YOur help needed please

The Old (1938 reprinted by Dover in 1972) Mary Thomas's Knitting Book has a
fair amount of material on frame or rake knitting. This kind of knitting
can be done with one hand, can be used to make useful objects; and was even
of commercial significance at one time.

Pictures? In case you had not noticed, I do not do too well with pictures.
When I want graphics, I knit them!

I have a roofer friend that has a fancy graphics system on his hobby
computer. But, his roofing tools are older than sin. He buys good ones,
takes care of them and keeps them forever. He keeps telling me to get a new
computer. I tell him that my computer is like his roofing tools. If it is
not broke, I am not going to replace it. I bought a real good computer (in
1999) and it still works so I am not going to replace it. (Of course,
everything except the power cord has been upgraded at least once.)

Aaron

"Norma" wrote in message
.. .
Hi Aaron, I don't know if DF will make her the knitting stick but if so, I
imagine that she will try to knit flat with just two needles. Her right
hand
just won't hold a needle but winding the yarn around one finger might give
it enough tension to let her try and maybe she will eventually be able to
kind of hold it between the thumb and finger. She might refuse to even
try,
but I thought it might be worth trying to encourage her. I will look into
a
knitting board as well. If you come up with ;the "knitting desk" will you
post a pic of it? DF might be interested in that as well.

--
In Star love and friendship,
Norma Woods
D.D.G.M.
District 21
wrote in message
. net...
A knitting stick is different from a knitting spool. The knitting stick
is
used to hold the right needle as the yarn is manipulated with the right
hand
like, rather like English style knitting. I find that using a knitting
stick requires MORE coordination then just holding the needles. Every
time
I advance from one needle to the next, I knit the first few stitches
holding
the rh needle in my right hand and then transfer it to the knitting
stick.
Why? Because, when I try to start with right needle in the knitting
stick,
on about the fifth stitch, I end up popping the first 4 stitches off the
fixed needle, which is followed by a blast of profanity. Those first few
stitches on a fixed rh needle are the most difficult aspect of knitting
that
I have tried. I would not wish them on someone trying to recover from a
hangover; much less, someone recovering from a stroke.

The two great things about knitting sticks are that they allow fast
knitting
and they take some strain off the wrist when knitting very tight. But,
at
RCTY we rest our wrists before we overstrain - Right!EG

For a person after a stroke, I would consider a knitting spool (and
related
knitting frames) with some kind of a stand or support. (Maybe a "U"
shaped
piece of plywood with bean bag upholstery on the bottom to sit
comfortably
on a lap.) I would use a weight to pull the finished product through,
and
some kind of mechanical yarn guide (i.e., plastic rings held in binder
clips) to help provide yarn tension. Michael's had knitting rings for
sale
last fall, and more recently they were on sale at a deep discount.

Heck, I think I am going to make myself a little "knitting desk" to sit
on
my lap. It will have a place for my magnetic pattern holder and ...

Aaron
"Leah" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 20:45:37 -0500, "Norma"
wrote:

I'm not sure if you might remember but my MIL had a stroke several
months
ago. Someone here posted an url to a site showing a 'knitting stick'.
I
wanted to print out the pic and info for my FIL. We were all talking a
couple of weeks ago about this and thought that mom could try this as
a
form
or therapy. She can't hold the needle but we thought she might be able
to
knit this way a bit. My pc is giving me grief right now and I can't
access
any of my bookmarks. Thanks group.

The knitting stick is also called a spool, because in old days, a
wooden spool had 4 nails driven into it for kids to make I cord (AKA
idiot cord), so you can also look that up on Google.

You can also teach your mom how to knit I cord with just her fingers,
the first form of knitting I ever learned. Hold your hand with the
palm facing your face. Wind yarn around the left hand if right handed
and right hand if left handed this way: Leave tail end at thumb,
grasping between thumb and forefinger. Take yarn behind forefinger
and bring it to the front between that and the middle finger. Go
around front of middle finger and take yarn to back between middle and
ring fingers. Go around back of ring finger and bring yarn to front
between ring and pinky. Go around outside of hand and pinky finger to
wrap yarn around pinky. Bring yarn to front between pinky and ring to
complete figure 8 wrap, returning to the area between the thumb and
forefinger continuing to wrap yarn around fingers to complete figure 8
cast on. Do not wrap yarn around thumb, just the 4 fingers. After
figure 8 cast on is complete, take yarn and wrap it around the back of
your hand, without doing a figure 8 wrap, just wind it around the hand
to the front and back across to the forefinger again. This is called
yarn over or yarn wrap. You now have 2 loops on fingers. Starting at
pinky, take the figure 8 lower loop and pull it over the yarn over
wrap to the back of the hand. Repeat with the other 3 fingers, and
the row is done. Wrap yarn around back of hand again to do another
row. Do this 3-4 times. You'll note knitting is bunching up at the
back of the hand. Now, take the yarn tail from between thumb and
forefinger, and take it to the back of the hand, and pull down gently,
and you'll see the I cord formed. Continue for as many rows as you'd
like, pulling down on the cord every couple of rows to even out
stitches. It's the same as doing it on a spool, without the spool.

