - the ones between 11.00pm and 6.00am! But I was never tempted to cut - that is a fatal mistake! I'm onto the sleeves now, a major miracle as I've never finished a garment the same year I started it (except for a baby jumper but I couldn't do anything else!) or before the recipient has grown out of it. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 14 Oct 03 - 06:58 AM Where can a person find the tune for your song, Joybell? I am a knitter, a former keeper of sheep, and have recently lost my partner. I'd like to "hear" your song but don't know the tune. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Jeri Date: 14 Oct 03 - 08:01 AM I found a midi on this page or click here for just the midi. Maybe you could sing 'placid' or 'patient'? |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: GUEST,Peter T. Date: 14 Oct 03 - 08:16 AM Is the world ready for black walnut and her needles together in the same place? yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 14 Oct 03 - 05:59 PM Thanks Jeri I would have had trouble doing that. The midi shows a bit of variation but not enough to worry about. I heard the original song done by the Delmore Brothers - I think. Anyway it's an old gospel standard. "Placid" is fine - I think it sings better anyway. Animaterra I will think about you singing and knitting too. I hope things improve for you soon. A singing, knitting partner sounds like a great catch. My true-love sings but he's not much on knitting. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 14 Oct 03 - 07:01 PM Oh! Animaterra How could I have been so stupid. I misread your name in my haste to reply. There is a male mucatter with a similar name - No it's not really all that similiar - I'm just dense and stupid that's what I am. And they say sheep are dumb. Please forgive me. I am so pleased that you liked the song and I hope that you still want to sing it. My thoughts have been with you and I'm so very sorry about your terrible loss and so very sorry to have made such a dreadful mistake. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 14 Oct 03 - 07:08 PM Joybell, it's ok. Compared with some of the things well-meaning folks have said to me lately, it's nothing. Thanks for the links, Jeri- I'll give it a listen! Allison |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 14 Oct 03 - 08:38 PM This thread is about so much more than knitting isn't it. Songs, friends, angels, wool, sheep - all knitted together. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 15 Oct 03 - 02:27 PM Peter, the world isn't ready for me even without the needles! May your stitches be even, your dye lots agree, and whatever you drop be pickupable. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 23 Nov 03 - 07:17 PM I've been knitting another baby blanket...only I was working on this one last night in the dark in a local folk club, while listening to Christina Smith and Jean Hewson perform their wonderful Newfoundland music. I had to ladder back 32 rows this afternoon to fix a knit that should have been a purl. Argh. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 23 Nov 03 - 07:26 PM It's shearing time again here. Funny to think of you knitting wooly blankets, bw, while we are basking in the sun. Joy |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Mr Red Date: 24 Nov 03 - 08:05 AM For a song about knitting check out my site & scrolldown to last song |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Liz the Squeak Date: 24 Nov 03 - 08:29 PM I finished the cardigan for Bratling and she likes it. So do the cats who have barely got off it since she left it over the back of the sofa! LTS |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 20 Dec 03 - 09:53 AM ALMOST done those baby blankets - in time for Christmas! (darned ulnar nerve has kept me from doing more than a row or two at a time). Made me a cable sweater yet, Peter? ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: black walnut Date: 27 Dec 03 - 05:19 PM Done, given, loved, whew. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: Help with my knitting! From: Joybell Date: 27 Dec 03 - 05:44 PM Congratulations Black Walnut. This is such a lovely warm and fuzzy thread. Warms your heart. Good to keep it alive I reckon. Joy |
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