I just learned how to knit a few weeks back and just finished my first scarf today. It was a bit tricky to get started but a lot easier than I thought it would be to get the hang of with some practice. It‘s a great having something to do while watching a tv show or listening to a podcast that actually produces something practical, and I can’t wait to dive in to more complicated projects and to learn how to plan and design my own projects down the line.
Let's talk about fibers! Do you knit or crochet or felt or weave or macramé or embroider or sew? What kind of things do you make? When do you do it? What do you love about it? If you don't, have you ever considered it?
I literally found some crochet hooks that I had been looking for weeks 10 minutes before writing this! I started crocheting like a month ago, but haven't finished anything yet. For now I have only practiced my chains and single crochet a lot (partly cause a big yarn order took a while to arrive). Was watching Pretty Cure while doing it.
This is the biggest thing I've done so far without tearing it apart to start again.
I want to do a lot of 2d single crochet art and have them covering my CRTs and speakers so that they look cute instead of being just big ugly black boxes.
Don't know how ambitious this is, but I want to try to make a crochet flower pot for a friend's graduation next month. I think I have enough time to learn how to do it.
A couple of days ago a big order of chunky yarn came in the mail and I had been looking for the crochet hooks I mentioned before to start working on the flower pot.
The same friend that I want to make the flower pot for taught how to embroider a while back, but I haven't done a ton of embroidery yet.
I don't have any of it handy to share photos of, but I knit myself a pair of leg warmers a few years back, using super chunky yarn to make them extra warm– I started the project in response to all the leg warmers I found in shops being made from laughably thin materials (probably more for fashion than actual warmth). The downside is they work too well and I can only really wear them on the coldest of days!
My other big fibre project is doing custom latch hook designs for wall hanging projects. I started out making kit latch hook stuff but the prepackaged stuff is incredibly boring and uses pretty much the same designs that have been floating around since I was a kid: Keane-eyed animals, peace signs, and branded sports team designs. So I decided to make my own, which isn't really very hard (and is obviously pixel art adjacent). I took most of the last six months off from making these because I was having ongoing vision related health problems, which made it impossible to do, but I just started up again!
Other than that, I almost went all in on buying a loom back at the beginning of Covid, but it's all just expensive enough that I never followed through.
I learned how to knit a few years ago. I‘ve since neglected the hobby, but I made a throw pillow out of semi-felted yarn that I still have and it’s one of the softest things to ever exist. I also knit a little stuffed orca whale for my little sister, because she was really into Free Willy at the time.
The thing I like most about having learned how to knit is that it taught me to "see" stiches. I never knew the shapes of knit stiches or perl stiches before and I like being able to look at a scarf or a sweater or whatever and see how it was made.
I could have a fair bit to say in this thread. My dad hand-stitched a linen tunic for himself this year. He wears it every day!
I have a lot of mending I should do personally, but I hate sewing…
now that is sick. I actually have some squares of fabric intended to patch butt holes in my clothes with that I use to cover consoles that I have plugged in but not in use, as dust covers, along with other tapestries like furoshiki. a custom stitched cover would be right on... and I could really use one for my CRT too, it's been naked for far too long. y'all are giving me ideas!
@Mnemogenic yeah this is wild looking at a piece of clothing and being able to see the matrix. Learning to knit feels extremely similar to learning 6502 assembly.
I like to sew!!! I took a class last year to learn basics and it was one of the best things I‘ve done and subsequently has been more practically useful than anything I’ve ever done as a job for money lol!!! Fixing up issues with clothes and stuff is so rewarding. I want to learn to hem pants next.
My partner picked yarnwork back up in 2020 and it‘s been really fun seeing her grow her skills over time. Here’s a tiny amigurumi Pikachu she made for my niece.
I haven't knitted or crocheted very much myself, but I'm about to start working on a small felting project whenever I want a little screen break. It's a little starter kit of four small dogs, I'll share pics as I go!
I don't crochet, but my wife sometimes does. A looooong time ago she crocheted me a long red scarf. Wearing it with my 3/4-length overcoat that I inherited from my grandfather is “one of my favorite looks” to use the cliché.
For the record, I'm a "fold it in half and pull it through" kinda guy. It sorta reads as a tie. I don't personally care for the "make one loop around your neck and have a tail dangling both on the front and back".
i like knitting. i should do some. i knitted a front (or back) panel for a jumper (sweater) but it took fuckin ages and i'm not sure i even did the reductions on the shoulders properly, so i have a stash of gorgeous, sheepy-smelling, water resistant wool sitting unloved at the mo.
i should do another beanie hat, it's always good to have different colours. i have an easy pattern for an on-the-round, milspec watch cap if anybody wants me to DM it to them. the reductions to make the crown give you a nice spiral effect.
you know the one thing that stops me knitting more often? all the tv i want to watch and/or binge is subtitled, and i'm not good enough at knitting to not do it by eye!
@TracyDMcGrath Update, today I decided to learn cable braiding but I didn't want to start a third project so I decided to put cable braids into the fair isle one.
I can't say I recommend doing likewise but, mission accomplished?
The variegated yarn isn‘t high contrast enough to see the fair isle, the fair isle is too busy to see the cabling, and the cabling and the fair isle both eat up chunks of the variegated yarn so that you can’t see the colors transition, but the end result is so chaotic that I kind of wrap around to not minding it? Anyway at least I'm getting all my worst instincts out of the way at the same time
