Nadina’s Free online knitting patterns

- they came out beautifully! In case anyone is interested, I bought some cheap wooden picture frames, some cheap mats, and double stick tape. Stuck white paper over the cardboard backing in the frame, stuck the blocked swatch onto the paper with
the double stick tape, threw it in the frame under the mat & voila! So easy to
coordinate with your room!
And a question: when you are going to attach things together, do you block
them first? A resounding YES!!!!!!! One should block before assembling the pieces
together.

Oh yeah. You never stop ripping no matter how good you THINK you are. I’ve
been ripping out  for too many years. I almost never
take the work off the needles unless the mistake is so egregious, I have no
choice. But when I do rip each stitch out, rather than pull the yarn out of
the old stitch each time, I do an entire row (round) and then gently pull
the ripped yarn.

Btw, if you really want a frogging challenge, there’s ripping out from point
A only the stitches where lies the mistake and then reknitting them back up
to point A, leaving the rest of the knitting as is. This works extremely
well for mistakes in cables, for example. Like when you should have twisted
the cable one way and did it wrong and only noticed it about 10 twists later
. You’d simply rip out the cable stitches and reknit and twist them
using either a crochet hook or a dp. Not hard at all, just takes a little
nerve.

Btw: fixing missed yarnovers: If you miss a yarnover and catch it the next row, just pick up the running thread between the stitches and go on. Don’t twist it when you pick it up. Just scoop and knit. It will be a little smaller than
“normal” but once it is blocked no one will notice!

I’ve been using Crystal palace bamboo circulars for quite some time and it
definitely has helped with the soreness. I also am firm believer in Handeze
gloves. I know they suggest using these for arthritis but feel that the
support they give the wrist can only help. Sometimes the best thing is rest,
though…

I never block garments made of acrylic yarn. Acrylics are
plastics. Plastic has no memory-unless you apply too much heat, in which
case acrylic yarn will melt. Follow the manufacturer’s directions, i.e.,
throw it in the wash and then dry it on low for a few minutes.( Whenever I wash a garment in the machine, no matter the fiber, I turn
it inside out which decreases pilling)

Second, I have wire sock blockers, but frankly, I haven’t found them to be
of much use, except if there is a lace insert in the socks. Otherwise, I
wash, lay flat, and wear ‘em when they’re dry.

Blocking should be done with commonsense. There is no rule that says you
must block absolutely everything. AND there are several ways to block,
depending on stitch pattern and fiber. Here’s what you can’t ever block:
ribbings and cables. Here’s what you MUST block: lace and Fair Isle. Know
your fibers. Wool has excellent elasticity and memory, and can take a lot of
steam, pinning, and general abuse. Cotton, silk, and linen have little
elasticity and memory and must be blocked with care. You can never, ever
block out mistakes. If you goofed with the gauge and made the garment too
small, no amount of blocking will ever salvage it, be it of wool, cotton,
linen or your husband’s garden hose.

I either block the whole sweater or sometimes, particularly with lace, I
block each individual piece first and then do the final finishing after all
is dry. If I am dealing with lace, I wet the piece down, pin it on a padded
board w/ blocking wires and T-pins, stretching out the lace so that it opens
up. If I am blocking a Fair Isle sweater, I steam-press the bejesus out of
it, with a towel on top of the fabric and then lay it on my board to dry,
shaping it to its correct measurements with my hands. If I’m blocking a
cabled or Aran sweater, I simply wash it in the machine on knit cycle, give
it a quick spin, and then lay it flat on towels without pinning. The above
applies to natural fibers only. Acrylics, like I said, get the ole heave-ho
into the washing machine. I’ve always gotten excellent results using these
methods.

As a rule, just because the gauge matches doesn’t mean you can play fast and loose with the fiber. If it is a specialty (read fashion) yarn, I don’t substitute. If it is a generic worsted, I will. I have substituted acrylic for wool in a classic cable pattern with no problems.
Classic patterns seem to do the best with substitution. I am exceedingly careful to substitute cotton for anything. In fact, I don’t use cotton above sport weight anyhow. Worsted weight cotton stretches horribly–I made one sweater Cotton Fleece, which is I think 80% cotton, 20% wool, and I was not happy with it.
I have decided I should do my cable shawl knitting homework during the week, and the swatching on the weekend (otherwise the homework would never get done!). [Swatching allows you the freedom to use the yarn you have on the shelf…once you know you can pick up yarn and needles and adjust the size of the needles and adjust the size of the yarn until you have a fabric-feel-look YOU are happy with…once you have experienced that freedom…there is no going back to blindly following commercial patterns and THEIR choice of yarns, designed to sell you THEIR yarn.]

Knitting Rakes/Looms: it’s really simple to use. I used to have a straight one as a kid. That one was made out of wood and seemed to work quite good (I believe they were homemade though). I have mostly seen scarves knitted on the straight looms. Looms are available in many sizes.They work as fast as the operator wants them to. One can knit flat or in the round, thin or thick fabric. With the circular looms, you can knit a stocking cap or a scarf. For the hat you can knit a long tube and then gather up one end and pull it up inside the tube. Then you can gather up all the ends together and put a pom-pom on top. For the scarf, make a long tube and then sew up the ends. It makes a double thickness scarf. There are more and more patterns coming out for these. They are pretty mindless and work great while watching TV…
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The good thing is that my most difficult projects have made me start keeping a knitting diary.
I write down EXACTLY what I did, what I used, what’s wrong with it, & what I think I should do to make it better next time…& I also make notes on washing & wear, & sometimes tape a scrap of yarn to the page…We all, as knitters, should be doing this especially for items such as socks and mittens…and because I also like to substitute different fibers, but to follow a pattern you must match thegauge. (I find I tend to knit a lot looser with yarns that don’t have a lotof elasticity like cotton & cotton blends, than I do with yarns like wool or acrylic. So if I change yarn I make sure to do a very good guage swatch if size is going to matter at all & write everything down in my notes. Just keep in mind that different fibers will give different looks & different feels to the finished product, but isn’t this part of why we knit? To use our creativity & our ideas & create something wonderful, or learn a very important lesson if it doesn’t come out so wonderful! )