Hello all!

I'm a knitter who wants to get into sewing. I have a few things to hem for now, but when those are finished I want to, somehow, make my tights that look like this:

http://i.americanapparel.net/storefront/images/detail/serve.asp?media=rsaphb_Black.jpg

into ones that reach the top of my thighs, like these. I can only ever find thigh-high fishnets in stores, rather than opaque tights!

My question for all of you is, what can I use to hold the tights up? I once had a pair of those fishnets & inside the lace at the top was a rubbery material that clung to my skin. I have no idea what it was made of, or how to get it. Does anyone know what it is, or what alternatives I can use (other than elastic that will likely just fall down gradually)?

Thanks!

a couple days ago i made some zebra print shoes! i drew the lines with a fabric marker & painted inside the lines.

I love knitting sweaters, and I try to convert everything to top-down raglans with circular needles, because I really dislike sewing seams after all that knitting! My problem, however, is getting the sizing right for when I cast on. Everything I make seems to be a little too big or a little too small -- or sometimes it's completely off.

I don't ever find OUT that I've made a mistake until it comes time to join the knitting for the body (right underneath the sleeves), and by then I'm several inches in and feel like I've wasted my time. Is there a good way to determine how many inches you'll need for each section (back, sleeves, front pieces)? Should I just measure myself, and if so, where do I measure?

Thanks in advance!

[PHOTOS:]

so here is my slouchy beret! great for the fall. i made a pompom for it, but the only yarn i had left had been knitted. so it's a very curly pompom, and i haven't decided if i want it on yet.

PHOTOS:

(unfortunately after two years of lurking, i haven't read my 10-post mark yet, haha!)

01 : it is very, very hard to take a picture of the back of your head.
02 : view from the front.
03 : back, with pompom!

sorry the photos aren't the greatest!

THE PATTERN:

MATERIALS:
- less than a skein of bernat satin, i believe it is!
(it's cheapo acrylic stuff, but it's amazingly soft & warm.)
- 1 set of 3mm circular needles
- 1 set of 4.5mm circular needles
- 1 set (4) 4.5mm double-pointed needles
- tapestry needle
- scissors

TERMS:
ssk = slip two stitches knit-wise, and knit them together

GAUGE:
5 rows/7 sts = 1 inch (4.5mm needles)


CO 96 sts with the smaller circulars.

rows 1-6: (k1, p1) to end of row. (don't forget to join the yarn, untwisted, at the end of the first row!)
row 7: place all sts on the larger circulars. (k1, m1, p1) until end of row. you should now have 144 sts.
rows 8-22: (k2, p1) until end of row.
row 23: (k2, p1) the first 17 sts, ssk. *(k2, p1) the next 16 sts, ssk. repeat from * until end of row.

keep knitting around and around, making regular decreases. when you see that you made a decrease in the previous row, you know it's time to make another. (note: if this or any other part of the pattern is terribly unclear, please let me know!) when your stitches become so few that it's hard to knit using the circular needle, transfer to your DPNs.

FINISHING:
keep decreasing until you get to the very tip of the hat, and there's no hole left. bind off any extra stitches, and slip the tail of the yarn onto a tapestry needle. thread the yarn through to the inside of the hat, and sew the yarn into it as you would any other finished garment. if you would like a pompom, i followed these instructions to make mine!

feel free to ask any questions about the project or the pattern (it's the first i've written!).