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Current theme: 🧶 CABLES 🧶

If there's one design feature that is quintessentially knitting, it's got to be cables! Chonky ones, intricate ones, symmetrical ones or weird ones, almost every knitter has tried them and found out the biggest secret of our craft: cables are a lot easier than they look 🤫

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If you're entering a finished project please remember to format your post titles like so to help me easily keep track:

>[CABLES] This is an example post title

Thanks 😄

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Upcoming themes:

| Date | Theme | |---|---| | Mar | Cables | | Apr | TBD | | May | TBD |

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Previous winners:

| Theme | Winner | |---|---| | Knitting fail | Kurobita's accidental moebius | Socks | QTpi's string theory socks | Baby + Toddler | Weirdsquid's toddler cowl | Halloween | TheGiddyStitcher's long-awaited Halloween socks (ugh) | New technique | Kurobita's pastel bubble hat | | Homewares | QTpi's kiddie washcloths | | Summer knits | Catsdoingcatstuff's Criss Cross Top |

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More info:

• The active theme will change every month
• Themes could be anything from "shawls" to "cotton yarn" to "new-to-you techniques" and basically whatever I can think of (suggestions welcome in the comments!)
• You can check current and upcoming themes both here in the sticky thread and also in the sidebar
• Most upvoted project will be declared "winner" and added to the sidebar for the duration of the next round

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FAQ

> Do the projects need to be old?

Nope they just need to be fully finished

> What counts as “fully finished”?

Weave in your ends, slacker!

> Can I still post my normal everyday knitting and questions and memes and stuff?

Yes of course, this is just a fun bonus activity

> What if a project fits multiple themes?

Honestly, use your judgement. I’ll put a list of the next few upcoming themes in the community sidebar so you can decide where it fits best, or if you’ve not posted it in a while feel free to enter it again! Maybe include different photo angles or a new tip you’ve thought of since last time. I think we have a ways to go before the rate of new posts becomes spammy, at which time we’ll rethink.

> Can I enter more than one thing for the same theme?

Absolutely! But please make them separate posts 😊

> Do projects that are only partially knitted still count?

As long as there’s some knitting somewhere in there, I for one want to see it!

Knitting friends! Since makers tend to make more than one sort of thing, and we crafters need to stick together, here's a list of fellow creative communities for your navigation pleasure.

For each craft I'll include the current most active community first as well as alternatives, and add each with their full URL as well as local links for Lemmy and Kbin users respectively.

I hope it's useful!

3D PRINTING

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

BOOKBINDING

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

COSPLAY

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

CROCHET

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

CROSS STITCH & EMBROIDERY

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (both cross stitch & embroidery in general)
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

DICEMAKING

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

KNITTING

• This one you're in! But also...
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

LASER CUTTING

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

LEATHERCRAFT

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

MODELS & MINIATURES

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (models in general)
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (dollhouse miniatures)
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (tabletop gaming miniatures)

POTTERY

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

SEWING & QUILTING

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (sewing in general)
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (reduce waste through sewing)
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

SOAPMAKING

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

TATTING

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

WOODWORKING

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (hand tool woodworking)
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin

MISC

• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (cross-post your crafts here!)
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (a celebration of lace, in any craft)
• [email protected] - Lemmy / Kbin (NOTE: not accessible to users on lemmy.world or sh.itjust.works)

Suggestions welcome, and I'll do my best to keep this updated as I find more relevant groups / smaller groups merge etc.

Craft on, people. Craft on 🙂

A couple weeks ago I (37/F) landed my first job in a proper office setting (after being unemployed almost a year, so yay me!). I had worked only in the industrial field so far and my work attire was basically jeans and corporate shirts paired with very stylish safety shoes LOL.

I'm in the southern hemisphere and it's like 80°F outside but my social anxiety is already making me plan for colder weather (hoping I'll still be employed by then). So I was wondering if you could give me some insight on incorporating handknitted items into my office attire, whether it's specific patterns or just general recs.

I'd describe the style at work as business very casual because it's a tech company. Most of my coworkers wear sneakers (women tend to choose 'dressier' ones, but guys often wear Vans and Chuck Taylors).

