Crochet and knitting

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SunRaven01

SunRaven01

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  • #41
    doraemon said:
    I never could get the hang of using circular needles, probably because I need to have enough stitches to begin with so it can slide easily around (never thought of looping out the excess cord).

    The skewers obviously did not work very well, but when all you want is to keep a kid entertained until she's bored again, it worked. :D
    Click to expand...
    You can knit flat on circulars (and in fact I have yet to use any of my circular needles to work a project in the round). Just knit across your row like you would with straight needles, then turn your work, and knit back across the row.

    I bought this brand of interchangables and never looked back. The red cords are a dream, but I'm not a fan of nylon cables anyway. The bamboo needles and the steel needles both work with the same cables, so I can swap back and forth as desired based on the yarn and how much friction I need, although I'm mainly working on the steel tips nowadays.
     
    Diabolical

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  • #42
    I definitely would like some shorter needles as I learn. The 9 inch ones I’m using right now are a bit cumbersome, but I bet that’s a matter of perspective.

    I feel extra happy with my progress - I’ve cracked the code on a couple of things (with some video help!) and am now knit stitching my way through multiple rows. Slow and incremental progress.

    On the other side, I found getting started with crochet much easier to fathom. Chain stitches at their most basic seem criminally easy on my hands/fingers in comparison to the knit stitching.
     
    timezon3

    timezon3

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  • #43
    Different people take to the two things differently. Personally I find knit fabric much easier to read and the stitches and construction make a whole lot more sense to me. Crochet looks like a bunch of little random knots and I can't make heads or tails of anything. Most people do say crochet is easier to learn though. Knitting will get better too. My first couple months of knitting were pretty slow and I was very tense with my hands. Once you get the hang of it, you can relax a bit and everything will feel more comfortable.
     
    Diabolical

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  • #47
    KT421 said:
    RELEASE THE KRAKEN

    A bitsy little one, but still.
    Click to expand...
    Can you do a small ship for it to destroy? I'd try, but I am so new at this that I wouldn't even know where to begin :p.

    On that note, I have reconstituted my knitting efforts, after my previous work unraveled in a moment of not paying attention when knit stitching my way down the row. I need to double check, but I'm up to 7 or 8 rows now? It's a tiny piece of knittery, but damn it feels awesome seeing it grow! Two things have seriously helped.
    1) Figuring out how to maintain tension on the working yarn in a way that doesn't hurt my hands and actually, you know, maintains tension.
    2) Self reminders not to tighten things up too much, as it makes it really freaking hard to maneuver these stabby pokey things through yarn loops.
     
    KT421

    KT421

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  • #49
    Diabolical said:
    Can you do a small ship for it to destroy? I'd try, but I am so new at this that I wouldn't even know where to begin :p.
    Click to expand...
    I maybe could but getting the shape right would be a pain. And the mast wouldn't stand up without a wire or something.

    But we have a dozen or so Benchys around for it to assault...
     
    timezon3

    timezon3

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  • #50
    rtrefz said:
    Yeah, high tension sucks for the next row.


    I knot continental (I think? Active yarn is in the right hand), and I loop the yarn around my middle finger to maintain tension.
    Click to expand...
    yarn in right hand = English or throwing
    yarn in left hand = Continental or picking
    There is also Portuguese knitting where you wrap the yarn around your neck and create stitches with your thumb or something. It looks crazy if you're used to the more conventional things. I've never tried it myself.

    I primarily knit English, with the yarn wrapped around my ring finger for tensioning. I'll do the odd bit of continental knitting if I'm dual-wielding (one color in each hand).

    I'll keep banging on the "relax" drum too. :) My first several projects had way too tight tension, and it's especially common for beginners to start out a project being all uptight, and then relaxing later. This throws off your gauge and makes the resultant piece be wonky shaped. (I'm just pointing this out as something to watch out for.) Especially with casting on and binding off, it pays to carefully be looser. Nothing worse than finishing a sweater and discovering you can't get your head through the hole because you bound off too tightly!
     
    SunRaven01

    SunRaven01

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  • #51
    When doing something like a long tail cast on, I actually do my cast on stitches on doubled needles so they're not too tight. I started out knitting English (yarn in right hand) but taught myself continental (yarn in left hand) and that's how I knit. I've experimented with doing Norwegian purling, but I tend to row out (stitches get all wonky) that way, so I'm sticking with regular continental purling for now.
     
    KT421

    KT421

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  • #53
    2416BD00-D70D-48A9-9E93-15070345FD60.jpg
    ChatGPT Bear

    Prompt: Write a crochet pattern for an amigurumi bear

    (I will get actual screenshot when it lets me log in again)

    Amigurumi Bear Crochet Pattern
    Materials:

    • Worsted weight yarn in brown and black (or colors of your choice)
    • Size E/3.5mm crochet hook
    • Fiberfill stuffing
    • Safety eyes (optional)
    • Yarn needle
    • Scissors
    Abbreviations:

    • ch: chain
    • sc: single crochet
    • inc: increase (2 sc in the same stitch)
    • dec: decrease (single crochet 2 stitches together)
    • sl st: slip stitch
    • st(s): stitch(es)
    Body:

    With brown yarn, make a magic ring.

    Round 1: 6 sc in the magic ring (6)

    Round 2: inc repeat 6 times (12)

    Round 3: sc, inc repeat 6 times (18)

    Round 4: 2 sc, inc repeat 6 times (24)

    Round 5: 3 sc, inc repeat 6 times (30)

    Rounds 6-10: sc in each st around (30)

    Round 11: 3 sc, dec repeat 6 times (24)

    Round 12: 2 sc, dec repeat 6 times (18)

    Round 13: sc, dec repeat 6 times (12)

    Stuff the body firmly with fiberfill.

