I don't even have children - but cannot imagine very many new Moms with the time or energy to hand wash baby knits. Definitely goes in the acrylic category. Hugs from Maine.
As a maker of knit and crochet toys dpns are a must but when doing socks the 9 inch circular needles really speed up the process! Fun change of pace video! My pet peeve is when someone comes to a knitting gathering and an experienced knitter tells them they are doing it wrong. Kill joy! If it looks pretty and works for you, ignore them!!
My cousin was staunchly against acrylic yarn but after showing her some of my stash it actually turned out what she was against was red heart super savor acrylic and just assumed all acrylic would feel the same.
I find weaving in ends so satisfying and soothing! I sew in my housemate’s ends too, since she hates doing it. I agree about the mohair, it’s so expensive and for me it just makes things too warm (I’m Australian so it’s not super cold!) My controversial opinion is that magic loop is actual torture! I absolutely hate it. I’ll do it if I have to, but I’d rather use DPN’s or 9 inch circulars. I also really dislike flat toned yarn, give me all the heathered and tonal yarn!
I actually really like knitting socks on DPNs and that's what I've made all five pairs of my newly ignited sock knitting obsession with. I did make a brief attempt at magic loop but couldn't wrap my head around it and found that the cable was more in the way than having four needles hanging out.
I love weaving in ends too. There's a photo of me sewing in ends on IG. My friend finished her blanket in the middle of knitting group and was getting in a mood about sewing in her ends so I abducted her project from across the table and started sewing in the ends for her lol. I make baby blankets and cardigans out of acrylic because it washes well and doesn't break the bank lol. Both my boys have had many handknits by Grandma and they have all been out of baby yarn of some kind (nearly always acrylic) and they have been lovely and done the job. My Mum actually had to patch a jumper I made for my eldest because it gained 3 holes and my eldest said it couldn't be frogged/recycled/donated to the charity shop because I made it for him and therefore it had to stay. He has two blankets that I made for him (his baby blanket is away but his granny stripe gets lots of love). I've "cast on" a 8-bit Mario blanket for him today. Trying to figure out what size squares to do and it'll be all in Stylecraft Special DK so that it survives a messy 6yo lol
I actually had someone tell me that I was knitting wrong because I didn't knit like them. My mother taught me to knit and she learned from her father whom she sat across from, not beside and he was Eastern European. I get the same results so what did it matter?
I have noticed a lot of people get really weird about how other people knit, which is so strange to me… why does it matter to them how someone else is knitting? Nobody’s forcing you to change your way, so why get all thingy about it? As you say, we all end up with the same thing in the end! I actually really love watching how other people knit, I find it really interesting! Watching other people really helped me get ideas on how to change my style of knitting when I found my joints weren’t coping with doing it the way I was taught.
I like weaving in ends, too :) Although I'm sure I would hate it in lace if I knitted more lace. My unpopular opinion: it's easier to pick up sock gusset stitches with a crochet hook than with your DPN. I hate using a knitting needle to pick up stitches when a crochet hook works just as well. I think I've done this with sweater sleeves, too.
I absolutely LOVE your cardigan. It is beautiful. Now in reference to acyrilc yarn, some people are actually allergic to wool of any kind and plant based yarns are not always appropriate for the pattern. Love your podcast. Keep up the inspiring work.
Thank you for encouraging me to rip out a project that was not doing it for me. I felt quilty about it and it was keeping me from knitting I was enjoying. Its GONE !
The advantage of fades for a budget buying yarn snob is: you can buy your nice yarn one skein at a time over time! I love collecting a faded qty this way.
I *would* like sparkly yarn (& probably mohair too) but they don't like me - they make my hands itch as I'm knitting (& in the case of mohair) make me sneeze. I basically just avoid both, including patterns that insist on a mohair component. It would be nice if the designers at least included a line about what to do if you can't use mohair (for whatever reason), but if they don't I will probably just not buy the pattern so from *my* POV, it's no big deal. The one about the number of projects & not finishing is my fave. I don't knit for my job. I'm under NO obligation to do anything I don't want to do. Very entertaining video, thanks!
Love the cardigan. Don't know half the jargon you were using. I'm studing various ways of knitting to figure the one that will be ergonomic and fast for me. Pet peeve: seeing yarn untwist whilst working! Or if watching a video tutorial, and no one ever does anything about it...drives me batty!
