May Birthday Swap Discussion and Gallery

[kaz814]

Fantastic packages!

And if anyone is thinking about another claim, you've got 10 days!  (There's still an international birthday swapper who hasn't been claimed, too. )

[amber.hope]

I know right! I wanted to claim her but I just can't afford to ship international right now

[ivoryh1632]

I basically started with 36 stitches, working from one sleeve to another, i did a 1x1 ribbing for about ten rows, then i increased every stitch and began a 2 x 2 ribbing for ten rows, then i increased every other stitch and began a 3x3 ribbing and worked across until it was as long as i wanted it to be, then i decreased every other stitch, reduced to a 2x2 ribbing for ten rows, then decreased every stitch and finished with ten 1 x 1 rows. Then you just seam the sleeve part closed. Also are you on ravelry.com?
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Oh! Thanks!

So you just increased or decreased the first row of the set? What size needle did you use? By the looks of the picture PFD is a lot skinnier than me but I can at least get an idea and go a size up or something, I hate doing swatches, plus ribbing is pretty forgiving.
I'm usually pretty slow at ribbing at first but once I get the rhythm of it I can go quicker. My main problem with knitting is I have carpal tunnel so after an hour or two my fingers start to cramp up real bad so I can never get as much done as I want to. But that's gotten better as I've done more and learned how to properly hold the needles and yarn (I'm self taught so its all trail and error) and the only time it gets real bad is when I'm doing a pattern with more than one color yarn because I still don't know how I'm supposed to hold both yarns at once in an efficient manner. Have you ever tried those needles that are triangle shaped instead of round? I heard they're supposed to help people with carpal tunnel and arthritis, easier to hold or something.
I may have to get some soft yarn this week and try this since its finally getting warm out and I always wear shrugs over my summer dresses anyway.

Oh and yes, I'm on ravelry, I freaking love that site, spend waaaay too much time drooling over the awsome patterns on it 

[ivoryh1632]

Love the pirate one! And I'm not a fan of poodles but I really admire your work on that one. Sihllouettes can be a pain to cut out.

They actually weren't that hard. I made a drawing on paper then cut that out and then pinned it to the felt and, using embroidery scissors, cut them out. I've also tried stitching the design onto a large piece of felt and then cutting the excess off to avoid the hassle of cutting the silhouettes out.

Love the crafty goodness ladies!

I had to do a bunch of felt silhouettes last week for a swap (she still hasn't recieved yet so I can't post pics) and I did the pattern with freezer paper which helped but it was still driving me crazy. But now that you said you used embroidery scissors I think I realized my problem may have been that I was using my big ol fabric scissors lol. I didn't really have a choice though cuz they're the only ones I have, but man was it hard doin the little curves and things. Next time I do something like that I'm definately investing in smaller scissors. I'll try the stitching first and cutting out second thing too, I didn't even think of that one, thanks!

[VanGo87]

Next time I do something like that I'm definately investing in smaller scissors. I'll try the stitching first and cutting out second thing too, I didn't even think of that one, thanks!

No problem! I admit that it does give a different look. Below is one I made with that method I made for my step mom for mother's day.

[RebelTrendsetter]

I basically started with 36 stitches, working from one sleeve to another, i did a 1x1 ribbing for about ten rows, then i increased every stitch and began a 2 x 2 ribbing for ten rows, then i increased every other stitch and began a 3x3 ribbing and worked across until it was as long as i wanted it to be, then i decreased every other stitch, reduced to a 2x2 ribbing for ten rows, then decreased every stitch and finished with ten 1 x 1 rows. Then you just seam the sleeve part closed. Also are you on ravelry.com?

Oh! Thanks!

So you just increased or decreased the first row of the set? What size needle did you use? By the looks of the picture PFD is a lot skinnier than me but I can at least get an idea and go a size up or something, I hate doing swatches, plus ribbing is pretty forgiving.
I'm usually pretty slow at ribbing at first but once I get the rhythm of it I can go quicker. My main problem with knitting is I have carpal tunnel so after an hour or two my fingers start to cramp up real bad so I can never get as much done as I want to. But that's gotten better as I've done more and learned how to properly hold the needles and yarn (I'm self taught so its all trail and error) and the only time it gets real bad is when I'm doing a pattern with more than one color yarn because I still don't know how I'm supposed to hold both yarns at once in an efficient manner. Have you ever tried those needles that are triangle shaped instead of round? I heard they're supposed to help people with carpal tunnel and arthritis, easier to hold or something.
I may have to get some soft yarn this week and try this since its finally getting warm out and I always wear shrugs over my summer dresses anyway.

Oh and yes, I'm on ravelry, I freaking love that site, spend waaaay too much time drooling over the awsome patterns on it 
[/quote]




I'm designvigilante on ravelry I used size 10.5 needles with a thick-thin yarn I supposed its technically a heavy worsted weight. you could go with a chunk weight yarn and my sane numbers. the ribbing makes it super stretchy, the real key for sizing this up is making it longer to fit your back. it should be fine in the wrists and arms but if the back length is too short the whole thing will wear too tight. I hope that helps. BTW I've never heard of triangle shaped needles! that's neat and sound like they'd be worth a try for CP.

[kaz814]

Welcome to the swap, zigg13pra!

[ivoryh1632]

Next time I do something like that I'm definately investing in smaller scissors. I'll try the stitching first and cutting out second thing too, I didn't even think of that one, thanks!

No problem! I admit that it does give a different look. Below is one I made with that method I made for my step mom for mother's day.

Oh that one's cute too. But I see what you're saying, it does give a little different look. I'll just have to play around with it next time I want to do something with that.

[ivoryh1632]

I'm designvigilante on ravelry I used size 10.5 needles with a thick-thin yarn I supposed its technically a heavy worsted weight. you could go with a chunk weight yarn and my sane numbers. the ribbing makes it super stretchy, the real key for sizing this up is making it longer to fit your back. it should be fine in the wrists and arms but if the back length is too short the whole thing will wear too tight. I hope that helps. BTW I've never heard of triangle shaped needles! that's neat and sound like they'd be worth a try for CP.
[/quote]


K so now I'm confused. When you say I'd need to make the back longer to you mean longer up and down wise or side to side? Because if I make it longer up and down won't that also make the sleeves looser?

And how many skeins of yarn did you use? I hate running out mid-project and having to wait to finish.

And I added you to my friends on ravelry 

[RebelTrendsetter]

K so now I'm confused. When you say I'd need to make the back longer to you mean longer up and down wise or side to side? Because if I make it longer up and down won't that also make the sleeves looser?

And how many skeins of yarn did you use? I hate running out mid-project and having to wait to finish.

And I added you to my friends on ravelry 

OK I mean when you get to the 3 x 3 ribbing, make sure it will go across your back from armpit to armpit, maybe even make it a little bit longer than you need to and make sure you do not go to far up when you seam the arms closed. I'm plus sized as well (not surprising because I'm pretty sure we're both in the plus sized swap LOL) and with PFD's shrug her back from armpit to armpit is several inches shorter than mine and thats what would make the difference if I were going to make it to fit me. If you look at other shrug sizes they will give you a measurement for your back from armpit to armpit, and it could be 16", 18", 20", etc. And that's what makes the difference in resizing it. The ribbing makes it stretchy so the wrists and arms should be fine.
I used about 1 and 1/4th of a skein of Loops & Threads (the Michael's Brand) Santa Fe yarn. That's 264 yards per skein. I also don't think i mentioned that once I was done and seamed the arms closed, I picked up the stitches around the opening and made a 5 row border just to make it look more finished.