The Crafting Thread

Auspice · May 28, 2019, 5:56 AM

TIL that being a tight knitter is really bad when turning a heel.

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 12:02 AM

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ragnarok-2

Oh gosh.

surreality · May 31, 2019, 12:03 AM

@Auspice OMFG.

GODDAMMIT I need to stop seeing things that make me think, 'I would want to dye something special to make that... '

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 12:05 AM

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

@Auspice OMFG.

GODDAMMIT I need to stop seeing things that make me think, 'I would want to dye something special to make that... '

I love how early on in the description it's like 'includes charts with simple directions' and then later goes 'helpful to know how to read difficult charts'

I hate charts

I hate knitting blankets (crochet is for blankets gdi) but uh

Uhhhhhhhh

surreality · May 31, 2019, 12:10 AM

@Auspice Yeah, that's... siiiiiiiiiiiigh. I could even make an actual single gradient thing long enough to do a whole blanket. I know how. I can do it. I can. IT IS JUST A NIGHTMARE AND AUGH.

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 5:02 AM

She's giving the pattern away to her Patreon supporters.

<whispers> It has 48 charts. </whispers>

<whispers in despair> I'm not sure I could ever manage. </whispers in despair>

ETA:
From the instructions:
Casting on ~
Using your preferred method of casting on, cast on 300 stitch pairs for a total of
600 stitches. Begin working chart. Work rows 1-600.

it would take me so many tries just to not fuck up casting on that many stitches somewhere.

surreality · May 31, 2019, 7:35 AM

@Auspice I did something almost that bonkers once. Not the same kind of thing but I know I got up to rows that were something like 4k stitches a row or something at a certain point? I would be all proud of I got through more than a row front and back on that fucker in a day. (On size 000 needles. I... should not be permitted to knit.)

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 7:53 AM

And here I am trying to finish my first ever sock (I am 'meh' on socks because it feels like so much cost/effort for something that is prob, knowing me, gonna have a hole in it after 2 wearings) and on the gusset I keep staring at this line:

'Step 2: Place the stitches from needle 3 onto needle 2 (32 sts are
on needle 2). This is the top of the foot now. Work across needle
2 AND continue in the (k3, p1) rib pattern as set for the top of the
foot on needle 2.'

I know it'll prob make sense once I'm doing it but rn it's like 'buh?'

surreality · May 31, 2019, 8:00 AM

@Auspice It's like the first time you do entrelac. You read the directions, and it's like what moonspeak is this shit. (I totally 'do it wrong' and have my own cheat for it now, because fuuuuuuuuuuck thaaaaat.)

This is the 'I love modular but goddamn this woman is a mad genius' challenge link page of doom. I have a pile of patterns from her and naturally never finish any of them, and... so many more new ones now... oh gods, broke soon. (The nice thing is, she has a bunch that are one or two balls for a scarf or snood, which means at least they're not $$$$$$$$$$$$ to actually make.)

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 8:01 AM

@surreality

The only reason I don't do entrelac is the ADD. I lose track of how many rows I'm meant to do and suddenly I have a bit that's twice as long because I got in the zone and ooops.

surreality · May 31, 2019, 8:06 AM

@Auspice I sorta cheat. I do all backward-forward while it's all front-facing and do my knit stitches 'backward' instead of doing purl rows with the purl side facing me, and won't let myself do a square more than 8 stitches wide. I do the 'slip (I forget off hand if it's first or last it's so automatic now) stitch on either side' when going back and forth, and then when it's time to double-check, I can count the number of loops down the side and if it's 8 (or whatever), I know I have the right amount, since the edges are going to be the 'half the number of stitches as the body'. Also makes picking them up along the edge super easy by comparison. Next time I do one (they're great for tiny waiting room swatchy projects) I'll try to get some pictures of it, since it's easier to see than explain.

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 8:11 AM

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

@Auspice I sorta cheat. I do all backward-forward while it's all front-facing and do my knit stitches 'backward' instead of doing purl rows with the purl side facing me, and won't let myself do a square more than 8 stitches wide. I do the 'slip (I forget off hand if it's first or last it's so automatic now) stitch on either side' when going back and forth, and then when it's time to double-check, I can count the number of loops down the side and if it's 8 (or whatever), I know I have the right amount, since the edges are going to be the 'half the number of stitches as the body'. Also makes picking them up along the edge super easy by comparison. Next time I do one (they're great for tiny waiting room swatchy projects) I'll try to get some pictures of it, since it's easier to see than explain.

It is difficult to teach me anything knitting for the same reason I cannot teach others.

I learned how to knit out of various books. No one ever taught me. The way I knit is an awkward terrible blend of English and Continental. My knit stitches are wrong in a way that no one has ever been able to suss out....

...because when my knitting goes right, it goes quite right. But when it goes wrong, no one can troubleshoot it because my knit stitches are just wrong.

And I've just never been able to re-train myself to knit 'proper.'

Crochet I'm fantastic with and do 'proper' though!

surreality · May 31, 2019, 8:15 AM

@Auspice YUP. I feel you. I so feel you. There will be some little trick here or there I see on something and actually manage to do (like the slip stitch edges) and then BY GODS I WILL DO IT IN EVERYTHING FOREVER if I liked it at the time. Never mind if it totally doesn't work for the thing, I will rework the thing until it does, or throw it on the 'fuck you, yarn' pile.

Snackness · May 31, 2019, 1:29 PM

@Auspice My advice to all new sock knitters is just buckle in, do exactly what the pattern says and it'll happen.

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 1:52 PM

@Snackness said in The Crafting Thread:

@Auspice My advice to all new sock knitters is just buckle in, do exactly what the pattern says and it'll happen.

I don't know what it says

Like I know those words but at the same time I'm like

Snackness · May 31, 2019, 1:59 PM

@Auspice This might help:

http://www.cometosilver.com/socks/

I find her instructions really clear.

surreality · May 31, 2019, 2:10 PM

If you're at the point where I think it sounds like... starting to turn the heel? a lot of instructions have you shift from four needles to three, with all the 'not heel' stitches in holding on one needle while you go back and forth to do the heel on two. Then it tends to go back to four.

If you are doing magic loop... that gif totally sums up my reaction to magic loop.

Auspice · May 31, 2019, 3:07 PM

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

If you're at the point where I think it sounds like... starting to turn the heel? a lot of instructions have you shift from four needles to three, with all the 'not heel' stitches in holding on one needle while you go back and forth to do the heel on two. Then it tends to go back to four.

If you are doing magic loop... that gif totally sums up my reaction to magic loop.

No it's at the gusset. Turning / working the heel was surprisingly easy.

Auspice · Jun 9, 2019, 4:42 AM

I think it's coming along okay:

Just gotta finish the foot and toe...

...then convince myself I can do it all a second time.

surreality · Jun 9, 2019, 6:22 AM

@Auspice That is some gorgeous yarn, too, and yeah, it definitely looks like it's coming along great!