Loved this video! But I now think I must be an anomaly. I don't mind purling, ribbing, brioche, swatching, blocking, seaming, or weaving in ends. And I prefer DPNs over magic loop. I don't own a swift or ball winder (and I've been knitting for nearly 15 years) and wind every skein by hand. I just enjoy all of it! I'm not a huge fan of pooling though, but even that, I think, is fine for socks. Your sweater is stunning, by the way.
I once crocheted a blanket called fridas flowers . It was the first time Id done anything with more than a handful of colour changes...I left all the ends to do last. I spent three evenings weaving in ends and had only got through one 15th of the work. I never worked on it again. The next blanket I made had thousands of ends to sew in , so I prepared in advance and did them as I went along. 140 little medalions with 10 colour changes for each and then the net inbetween them all to join :) Ill never leave ends to the end ever again, unless theres only 10 of them.
For all who have commented that they don't like DPNs - me either! Too many fiddling tools at once! A circular needle set is all I use for knitting everything. So much easier. My hate is that natural fiber is so expensive! I would love to use wool/cashmere or other similar fibers but I am poor so my choices are limited. Just a fact. I can't spend $100 on enough yarn for a sweater!
I like weaving in ends! It feels almost therapeutic for me to weave them in and appreciate all of my hard work, and sometimes even hide some tension errors (usually with what I knit I don't need to block). And I love my DPNs! Most of what I knit is on DPNs, and as long as I rotate the stitches onto different needles to prevent laddering and block it after, it's not that bad. Plus, each needle feels like its own little row!
I like all of your video's, but this one was extra fun to watch! :) I learned to knit with acrylic yarn, and along the way I bought (in my words) "fancy yarn". Today I still use both. I'm knitting a sweater in merino wool, and a huge blanket in acrylic yarn. Oh and I like a gold sparkle in yarn ;)
I also enjoy weaving in ends, and I think it it because it's a different kind of perfectionistic tedium than meticulously measuring and gauging and straighteningeach individual stitch so I don't ever have to block. Tip for using acrylic: once you're finished with a project, give it a nice long soak in pretty heavily liquid fabric softener "medicated" warm water (not hot, but close - you don't want to change the loft of your yarn, it's temp sensitive). It will keep the cheap yarn from fizzing and pilling, also give a little more twist as you go while knitting or crocheting. As it becomes untwisted , the more easily that given stitch and others around it will look bad, act up and get in trouble by being weaker. It will catch other lint in the washer and make pills because the plys/plies will be very vunerable. Oh, btw, you can consider liquid softener like hair conditioner, or the sebum/lanolin in wool that protects it, makes it water repellant and keeps down the frizzies.
I love weaving in ends! Love the excited crab dance. 😂 I live for sparkles and speckled yarns! 😲 I gotta work on swatching. I got a butt ton of acrylic yarn. I want to switch into animal fiber when I use my acrylic up. Missed the premier cause I was on a walk. I think fades are beautiful!
I never block knits. I steam press after sewing up. Arne and Carlos have a great video on the subject. Makes everything look great and no soaking drying etc.
Love your outfit - the combination of fluffy cardigan, large earrings and headscarf is gorgeous 😍 My unpopular knitting opinion is that I hate the look of 1x1 rib. It’s fun to knit but I think it always looks so messy (and as a perfectionist I get annoyed hehe). I usually always replace it for a half twisted rib!
I do follow . My opinion is , just add or decrease if that count doesn’t come out right . Life is meant to be enjoyed each day . Sometimes it’s not meant to be shared . Good for you listening to your body . Time blocking sounds so easy but damn when it’s time to commit ugggg.
Knitting with mohair is like knitting with itchy fluff. I also hate knitting chenille or fancy yarns because it’s like knitting tinsel and it goes bald if you pull it out after a mistake.
P. S. : Your cardigan is gorgeous! Whatever yarn you used is a beautiful color and your work is perfect! I haven't tried Brioche yet but I like to try new things so WTH! I'll try it!
I tried DPNs when I first started knitting and the stitches between needles would always stretch and I ended up with an odd shape on socks so I gave up and went to circulars, which ended up being more my cup of tea. I also find myself adjusting imaginary glasses after I've taken them off for bed lol. This was a fun video 😊
Although I love wool yarns. I'm not a yarn snob. I will happily knit a garment in acrylic, especially for children, because they need to be tossed in the washer and dryer. I love dpns, and knit almost everything that I don't knit on dpns on circular needles, because of RSIs. Speckled yarn is gorgeous, and I just finished a cardi for my wee great niece from an acrylic yarn with a very bling-y metallic strand in it.
