Knitting!

Hi, I don't really post here, but I just wanted to make a plug for The Naked Sheep. I recently ordered some yarn from there for the first time, and then I got a personal e-mail asking me if I needed all the skeins to be the same dye lot. When I said yes because it was for a blanket, they said they would order more and would send them as soon as they arrived. Then they sent me another personal e-mail when it was shipped and apologized for the wait. I haven't even gotten my yarn yet, but I'd highly recommend them due to the wonderful customer service! :)

http://www.nakedsheep.com/

I'm looking for opinions on the best book about Top Down Raglans. I'd prefer something more focused on technique than full of already made patterns. I'm really getting tired of so much seaming! Any other books about knitting sweaters in the round and in one peice are welcome too.
Thanks!

I've always loved the look of the Tina Shawl, though I'm not generally a fan of square shawls. I'll probably make one someday, just to play around with different construction techniques, but I couldn't get the image of a triangular Tina shawl out of my head. So, after some modifications, here's how the idea played out in reality:

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My first posting, after lurking for awhile! I am doing the greta2 hooded poncho from "Viva Poncho" (by Christina Stork & Leslie Barbazette). I'm substituting a grey/purple alpaca, and have single skein of (on-sale!) Plymouth Yarn Foxy fake-fur stuff to do just around the opening of the hood and the bottom.

What is the best kind of stitch to get the fake fur effect with the Foxy? Just a few rows of garter stitch?

Thanks for the tips,
Linda in Philadelphia, PA

I have officially finished my first lace shawl, Seraphim by the amazing Miriam!

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Yarn: Knitpicks Shimmer in Morning Mist, about 2 1/2 skeins
Needles: Size 3 Clover bamboo circular
Number of stitches per row by the time I reached the end: More than 480! It took me about half an hour per row on the final chart...So I'm glad to finally have finished! The Shimmer (alpaca/silk blend) is nice and soft, very cozy.
Finished size: 88" wide, 49" long, 70" along each diagonal edge. Huge! Bigger than the published pattern; because I was using smaller needles and lighter weight yarn than called for, I did extra rows in the stockinette section to compensate. Guess I didn't need to do as many extra as I did! But I like it huge like this; there's more of it to wrap up in. Blocking something that huge - the biggest thing I've yet done - was, well, an adventure in trying to fit it and me into the confines of Mom's sewing room, that being the only space then convenient for recarpeting with lace shawls.

All my posts about Seraphim-in-progress can be found here.

I am indecisive. I really love Knitty's sugar on snow and I ordered shade cards from Knit Picks to figure out what colors I would make it in. Every time I think I've made up my mind I waver before completing the checkout process. The default colors suggested by the designer would go pretty ok with my coat (It kind of looks like this one, same color and style, only NOT maternity!) but I also think a kind of bright green for the main color would look nice. I used to have some bright green gloves that I wore with it a lot and I think it looked good.

So here's a ghetto style poll where you give me your opinions on color and what you think would look best with my coat. Kay?

Merino Style for the hat and Andean Treasure for the tassel.
[ ] Original color scheme (Nutmeg with lagoon green for the tassel)
[ ] Aparagus Green with Granite Tassel
[ ] Asparagus Green with Summer sky tassel
[ ] Other! (please describe.)

Thanks!

Update! I think I have made a decision (sort of!). I really like Asparagus for the MC so I'm definitely getting that, and I think I'm going to get a skein each of a couple different Andean treasure colors. Thanks to everybody who replied! Hearing other people's ideas makes making up my own mind a lot easier. :)

I'm planning my next knitting project, and it's just going to be a scarf. But it's an important project to me.
I have a friend I've recently become close with, and he works in a private security firm. (He used to be an FBI agent... so we are talking big time here, not the tv stereotype rent a cop...)
So the scarf has to be a somber respectful color, not a fun shadow knitting pattern, stripes, and it definitely needs to be manly. I'm thinking navy blue. I don't even want to cable, I don't think.
Besides the basic k2,p2 ribbing, does anyone have any good ideas for something a little bit more unique that shows some care and devotion without being *too unique*?? I would prefer something free I could download, but will take any suggestions.

Thanks in advance!
Edit: Thanks everyone for these GREAT Suggestions! He might be getting a whole scarf wardrobe if I can't make up my mind...

These socks are knit out of the leftovers from my last 3 pairs. They are knit in the generic toe up manner, with short row toes and heels. The yarn is hand dyed merino/tencel from Minds Eye Yarns. I got a 12-sided die, assigned 3 numbers to each of the 4 colors, then rolled the die twice for each stripe. The first roll was gave me the color. The second gave me the number of rows. Part of the way through I lost the die, so I was asking people at random for pairs of numbers. It worked just as well.

