Okay, tell me if you think this is silly...

Vintage Purls wrote:

I've ripped entirely knit garments out. Time did not stop. I did not
explode. It's okay to screw up your knitting. And though it's a
possibility that you'll make a horrendous mistake, there is a much
better chance that everything will go well and you' ll get that great
buzz of satisfaction when you finish a garment.

I think I like Mirjam's suggestion to measure a sweater that already
fits me well and use that as a model. I have two sweaters I like, one a
stretchier one than the other, and I could measure them, and if I made
one the same size, then I would *know* it would fit okay.

I've sewn many garments in my pre-learning-to-alter days that when
finished did not fit, and I just plain don't like doing that any more.

Actually, a baby sweater sounds like an EXCELLENT idea, because my
neighbor is pregnant with her first child and if it turns out well, I
would have a nice baby gift -- and if it didn't, I might still be able
to make a second one before the baby is born LOL.

Great! Do you need us to point you toward an easy pattern?


Yes, please. The easier the better. (She says it's going to be a boy,
BTW, if that matters)

Mirjam Bruck-Cohen wrote:
Melinda i donb`t know who scared you ,,,,

More like "what" -- like, go ahead and make the sweater and if it
doesn't fit you, NBD -- well, to me it would be.

If the problem is with following instructions MAKE YOUR OWN ,,,
Find a sweater /shirt whose size fits you well ,,,
Measure it and draw it on a paper ,,,, now GUAGUGE 20 stich over 10
rows ,,,, now translate cm or inches to stitch numbers and WORK on it

Oh, now that's an intriguing idea. Like tracing a pattern off onto
newsprint to clone a garment. I currently only have two sweaters that I
wear regularly, but I really like them both and they fit reasonably well.

Thanks!

Coming out of lurk...

And if something doesn't seem to be "right" (too heavy, too drapey, too
stiff, too large, too small, whatever) you don't throw it away. Consider
it a learning experience, frog it, and keep the yarn for something else.

After I taught myself to knit ages ago with a scarf and mittens, I
plunged into an Aran sweater. It took a long time, or what seemed a long
time) to finish because I had to learn to cable and read diagrams as I
went but I finished it. It was gorgeous, but weighed a TON and waaaay
too warm because I used the wrong weight yarn. I eventually gave it
away, but I learned that I love doing cables...and the importance of
those yarn "suggestions". I remember using one of those plastic coffee
stirrers as a cable needle because I didn't have one,had never heard of
one and had no way to go get one. Again, no one told me I could't do
that,so I did, and it worked. No one told me Arans were "too hard" or
that intarsia was "advanced" (that was my next project). I just saw
something I liked and that looked interesting and jumped right in. If it
doesn't work, so what? It's just yarn. You can't hurt it. And you always
learn something so I always considered it time well spent, not time
wasted.

EJ



In article . com,
says...
Hi, its Wooly. I'm rebuilding my system, haven't found my newsreader
software yet so I'm posting thru Googlegroups (ugh).

On Jun 2, 12:08 am, Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to reply
wrote:

Now that you ladies have totally scared me off making a sweater for fear
that I could spend months on making it and then discover it didn't fit,

Why wouldn't it fit? If you know how to measure yourself (or your
intended victim), know how to make and measure a gauge swatch, if
you're able to count and if you can do some basic arithmetic you can
make a sweater that fits.

Three books for you: Maggie Righetti _Knitting in Plain English_,
Elizabeth Zimmermann _Knitting Workshop_, and if you really get into
DIY sweater building, Maggie Righetti _Sweater Design in Plain
English_.

Also a sweater need not take "months" to knit, unless you have
absolutely minimal time to give it. I've turned out adult-sized
sweaters - made with fat yarn on big needles, admittedly - in less
than a week's time when I was under the gun to get them done.

I discovered from *somewhere* a mailing list where they have a
knit-along for a knitted dishcloth of a different pattern every month.
It seems to me that perhaps I could build my confidence with those small
projects for a few months before I tackle something huge. (then I could
put them all together for lightweight sofa throws or something if I
didn't want to use them all as dishcloths, right?)

Indeed. Another good small first project is a pair of "standard" flap-
and-gusset socks. The skills you hone on sockmaking will be useful
when you start the sweater: knitting in the round, knowing which way
different decreases lean, picking up stitches.


I am sort of totally self-taught and have never read a pattern, knit
ambidextrously, etc., and learning how to knit conventionally and to
follow a pattern is a big hurdle to cross.

Then only thing to remember is "right leg forward". If you knit such
that your stitches are mounted left leg forward on the needle it makes
some manipulations fiddly because you have to remount the stitches
before you can do whatever. Otherwise there's no "conventional"
knitting to learn: it's knit, purl, increase, decrease, bind off put
together in endless variations.