Learn the hard thing first. Ok, knitting isn't hard so much as monotonous and slooooowwwwww. I always recommend that yarning virgins learn to knit before they learn to crochet. * I especially recommend that they learn to knit continental as it's an easy transition to crochet as the yarn handling is very similar. * Knitting uses less yarn. * Knitting a stockinette scarf will have one quite proficient at knitting and purling. A sampler scarf even more so. * It can be done with a single skein. Dropping $20 or $30 on a decent skein now will set them up well to appreciate good yarn and the much lower price of acrylics and the like when they want to crochet an afghan later. * And, if they use a provisional cast on, it can be unraveled from the starting end if there were some missteps in the beginning. * Learning to knit first will set the expectation of a slow and steady satisfaction. In comparison, crochet is lightning fast, it uses a ton of yarn, there are infinite stitch patterns, colorwork is a breeze, weaving in ends doesn't even have to be a thing, and learning it second means one can finish their knitted scarf, and future knitted items, with a gorgeous edge that just isn't, in my experience, achievable in knit. These are not all of the reasons, just the ones off the top of my head. So yeah, learn the hard thing first. That's my unpopular opinion.
Just because you don't like doing something doesn't mean you should tell others it can't be done. I've seen so much of this from you can't stack German short rows to you can't try on socks on DPNs. Is it a little harder than other options? Sure. But that doesn't mean it can't be done.
I like the feeling of mohair held with something else but I don't like it just on its own. I also don't get the idea of holding mohair with mohair. You can use half the mohair and get the same amount of fuzz.
I love knitting with dpns but have also found a love for the addi sock wonder 9inch circulars 😍😍😍 can not make magic loop work for me though!!! I love love love speckled yarn and think fades are beautiful 💖💖 but individuality and difference makes the world a wonderful place 💖
I love sparkling yarn and have several garments in different colors! I always get attention (but not all agree with me and that’s ok 👌) I also like weaving in ends, so my knitting friends and my mother in particular will save up projects for me to finish when I visit 😅
I once ripped out an entire shawl because I didn't like how it turned out. I reused the yarn to make my first beaded lace shawl that came out beautifully. Brioche looks neat and gives a nice fabric but it's a total pain in the bum. I guess I just need practice. * eyes the Stephen West book that I have *
If you don't mind Acrylic yarn then you're not a yarn snob. To me yarn snob are people who don't like people using acrylic and cheaper yarns and look down their noses at people. There are people out there.
Yes I found out the hard way about checking the gages I was making a cardigan and it ended up being to big so now it’s a blanket next time I am going to check the gage and I don’t block anything
i like to weave in ends too. Same. I do it in spurts when the urge strikes me. During pandemic times I knit a lot, even more than I usually do, and I saved all the ends I've woven in during the past 14 months - it is a huge container. I have several acrylic blankets from years and years ago. I will not ever knit another acrylic blanket again - the sparks that fly from using an acrylic blanket - no. I have knit or crocheted many scrappy blankets in the past 12 years or so. I have instructed everyone in my household to only wash on cold. The baby blanket I knit for my son was felted within 6 months of his birth. sigh.
I try to knit or crochet down my acrylic stash. I never seem to manage, because I'm gifted a lot. I love a huge scrappy crocheted basket - I've crocheted 5 or 6 of them, they use a lot of acrylic. Many charities prefer acrylic yarn hats and cowls because of the ease of washing. But I live in Minnesota and that seems so wrong because acrylic does not keep you warm, it just makes you stinky and sweaty. (unpopular opinion). Wool, all the way.
That was interesting. Personally I will never use mohair, knit socks or do brioche. I do want to comment on the widely held view that you should knit with acrylic [ plastic ] for babies. Acrylic doesn't breathe & makes babies sweat while not really keeping them warm. How hard is it to pop a woollen baby garment into a basin with warm water & detergent ? About blocking - shawls must be blocked but maybe calling it a rinse will encourage knitters to put their new garments into some warm water. This definitely settles the stitches & neatens up the garment.
