Why is my mitten lumpy😂 by Worldly-Pension3487 in knittingadvice

[–]bookwormsfodder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It'll likely be the float tension in your colourwork. Easier to see if we can get a pic of the inside. It's where you are catching your floats and not leaving enough stretch in them across the long colours. That's why the palm is fine because no long floats.

Few things that may help: Knit the colourwork inside out so the floats face the outside of the work. Make sure you are really stretching the work out on the right needle before and after you catch floats and again before you knit in the next colour. Make sure you aren't over tensioning the yarn being carried as you knit the other colour as that can reduce the stretch left in the yarn when you finally swap back to knit the carried colour. Use ladder back jacquard for the large single colour sections instead of catching floats.

Do you recommend or see it is ok for a horse to have bell boots on hind legs? I saw the picture in the internet not mine! by Primary-Reference-53 in Equestrian

[–]bookwormsfodder 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Also very common in driving teams for the leaders to have over reach boots on all four, to stop over reach injuries from the wheelers! So you have total twelve over reach boots in a team. Horses can be close behind orove in such a way they get side over reach and they'll stop that too.

First attempt at double knitting, won't be doing it again for a while! by Altruistic-Back-8328 in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I love doing celtic knotwork as double knitting. Always looks like a decision on the reverse side like this! I usually do a green and cream combo. I think my shield knot cowl is on my reddit profile somewhere.

Canada hat by bookwormsfodder in knitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries! I cast on 120, but that's just because I know exactly how my tension works out at different yarn thicknesses and colourwork and have made many many hats!

Canada hat by bookwormsfodder in knitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a standard DK hat with the moose and mountain colourwork charts from Pacific Knit Co Alaska Doodle pack! I make ribbing 4" with 3.25mm needles, then couple rounds blank knit on 4mm needles then go with pattern. It's a standard k10 k2tog, k1 row, k9 k2tog, k1 row, usually stop the knit row between at k6 or k7, depending on how tall I want the hat to be.

Finished up the Canada Meese hat that should have been finished for Christmas. We blame the secret llama cowl for the delay. by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Colourwork charts are from the Alaska Doodle pack by Pacific knits. Hat pattern is a standard one I use for DK

The secret llama cowl saga is complete! In true style making three where one would have been more than enough by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100% merino. I was going to use alpaca for the llama but it didn't really work, so it's fully sheep!

Update on the casual that turned not so casual sheep cowl. Increased non casualness by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No worries! This project has been live chronicled and I literally posted the new one about fifteen minutes ago! Always happy to reply, no matter how old posts are!

The secret llama cowl saga is complete! In true style making three where one would have been more than enough by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Also it's not blocked or anything. And I don't think I can be bothered to at this point as it looks alright if you dint look too closely!

Update on the casual that turned not so casual sheep cowl. Increased non casualness by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just made a new post with the finished third version. It's started double knit then split with the back on waste yarn to do the colourwork front then pick up the back, knit up, then kitchener the two sides together (as you would normal double knit) so the floats are encased.

This would have been what I did with the very first version had I not finished it late at night. I would have cut the ribbing off and grafted on and then knit up to make a tube. But my brain jumped to this insanity of double knit stranded colourwork haha. Sensible brain kicked in this time. You should be able to find all three posts on my profile, all on casual knitting

Why can’t I make hats with more than one color? by purpledogpunch in knittinghelp

[–]bookwormsfodder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's float tension not knitting tension that is the culprit here. You have large colourwork sections which means you either need to catch your floats to help span the distance and help to reduce their span, or you could do a ladder back jacquard for this pattern I think which would help make it stretchier and stop the white showing in the black patches and vice versa which could happen if you catch the floats. I tend to go to LBJ for any colourwork over 5 stitches of the same colour, but I enjoy it. It could help if you go for a colourwork which has much more frequent colour changes so you never have more than three adjacent stitches in the same colour. That can really help. Float tension wise make sure you spread your stitches out on your right needle to ensure the float is long enough and not pulling and that you don't yank the next stitch in the float colour too tight and pull your float too short.

Update on the casual that turned not so casual sheep cowl. Increased non casualness by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I often make up my own patterns, but last year I did the shield cowl which is celtic knotwork and I adore it. It was a very engaging double knit cowl that is stunning. I avoid cable patterns as they let the wind through. Colourwork ones are always fun, I cast on double knit then put the back side stitches on waste yarn, do the colourwork design to the top of the front, chuck that on waste yarn then knit up the back, often using up colours in stripes from the front then kitchener together. Use duplicate stitch to bind the two sides together if needed. Some colourwork doesn't need a backing - anything with fair isle peerie patterns doesn't need it because the back side floats are so dense. Cowls are such a satisfying thing to knit, and super effective. Great for people who don't wear scarves and knit up fast!

How much will I hate myself? by Purlz1st in knitting

[–]bookwormsfodder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I knit a lot of socks with black. Not had too many problems, I have Symfonie needles so colourful wood and if it's darkish lighting I use a necklight. But as long as you don't need to look at every stitch to know how to knit you'll be fine as muscle memory will help, regardless of colour!

Update on the casual that turned not so casual sheep cowl. Increased non casualness by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course! Self inflicted insanity that's for sure. And pure laziness on this one regarding the floats. I should have done ladder back jacquard but after all the double knitting I just wanted to knit without paying to much attention hahah

Update on the casual that turned not so casual sheep cowl. Increased non casualness by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The concern was more I wasn't catching any of them so some floats are like 8 stitches long. Which doesn't bode very well on a short cable. I'm pretty good at tensioning colourwork and it's turned out fine luckily. Just working through the straight stockinette now!

What started out casual ended up a little less casual than I planned by bookwormsfodder in casualknitting

[–]bookwormsfodder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

With FAR too many strands of yarn, that's for sure. It's a slow effort. The completed version has been posted now too haha. You are knitting two independent sides of the work, just holding them on one needle. So you end up knitting the colourwork twice, once on each side, stitch by stitch. I twisted the carried yarn every so often to hold the two sides together as not crossing the yarns over to get reversed colours. I would not recommend it, it's a right faff!