Pattern reading isn't that tough either. A well-written pattern
defines for you all the abbreviations used therein. Its just a matter

Olwyn Mary wrote:
Melinda, if you were to go back on this board (which I don't recommend)
you would find I have often recommended beginners to get a book of
dishcloth patterns - there are some fairly cheap ones at some of the
"big box" stores - buy some pretty acrylic yarns and get busy. The
great thing about this is that (1) each square can be knit in a
relatively short time (2) you learn to knit various different stitch
patterns, and (3) You can knit as many or few as you like, and make them
into a lap robe or afghan.

Once when I was making an afghan for my son, I wasn't sure which way I
wanted to arrange the squares so made a few extra. At the end I had
four left over, so stitched them together to be an afghan for his cat!.
The cat loved it, and slept on it right until his demise.

There's actually an excellent site with dozens of pretty dishcloth
patterns at http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbou.../knitting.html

sue

Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to reply wrote:
wrote:
Now that you ladies have totally scared me off making a sweater for fear
that I could spend months on making it and then discover it didn't fit,
Why wouldn't it fit? If you know how to measure yourself (or your
intended victim), know how to make and measure a gauge swatch, if
you're able to count and if you can do some basic arithmetic you can
make a sweater that fits.

I don't know, but that's what I got in response.

It was because the yarn and design were not compatible.

sue

Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to reply wrote:
Vintage Purls wrote:
I've ripped entirely knit garments out. Time did not stop. I did not
explode. It's okay to screw up your knitting. And though it's a
possibility that you'll make a horrendous mistake, there is a much
better chance that everything will go well and you' ll get that great
buzz of satisfaction when you finish a garment.

I think I like Mirjam's suggestion to measure a sweater that already
fits me well and use that as a model. I have two sweaters I like, one a
stretchier one than the other, and I could measure them, and if I made
one the same size, then I would *know* it would fit okay.

I've sewn many garments in my pre-learning-to-alter days that when
finished did not fit, and I just plain don't like doing that any more.

Actually, a baby sweater sounds like an EXCELLENT idea, because my
neighbor is pregnant with her first child and if it turns out well, I
would have a nice baby gift -- and if it didn't, I might still be able
to make a second one before the baby is born LOL.
Great! Do you need us to point you toward an easy pattern?


Yes, please. The easier the better. (She says it's going to be a boy,
BTW, if that matters)

Here's one -- http://gailbable.tripod.com/id41.html

sue

EJ wrote:
that,so I did, and it worked. No one told me Arans were "too hard" or
that intarsia was "advanced" (that was my next project). I just saw
something I liked and that looked interesting and jumped right in. If it
doesn't work, so what? It's just yarn. You can't hurt it. And you always
learn something so I always considered it time well spent, not time
wasted.


*nodding* I understand what you are saying. Let's see if I can use an
exeample in a different scenario to explain my thinking. My daughter
went straight from high school to a private 4-year college. She is
intelligent and capable of rising to the occasion of whatsever challenge
was thrown at her, and whatever she makes up her mind to do, she can do,
which in this case included carrying 12-14 units a semester and working
25 hours a week.

OTOH, my oldest son has ADD and learning difficulties as well as
probably some other neuro/physio/psychologic problems, and when he
wanted to go off to college just like his younger sister, I suggested
that he take classes at the (much less expensive) local junior college
first to learn how to manage his time and learn how to study for college
courses, because it was likely that he was not going to hit the ground
running on the type of schedule that his sister managed to do (just
barely, but did manage to do it and get As in most of her classes),
because he was probably going to need to practice to learn to prioritize
his time and learn to deal with college-level instruction, and since
they both have to pay for their own college (long story I won't get
into, but hopefully the expression "sperm-donor-type dad" will give you
an idea), I thought it would be better for him to make his mistakes at a
place where he would only lose about $500 if he flunked 12 units of
classes and not $7000.

In the same vein, if I'm likely to have a problem (which I never thought
about until I came here and people started talking about making entire
sweaters that they eneded up not being able or willing to wear), I think
I want to make my mistakes when it costs less to have made them until I
end up getting a bit more proficient. Anyway, baby sweaters and
dishcloths don't sound so intimidating, and if I mess one up it won't be
two months before I can finish another one, and in the meantime
hopefully I will learn the right way to knit and master some of the
difficulties my right-left blindness are bound to cause.

suzee wrote:

There's actually an excellent site with dozens of pretty dishcloth
patterns at http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbou.../knitting.html

wow..... *swoon* Afghan, here I come.....

suzee wrote:

I don't know, but that's what I got in response.

It was because the yarn and design were not compatible.

Oh. Which is good information to know, and information that I *want* to
know for sure.

Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to reply wrote:
suzee wrote:


I don't know, but that's what I got in response.


It was because the yarn and design were not compatible.


Oh. Which is good information to know, and information that I *want* to
know for sure.

One of my early mistakes was a tank top that ended up way too big for
me. My gauge was correct when I started, but as I continued knitting,
my tension relaxed and my guage changed. I didn't know I needed to
continue checking the gauge as I went along. Also, the gauge can be
affected when knitting a large piece by the weight of the piece.

BB