I found poor mohair can be itchy so I only buy the same 2 brands now. One of them is very affordable , especially when combined with cotton. I made a long sleeeveless lace top for Under €5 using 20g of kid silk-mohair and 65g of Safran cotton .I never thought theyd go together but the fabric is perfect. I made a similar top using cotton-linen , same brand, and it cost about €7.50. For the 180g used Youve got to shop well if you want to have what you want at a price you can easily afford. Silk- Mohair is light and thin, so combining it with the right yarn is sometimes the same price as using cheap yarn. The yarn was called Drops from garnstudio
I weave in ends as a way to give myself a break from crocheting lol (Also sparkles on yarn makes me physically throw up, and speckled yarn makes me feel like I can’t really appreciate the pattern idk)
You are so cute! I stumbled across your video and got a kick out of it. I couldn't follow everything you were saying as not all the terms were familiar but still enjoyed it. BTW. Love your sweater. I'm a crocheter myself. Be safe.
Depends on what I'm knitting to if I block or not. Scarves I don't bother. If I was doing something like a jumper I would. I trnd to have two projects on the go. One knitting one crochet. Each gives me a break form the other
What washer doesn’t have a decent wool wash on it? Even my last one at 17 years old-the wool cycle was brilliant 😁 No need to hand wash wool at all, make all the mahooooosive wool blankets 🤣 The ‘seamless’ tag on Rav is a lifesaver, literally no pattern so amazing it’s worth seaming up 👍🏻
I strongly dislike working with wool/ yarn that has metallic thread through it for bling which aggravates my skin and had ended up unraveling many balls to remove the bling thread
@@thecornerofcraft Ok. I don't have a lot of sweater-making experience under my belt and I try to absorb as much helpful advice about seaming/finishing that I can. That's a beautiful cardigan that you're wearing!
Love your cardi, cant knit to save my life but can crocher brilliantly. heres my 3 pet peeves. 1 PATTERNS europian v's american petterns... language is different and can get confusing JUST GIVE ME A CHART and why do people not write the entire pattern down then put it up for sale? 2 unpullung work. some materials refuse o unpull due to them matting as you go. noticing a mistake in a lap rug 3 rows later in a complex pattern. 3 ENDS unravelling and unweaving themselves after being finished. thanks for the company as i unpicked a waistline in a linnen skirt.
I am knitting a Boxy by Jojo Locatelli in Sparkly Sock Yarn in Moloch and I love it..... I never used to block knitting - 50 odd years ago people sort of didn't - now I do - but then a lot of wool was acryllic not actual wool.....I have a mental block on knitting socks and I've been knitting for over 50 years - I have a ball of wool to do it with though - I am practising atm.....I have totally stopped using acryllic because of comments from the Greens re washing and disposal as it is a sort of plastic
I love knitting but some people have to knit. IT could be the difference between freezing and cozy if you can't afford to buy a sweater. They are rather expensive.
i really don't understand people who don't block their knits? like i understand that not every project is going to need to be aggressively pinned into shape, but washing it and laying it out in the shape you want with your hands is blocking it. do people not do that? i always wash everything after it's finished because who knows what it's picked up while i've been knitting it in various locations
I also feel like, I could understand why people would find speckled yarn "ugly" looking because it makes it look handmade. Like perhaps people who don't knit wouldn't like the look because they haven't seen the beautiful wound up skein. I'm just trying to play devil's advocate!
@@thecornerofcraft unfortunately not until after I’d knitted a full jumper with mohair! Never mind though. I’m going to do myself a lovenote with the other fluff at some point. Xxx
I’m not particularly fond of brioche, I do like fisherman’s rib but to each his own. I’d be very proud of myself if I had knit the sweater you’re wearing but the most striking thing is the color blue and how great the color looks on you. Plus, it’s not beige.
love the look of sparkly yarn...but the sparkle stuff tends to unwind, then its not so pretty. I do a lot of acrylic stuff (im poor) so they dont tend to get blocked, cause it doesnt work lol...brioche 2 color is ugly, looks cheap...same with just plain knitting something big. biggest issue/why you need to block other than tension..is that one companies "3" or " 4" size..varies with other companies..shouldnt, but it does to a degree
I don't knit. Wish to lern but I'm so impacient. Crochet only. Love thin yarn. wool, alpaca, merino Pretty much all fiber's. I won't crochet blankets at all.
IT is not that i hate how brioche looks. I Just hate knitting every Stitch that goes into the project. Like i once knit An entire cowl with over 30000 stitches in IT. I only had one thing on the needles and IT took me over 7 months to finish. Never made anything after that cowl that has brioche in it.
Remember acrylic yarns are made of mostly plastic. Which puts more plastic in the world. Superwash yarns are washable in the machine. I’ve done it lots with no problems.
