knitting and crochet, nattering and sharing

My mother taught me to knit when I was little but I don't do it much because my work is always so uneven. Crochet is better because it is more even within itself and the results are more presentable.

Another reason I don't knit is because - did you know? - German and French women knit differently from each other and again from British knitters. An expat friend of mine was knitting once in the doctor's waiting room and a German lady said to her "don't you knit funny?" She has never knitted since. It's too much of a bother explaining.

My system is very cack-handed: I have to take my hand off the work to bring the wool round. Perhaps this is because I learned when I had little hands and short fingers.

Did anyone see University Challenge this week? They had questions on knitting. The students were as hopeless as they were a few weeks ago on embroidery stitches! It was so frustrating!

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Here are some examples of tunisian crochet. My blanket is made in different stitches and shades of pink and purple.
The little hat is done in the round. It is just a practice piece, but I was quite happy with the result.
I really must go to the wool shop tomorrow and buy some more yarn. I have nothing to work on, and I'm not happy!

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For anyone who might be interested in making one, here’s one of my ‘Toothy’ Worry-Eating monsters, and a worry-eating dog - both patterns on the Knit for Nowt website, and good for using up oddments.
The dog was supposed to be knitted all in chunky, but I mostly used double strands from my stash, instead.

They are very good Witzend. I tried to make some but they were not as good as yours so I am sticking to making cannula sleeves which are gratefully received at the local hospital.

Dementia patients often pull out their cannulas and the sleeve has safe 'twiddles' to keep their fingers busy. (Handmade for Dementia)

Another knitter here! currently knitting very small baskets which I fill with tiny Easter Eggs which I like to give out to family and friends. I also knit dolls clothes, hats for premature babies, just about anything really.

I just wish I could do either
Tried numerous tutorials to no avail

Can't knit to save my life but quite good at crochet. This site has lots of knitting and crochet patterns plus a lot more:

www.thesprucecrafts.com/single-crochet-stitch-patterns-978806?utm_campaign=artcraftsl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=26296844&utm_term=

I love knitting although I don't spend as much time on it as I would like to. I also have a large stash which takes up a lot of room, but I am a firm believer that you should buy it when you see it. I have got about 4 projects on the go at the moment.

Ravelry.com- an online knitting and crochet forum and source of patterns has loads that you can download for free - you just need a username and password [ no bank details]. Be warned it is addictive and you can lose hours looking at all the lovely patterns and trying to decide which one to do next.....

Forgot to add that this is an American site, so crochet terms are different.
Copy and paste any paste the pattern into Word etc and do a find and replace to change them to British - ie search single crochet (sc) and replace it with double crochet (dc) and so on.

It’s lovely to be amongst such talented ladies who generously share so much information and outstanding knowledge. The projects displayed are amazing and inspiring. Thanks to you I have followed a tutorial about Tunisian crochet and might have a go myself.
The top down lace baby cardigan I love to knit was published in 1950 and I have added similar patterns thanks to Ravelry. Nowadays I prefer to work this way as sewing up seams is not something I relish. I can recommend a good pattern on Rav which I use for the prems (it can be sized up) in addition to the ventilator hats.

My Mum taught my sister and I to knit when very young, and I can remember knitting an emerald green and red tea cosy at school when I was around 6 or 7 years old. I've just learned to crochet during lockdown - a toy for our new granddaughter. I love to either knit, crochet, cross stitch or embroider in the evening in front of the tv. During the day I'm usually sewing garments. I love to be creative.

Just don't unravel!

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I really enjoyed knitting and crochet but had not been inspired to make anything for a while. I felt as if something was missing! Then my sister bought me The Twelve Birds of Christmas for my birthday. I have made two Peter the blackbird and a John The woodpecker so far. They are fun to make.

