posted
I'm thinking about knitting a lightweight baby blanket for my sister in law, who's pregnant. I've got a theoretical five or so more months before she pops, so plenty of time.
Can't purchase patterns here, so I have to go with whatever is free off the internet. Also can't get specific brands or makes or models of yarns, so I'll have to convert whatever the pattern asks for into um, plain yarn speak.
I'd like to make it out of cotton yarn (I'm hoping I can find that here, and I'm pretty sure I can).
I've knitted two afghans before. Not complicated stuff - knit and purl is all I presently know how to do. If the pattern calls for other stuff, I can learn it, just please, please, nothing too complicated.
I found one pattern that looked nice, but it might be too complicated for me.
Any suggestions on patterns? Or, well, anything else related to this? Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
My favorite pattern (that I've never tried ) is Hoover Blanket But I'm guessing you never get cold enoguh for that. I'll look for more later, just found the perfect thing for the project I'm currently working on.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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My mom just used variegated baby yarn and knitted a row, purled a row (I think-- does that make sense?), rather loosely, and it turned out wonderful. Emma loves it now that she's older, she can stick her fingers through it. When she was younger I'd fold it in half for her to play on (it's rather large.) And it's light enough for a nap in warm weather, but I can fold it and it becomes warm to tuck around her lap if there's a breezy, chilly day and she wants to go for a walk in the stroller.
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Just remember that a delicate yarn and small needle size will take MUCH longer than a worsted weight with a larger hook.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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breyerchic, your page doesn't load for me. Heck, I'll even go so far as to say it probably doesn't load for anyone. Whatever it is, if it's a heavy blanket, nope, it don't get cold enough here.
It's funny, I'm just getting a hankering to knit again.
Whatever I go with, I'll likely go with one type/color of yarn for the whole afghan rather than trying to change colors or fancifying it up too much.
KQ, what you said did make sense. I'm kinda thinking I want a tighter knit so it can't get stretched out of form.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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so you knit 1, then yarn over which is like an increase that will leave a hole, then slip the next stitch without knitting it to the other needle, then knit one, then pass that stitch you slipped BACK over the last knitted stitch. That creates a hole too. That's how you get the lacy look.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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Just remember that a delicate yarn and small needle size will take MUCH longer than a worsted weight with a larger hook.
I have five months. My first knitted afghan was huge - a good seven or eight feet square - and I knitted it in six months. And I had a job. I can do it. Although I do appreciate the warning...
quote:S1 = slip one psso = pass slipped stitch over yf = yarn forward, which is the same as yarn over.
Yeah, I see the words. I still don't understand. So, the stitch library might explain that? I'll have to check it out.
Seriously, at this point, I know how to create my first row of stitches, I know how to purl and knit, and I know how to finish it off. That's the extent of my personal stitch library. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I like this stitch. It's tight enough that I wouldn't worry about baby tearing through it or it getting stretched out of shape, and it's an easy enough pattern that I could do it easily.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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My grandma says she knits baby blankets to have holes so the baby who will pull it over their head can still breath through it. I dont' know, I haven't done a full blanket, but I'd say that's ok.
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My favorite baby blanket pattern is dead simple; I can do it while watching DVDs and not have to bother with looking at a pattern. It goes like this:
Cast on three stitches. K1, do a double increase in the middle one (look for double increase instructions online and find one that works for you; I'm partial to the Center Double Increase), and knit the last one, giving you a total of five stitches. For every row of the first half: knit 3, yarn over, knit to the end. When you've used up half your yarn, switch to doing this every row instead: knit 2, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to the end. Keep doing this until you're down to 3 stitches, and bind off.
It makes a simple garter stitch blanket but with the garter ridges running from corner to corner instead of side to side, and the yarn-overs make a simple eyelet border. And like I said, after the tricky increase in the second row, there's nothing to it.
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It did, for me, at first. Then it no longer existed. I used the thing on the full reply form, it always works. And now hatrack is double posting. I'm not sure what is up.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Breyer, it looks nice, and what an interesting history behind it.
Um, Stray, I'm confused. Which pretty much means I think I'm going to stick to something really really easy, as in has knits and purls and not much else. Okay, a lot of the confusion is the migraine I'm still having, but this is day four and the end isn't in sight yet, and since I get a lot of them lately...
So, everyone, what's the consensus on breathing holes in the afghan?
Oh, and if anyone asks... I'm knitting because I can knit straight lines. Crocheting for me never works - the edges are all over the place. I, apparently, can't tell where a line ends or begins. So, that's why I knit. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:I'm kinda thinking I want a tighter knit so it can't get stretched out of form.
