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Hello from another new member

chunkiejunkie's picture
Mon, 2007-10-08 13:28 — chunkiejunkie

Hello everyone!
I feel like I'm a misfit toy who has found a place where I belong. LOL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_the_Red-Nosed_Reindeer_and_the_Island_of_Misfit_Toys

I've been knitting off and on for a couple of years now but I still consider myself a beginner. My current goal is to get better at finishing sweaters. Right now I have a bunch of dismembered sweater pieces laying around my place that I'm working on joining together in same shape or form. Any tips anyone has on seaming or picking up stitches for necklines would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Ollie

‹ Lambs Pride "Loden Leaf"? Hi! ›
Tue, 2007-10-09 21:46 — chunkiejunkie
chunkiejunkie's picture

Thank you everyone for the

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! I'm looking forward to learning, sharing ideas and most importantly having a few laughs with the group. Time to tackle this pile of UFOs....

Tue, 2007-10-09 11:13 — knit1prall2
knit1prall2's picture

Welcome to the group. There

Welcome to the group. There are alot of very talented knitters here and I am sure you will pick up a wealth of imformation. Welcome to the Island of MWK.

Tue, 2007-10-09 07:30 — Parrot
Parrot's picture

Welcome to MWK . . a great

Welcome to MWK . . a great place to meet other male knitters, share ideas, and gets lots of advice and instruction. I hope you enjoy it here . . .

Doug
(Parrot)

Mon, 2007-10-08 21:16 — YarnGuy716
YarnGuy716's picture

Hi Ollie!!! and welcome to

Hi Ollie!!! and welcome to MWK!!!! I went to my Monday night knitting circle and then went out for some beers with college guys while watching Monday night football! So I have had a beer or two....

Anywhoo... there are very few knitters who love finishing sweaters. We love to knit we hate to weave. I try to make as few seams as necessary to make a sweater. If I can 3-needle bind it or some other way, I will. What I do is mix finishing with knitting. So if I weave a seam together I get to knit something new for a while. Sort of a mix of bad with good LOL.

Again, welcome to our funtastic family of manly knitters. Look forward to seeing pics posted of your work.

Vince

Mon, 2007-10-08 19:40 — chunkiejunkie
chunkiejunkie's picture

It's nothing to be impressed

It's nothing to be impressed with Tucker.... they don't qualify as sweaters until the pieces are put together. Right now all I have are a bunch of misshapen scarves! lol

Thanks for the info Celowin. I've heard of people using steeks to knit two sleeves at once and then cutting them apart but I didn't realize you could use them to avoid seams altogether. Is this similar in concept to knitting in the round as in with icelandic sweaters?

Tue, 2007-10-09 01:10 — knitmaniac

Kiwiknitter is the man to

Kiwiknitter is the man to tell you about steeks. He does all his sweaters in the round, and fantastic they are too. He was a big help to me.

Mon, 2007-10-08 20:27 — Celowin
Celowin's picture

I shouldn't say too much,

I shouldn't say too much, since I'm just learning them myself. I would say rather than being "similar in concept" to knitting in the round, it is "an addition to" that technique. Basically, you knit the body in the round, and when you get to the beginning of the armhole, you set up the steek. At the neck, you do the same thing. Once you get to the top, you bind off the steeks, and place the other stitches onto holders. The steeks are then reinforced (optional, but it sure aided my peace of mind) and cut open to make arm/neck holes. The stitches on the holders are grafted together, and then you can just pick up stitches and knit down the arms.

There are all sorts of variations, but that is the basic idea.

Mon, 2007-10-08 18:55 — Celowin
Celowin's picture

First off, welcome to the

First off, welcome to the site! I think you'll like it here.

I won't try to offer any tips on seaming, since I'm honestly terrible at it. Now that I'm learning how to do steeks, I hope never to have to look back to seams.

As for picking up stitches, I use a crochet hook to help out. I just wrote an email to someone explaining my method for doing it, so I'll just copy and paste what I wrote there...

1. Insert the crochet hook into the work where I want to pick up a stitch. The hook points away from the previous stitch.
2. Wrap the yarn around the shaft of the crochet hook, as if I was making a knit stitch on a needle.
3. Slide the yarn down into the hook.
4. Relax tension on the yarn, and pull it through the fabric until there is a loop a couple of cm long.
5. Use the crochet hook to slip the loop over the knitting needle, then unhook the yarn.
6. Pull the yarn from the other side of the fabric to the proper snugness on the needle.

Usually the stitch will loosen up a bit as I start picking up the next one, but I can readjust that when I wrap the next stitch around the crochet hook.

Anyway, good luck with your knitting, and I hope to see photos of your work soon!

Mon, 2007-10-08 18:40 — tucker303

Pffft! At least you CAN do

Pffft! At least you CAN do sweaters. Now I feel like a Charlie in a Box!

Welcome

Mon, 2007-10-08 21:17 — YarnGuy716
YarnGuy716's picture

Charlie in the box....

Charlie in the box.... LOL!!!!
I think he really just wanted to knit!

Mon, 2007-10-08 13:52 — MasonM
MasonM's picture

Welcome! I've found that

Welcome!

I've found that there are a lot more guys who knit and/or crochet than are willing to admit it publicly. LOL

Mason

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