For larger items, there are knitting "rakes" or "boards" or "looms",
which can be found all over the place.

http://www.babesfibergarden.com/BFG92001/joy.htm
Babe makes cheap PVC spinning wheels and has branched out into the
board knitter.

Round looms range anywhere from reasonable to really expensive done in
wood.

http://www.knittinglooms.bigstep.com/
This is an expensive wood loom.



http://www.michaels.com/art/online/s...knitter&type=0
Michaels has the Knifty Knitter, which comes in round or flat. Their
site doesn't list a price, and it's been a while since I looked at it
in the store.

HTH!

Leah

We usually call that a knitting dolly over here, just get a cotton reel, an
old wooden one, and put four nails in the top of it...

hugz cher




"Els van Dam" wrote in message
...
In article , "Norma"
wrote:

I'm not sure if you might remember but my MIL had a stroke several months
ago. Someone here posted an url to a site showing a 'knitting stick'. I
wanted to print out the pic and info for my FIL. We were all talking a
couple of weeks ago about this and thought that mom could try this as a
form
or therapy. She can't hold the needle but we thought she might be able to
knit this way a bit. My pc is giving me grief right now and I can't
access
any of my bookmarks. Thanks group.

Norma, I must have missed that conversation. However when I googled
"Knitting Stick" I came up with this site
http://www.holz-toys.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=1151

They show a corking spool. It that what you were looking for. You can
get those in yarn stores. I have bought a very nice one for my grand
daughter. It is in the shape of a bubble bee. Made by Crafting
Essentials. H.A. Kidd and company limited They call it a French
knitting Bee. I paid $5 for it.

Els

Knitting dollies are one form. But larger ones can be used to knit socks,
larger ones can be used to knit hats and sleeves, and still larger ones can
be used to knit the body- pretty much all with one hand. Straight frames
(rakes) can be used to knit rugs that are much too large to knit on needles.

I know that Michael's sets of 3 plastic knitting frames for less than $20
last fall. See also http://decoraccentsinc.com/knitting_loom_sets.html for
better wooden frames and rakes or
http://www.susansfibershop.com/kids_korner.htm for another inexpensive
wooden knitting frame. See also http://www.netw.com/%7Erafter4/knit.htm for
rake knit rug concepts. I am sure others are out there also, but these came
in near the top of my searches.

Aaron
"spinninglilac" wrote in message
.uk...
We usually call that a knitting dolly over here, just get a cotton reel,
an
old wooden one, and put four nails in the top of it...

hugz cher




"Els van Dam" wrote in message
...
In article , "Norma"
wrote:

I'm not sure if you might remember but my MIL had a stroke several
months
ago. Someone here posted an url to a site showing a 'knitting stick'. I
wanted to print out the pic and info for my FIL. We were all talking a
couple of weeks ago about this and thought that mom could try this as a
form
or therapy. She can't hold the needle but we thought she might be able
to
knit this way a bit. My pc is giving me grief right now and I can't
access
any of my bookmarks. Thanks group.

Norma, I must have missed that conversation. However when I googled
"Knitting Stick" I came up with this site
http://www.holz-toys.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=1151

They show a corking spool. It that what you were looking for. You can
get those in yarn stores. I have bought a very nice one for my grand
daughter. It is in the shape of a bubble bee. Made by Crafting
Essentials. H.A. Kidd and company limited They call it a French
knitting Bee. I paid $5 for it.

Els

thanks everyone for your help. I am going to wait and see what mom thinks of
the knitting stick, and if she is interested in trying.

--
In Star love and friendship,
Norma Woods
D.D.G.M.
District 21