You can cast on stitches. In fact, you may have cast on a new project this morning.

You can cast a spell or a fishing line or a vote. You can cast into the darkness, searching, yearning.

But you will never have casted.

(All non-native English speakers are exempt from this PSA.)

Ai forgot knitters have legs. Common mistake.

Modern problems require modern solutions!

If I was simply making a normal sized afghan I’d grab my longest pairs of circulars and go for it but I decided I want to double knit a checkerboard queen sized behemoth for my bed. So! As we all know, the needles I need for this insane project…simply don’t exist. So I made some

Materials:
Two double pointed needles (metal u.s. size 8)
Weed whip line
Electrical tape
Heat shrink tubes
Hair dryer

I’ll let y’all know how it goes

EDIT- casting on with acrylic yarn did make the heat shrink snag a little but the addition of METAL TAPE! For duct work (also just lying around my house) is making things much smoother

EDIT 2: Ok, so I’ve also been playing around with other house hold materials! If I were using smaller needles… plastic straws could help things glide a little more smoothly, boba straws would work of my needles were larger. If I could only find my packing tape 😂

I now have 3 stitches that are very faintly orange. Be smarter than me lmao

Insane the difference between the two.

Pleading didn't help.

This is to all the beginner knitters out there 💜

Recently I've seen a few posts here with beginners saying they're not sure if they like the look of their projects and asking for opinions. And the projects were often mixing colorful yarns with structural elements.

I just want to give you the golden rule of knitting which will make your life easier:

Your project should feature either color, or structure.

Color

• If you find a beautiful variegated yarn that you love, that's gonna be the star of your show.
• The colors and the way they interact will be the focus point of your knit. Because of that, the structure should be simple. A stockinette stitch is enough.

Structure

• If you want to knit a cabled sweater or anything that mixes various fancy stitches, the structure of the project will be the main feature.
• For the complex structure of your knit to really shine, the piece should be single color, ideally a light one so that the structure can be seen clearly.

Obvi, this is not a universal rule. There are designs that do mix bold colors and structural elements and look great, such as patterns by Stephen West.

But if you're just beginning and have doubts, take this into consideration and it will make things a lot easier for you.

This was after I left a freezer door open overnight and almost broke the compressor so I’m feeling really smart…

Things may not look right in the cold, sober light of day. /suppressed rage

I recently finished the Houses of Reykjavik Shawl as a gift for someone, but I made a BAD boo boo during the blocking process. I'm posting this in case I can prevent this from happening to anyone else!

So, I'll start by saying that I regularly knit things that are wild and have lots of colour changes, but this time it bit me in the butt! I began my blocking process as I usually do, by filling a large bowl with cool water and a little wool wash. I had a lot of things going on the day I did this, and to be honest, I forgot that it was soaking, and I left it for about 2 hours, instead of my usual 20 minutes (I know, I know). When I removed the shawl from the water, I noticed that dye from the red areas had migrated to the neon yellow areas. From what I've read, the damage has been done (though if anyone has advice for getting the red out, please let me know!)

In the future, I'll be sure to set a timer, and I will add a colour-catcher to the water as insurance. For my really vivid projects like this one, I'll also likely rinse the garment carefully under cold water before I put it in the bowl to soak.

I've attached a few pictures in different lighting conditions (incandescent light vs natural light) and while I can see it, I'm hoping it's not too bad? I still think it's a beautiful shawl, but I'm pissed about those neon sections! Is it still giftable?

Heya, not sure if this allowed - I wanted it to put it here just so no one gets scammed out of money. I wrote the "Peacock Wedding Dress" pattern and have been seeing listings for it on Etsy and other aggregate sites. Know that it is available for FREE on Ravelry, if you are seeing it anywhere else for money, just go grab it from Rav. (And maybe report other listings if you can).

EDIT on request: The Original pattern can be found here: Peacock Wedding Dress

Saw this on Instagram, totally works! I had some unraveled yarn that was too wiggly to knit with comfortably. I ran it through the lid of a pot with boiling water and it straightened pretty easily! This lid has holes on two sides to help drain water when boiling pasta, so that helped to guide the yarn through.

They even have a warehouse with more in the back. Everything in their online catalog is available in store!! It’s in South Elgin, about 40 minutes out of the city. I died and went to heaven! And I just started learning how to knit!!