Using US #1 needles I get a gauge of about 8 1/2 sts/in. This gives a nice firm fabric. The merino/tencel seems to be standing up to wear pretty well. The first couple of pairs I made have seen quite a lot of wear and have only gotten softer and cushier with time.

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I've been putting my Wool of the Andes to good use, but too much stockinette and a strained shoulder (non-knitting related) have got me temporarily down for the count. Pout. If it weren't for the shoulder, I'd probably be picking up something small and fast to help break up the monotony, but all I'm left with are ( Collapse )

I used the idea behind the PoA scarf to make the 'pattern' I'm using for this. I really liked the idea of knitting a scarf in the round for the double layer, and of course it solves the problem of curling. :o) I cast on 60 sts and the pattern repeat is 25 rounds in MC, 5 in CC, 5 in MC, 5 in CC.

This is a gift for a guildmate of mine from WoW. He knows he's getting the scarf (he picked the colours), but as a bit of a surprise I'm using fair isle to put in the names of his two level 60 characters, one on either end. In purple, naturally, because it's gotta be epic. ;o)

There's no official timeline on finishing, but I'm hoping my shoulder gets better quick so that I can get this done by the end of the month. I'm not even at the half-way mark yet, and I'm so ready for something with a more interesting stich pattern!

This is a knitted stuffed monkey that I made for my partner Chris for his birthday.

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hi everyone. my mum (and by default me) is in a bit of a pickle knitting wise. my sister (who doesnt knit) volunteered her to make around 40 pairs of mittens for pre-schoolers. my mum is looking for a 2 needle mitten pattern so she can make them up quicker. any patterns or advice would be greatly appricaited! it would be great of someone could point us in teh right direction. thank you.
colleen

Hey again, folks. Hate to post something else that's picture-free, but I'm currently having issues with my camera.

I recently came across some yarn in a discount bin at my LYS. It's called Damasco, and it's by Mondial. It is a boucle yarn and shiny, and soft, and WHY DIDN'T I FIND IT SOONER? :)

I went to Ebay and came across NONE. Not even one ball. So I googled, and came across about two helpful links, but they are rather expensive, because you have to purchase an entire bag. I was hoping to get one or two balls of a few of the colors. Does anyone out there in knitting-land know of another place I might be able to order it from (just not in bulk)? I figure if anyone can help me, it'd be you guys.

http://www.discountyarnsale.com/pd_mondial_damasco.cfm <-- this gives a pretty accurate representation of the color.

TIA!

A follow-up post to the one I made a few days ago about wanting to learn how to knit socks, after purchasing my first set of dpn's.

Well, I succesfully (but not really) knitted one big ugly sock. I ended up somehow getting my needles confused and one of the decreses ended up being on top of the foot and then the toe part (or the "kitchener" part, for now I've learned a new word) was vertical instead of horizontal, lol. Yeah, it turned out pretty ugly. I used cheap ugly yarn to practice with and I used this pattern. It was the easiest to understand out of all the patterns I found online. After this, I of course wanted to learn another pattern but the only ones I could find called for 5 US 1, or 2 needles, which of course I only had 4 US 3 needles, so I went to Joann's today and bought a pack of needles sizes US 000, 00, 0, and 1. For some reason I thought there was a size US 2 in the pack but there wasn't. Now that I've read the "entire" internet, I've printed out some patterns that I think I may be able to figure out.

Thanks to everyone that replyed on the last post I made! All of your comments were helpful and appreciated :)

Hopefully I'll make pretty socks from now on. Oh yeah, and if or when I do, I'll post a picture of the first "ugly sock" I made cause then I won't be so embarrased by it and then you can all point and laugh and call your friends into the room to gaze at the picture of my ugly sock in total disgust, for it will go down in history.

Thank you.

It is 11:00 pm, I have the flu, I did not get any of the stacks of grading I am drowning in done today because I felt crummy, and I should certainly have been in bed hours ago... however, I finally decided what I want to do with this ball of yarn sitting in front of me.

I would like to knit a simple, somewhat floppy beret with a pinwheel-y sort of pattern to it. This sounds fairly basic, to me, but for some reason my trusty intarnets are failing me and I am very frustrated.

Do any of you know of such a pattern? Pretty please help a sick and grouchy knitting sister out. Free and available on the internet would be best, as I would dearly like to start this very very soon.