I was thinking of knitting myself a Lulu Slipover to use over shirts and maybe a cardi.

I read somewhere that fingering and sport yarn weight were office appropiate and more bulky yarns were not, is that really so? Are cables ok? Lace?

TIA!

Edit: Thank you everyone for your insights! I've decided I'll try the Monlight Dancer cardi following @[email protected]'s suggestion for a shawl collar cardi and the Fade of Beads tee maybe? (I'll be getting that pattern free with my ticket to an event, so I'll probably knit it anyway even if it's not to wear at the office lol).

I bought this kit from Aliexpress. I’m not very picky about my needles, but I do have have the Chiaogoo red ones. I wanted a set to travel with and these seem good so far, which is kind of surprising.

Price $38.38 Canadian

3-8mm needles

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Just in case anyone’s in the market for some needles.

Just in time to start my mystery knit along, I finished both yip yips. The knit eyes worked out really well. I’ve never laughed so much while knitting something, these were a really fun project

Pattern

Remember those “Martians” from Sesame Street? A friend asked me to make a couple of these for their kid. My first one is on the left and the pattern photo is on the right. I’m going to try to knit some eye balls instead of using ping pongs, we’ll see how that goes

Pattern

*What makes a cardigan, Mr. Lebowski? *

Knowing almost nothing about knitting before I started this project, I spent many months trying to recreate the original as faithfully as possible. And you can try it yourself as well :)

CAVEAT: I am not a designer, the pattern is only available in one size, and it can be a pretty difficult knit at times.

BUT: it's free, and I can answer questions if you try your hands at making it!

Raverly link (The Dude Copycat Cardigan)

The pattern is free on Ravelry- 198 Yards of Heaven. I used Madeline Tosh Vintage in Fatal Attraction (1 skein). I'll have to post it after it's dry because this picture doesn't do the color justice.

Seems to be put together with images from The 4-H Knitting Handbook.

While I am asking about what knitting resources you use I might as well plug this thread asking for knitting resources for beginners.

I have a Ravelry account I rarely use. I come here from time to time. I still have a few how to knit books I got as a child. And I have a few specific tutorials (none are video-only, they are all image + text tutorials) bookmarked online that I know I'll need to refer back to sometime in the future:

• https://sheepandstitch.com/what-is-knitting-gauge/
• https://nourishandnestle.com/tension-in-knitting-too-loose-tight-or-inconsistent/
• https://www.yarnspirations.com/blogs/how-to/how-to-knit-cables
• https://sarahmaker.com/stockinette-stitch/
• https://smokeandslate.com/pages/weave-in-ends-stockinette-stitch

Finally, I keep the pattern I am working on written out in Obsidian (@[email protected] says hi), with a little note at the bottom describing the tension I am using and this: "Finished row x, need to start at row x + 1". (If I wrote 'row x' I would have no idea if I just finished it and need to start x + 1, or if I just finished x - 1 and need to start row x. That was a serious issue for me when using just a counter that ticks up. I could just technically write 'Finished row x' but I feel better both writing that and 'need to start row x + 1'.)

Slow but steady progress on my socks

Pattern: Hermoine’s Everyday Sock

Needed a new car knitting project as my Kelowna sweater is too big now to work on comfortably. So I cast on some socks for me.

Pattern: Hermoine’s Everyday Socks

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in Palm Springs colorway

Decided to get sleeve island out of the way. I’m worried I won’t have enough yarn even though I’m on gauge. I am using different yarn than the pattern and it’s definitely not the bulkiest bulky yarn I’ve ever used.

I picked up 12 stitches in the underarm (instead of the pattern’s 6) because I was worried about holes. I may have some small ones to close up at the end but we’ll see how they look after blocking.

Pattern: Kelowna sweater

Just finished this. Took about a month. The pattern is free!

Since it’s unisex I used a Caron cotton cake in DK I think and knit the small size. I followed the guidance on the label for needle size. It started as an experiment and ended as a happy accident.

Also, I modified by adding the panel in the hood and icord string.

