Knitting Blogs

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It has come to my attention that knitting blogs are a GOOD thing.

Obviously we all know this already but whist reading over my last two posts I was reminded of this fact for two reasons:

Reason 1 - Exposure of knitting numptydom and saving of unnecessary purchases (of needles - if not of yarn):
I was feeling frustrated because I thought that I needed to get a smaller needle size to try and get gauge for the lovely Flair - however if you already have too many stitches per inch and you knit with a smaller needle you will of course get more stitches per inch. Ah the simplicity of it all. Thankfully I didn't jump straight in and order the 3.75mm circs as I was thinking I would, and seeing it written out alerted me to my yarn addled thinking. That's the good news.

The bad news is that having re-measured the swatches I found that I had the right gauge on the 4.5mm needles. I quickly abandoned this swatch as the fabric is quite loose and not what I would like at all. So it would seem I have added some Patons Cotton DK to my stash and must still buy the yarn for Flair - I'm thinking I might skip straight to the Blue Sky cotton Wendy knits the original in and have done with it. Sometimes in life it's worth paying full price.
Reason 2 - Knitters are lovely:
Knitting blogs are also very GOOD as when you finish something you feel slightly dubious about and everyone is lovely about it you start to like it more - thank you all :o)

Comments

Reckless Glue said…
Hi :) I think I found your blog through knit and tonic ...and I'm planning to knit the flair myself (and I'm also a relatively new knitter as well) so I hope you don't mind if I peak in on your progress every now and then (and hassle you if I'm having troubles!)
:) cara

I just bought a whack of yarn for but haven't even begun to swatch let alone knit it...
21 February 2007 at 21:39:00 GMT
Sarah said…
It sounds like the Blue Sky Cotton might be closer to an aran weight. By the way when I want to subsitute yarn I find this site really useful.

http://www.yarndex.com/

It always you to find all yarns with a similar weight and if you go into a particular yarn and click on the guage it always you to search by stitches to the inch as well.
22 February 2007 at 09:29:00 GMT
Marianne said…
Well, you are getting all kinds of practice with those swatches!
Yes, I absolutely love Knitbloglandia.
22 February 2007 at 12:19:00 GMT
Sarah said…
Cara - hurrah, we can have a mini morale boosting knitalong.

Kendra - that is one fab site, thank you. When I looked at the BSky last night the first thing I saw was that it was worsted weight - why didn't I notice that before I bought the DK? - oh well the stash monster is smiling!

Marianne - you know I quite like knitting swatches - they're about the right level of complexity for me most evenings! I may start posting them as FOs!
22 February 2007 at 17:38:00 GMT
Charity said…
Like Kendra, I like to check out Yarndex for yarn comparisons. Wise Needle is also a good resource.

Sorry to hear about the yarn difficulties - have you thought about knitting Flair in the DK, and making a larger size? I have heard wonderful things about the Blue Sky yarn, though. :0)
22 February 2007 at 20:00:00 GMT
Artis-Anne said…
Hey I think we have all been there :0 and that is a great site that Kendra has given you . I have a small piece of wood which I use when I am spinning that measures wraps per inch so that I can make sure I am spinning to the right gauge likewise you can use that with bought yarn to give you some idea ; or a ruler would do
23 February 2007 at 10:06:00 GMT
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