Heeeyyyy! We got another one! March 18, 2011 8:26 AM Subscribe
The subject of an FPP shows up to answer questions in the thread.
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And she seems super nice. Although she does knit English style.
And she seems super nice. Although she does knit English style.
If you did this with steel wool, could you knit a suspension bridge?
posted by FishBike at 8:41 AM on March 18, 2011 [15 favorites]
posted by FishBike at 8:41 AM on March 18, 2011 [15 favorites]
A wire shirt knitted with steel wool. Would you rather learn to knit with soft flex wire?
posted by francesca too at 8:59 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by francesca too at 8:59 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
You can crochet with giant yarn, too! My wrists ache just thinking about it.
posted by bewilderbeast at 9:39 AM on March 18, 2011
posted by bewilderbeast at 9:39 AM on March 18, 2011
I already have an unfinished knitting project that's sitting here in the living room staring at me. Maybe having a giant project would be better. If I don't do it I won't have anywhere to sit. That's some motivation.
posted by TooFewShoes at 10:12 AM on March 18, 2011
posted by TooFewShoes at 10:12 AM on March 18, 2011
Although she does knit English style.
Oh, quit knit picking.
That's a little bit of knit wit.
Sheesh. Sometimes it's like throwing perls before swine with you people.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:32 PM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]
Oh, quit knit picking.
That's a little bit of knit wit.
Sheesh. Sometimes it's like throwing perls before swine with you people.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:32 PM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]
And don't start needling me about my misspelling of purl up there, because I don't give a darn.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:48 PM on March 18, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:48 PM on March 18, 2011 [5 favorites]
I watched the knitting video and the baby being scared by his mother's nose being blown. I decided to post the knitting one, since the baby already had 2.8 million views. That video is up to nearly twice that a day later. Amazing.
Anyway, after I made the post I dropped the knitter (Laura) a line to let her know I'd done it. I typically do this for most any post I create. I've never posted anything from anyone that I have any kind of relationship with, but I figure after the fact it's cool to let the person know. Once I did a post and the person ended up being a mefite.
I thought it was cool she joined to answer the questions. I was actually surprised the post wasn't a double.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:42 PM on March 18, 2011
Anyway, after I made the post I dropped the knitter (Laura) a line to let her know I'd done it. I typically do this for most any post I create. I've never posted anything from anyone that I have any kind of relationship with, but I figure after the fact it's cool to let the person know. Once I did a post and the person ended up being a mefite.
I thought it was cool she joined to answer the questions. I was actually surprised the post wasn't a double.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:42 PM on March 18, 2011
Oh cool, still learning new things - I didnt know that was called English style knitting. Is American style just the knit then, no purl? Mom just used to call them "raw" and "done" (in Hindi).
posted by infini at 7:10 PM on March 18, 2011
posted by infini at 7:10 PM on March 18, 2011
Oh cool, still learning new things - I didnt know that was called English style knitting. Is American style just the knit then, no purl?The main other style from "English" is "continental," not American. (There are some other styles, but those are the two most common, at least in the US.) In continental knitting, you hold the yarn taut with your left hand and use the right needle to pull the yarn through the loop. In English style, you hold the yarn in your right hand and wrap it around the needle. Here's a video that shows the difference.
I think that Americans sometimes refer to English style as "American" style, and English is definitely more popular in the US. There are a lot of American knitters who passionately advocate continental, though, which I think is mostly because a couple of important knitting gurus in America were passionate advocates of continental knitting.
And now I'm curious about which style Indian knitters are more likely to use!
posted by craichead at 7:45 PM on March 18, 2011 [2 favorites]
I think many knitters start out being doctrinaire about their method of choice (personally, I knit continental-style, which I'm mellow about, but if you dis my Addi Turbos I will CUT YOU *ahem*), but AFIAK if you start doing any stranded color work at all you quickly realize the advantages of being fluent in both methods.
posted by Lexica at 10:09 PM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Lexica at 10:09 PM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
I knitted English style for years, but switched to continental because I could do that in one swift movement, without looking. With the English style, you have to stop and break the flow to do the wrap. With continental, I can hold the needle and yarn steady in the left and do all the magic with the right. But I kind of knit weird that way. And I knitted for over a decade before I knew what a twisted stitch was...apparently that's what I'd been doing all that time. All those silly hats!
posted by iamkimiam at 12:22 AM on March 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by iamkimiam at 12:22 AM on March 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Mom is a committed knitter though these days its just small stuff for the grandson. She taught me what you describe as English style and she's super fast, doesn't need to look down and there's never been any break in her flow that I know of.
She also has a Brother knitting machine from Japan that Dad brought back in the sixties for her. It clamps on to a table and then you just set it up and zoom things back and forth. I have only seen her set it up once in the past twenty years (and took photographs) but then we live/lived in tropical countries for a very long time.
posted by infini at 4:00 AM on March 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
She also has a Brother knitting machine from Japan that Dad brought back in the sixties for her. It clamps on to a table and then you just set it up and zoom things back and forth. I have only seen her set it up once in the past twenty years (and took photographs) but then we live/lived in tropical countries for a very long time.
posted by infini at 4:00 AM on March 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
infini: "raw" and "done" are neat terms!
