miss50sretro asked:


I’ve looked all over the internet, and I can’t find a single thing to polish my bamboo knitting needles. Some of the polish has worn off one of my pairs, and I’d like to make it shiny and new again. If anyone knows where to buy something to polish them or where I could take them to get them re-polished, please let me know!

EMMETT

Nibblet asked:


I’m knitting felted bags for some of my friends and want to add some cute patches I’ve found but am a horrid seamstress and would much rather use an iron-on than sew them by hand. I’ve heard maybe ironing on low with a towel in between. Anyone know if this will destroy my felting?

BEN

Muna wa Wanjiru asked:


Knitting machines are used to create knit fabrics and are also known as a knitting frame, hand knitting machine and knitting loom. Knitting machines can be operated by hand or by motor. Mechanical punch cards, push buttons and computers are used to select the pattern stitches.

Lee invented the first knitting machine. There was a story behind his invention and a painting was displayed about Lee in the Stocking Framer’s Guildhall in London. Lee invented the machine because his girlfriend preferred knitting. Another story produced by Alfred Elmore is how Lee’s ideas are formed for the knitting machine, as he watched his wife knitting. His painting is popularly called ‘The Invention of the Stocking Loom’. Lee demonstrated the operation of the machine to Queen Elizabeth I, for a patent right, but the Queen refused it. Initially, the knitting machine had 8 needles to the inch and later it increased to 20 needles to the inch. Lee started knitting stockings from silk and wool. Lee changed his workplace to France, but unfortunately he did not flourish in the business. He died in Paris and his workers sold the machines in London.

Later John Ashton assistant of Lee improved the knitting machine and added the mechanism ‘divider’ to the machine. The business started developing by the spinners of Spitalfield village. The demand for stockings made of cotton rise. Knitting by machines was accepted, but it was too expensive for the knitters to buy. Knitters started to hire the machines and started knitting in the machine. In the year 1758, Jedediah Strutt, attached a device called the ‘Derby rib’. The trade moved towards Nottingham, and the workers were running short of raw materials. The spinners found great difficulty in using cotton whereas the Gloucester, spinners found easy to use cotton and they were competing with Nottingham spinners. Later Richard Arkwright, operated the machine by horsepower. Nottingham produced cotton stockings, Derby used silk and Leicester used wool.

There are two types of models known as industrial and domestic, to create rectangular and tubular fabric. There are two flat beds facing each other in the double bed machines. They are used to create purl and plain rib fabric. Single bed machines can also have rib attachment to produce same purl and plain ribs fabric. In the domestic model, 22 latch hook needles are used to hold the stitches. Across the bed of needle, a carriage or cam box is passed to create the next stitch. We can select a particular needle with the help of punch card to pass through the carriage. The machine knits ‘fair isle’ pattern and also the plating and knit weaving patterns.

Weft knitting method is used in domestic knitting machines and the fabric resembles the fabric knitted by hand. Knitting by domestic knitting machine is faster than in hand knitting. The texture of fabric knitted by machine is even the texture knitted by hand. Tuck stitches are easily made in machine knitting whereas the garter stitch is easier in hand knitting.



SILAS

snoopy asked:


Hai, I want to learn knitting and I have no clue how to start. If i want to start with knitting a scaft, what type of needle i should get? Any other knitting kits that i should have?

thank you!

CLINT

Muna wa Wanjiru asked:


Knitting is not just for women! Nowadays it is a fun hobby for everyone. Just grab some basic info on the subject – via library books, online articles or ebooks and voila - -start knitting today.

In a nutshell, what you need to start knitting are knitting needles, yarn and a good set of instructions or a pattern.

Let’s begin with some basic patterns. Note, though, before you start with this pattern as a beginner, it would be helpful to know basic stitches; purl and knit stitches at least.

To purl stitch, you have to bring the yarn in front of the needle, insert your right hand needle in the first stitch on your left hand needle. Next wrap the yarn around the back of your right hand needle from right to left, and then just draw loop backwards, allowing the stitch to slip off your left needle to your right hand needle. The main thing to remember about this stitch is that you have to bring the yarn around to the front of your needle. Continue till all stitches are transferred from left needle to right needle.

To knit stitch, pass your right needle through the first stitch of left hand needle. Now wind yarn over cross of two needles over right hand needle. Just gently pull through the loop. After that just slip over first original stitch from left needle to right hand needle. Repeat the whole procedure till you transfer all stitches from left needle to right needle.