Well, I'll tell you this: I've lost count of how many times I've washed it and Emma likes to play tug-of-war, and it's still in its original shape. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I suggest you try out a couple of the stitches with sample yarn to see what you can do. I don't think holes are necessary; unless you knit with a very small yarn then it will naturally have quite a bit of ability to air to move through it. Any large knit will leave a pattern on a baby's cheek but I' not sure how much more prominent the hole would be. No one has ever told me holes were good or bad. Mine naturally have small holes so I don't really worry about it. I assume you will be using acrylic rather than wool or cotton.
You need to figure out what sizes of yarn you have available too. I don't know how they will be listed there. Sizes and the names of sizes are quite different than they were 20 years ago. I'm picturing you using worsted weight or sport weight. Fingering weight would take a very long to make. The new way to tell sizes is to look and see how many stitches per inch. Most balls will say how many stitches per four inches. I believe worsted weight is around 20 stitches per four inch and sport weight is 24 per four inches and fingering weight is 28-30 stitches per four inch.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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Quid said she'd be using cotton (which is a good choice because of the washability if nothing else!).
Given she's not in the US, I imagine yarns won't be called worsted/sport weight. Here they are classified by ply, but goodness knows what they will be classified in Sri Lanka.
However, what Theca says about gauge is spot on - check per 4 inches/10 cm. Check your ball of yarn (if it has that information!) and the pattern.
If your ball doesn't have that information, knit up a square in the stitch you will be using. Knit it at least 10cm (Quid, you're Canadian, so I'm sticking with metric ) wide and maybe 5cm high (row gauge isn't so important) and then measure. If your stitches/cm is different than the pattern, you may need to adapt it.
Or you may wish to say "Hey, it's a blanket. How will it not fit?!?" and leave it at that.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Living in Hawaii, I like to make baby items out of 100% cotton yarns, and open work lace-style patterns make nice light weight blankets and sweaters that aren't too warm. I've knitted several openwork blankets and received several more for my own children back in the day. They keep their shape just fine, and yes, they leave "marks" when the baby sleeps, but most things will to one degree or another. My son was born in San Diego in the fall and my favorite blanket to wrap him in when we went out was a crocheted afghan a friend made for him. It was less bulky than a quilt, yet plenty warm, and he liked to weave his fingers through the yarn.
I made this afghan for my grandson. It went together very quickly because it was worsted weight cotton yarn and 10.5 needles (6.5 mm). The pattern is 8 rows that repeat, so after the first 8 rows or so, it's easy to remember. I found the original pattern online. I'll see if I can "re-find" it.
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I'm planning on cotton primarily because so many in this family - the sperm donor's side - have allergies and sensitivities to all sorts of things, including man-made fibers, but are perfectly fine with natural fibers. Cotton seems safest. That, and to me, it's a lot softer.
I'm not going to order yarn from out of the country and ship it in. That'll wind up costing way too much money. Yarn is available here, and if everything else is something to go by, it'll likely be 1/10th the price y'all pay - or less. Now, why on earth would I pay to ship in some more expensive stuff and pay even more money and have the baby blanket cost, oh, 20x as much as it could? I'm far too cheap for that.
Fahim assures me that babies do, in fact, use blankets here. I kinda wondered, what with it being the tropics and all, but, you know, they're acclimated, I'm not, so what I find drip worthy, they find comfortable. *shrugs*
quote: Or you may wish to say "Hey, it's a blanket. How will it not fit?!?" and leave it at that.
That's EXACTLY what I'm going with. I'm planning on buying more yarn than I think I need (bringing mother in law along, since a. she'll get me better prices (everyone's scared of her and the way she negotiates) and b. she knows what she's talking about and c. she has good taste and d. she can read Sinhalese and translate for me - cuz really, will the labels be in English?) I'll do up a few inches and a few rows to see what I'm looking at before I get started into it seriously.
What does worsted weight/sport weight mean anyway? Is it a special way of spinning the yarn or something? Eh. I'm clueless.
maui babe, that's a beautiful afghan.
*sigh* I might have to learn fancy stitches.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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It's not really fancy stitching quid, it's really just a modified stockinette. Mostly knits and purls with an occasional yarn over or slip stitch.
Yarns are categorized by weights. Ranging from finest to thickest, the weights are fingering weight (or baby weight), sport weight (usually 3 ply), double knitting (DK) weight, worsted weight (4 ply), chunky weight and bulky weight.
Here's a site that might explain it better.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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Actually, I see baby yarns that say "4 ply" here all the time, in fact at the yarn store they tell me it usually refers to fingering weight baby yarn nowadays so I've stopped thinking of 4 ply as worsted weight anymore. You can't trust the ply. It just means how many strands are twisted together. Silly yarn industry.
Going by gauge is always best, of course, but if you are looking at patterns they often use the other terms we've mentioned.
I'm not sure I understood what DK was before now. I might have thought it was the same as worsted. Now I'm all confused!
I thought DK was double knitting as in the technique where you make two-sided knitting (and it was special wool just for that) - then I realised it meant something else completely, but I don't know what.