SLC Mom: Addi Turbos! They are nickel-plated and very smooth and fast to knit with.
Lexica, please don't cut me, but: my hands seem to be corrosive to the surface of the needles; they are great for the first few hours but then the coating starts to wear off and they end up being smelly, draggy needles with brass patches. Basically the only needles I can use successfully in the long-term are wood or bamboo. I want to love the Addis, though, I swear!
I'm trying to find a video of someone knitting like I do, but no luck. I hold the yarn in my right hand and tension it by wrapping it around my little finger, then feeding it through my hand and draping it over my index finger. Both needles are involved in producing a stitch; the left needle moves forwards and backwards to catch the stitch on the right needle or pull it off, and the right needle makes smaller movements in and out of the stitches. It's very quick and rhythmic, and I don't have to drop the right needle to throw the yarn over. I've heard it called "lever knitting", but my hand movements are way, way smaller than, say, the Yarn Harlot's.
posted by bewilderbeast at 9:55 AM on March 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
SLC Mom: Addi Turbos! They are nickel-plated and very smooth and fast to knit with.
Lexica, please don't cut me, but: my hands seem to be corrosive to the surface of the needles; they are great for the first few hours but then the coating starts to wear off and they end up being smelly, draggy needles with brass patches. Basically the only needles I can use successfully in the long-term are wood or bamboo. I want to love the Addis, though, I swear!
I'm trying to find a video of someone knitting like I do, but no luck. I hold the yarn in my right hand and tension it by wrapping it around my little finger, then feeding it through my hand and draping it over my index finger. Both needles are involved in producing a stitch; the left needle moves forwards and backwards to catch the stitch on the right needle or pull it off, and the right needle makes smaller movements in and out of the stitches. It's very quick and rhythmic, and I don't have to drop the right needle to throw the yarn over. I've heard it called "lever knitting", but my hand movements are way, way smaller than, say, the Yarn Harlot's.
posted by bewilderbeast at 9:55 AM on March 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
bewilderbeast, am I reading you correctly that as you knit a row, you're transferring the stitches from the right-hand needle onto the left-hand needle? If so, then technically you're knitting backwards.
I have two friends, lefties both, who learned how to knit backwards because it was easier for them. Any chance you're left-handed?
The real killer trick is to learn how to knit the other way, then alternate techniques such that you knit back and forth without turning your work.
One of my aforementioned left-handed knitter friends knows how to do this. Sometimes we make her knit a swatch back and forth, while we watch, agape.
posted by ErikaB at 9:27 PM on March 19, 2011
I have two friends, lefties both, who learned how to knit backwards because it was easier for them. Any chance you're left-handed?
The real killer trick is to learn how to knit the other way, then alternate techniques such that you knit back and forth without turning your work.
One of my aforementioned left-handed knitter friends knows how to do this. Sometimes we make her knit a swatch back and forth, while we watch, agape.
posted by ErikaB at 9:27 PM on March 19, 2011
bewilderbeast, that's the goddamdest thing I ever saw.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:33 PM on March 19, 2011
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:33 PM on March 19, 2011
> That's awesome.
ErikaB: She is going left to right. Beautiful technique.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:33 AM on March 20, 2011
ErikaB: She is going left to right. Beautiful technique.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:33 AM on March 20, 2011
Yarn Harlot stitches do end up on the right needle, so maybe bewilderbeast do too. I haven't tried Addi turbos yet. My straight needles are very ancient aluminum ones, my circular are bamboo. I do have a few straight bamboo that I use for splitty yarn.
posted by francesca too at 10:12 AM on March 20, 2011
posted by francesca too at 10:12 AM on March 20, 2011
Here's what I love: she knits this huge badass blanket. What is her username? Is it iknitbadassblankets? No, it is iwriteplays, as in, "Oh, you think this Giganto Blanket is a big deal, you should see the plays I write!" Seems like everyone on MetaFilter is multi-talented!
Except me, of course. If all of our usernames had to describe what we do, mine would have to be icodeandcookjustbarelyadequately
posted by Deathalicious at 8:47 AM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Except me, of course. If all of our usernames had to describe what we do, mine would have to be icodeandcookjustbarelyadequately
posted by Deathalicious at 8:47 AM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
bewilderbeast, I'd heard that some people have skin-chemistry issues that make the Turbos not work out for them. I'm mildly surprised they work as well for me as they do, considering I'm very nickel-sensitive.
And, in truth, the Turbos are not great if one's working with slippery yarn. Merino is my fiber of choice, though, and I think they're lovely with it.
posted by Lexica at 11:11 AM on March 21, 2011
And, in truth, the Turbos are not great if one's working with slippery yarn. Merino is my fiber of choice, though, and I think they're lovely with it.
posted by Lexica at 11:11 AM on March 21, 2011
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posted by iamkimiam at 8:33 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]