There is a specific way to read the patterns. First the skill level; it can be easy, medium, hard or beginner, intermediate or advance, each pattern has specific skill level, you can start with beginner and then go for complex advanced patterns.

For an easy or beginner level there are usually easy patterns, like different types of scarf or shawls or even some sweaters with easy knitting patterns. You can even make some easy handbags, mats to begin knitting. For medium or intermediate levels you can have patterns like stocking caps, sweaters and knitted scarves; usually patterns with altered stitches and patterns for advanced levels, you can have patterns which are complicated and which require lot of shaping.

If you are a beginner then start with a No pattern, this means just start by knitting with a combination of just two basic stitches, knit and purl. To begin you can knit a nice pashmina style stole, just with three hundred stitches, if garter stitch means only knit stitches no purl stitches. To start you can even make some simple combination of stitches.

If you are knitting with circular needles, you can start making tubular scarf for this cast around 300 stitches, and join them together in a circle. You can try stockinette stitch it produces nice curls at the end which gives the scarf a very different look.

When you are following ready made patterns,then pay attention to the instructions given, like check the gauge of wires or needle. Choose patterns as you like depending on your instructions.



BRANDON

carolinacrosstitcher asked:


I don’t want to go through the whole internet, just sites pertaining to crochet and knitting, for yarn, hooks etc.

JAIME

Maddy Cranley asked:


  Knitting in its simplest form is often described as the looping of a string around two sticks.  When faced with multi-color patterning, intricate stitches or detailed graphs, this seemingly easy craft becomes a more complex activity that can benefit from an innovative tool or two.  Right from the start when the ideas for a new knitting project abound, there are aids to guide you in choices of yarn and color. Color wheels and color selectors, using proven principles of color theory, can steer you through establishing a pleasing color combination of two or many colors. Even though you may pick the perfect geranium pink to match that perfect leaf green, you still must find commercially available yarns of compatible weights in those very colors.  Many yarn retailers offer, at a reasonable cost, sample cards of available yarns in their full color range. Much like selecting paint chips at the hardware store, you are able to see at a glance what colors are available in a particular yarn and how they interact with other colors of that yarn type.

The screwdrivers and wrenches of knitting, the needles, though basic in shape, appear in a variety of materials. Wood and plastic offer comfort to tired hands, while metal needles promise speed.  A luxury class of needles fashioned from ebony or rosewood are advertised as hewn from the remains of prized woods used in the manufacture of musical instruments.  These needles should make your stitches sing. There is also the “heritage“ needle collection of which mine is labelled, due to many being borrowed from my mother’s knitting basket and never returned. A “classic” collection will likely contain a hodgepodge of needles gathered over the years as in mine, which range from a chipped orange metal No. 4’s to green plastic No. 8’s. It’s an odd grouping of materials and colors but favorites are easily recognizable when a certain knitting job comes to mind.

Now any good craft project whether made from wood or wool is only worth its weight when measurements are accurate and consistent. To knitters, the correct gauge must be achieved or every measurement throughout the project will become skewed. With numerous devices available to help accurately measure those all-important numbers of stitches and rows, there is absolutely no excuse for having the wrong gauge. A square gauge frame will force you to line up your knitting with the stitches at right angles to the rows, leaving you to count the numbers between the borders of the frame. Transparent stitch templates will tell you nothing but the truth as you try to match the drawing of the desired stitch gauge to the stitches of your knitted sample. A good tape measure, plastic or cloth, retractable or not, is essential to measure those lengths and widths once you start knitting. 

To see those stitches clearly, use a magnifier lamp clamped to your favorite chair or stood behind the sofa. Try a pair of magnifying flip-up lenses to increase your staying power when working with intricate stitches and dark colors. Don’t forget to prop up that book or pattern on a bookstand to keep your charts and graphs front and center. A line magnifier placed over the chart on a magnetic board will eliminate a lot of twisting and turning in your seat as you lean to squint at those lines. Once you have found your place there are gadgets to keep it.  Stitch markers and row counters mark the spot and giant safety pins put stitches on hold.  

A collection of tools needs a toolbox. Needles should be organized in needle cases, one for the straights and another for circulars, small boxes or bags for the bits and pieces such as stitch markers and measuring devices, and a great big bag or basket to keep it all handy and neat.



HARRISON