I knit and crochet. I've done both since being a kid but never tackled difficult stuff. Never knit socks. I've used circulars twice for hats but I'd love yo do socks and fair isle things

I’ve been knitting for over 60 years, now mainly for charity- I’m a member of an online form. I attended 2 weekly craft groups pre pandemic but they’ve still not resumed meeting and I really miss them. Currently making Easter chicks and bunnies for hospice fund raising and hats for Innocent Big Knit (great for using up all my odds and ends in between knitting larger boys jumpers for refugees. I knit quickly and hate circular needles as they slow me down. I’m a needle under arm knitter and can’t seem to get the same rhythm with circular. Love complicated Aran patterns. I do read/occasionally contribute to the Arts and Crafts forum but would welcome a dedicated woolly one

I don't knit however I do sew and mostly self taught with lots of help from YouTube...It does me the world of good esp now I have a Grand-Daughter to make for

Winwick Mum has a great site for starting socks with circulars or dpns. If you Google her name, it’ll come up first SAS01. I have her book but suspect postage to you would cost an arm and a leg.

Loving your birds gillyknits.

There are many different ways of knitting, and all are equally valid. It makes sense when you think that people would be working out how to make fabric from wool in different places and learning from their neighbours rather than books or videos ).

The Vikings did Nailbinding, which is a sort of blend of knitting and crochet with the use of a bodkin, or large-eyed sewing needle. I'd like to have a go at that one day.

I can't imagine why the German woman gave up knitting because of a rude comment about the way she did it . Continental knitting is usually faster than English knitting, as the English way 'throws' the yarn around the needle, whereas the Continental way 'picks' it from behind the loop. I can't explain this very well, but if you are interested, there are videos on YouTube - the 'thrown' move is the one we were taught as 'over', as in 'In, Over, Through, Off'. I tried to master Continental, but the 'throwing' method is too ingrained in me, as I've been doing it since I was 7.

I think the Shetlanders knit in a similar way to the Continental manner (although traditionally they used very long double-pointed needles held at one end in a knitting belt so that they could knit as they walked), but I don't know if there is a general Scottish, Welsh or Irish way of knitting, or if 'English' in this sense covers the UK.

So long as you produce some sort of fabric, what does it matter if other people think you do it in a 'funny' way?

I love your cardi wildswan16 - buttonholes are my nemesis so the pattern I favour has a crochet loop which I can just about cope with.
The young lady on the pattern is probably 6' tall and a lot slimmer so my effort is not so elegant but still warm and wearable. I used a cheaper yarn as the recommended one would have cost about £30.

This is such a great thread. I'm a crocheter myself and always have a really easy blanket on the go for when the tv is on.
I belong to a Patchwork and Quilting group who also make quilts for Project Linus, but they do accept knitted and crocheted blankets too with patterns and tips on sizes etc on their website. So it's nice knowing that my work is helping some child or young person in my area.
We don't have any actual meetings at the moment but when we did I was often asked to help someone with crochet. I learned from my older sister when i was about 16, and for me actually seeing it done made the difference. That said, I'm now happy to learn a new stitch or pattern from a paper pattern or from watching videos. If you find a crochet pattern seems intimidating i suggest you get a post-it note and put it under the first couple of lines while you work through that part first.

Would-be crocheters could look up The Crochet Crowd on-line. Mikey is very good at demonstrating and all the tutorials are free as are his patterns. Also he has both right and left handed versions.

I'll be so glad when our groups get back to meeting up tho. Meantime will keep an eye on this thread.

I attend a knit and crochet group and I am rubbish at both. Cardigans and jumpers for GC when GC were born. Still doing cardigans and hoody types for GD who is now 9. Only lap blankets for dementia ward in local hospital is my crochet skill. At the weekly group no one can do anything requiring concentration, even counting as too much chatting goes on.

Knitting, crochet, Tunisian, sewing, huge wool stash, enormous fabric stash - what's not to like?
I just hope I can get through it all before I pop my clogs!

Yep, agree about the chatting 4allweknow. I often arrive empty handed: what with a cup of tea, a piece of cake and news to follow, it’s too much to make something as well!