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The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby ValiantArcher » Nov 17, 2015 6:48 pm

Thanks, stwin! :) I may see if sticking the needle ends in the skein helps; if not, I'll have to try to look for the point protectors.
You have trouble with acrylic dpns? I've had far less trouble with them than with metal. ;))
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby shastastwin » Nov 17, 2015 7:15 pm

My acrylic needles are terrible to work with. ;)) They don't let the yarn move enough for my taste. My wooden needles are the best to work with: just smooth enough to move and just rough enough to hold.
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby ValiantArcher » Nov 27, 2015 4:03 pm

My acrylic needles hold the yarn just fine, allowing them to slide when necessary but not usually enough to drop stitches. ;)) I don't have any wooden dpns yet, so no comment; perhaps they will be the best too, though.
And thanks for the point protectors tip! I got a set and they are helping a ton. :D They may take a few seconds longer to take them off and put them back on, but I'm much faster without worrying about losing stitches. ;))
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby ValiantArcher » Dec 27, 2015 6:34 pm

^So I finished the hat I was working on (yay!) and in time for Christmas (double yay!) and Meadow liked it, but I don't have any photos. :P Same goes for the headband/earwarmer I knitted for my mom. ;))

However, I wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on some yarn I bought. I got it in a mill end package and thought it was pretty. It kind of looked like this if you let it lie straight (pardon the blurriness---couldn't get the camera to focus for some reason :P ):
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But if you actually spread it out, it turns out this is really more what it looks like:
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So. I'm not quite sure what to make with it. ;)) I think it's similar to (if not the same as) a Yarn Bee yarn called "Metallics", but Ravelry has very few projects for that yarn, and most are ruffle scarves which I can't see really anyone I know wearing (and I'm not very fond of their look overall). Any thoughts on what I could make with it? :)
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby Meltintalle » Apr 19, 2016 12:12 pm

I made a sweater this winter but have yet to get decent pictures. (Also I haven't blocked it yet. So it's like 98% done.)

I'm currently working on a 3-hour sweater with the leftover yarn. Valia showed me the link awhile back. :)
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby ValiantArcher » Jul 18, 2016 6:09 pm

How go the sweaters, Mel? And the socks? ;))

While visiting with some NWebbers last month, I started my first pair of socks. I'm using the magic loop method, and I suspect my thoughts on it will remain undecided until I've finished the socks at least. So far, I've been a bit frustrated as I can't go back and unravel a row (as when I did several rows of purl/knit instead of vice-versa), but as Mel has pointed out, at least both socks have the same band of wrong-side stitches. :P ;)) Additionally, somehow I messed something up and now to get the wrong-side/right-side look right, I have to purl my entire sock. I don't mind purling too much, but still, it's very weird. :-\ I'm also using size 2 (!!!!) needles, which are very tiny, and the yarn is fine, so it's slow going even when I have time to sit and knit (which is rare). The socks are probably about an inch and a half long now, so just covering the toes. :P ;))

I also recently finished a second headband and gave it to Summer as part of her birthday gift. I lost a stitch somewhere in it but could never find it again :ymblushing: so I just added one on. And she liked it as well. :)
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby Meltintalle » Jul 20, 2016 6:09 am

County fair is coming up (uh... next week!!!) so there's a deadline on getting the sweaters done. ;)) No blocking yet, but I'm on the last sleeve for the second sweater. I pinned it together with the first sleeve and tried it on, and I'm pretty excited about how it'll look. :D

No progress on my pair of socks yet.
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby coracle » Jul 21, 2016 4:02 am

I've finished the dark blue scarf, which is using up some of the wool left over from a cardigan. I had already made a slightly baggy beany type hat.

Next I am almost finished knitting a toy dog for a friend's birthday; one more little leg to go, then sew up and stuff it. I do hope she will love it, she's been waiting to be able to get another (real) dog.

After that I am going to knit a scarf with the Fellowship of the Ring profile picture on it. Will update once I get the pattern formatted right.
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby johobbit » Jul 21, 2016 4:17 am

coracle wrote:After that I am going to knit a scarf with the Fellowship of the Ring profile picture on it. Will update once I get the pattern formatted right.

:-o Uhhh, I hope you have my name for Christmas this year! ;) Seriously, that will be amazing, coracle! That FotR profile is a very favourite of mine. :x Did you develop this pattern on your own??