Laying my swatch on my wip helps me feel less stressed about how tight and small my sweater is looking so far. Nice to see how much it’ll grow and I need to trust the process

I love hiking in the mountains, and do that usually three times per year. I love knitting, and do that usually daily, or at least five days per week.

While hiking on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia (USA), I tripped while stepping down a stone step. My right foot stayed up on the top of the step for longer than the rest of me. I descended ungracefully, and fractured my wrist.

I’m half way through wearing this beast for four weeks, then I’ll have a removable brace, then will start OT. Scrolling on this subreddit is helping me maintain any shred of sanity, while I follow doctor’s orders of not trying to knit.

*Please continue to post your lovely projects! You never know how much joy you might bring to someone else! Thank you!*

Seriously. I have reached the point where I can only knit or crochet for about five minutes before the numbness and pain kick in. I’ve learned the stretches, worn the braces, gotten generalized steroid shots, been to airrosti and massage therapists. The long slow build up of damage has reached critical mass and I finally got the specialist referral I needed. He did steroids directly into my wrists as a diagnostic measure so we can narrow down the specific damage.

Take breaks, do the stretches.

do. not. push. through. the. pain.

do. not. work. until. there. is. pain.

That concludes my TED talk.

Just thought this was great and wanted to share

I am posting this because when I looked it up before my flight, there were no results regarding Guatemala. Hopefully this will help someone.

In the security line I saw a woman sitting on the ground knitting. I thought maybe she was waiting for her party. I tried to make eye contact to give a little smile or nod but she never looked up. I realize now she was frantically putting in a lifeline.

When it came my turn, the agent opened up my project bag and immediately started to yank my metal Chiagoo circulars off the project. Just ready to slide the whole thing riiiight out. I boldly intercepted, grabbing it and saying one moment in Spanish. I twisted the interchangeable tips off to show they come off. Thankfully she let the wire stay on my project and just took the tips. She also inspected my metal crochet hook but did not take it, nor did she take my small yarn scissors from Cocoknits.

Anyway, if you’re flying out of La Aurora International Airport (GUA), do not bring knitting needles.

I travel with knitting and crochet often and for knitting always bring bamboo or wooden needles. Yesterday leaving Puerto Vallarta I watched as a woman had her knitting needles confiscated at the security screening (circular,metal) and was trying to get them to give her yarn back. She said she had a full set of interchangeable needles taken - over $200 worth! Tragic. Make sure your needles are short and not metal just in case!!!

I keep seeing people, including supposedly reputable YouTube channels, talking about the magic knot as if it was the best thing that has ever happened to yarn. Which then leads to lots of beginner knitters posting here asking for help* because their knots have come undone and I feel bad for them. Any other similar misguided advice?

*(my best advice would be to only join new yarn at the beginning of the row, even if that means leaving the end of the previous ball of yarn unused, or some form of weaving ends as you go if knitting in the round)

It's that time of year so here's a PSA for everyone who is working on a gift knit or thinking about one:

Do not commit to giving the gift until you have finished knitting it.

Feel free to knit something with your friend/relative in mind, then finish it and decide this will be their holiday gift. But if the holiday is fast approaching and your intended gifts are unfinished or maybe even un-started, STOP, find a different gift.

Here are the scenarios this will help you avoid:

- Knitting furiously as the occasion approaches, not knowing if you'll make your deadline

- Canceling plans to attend holiday parties or enjoyable/relaxing events because you need to knit

- Getting behind on other chores or plans (holiday related or otherwise)

- Losing sleep, getting sore hands, not taking care of yourself physically because you're knitting so much

- Getting frustrated because your tight deadline didn't allow for fixing mistakes, buying another skein, or other changes of plans

- Not getting to knit things you want because all your knitting time is for gifts

- Gifting some form of IOU and then having to endure the above things AFTER the holiday in addition to before

Don't think of gift knitting as an obligation, think of it like a shopping trip. If it goes well and results in a gift, great! If doesn't work out, find your gift somewhere else.

If you've already promised or hinted that somebody is getting a hand-knitted gift, it is not too late to relieve yourself of the obligation! Just say "I'm so sorry, I'm not sure I'll have time to finish." You can use the same line on people who start asking you for knitted gifts now. And then if it turns out you do have the time and energy to enjoy making them a gift, they'll be pleasantly surprised.