(Please excuse the fuzz and pilling, these are OLD)

Ok these are definitely not the most "impressive" cabling project I've done, but they are by far the most special to me so I'm going with them for cables month! A few reasons I love them so:

• I won this yarn in a knitting group on Google+ (RIP), about a month after I'd started knitting in 2013. It was my first ever fancy yarn and I was so incredibly excited!

• Because I was such a new knitter, these gloves were my first ever cables, and also my first time using DPNs. Felt like too many extra hands, I still don't like DPNs to this day!

• And because I like to jump in at the deep end, when one of them went wrong I decided to drop stitches down and figure out how to rebuild the cables as I picked the stitches back up. Worked pretty flawlessly and I was SO proud of myself!

• Last but not least, they always remind me of a friend who sadly passed away a year or so later. She helped me a lot with my first few projects, shoutout to Bernie ❤

Pattern is Roundabout Fingerless Gloves, and here's a bonus pic of the other side where the left one is looking weirdly baggy but I swear they do actually fit irl 😄

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I just finished this cardigan and because it was a gift I tried really hard to make it look tidy.

The yarn is recycled yarn ("I used to be a pullover") in Murano green.

The pattern is adapted from the raglan pattern in Ann Budd's book "The knitter's handy book of sweater patterns."

Edit: a few more detail shots of the cardigan:

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Back of the zipper. I made a tiny strip to cover the zipper fabric.

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Front of the zipper. I knit a strip sideways along the entire edge of the front panels and folded it onto itself to make a roll that would cover the zipper.

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The cuff. I had such a hard time finding a cuff I liked and that would look good and not wavy. I ended up making a 2x2 rib and I really like how regular it is.

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The front panel mounted on my knitting machine, taking up 198 of the 200 needles available.

Basic ranglan sweater. I used a cake of self-striping yarn for the body and finished off the sleeves with a spare skein in mustard. The pattern was very fun and easy to follow, I'm looking forward to knit more kid's projects because they're so quick xD

• Pattern: Sweater Sincronía from Revés Derecho (spanish)
• Yarn: Revés Derecho Sweet Love in 007 Rainbow and King in 0017 Mustard.
• Needles: 5,5mm/US 9 Knit Pro Trendz

All balled up: !

If there's one design feature that is quintessentially knitting, it's got to be cables! Chonky ones, intricate ones, symmetrical ones or weird ones, almost every knitter has tried them and found out the biggest secret of our craft: cables are a lot easier than they look 🤫

For once, I know exactly which project to post for this one. Just have to actually take proper photos, approximately eleven years after finishing the knitting part.

Cables are so squishy and fun, I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has to show!

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Anyway. Normally I announce a winner of the previous month but "winner" might not apply this time around!

Congratulations @[email protected] on the dubious honour of having the most highly upvoted knitting fail 😂

Very much appreciate everyone who shared, and it just goes to show crafting doesn't always go to plan.

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Ok, off with you. Go find your cable-est thing to show us!

(I need to come up with some new themes before next month so if anyone wants to make a suggestion, do feel free)

Ok I wasn't sure what to post as a knitting fail. Tbh, there've been a lot, because that's how you learn!

There was the lace shawl I made after just a month of learning to knit, out of completely unsuitable cotton yarn that did the finished piece no favours at all (never mind all the actual knitting mistakes I made, too).

There was the summer top I frantically knitted for a holiday and finished literally in the car on the way to the airport, only to find out it was about three sizes too small because I'm nothing if not optimistic.

But these were forgivable, for I was just a newbie.

Not so with the time I decided to jump on the trend of everyone knitting the Find Your Fade shawl. I went through the stash, picked out a combo of yarns that could definitely not be described as a "fade" but I quite liked anyway, and got to work.

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Unfortunately I'm crap at knitting shawls, and it took a year to get through the first two sections. So I've now been knitting in general for about 7 years, and on this specifically for 1.

THEN, and only then, I go to start the third colour and realise I've just sort of...completely mixed and matched yarn weights and this was never going to work? Honestly no idea how it never occurred to me until that point.

So, long story short, absolute fail, frogged it and was very salty about it. This may or may not have been when I decided a ban on shawl knitting was in order, a ban which has served me well.