Wool4brains

Reversing the decreases changes a right leaning decrease (k2tog) / to a left leaning one (sl,k1,psso) \ and vice versa. The double decrease (s1, k2tog, psso) is the same when reversed - if you're ultra picky then you can alter it but let's not bother. Then you read from the other end of the row, slip one to start. The other method is to look up "how to read a knitted lace chart" and draw out what it looks like, it's easy then to see what it should look like reversed. Row1 S1 (k1,p1) twice, K3, k2tog, yfwd, k3, yfwd, (s1,k2tog,psso, yfwd, k3,yfwd) to last 3 stitches, s1,k1, psso, k1. Row 2 s1, (k1,p1) twice, k4, k2tog, yfwd,k1,yfwd, s1,k1,psso, k to end Row 3 s1, (k1,p1) twice, k3, s1,k1,psso, yfwd, k3, yfwd, sl,k1,psso, knit to end.

Only just seen this, but I'd be interested.

Bamboo sounds better than viscose or rayon but that's what it is, it's regenerated cellulose. I use rayon or cotton blends for knitting summer socks because they are cooler (so says my mother and husband). I'm not sure that I'd want to use it on its own rather than as a wool blend because it doesn't have much in the way of memory and I would have thought that would mean slumpy socks. It makes for a pretty shiny yarn though.

There is a larger copy of the jacket photo on Flickr here for anyone who would like to have a closer look.

Knitnatsaint, I'm going to send you a personal message with my email address in it, if you can email the photo to me then I can make it so we can all see it. At the moment it's too small for me to be able to make out the collar shape or the method of construction. If it was me I'd start with a similarly shaped pattern in the weight of yarn that you want to use, knit it in seed stitch rather than stockinette (checking my tension in each) and then add a collar of the shape that I wanted. If you need to knit the collar three times to get it right it's still not a massive amount of work because of the size.

I don't think you can go far wrong with Opal, the only time I've had that run through is when someone hasn't been cutting their toenails. If that doesn't work then maybe he's condemned to a lifetime of shop socks.

My one suggestion is to start by checking that the white and the grey yarn both full (shrink) the same way. Even if they are both the same brand they might not shrink up by the same amount, white is the one colour you might have a problem with. If you crochet a square with stripes of both colours and shrink it up you'll see if both yarns behave the same way, if you end up with really wavy edges then it's a sign that they didn't behave the same way. It's stating the obvious but I'll say it anyway - don't buy anything that's superwash or machine washable.

I've made them with cotton and I used pva thinned with a bit of water. They've stood up really well.

It doesn't take a deal to get started with knitting, a pair of needles and a ball of wool and you're on your way to a hat. It doesn't take up half of your house either, not when you start anyway. There's a fine line between "knitter" and "yarn collector"

Drop the stitch you're about to knit and pull at it so that it runs down four rows. There will be four bars across the top of it and it will look like this. Pick the stitch up (being careful not to twist it), scooping up the four bars at the same time. This photo shows the stitch back on the left needle with the four strands of yarn over the needle. I twisted mine the first time I did it. Knit the stitch, you'll be knitting the four strands at the same time. Hopefully your pattern looks like this, otherwise I'm doing it wrong. The bottom left version is where I twisted the stitch when I picked it up, the top right one has the stitch sitting the right way.

It's going to make a fancy stitch though isn't it? It is difficult but the effect will be worth it. You probably don't have to do many of them either so although each one is slow going it's not bad overall. I've made something that looked like bees and something that looked like lemon slices by dropping stitches and catching loops.

I finished my three cornered monkey hat, one thing led to another and the sock monkey ended up as Captain Jack Gibbon, master of the Black Banana. It's not a terribly good way of using up yarn bits but it was fun. I'm just getting to the ruffle on a baby hat (sock monkey sized again) and then I have to figure out how to knit a nappy. Photos here

I'm kicking this one back to the top as I'm too idle to start a new thread. I've knitted a hat for a sock monkey tonight, a nice three pointed affair that is drying now. At the weekend I knitted a sweater for a sock monkey, it had a slot for the tail and some interesting shaping. Their chins are below their arms and they have no shoulders worth speaking of. I sketched a design for a cardigan though so it's not all monkey business.

Without seeing it I can't help you. I'd suggest going along to a meeting of knitters (there are some groups listed at the top of this page) and sewing a hat up while someone watches you. The only thing I can think of is that if you're backstitching then I can see how it might get out of step, there's a possibility that you're scooping up stitches with the needle and making the stitch bigger on the side that's on the top than on the bottom. If that is the case then mattress stitch might be the answer.

That looks lovely and she looks very pleased to have it.

I pull the strings up first and then put the hooks in when the curtains are the right width. I've never thought about doing it the other way around.

Too late now - you either got the coffee out or you didn't. I'd wash it in the sink with some bath temperature water and a squirt of whatever you wash your dishes in. If it's wool-wool then there's the option of overdyeing it (strong black tea will work) to cover up the stains. The extreme solution is a black marker pen and make it a Fresian teddy. Someone small accidentally tipped a glass of Vimto in my lace knitting once, the worst thing about that was the sticky needles.

I have to say that my school knitting wasn't a fantastic success, to be fair to both of us it would be unreasonable to expect perfect work straight off. I made a wonky donkey, green with a yellow mane and I remember it perfectly despite it being forty years ago. There's a learning curve in knitting the same as in most activities and the more you do, the better you get. You might find it easier if you treat the first attempt as a training project, it doesn't have to "be" anything and you don't have to beat yourself up for dropped stitches or turning mid row. I'd stick with a smooth yarn, not fluffy or spiky, because it won't help you to see the stitches you are making and it will fight you if you need to rip it back.

I made a hat, a special request for my son. It's not for him, he'd done the usual and promised it to someone before he asked me. Even my mother recognised it as R2D2 and it fits so overall it's a win. Two balls of Cascade 220 and a few scraps of black and red would probably get you two hats, I seem to have a load left although I didn't think to weigh the leftovers.

Congratulations on the baby, nice to hear from you again too.

I'd use the same wool as you used for the knitting, that's what makes it invisible. The alternative way of securing a facing is a knit shut facing, you cast off by knitting the stitch on the needle with a stitch you pick up from the body of the work (along the line where you'd sew the facing). I like that one because it doesn't involve sewing but I struggle with knitting it too tightly. Have a go, if you don't like it, take it out and do it again.

You want to be searching for "sewing a knitted facing". There's a link here Ignore anything that talks about knitting shut a facing. You need to not pull the sewing too tight because then you get a very visible line but other than the difference in thickness it should be about invisible. You don't see the stitches at all. I've done it at the bottom of sweaters, the bottom of hats, the top of a bag and on the tops of Christmas stockings but I don't have a photo of the work in progress.

The pattern contains "single crochet" which is the giveaway that it is American rather than English because we don't have a single crochet. Might that be why yours looks different? What am I knitting - baby jackets using leftover sock yarn. I dream about getting all the yarn in the one bag, whenever I think I'm there I find another bag with sock yarn bits in.

Are we talking socks here? If so then you can find darning wool is all over the house - use a bit of yarn leftover from knitting them in the first place. Unless you are really picky it doesn't need to be the exact wool you used the first time, just something of the right thickness and about the right colour. Usually I'd have a few for you to practise on but my mother darned them when she was here over Christmas.

I think you're just over half way through, digging on t'internet indicates that it's a 90 part set. If there's been repetition to this point I assume there will be some more to come.