I know this has been discussed, but that was years ago. I have hated ribbing with my continental style it takes forever. So I went on YouTube and found the Norwegian Purl. It is a style where you don't have to bring the working yarn to the front of the work to purl.

It is tricky, but totally worth the effort. Ribbing goes so much faster and I don't end up making my cuffs and brims too short to keep me warm.

Anyone else use this method? Anyone else interested in trying it? Let me know what you think...

My two year old son was recently diagnosed with autism and I want to craft something for him. His birthday is in November so maybe it could be a present. I have read some books but i still don't know what to make. I am a decent knitter, I can follow a crochet pattern and not very good at sewing but have a machine so I can try to work something out. I don't have all of the time in the world either, or a lot of money, but I want to keep my hands busy. He likes things that go round and round, like cars and fans. He is barely verbal but he is very musical.

Any ideas? Extra points given for something that helps him learn social stuff.

Sorry this is kind of a self serving post in the charity section. If there is a better place to put just let me know.

I am an extremely novice sewer, but I have trouble quitting.

My favorite skirts are those that have a mind of their own. The drape has personality and doesn't just lay there limply. What are some simple techniques I can use to achieve volume and action from my skirt. lol I sound like a movie director.

I apologize if thi is not the right place to ask this. Please feel free to move it.

My husbands grandma has been really good to us but recently she went through heart surgery and had a valve replaced. She just got home the other day. I want to knit her something practical for her and her husband that has been running around trying to take care of her. I am comfortable with learning new things and I don't want to spend too long on it. I have to still finish my son's cardigan so I am not planning on getting it there by Christmas.

Any ideas? I don't know if I could make a cozy for any medical equipment because I don't know what all she is using. TIA

I like to knit and I love homeless people (I was one). But when I look at charities that want knit donations to give to the homeless I look at it from the perspective of being homeless. It is nice to have a handmade warm hat, but style is not important on the street. In fact the nicer the stuff you have, the more of a target you become.

Also, people tend to knit with really fancy yarns which are possibly not machine washable and so expensive you could buy the entire stock of hats at the dollar store. Blankets especially unnerve me. I have seen blankets left on the street by other homeless people to be thrown away by the street clean up people.

I hate to think of people putting so much work into something that will be thrown away after one use or worse yet get someone robbed (why people rob homeless people I will never know).

I don't mean to criticize anyone or imply that I will not be donating to these charities because I believe homeless people should be able to have something that took time and care to make. I was just wondering if it is worth the effort and cost. I wonder if it wouldn't be better to make an item, sell it, and then use the proceeds to buy backpacks or something. I don't know though. I am probably going to be donating red heart creations to my local shelter or leaving them around town for someone to find. I just wanted to see what others thought.

I thought it would be fun to reflect on how and why and when everyone got started knitting. I'll go first.

I started in college in 2004, when I was 19. I wanted to become a bit more self sufficient. And I wanted to figure out how yarn could make fabric. I bought a $10 kit at walmart with some ugly purple yarn and taught myself from the little book. I was so excited when I learned the two basic stitches I cast on for the bag. I didn't follow the pattern (of course) and soon had to buy new needles to hold the girth, these filled up as well. This was before I could comprehend circular needles.

I never did finish that purse. And I am still trying to finish the one pattern I have almost adhered to.

I look forward to hearing more stories. Did anyone get taught by someone special? Any fond memories while you were learning?

I have a vintage baby cardigan pattern from shibuiknits. I have been working on this for over a year now and I am trying to finish it for my son's birthday at the start of November. Here is where my trouble begins.

I have completed the directions to the tee, except for the mod on the right side of the picture. (I will focus on the left side, then I can adapt to the modified side.) So the pattern says to "join shoulder seams using 3 needle bind off, then sew under arms seams." The problem is, if I do this there will be no back of the arm. There will just be a stupid flap in front. Can anyone tell me if I am reading this wrong, or if I should just finish and make some flaps to cover the back of the arms?

Hopefully these pictures can help make sense of what I am saying.

Here it is folded over. It looks great except that the back of the arm will be completely exposed.



Here is the cardigan laying flat.



Honestly this is the first and last time I buy a pattern. I paid $6 for something that isn't adequately described. At least when I create my own stuff I know what I am doing and only have myself to blame in the end.

Thanks in Advance for any help you can offer me. You guys rock!

So I don't know if we are supposed to use a current project or if we can use one from our stash, but I had to share this one. This hat is a testament to my new rule, "Do not design something when you are drunk/stoned". This rule goes hand in hand with the rule that states, "Do not continue a project that you have invested more than an hour into while drunk/stoned". These were very important rules in my house before we had a baby. Now the rule is, "Don't leave your knitting on the floor or on anything that is not more than a foot off the ground."

Anyways, my husband designed this (wouldn't it be cool if there was a hat that instead of having two flaps, just had one). I crocheted the top and added the bottom with my husband egging me on. When it was done and I presented it to him his responses were, "I don't really wear hats" and "It seemed like a better idea at the time".

Sorry for the long story. Without further ado, I present to you the uniflap:



Gah!!! Where did all that lint come from? Like I said this came from my stash since no one has been brave/stupid enough to wear it. *Pretends her house isn't covered in cat hair*



And this one should show the key element of the hat a bit better.

Maybe no points for craftsmanship, but it is original, right?

Haha. You can get babies to wear anything. Please disregard our messy house.



Edited to add action shot.


Thanks for looking.

I saw a lot of people experimenting with food coloring on this site and I thought I would join the fun. I don't have an oven (do to an unfortunate accident) but we have learned to steam bread in our wok. So I bought some food coloring and went for it.

I used a standard bread recipe and added 1/2 tablespoon of red liquid food coloring (hubby thought green would look moldy). The color turned out well and they look like brains or pancreases or some other kind of organ. These are perfect for Halloween.

Maybe next time I will make rainbow bread. Now onto the pictures.

Here is the mixture before I added more flour. You can't tell the batter from the bowl. lol



Here is my loyal helper. He likes to stay up when he is too tired to enjoy being awake.



The dough in one big pile.



And here it is in the pan.



Then husband caught me and told me to cut it up otherwise it would take forever to cook, so I tried to cut it up like a pizza.



The first batch. The back one looks like brains.



My helper eating his share. He is still tired.



Here is the second batch. It looks like pancreases.



When I do them again, I would shape the dough into rolls. I think hubby is not as scared of the color green anymore so I would probably use more colors next time. They make kickin sandwiches, I never thought a Peanut butter sandwich could be so fun.

Okay, I am desperately trying to finish a product for once. But my needle keeps cutting my thread. I have already bought good thread, because I blamed the walmart thread first. But the problem persists. Now I have to gather my change and go needle shopping, but I don't know how to choose the right size. Is the needle I have too big or too small? None of the troubleshooting sites tell you how to find the right size needle.

I have a serger ingenuity in case that makes a difference. Please Help. DH is being awfully patient about the mess on our kitchen table.