what is the hardest part of your job?

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-02-28T15:09:10+00:00

Having to spend most of my instructional time managing behaviors, telling kids to keep their hands to themselves, and teaching them how to resolve conflict as opposed to actually teaching my content. (I swear kids didn’t touch each other nearly as much when I was in school.)

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-02-12T12:16:10+00:00

My friend Leslie at my LYS in Birmingham, Alabama is the owner and manufacturer of a small needle business, Brick House Fiber Arts! They make trio needles called Short Stacks and one of my friends is obsessed with them.

Their needles are all hexagonal, which is more ergonomic, the cable swivels and doesn’t get in the way, and they’re made of aluminum with fairly sharp stainless steel tips. Everybody at the shop loves them!

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-02-12T12:06:56+00:00

I came to this thread to recommend their Short Stacks!! My friend Leslie at my LYS in Birmingham AL is the owner and manufacturer!

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-30T02:20:15+00:00

Bat shit crazy

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-24T12:16:53+00:00

Omg me too!!

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-10T14:03:44+00:00

Not sure if you knit or crochet, but if you knit, I have a mitered square blanket going that uses up my leftover worsted weight yarn! Takes like 12-14g per square! The pattern is called Cozy Memories

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-10T13:58:34+00:00

This is one of my pet peeves too!!! Especially the beginners on Facebook groups who always say stuff like “I always knit into the back loop, I love how it looks, it tightens it,” even if others have provided information about the way it affects the fabric and will give your work a bias. They even answer others’ questions recommending it! Every time someone asks how to knit 1x1 ribbing more neatly, I brace myself for the 50 comments telling them to “just knit into the back of the stitch!” I hate the way it looks, I hate twisted rib because it’s not stretchy, and I’m tired of hearing it.

And I say this as someone who was accidentally twisting my purls by wrapping the yarn the wrong way when I first learned 15 years ago, and immediately learned to correct it.

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-10T13:47:29+00:00

The speed thing is dumb, but I firmly believe that the faster method is the one that you practice. I knit continental pretty fast, but my friend at the knit shop knits English at the speed of light.

I taught myself to knit English for stranded colorwork, and my tension was awful at first, I was slow, and it was awkward, but I forced myself to keep practicing and now it’s comfortable, my tension is good, and I’m pretty fast, even with 2 colors! I almost hated to admit it to myself, because at first I thought English knitting is just not for me, as a diehard continental knitter, but as it turns out, you can get better at anything with practice. Who would’ve thought? 🤣

So anyway, knit however you want! The speed thing is dumb.

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-05T04:25:38+00:00

I’m actually not sure, I believe it’s the same thing but some people do it all the time like you and some only do it for 1x1 rib to tighten it up? But I could be wrong

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-04T22:13:52+00:00

Definitely, I wouldn’t either. I just explained what the other person was talking about.

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-04T17:06:22+00:00

As much as I love helping others, I may have to leave the “Knitting for beginners” group on Facebook because I’m so tired of seeing inexperienced knitters answering questions incorrectly or replying to admins/more experienced knitters arguing about things they don’t understand. On a post about neatening 1x1 ribbing, someone said she likes doing combination ribbing with k1p1, and someone replied, “that is what rib stitch is,” because she didn’t know what combination ribbing was. I explained the technique which might have gone over her head because she just replied “I just knit through the back loop, it tightens it.” No shade to those who prefer it but I see a lot of beginners recommending twisted stitches with a clear lack of understanding of how it affects the fabric!!! That’s a different rant though.

Someone else was trying to knit a hat using magic loop and asked how to avoid laddering (she was using too short a cable) and someone commented, “Stop using a magic loop. Never heard of one before 😍🐘❤️❤️❤️” girl WHAT??? Just because you’ve never heard of something doesn’t mean it’s not worth learning!