And all the best to each of you who is working on projects. And in the fair, Mel! :D

Yay for the birthday headband, Valia ... aside from the lost stitch.
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby Meltintalle » Jul 21, 2016 8:43 am

coracle wrote:After that I am going to knit a scarf with the Fellowship of the Ring profile picture on it. Will update once I get the pattern formatted right.


Please do! Did you find the pattern somewhere or are you charting it yourself? ;;)
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby ValiantArcher » Aug 09, 2016 7:05 pm

Any progress on the socks, Mel? And how'd the county fair go? :)

Ditto the Fellowship questions, Auntie! Any chance to work on it lately? :)

Still working on my socks. Probably close to 2 inches now. ;))
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby Lady Arwen » Jan 22, 2017 8:53 pm

I've finally got back to knitting recently, mainly because I've been traveling a lot, and one can only do so much reading on flights before one gets restless. ;)) And TSA doesn't mind my needles, so I can take them on with me. So far I've been doing a string of cowels, mainly because I made one for a friend for Christmas, and my mum saw it and thought it was gorgeous, so I had to make one for her, too. Not sure what I'll be headed to next, project wise.

So, in short, nothing to report, other than that I've been knitting instead of quilting.
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby Meltintalle » Jan 23, 2017 9:50 am

I have progress to report on the socks! :D They're now... 3 inches long or so. ;))

As for the county fair, it seems so long ago and it's kinda like, Oh, yes... I did enter something, didn't I. And there were ribbons. :p

The cowels sound lovely, Wren! What sort of yarn did you use? Did they knit quickly?
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby Lady Arwen » Jan 23, 2017 10:35 pm

I've been using 6/bulky yarn to do a design based off of this pattern, Mel. I changed the pattern a bit because I tended to lose count, for some reason. ;)) So far I've been knitting 3-5 rows (depending on the cowel) and then one with the knit3, yo, k2tog, then another set of just knitted rows. The knitted rows at the beginning and the end seem to provide a better roll to the edges. I'm considering reworking the math on the next one and trying to do the yo/k2tog in a diagonal pattern instead of vertical, if that makes sense. I also have found I only like the pattern in darker colors. :P

To answer your second question, umm...man. One cowel takes me one round trip drive to LA (so, 6 hours down, 6 hours back), but I can't knit constantly in the car, so I'm gonna guess I probably knitted at max half the time? Maybe less? It's also good for one international flight, ish, because again, I tend to get bored easily on flights when I don't have papers to grade. ;;) So I suppose for its complexity and my tendency to make mistakes because I'm changing the pattern on the fly (and don't tend to write down what I changed), they do knit pretty quickly. And they're a bit more interesting than, oh hey, look....another...scarf. :P

(Not that scarves aren't absolutely beautiful and lovely and I've made them myself.)
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby ValiantArcher » Jan 25, 2017 7:05 pm

The cowls sound fun, Wren. :) For some reason, I've never really cared for the chunky knit fashion, so the cowl I'm knitting is taking forever (...it doesn't help that the yarn got tangled, so if I want to knit anymore I have to get all the knots worked out...). :P But hurrah also for having time to knit! :D

Yay for progress on the socks, Mel! :D Mine are still where they were last time... Which is actually longer than I thought as they are about 4 inches now. ;))
And congrats on the ribbons, whatever they were for. ;))

So my socks got put on hold to do something more interesting or, rather, several things more interesting (the aforementioned cowl, a headband, and another item). Unfortunately, all of the interesting projects have stalled with snags, with the sole exception of the headband (which had snags, but I finished anyhow; it was a (late) gift). I guess I've just hit a knitting funk lately. :P Any ideas how to shake it?
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Re: The Second Measure: Sewing, Yarnwork, and other Needlework

Postby wild rose » Mar 09, 2017 11:59 am

I recently crocheted a shawl for my boss's birthday. Sadly I didn't take a picture of it before giving it to her, but I was really proud of it. I found the pattern online and modified it a bit ;))

It was made of of square motifs, twenty eight in all and then another eight triangle ones for the top of the shawl. Each square took about another hour to make...so I was was a lot of work. For fun I counted and altogether I put in about 40 hours to that shawl, spread over the course of two weeks. I was pleased with the end result and almost sorry to give it away, lol.

One thing I've found rather frustrating about Zambia is the only yarn they sell here its acrylic yarn. Nothing natural like wool or cotton or linen and for former reenactor me working with acryl is not so much fun. I've always prefered natural material, but it's better than nothing and I have several new projects planned :)
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