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It sounds to me like it's using two strands of yarn at the same time to have double thickness or something.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I thought double knit weight meant that two held together equaled worsted weight wise.
Worsted weight is the weight of most yarn available at normal stores in the US (and likely canada), the most common weight, that might help a bit.
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According to the charts DK is just a little smaller than worsted.
Here is a chart I just found that I like better than any I've seen. It also numbers the sizes from 2-6 and I've seen that used in pattern books recently. I'm saving this site.
posted
As another note, I found this chart that gives estimates of yarn needed for various projects. Valuable for me since I'm not going off a pattern necessarily and/or may not have yarn requirements given to me.
Haven't gone shopping yet. Fahim's mom doesn't know where to go, so she's going to talk to a friend of hers, but she has told me she'll take me shopping. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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So*, I finally found knitting needles here. Finally. Straight needles only, no circulars, no double pointeds, and two sizes only - 14 and 13, which are, um, crap, I don't remember. Something like 2.75mm. I got the bigger one, 13.
And I found yarn that I like. Nothing fancy. Pale green to white variegated. No indication of fibre content, so I'm betting on acrylic. Yep, I wanted cotton, but that, apparently, is too impossible. At this point.
I'd checked out a few shops, and Oh. My. Goodness! No one actually even had a clue what I meant about knitting needles! Seriously!
Anyway, I eventually ended up in the shop in my old neighborhood where I used to buy thread and elastic and such. The owner understand enough English that I finally got the point across along with (very very bad) sketches. Double needles! he says. Yes!
So. Now I'm ready.
Except...
The yarn balls also don't indicate how many yards/metres of yarn there is, only the weight - 50 grams. It's either sports weight or fingering weight. I got 19 balls (all they had).
So, now I'm going to hunt through the links above again to figure out what I want to knit.
And while we're at it, I recall reading in one of the threads in here somewhere about an easy good way of controlling the tension of the yarn, but I don't remember where that was. Any ideas?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I'm having problems holding the yarn and controlling tension.
Back when I learned to knit, it was out of a book. I've never actually had anyone in person show me. So, you know, I don't know the proper way to hold yarn, and now, with this itty bitty yarn and itty bitty needles, it's really showing.
I came across a couple of links, but man, I don't get it. It just seems so wrong to me.
The knitted portion is going into the right-hand needle. The left-hand needle is being knitted or purled.
posted
I hold my yarn in my right hand (along with the needle) between my index finger and the side of the thumb.
I don't think there's any right way to do it - maybe try a few different things until it feels comfortable?
Your needles may be the wrong size for your yarn, which could be causing some problems. Not much help, I know.
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Yep, I know that - about the sizes being a problem. Unfortunately, there was, shall we say, extremely limited choice.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I'd probably side with Imogen and guess that it could be more of a needle size issue than a problem with your technique. I say this because when I knit, I know I don't hold the needles correctly - I prop the far end of the left needle on my leg or stomach and do all the yarn-looping with my left hand whilst holding the right needle and fabric in my right hand. I've tried holding both needles while knitting, but I get all tangled up because I don't know how to do it properly. So far this hasn't created any problems in how my projects come out, but I'm sure I'd be a more efficient knitter if I did it the right way. Someday I'll learn how, but old habits die hard - I don't crochet with the right technique either, and I learned it the "wrong" way when I was seven.
If it seems like it's coming out way too loose, you could try doubling the yarn and knitting two strands together at once. If it's too tight, then all I can think of is just to consciously keep the stitches looser, and don't give it that little extra tug when you tighten them. And if it's both at the same time...then I'd just do a few practice swatches until you get things steadier.
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Not actually too tight or too loose. Just slow, very very very slow, and awkward. The yarn keeps getting in the way of me seeing what I'm doing.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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There are some great online shops for yarn, needles, etc. Can you order stuff online from where you are? I don't know what the mail is like. If you can, try Yarnzilla.
I hold the yarn in my left hand and "hook" it with the needle in my right.
Posts: 11187 | Registered: Sep 2005
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I can order online. The thing is, I don't really want to. Mail is unreliable, but that's not the worst part - it's the shipping charges, import taxes, and bribes that makes ordering things cost prohibitive.
Hey, that reminds me, it looks like I didn't mention how much everything cost me. Each ball of yarn, 50g of acrylic, was Rs.33, or about $0.33. The knitting needles were Rs.40, or $0.40. so, all told, I paid $6.67 for the yarn and needles. Granted, quality is crap, but there ya go.
I ended up finding something that I think works for me at another link I found... somewhere. I wrap the yarn through the fingers of my left hand, which still allows me to control what I'm doing with the left index finger, and the tension is much better - more stable - and the yarn isn't in my way anywhere near as much. I'm starting to pick up the pace, too.
Yeah, this is the first knitting I've done since I left Canada, so I was/am a little rusty. It's getting better. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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