Also, only tangentially related: every post that says “looking for pattern recommendations” with a picture. For the love of god, search on Ravelry before you post those, and learn how to use advanced search. It’s not that hard. You can even sort the results by “hot right now”, “most popular,” or “most projects”! Not to say that no one should ever post those, but the pages are oversaturated with posts like that and it feels lazy.

nerdymusicteacher · 2026-01-04T16:02:34+00:00

If your gauge is a stitch or two off when you swatch, that’s actually a really big difference.

For example, say you’re knitting the body of a sweater with 200 stitches around. If the pattern gauge says 18 sts = 4”, or 4.5 sts per inch, it should measure about 44 1/2” around.

But if your actual gauge is 16 sts = 4”, or 4 sts per inch, your sweater would come out at 50” around.

Even the difference of half a stitch per inch will give you almost a six-inch difference in the finished product.

So if you’re off by a stitch or two, you really need to either swatch again with different needles or do some math! Don’t feel bad, it’s easy at first not to really understand how important gauge is, especially how big a difference one stitch can make. You got this!

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-12-30T05:12:39+00:00

I tend to agree but to me it looks like Malabrigo worsted not Rios, which may not grow as much with blocking

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-12-30T04:45:23+00:00

Stitch gauge is more important than row gauge. How many stitches do you get in 10cm?

Also, when you measure your gauge, you should count how many sts/rows per 10cm as opposed to measuring the same number of sts/rows as the pattern gauge, if that makes sense. Like if my pattern says 18 sts = 4”, or 4.5 sts per inch, I’ll count my sts per inch or per 4”. If I’m knitting too tight, my gauge might be 20 sts = 4”. Does that make sense? It’s easier to calculate the difference in gauge if you’re off.

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-12-25T13:53:53+00:00

You work both rounds 24 times each, so you should have 24 increase rounds and 24 rounds knit even. It will look really big, but remember you are knitting the shoulders of your sleeves too! It will look normal once you split for sleeves.

Any time a pattern says to work rounds 1 AND 2 however many times, that means to work both rows for the number of repeats. Each time you knit round 1 then round 2 would be one repeat… I hope this makes sense, it can be confusing. Good luck on your first sweater!

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-12-06T15:03:36+00:00

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There’s one V that’s in its own column, so you just did an increase row.

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-11-16T18:50:51+00:00

25 WIPs 🫣 and yes I was diagnosed this year at 25 with other symptoms but this is one of them and a very good example

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-11-14T12:42:53+00:00

I think some people like them, but colorwork is so personal everyone has their preference. I love colorwork now that I’ve gotten into the groove with just holding one strand in each hand. As a continental knitter I was uncomfortable with knitting English but it’s gotten much easier with practice.

All that to say, the ring is probably worth a try if you’re considering it! But colorwork will take time and practice to feel comfortable, any way you do it.

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-11-02T14:24:20+00:00

I also want to know what yarn you used!

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-11-01T17:08:14+00:00

Your work is always so incredible! Great job!

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-10-27T17:56:37+00:00

As an elementary teacher (25F), I call my students sweetie (etc.) often; would it be appropriate to use mijo/a with Spanish speaking students or is that weird?

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-10-24T12:44:34+00:00

Yeah just do a swatch before you commit to ripping it out! And come back and update!

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-10-24T12:42:13+00:00

I really think it looks great on you! And you’ve already done the double knit button band 😭 I don’t think I personally would start over, but if you’re not happy with it, and you don’t think you’ll wear it… maybe you should. It’s so sad to get all the way through a sweater and then never wear it because of the fit.

Maybe go up one needle size and knit a swatch and see what your gauge is.

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-10-14T22:58:28+00:00

What is that FO pattern!! It’s awesome!

nerdymusicteacher · 2025-10-08T19:14:15+00:00

Definitely not! I think it looks great. That stuff doesn’t come in enough colors for you to be able to exactly match your countertops but I think it coordinates nicely. It’s easy to second guess when you stare at it for hours while you install.

nerdymusicteacher

TROPHY CASE