Getting knitty with it

[ailbhe]

Those of you who have been knitting since the early days of Now All-New, All-Trendy Knitting - or even earlier than that - will no doubt already have discovered this, but it's new to me and it's changing my life.

When knitting with two colours, put each ball of yarn in a small plastic bag within the knitting bag, so they don't tangle together and the correct one unrolls tidily when tugged.

Linnea's winter coat is begun. Stocking stitch, 3 ply acrylic on 3mm needles, to be lined with polyester fleece. This ought to be washable and warm and fairly Linnea-proof, I think. I hope. It's planning to be red and yellow stripes, if the yarn holds out. Other colours if it doesn't. The original patches plan didn't work as it was too fiddly and I started to dread the sewing.

3 inches done. Another 10 or so to do - and then the front and sleeves... but they're going to be smaller.

Oh - I have no pattern. I'm planning on using the "all clothing is rectangular" method of creation. Anyone want to place bets on whether I'm going to finish the project?

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Putting the yarn in a plastic bag is a good idea even if you're only knitting with one color - it keeps the yarn from tangling and getting dirty, and protects it from pets and children. (-:

Yay for the coat - I'm betting you'll finish it. And yes, especially for small children, all clothing is pretty much rectangular.

[ailbhe]

Oh, I knew about *one* bag; it's one bag *containing two* that's revolutionary to me.

[oldbloke.livejournal.com]

The scarf L knitted for Jack is deffo rectangular
[insert smiley]

[geekling.livejournal.com]

If you're doing the no-pattern all rectangular thing.

But want a little bit of a guide, why not try a bog-coat thing.

http://www.thequiltercommunity.com/tqc/patternDetail.do?postId=298 for a schematic - just ignore the measurements.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Small children themselves seem to be rectangular. And sticky.

I must steel myself to do the bag thing - although I toyed a while with a satin evening bag (too small and dainty to actually use as a handbag, but a good size for a knitting project) inside my main bag, I am too lazy and just throw everything in willy-nilly most of the time. So I spend the first five minutes of every knitting session rewinding the ball...

[ailbhe]

Not lazy enough! I promise I put less effort into dropping the balls into a Waterstones bag each than you did winding wool!

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Ah, but there's lazy meaning less effort expended and there's lazy meaning cannot be arsed to get off bum and go look for some empty carrier bags. I'm the latter, most of the time.

[k425.livejournal.com]

I hadn't discovered that trick. Thanks!

I hope you finish the coat, because then I'll feel more inclined to have a go at one for me (I did like your rainbow jacket!).

[ahruman.livejournal.com]

Ahh. You need to optimize your laziness for greater efficiency.

[sierra-le-oli.livejournal.com]

Wahey, cool red shoe icon.

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

I'll make the bold prediction that you'll finish the coat before I finish at least two of the three: Sewn short-sleeved dress with sheer overskirt (so far cut out), knitted green skirt with foofy fuzzy tickly stuff at the hem (so far I have about half an inch), or my attic as a functional living space (25 large garbage/garden bags of old clothes removed, cat litter cleaned and swept, baby clothes moved out of main traffic path so far.)

[ailbhe]

I bet you finish your attic before we finish ours. So far, we've replaced the joists, laid most of a floor, and filled it with crap.

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just filled ours with crap. The floor boards are super loose because I had to pry them up to wire in a couple new phone extensions and I never bothered screwing them back down. And some of the insulation is hanging funny because of two different rodent visits. And it's just full of crap. I really should have just bought a bunch of thin plywood and put it down as a floor back when I was laid off before we knew about the kid, because now I have no idea when it'll ever get done.

OH. And of course, there are the dr seuss-inspired curtains for the kid's bedroom. They're still not done and she's almost 20 months.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Are you using center-pull balls/skeins? I find that helps immensely.

[papabearnz.livejournal.com]

Mum used to use a coffee tin - well cleaned - to hold her wool balls. She would cut a small hole in the top to let the wool flow smoothly and it meant the ball could rattle around inside the tin to its heart's content. Especially useful when she was using hand rolled balls (sometimes she bought her wool in shanks rather than balls and many a time I spent with my hands held in front of me with the shank draped over my fingers while Mum rolled balls out of it!)

This is also a useful tip when trying to keep crochet cotton balls in one place while crocheting (or indeed tatting).

PB

[papabearnz.livejournal.com]

Oops - I should have mentioned - these were the days when coffee came in tins with a plastic lid. A metal lid would damage the yarn.

PB