    Round 14: dec repeat 6 times (6)

    Fasten off and weave in the end.

    Arms (make 2):

    With brown yarn, make a magic ring.

    Round 1: 6 sc in the magic ring (6)

    Rounds 2-4: sc in each st around (6)

    Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Stuff the arms lightly with fiberfill.

    Legs (make 2):

    With brown yarn, make a magic ring.

    Round 1: 6 sc in the magic ring (6)

    Rounds 2-5: sc in each st around (6)

    Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Stuff the legs firmly with fiberfill.

    Ears (make 2):

    With brown yarn, make a magic ring.

    Round 1: 6 sc in the magic ring (6)

    Round 2: inc repeat 6 times (12)

    Rounds 3-4: sc in each st around (12)

    Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

    Nose:

    With black yarn, make a magic ring.

    Round 1: 6 sc in the magic ring (6)

    Round 2: inc repeat 6 times (12)

    Round 3: sc in each st around (12)

    Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

    Assembly:

    • Sew the arms and legs to the body.
    • Sew the ears to the head.
    • Sew the nose to the head.
    • Optional: insert safety eyes and embroider a mouth with black yarn.
    Click to expand...


    My initial reaction to the pattern was to laugh until I peed a bit. I didn't expect it to actually write a valid pattern, but I was able to read and visualize the pattern to see that it would be both possible to crochet and vaguely bear shaped. I did need to do a little bit of interpretation.

    First off, clearly no one has taught ChatGPT about escape characters. In crochet patterns, a series of stitches will often be surrounded by asterisks, indication that that series of stitches is to be repeated x many times. So "\sc, inc\ repeat 6 times" means to do the sequence of single crochet and increase six times. However, ChatGPT's output is clearly being treated as markdown, and in markdown text surrounded by asterisks is italic. I'll give ChatGPT a pass on this. (Note: this formatting quirk is entirely lost in the copy paste but Im not willing to fix it on my phone and there is a sleeping child pinning me down.)

    ChatGPT also failed to include a head in the pattern. I could try refining the prompt by requesting the missing piece or adjusting the size or whatnot, but what's the fun in that? I'm going to treat the "head" as the upper part of the body. Given that the body is a simple sphere... lol. This thing is going to be a grade A derpkin.



    I'm making this with... idfk. Yarn I guess. It looks like it's worsted. The kids took all the labels off all my yarn over a year ago. It's whatever yarn was on sale at Joann when I last needed brown and black yarn.

    Using a 3.5mm (E) hook as instructed. Worsted and 3.5mm is actually my go-to for amigurumi.

    It took about 45 minutes to make the body and arms, a fair portion of which was spent locating the safety eyes.

    The pattern lacks a size or position for the safety eyes, so I selected the smallest safety eyes I had on account of I'm not going to use them anywhere else. The pattern doesn't mention them until the assembly step; I took the liberty of inserting them right before stuffing with fiberfill so that I could get the backings on. I eyeballed placement.

    I took some liberties in my interpretation. The ears are half spheres and it does not instruct to flatten them, but it also doesn't stay to stuff them. Lacking any instructions on how or where to attach them, I flattened them and sewed them on where I felt ears should go. I did not stuff the arms and legs at all because they're so small they don't need it.
    I did not embroider a mouth, because the pattern says it's optional and I'm bored now.

    All told this took about an hour of work, over the course of about a week. Thanks ChatGPT!

    More images:
    View: https://imgur.com/a/CPFqTiu
     
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    Tom the Melaniephile

    Tom the Melaniephile

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  • #55
    Well, I just started crochet. As in, I've done my first foundation chain with some practice yarn :D - initial actual project goal is a snood, which should be easy enough and a useful product... in about 9 months. I do have some yarn I really like for it.
    rtrefz said:
    Cool!

    There used to be a SCA event in my area at a sheep farm which went over the entire process (maybe not shearing the sheep) of making yarn. I never made it, but I wish I did.
    Click to expand...
    You may enjoy this. Speed shearing/spinning/knitting a sweater. It's a team event, of course:


    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0stcCPxb4M
     
    rtrefz

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  • #56
    Finished (well, except for blocking and weaving in ends) my shawl kit. It's tiny (more like an oversized kerchief), but it was a good exercise.

    Next project: a hat for my wife, based on a pattern I bought in October.

    Edit for one hell of a typo...


    i5vMqmLl.jpeg
     
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    Diabolical

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  • #57
    rtrefz said:
    Next project: a hate for my wife, based on a pattern I bought in October.
    Click to expand...
    Um....

    ANYWAY! :p

    I need to post a picture of my progress. 2x1 inch rectangle (ish), 10x5 inch rectangle (ish), and now I'm about a foot along a 9 inch wide scarf. I knit while listening/watching to stuff, so it's not the fastest process. But it certainly is quiet enough I can do it at 330 in the morning in my apartment with the really thin walls.
     
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    thetokenlady

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  • #64
    Hi all! I’ve been crocheting forever (as in, I don’t remember when I learned and I’m 59 now) and hung out on r/crochet before I quit Reddit. Can’t knit though, except for crooked dishcloths. I can do amigurumi, but I prefer shawls, scarves and totes of various kinds. It’s nice for find a friendly yarn forum again! I’m including a pic of a shawl I made from an actual purchased pattern instead of a free Ravelry one, the McCaw Wing shawl
     

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