Knitting Peeves?

Crocheting patterns without pictures. Give me charts or words, it doesn't matter so much, I even love to understand patterns in languages I don't know (am I crazy? LOL), but without a picture of the finished "product" I'm lost :-(

Hugs,

Anna Maria

That is the problem I have with the WOnderful Wallaby. I like the sweater, but I don't care for the way in which it is written.

Katherine

I agree!

Kather> Katherine that is horrid , and i have heard it as well ,, strange

Yep, the infamous "yarn barf" :) And for some reason, I am always compelled to continue knitting until it's used up

Now, see... there's a difference... when my mom first taught me to knit and crochet, she would NOT let me SEE a picture of what I was making... and I think it made me a better knitter/crocheter.... JM2C, Noreen

LOL And here I thought I was the only one!

Katherine

I

The felted slippers from Fiber Trents are written that way. Just like knitting lace patterns, I got totally lost, since not one row is knitted the same.

I bought recipe cards and wrote each line out, taking all the abreviations out. Writing each and every line with each and every word. Once I was finished with one card or line, I would turn it over and go to the next one. I knitted these slippers for my daughter Peggy, who was here on the Island promoting her Puppy kits, and doing demonstrations with young puppies at Vets offices in Victoria and Nanaimo. I would wait for her in the car and knit. It did work much better for me that way. To bad that in the end I had the same problem as another knitter in this group, that these slippers came out way to big for Peggy. We will knit her a new pair. My brother with very big feet, got the large ones that did not fit Peggy. We had fun times though driving all over Vancouver Island with a puppy training daughter and a knitting mother, what a team....LOL

Els

LOL I am planning to make felted slippers this year, and hats, and mittens! Alec and Jenn really like them, so we bought patterns and wool this summer - enough to keep me busy for the whole winter!

Katherine

That's right. It surely developed your creativity. I learnt mostly by myself using the big photos on 70s magazines (for some reasons pics are much smaller nowadays), so I MUST have a photo just to make anything...

Hugs,

Anna Maria

Betty that gets a vote from me God bless Gwen Kelly

Nora I can feel for that one - a friend pestered me to knit her a jumper like one I had - and I had enough yarn to do just that - and she said she was delighted with it but I have never seen it worn God Bless Gwen

I'm with you Nyssa. I HATE charts with a passion. I still haven't memorized all the symbols, after all these years, so I look at the chart, look at the explanation for the symbols, look at the chart again, then do what it says. Much easier to just read the words and do it! When I knitted a beautiful Aran sweater for my DIL, I was swearing and mumbling the whole time. There were 2 or 3 different charts to read with that sweater. Eventually I was able to remember parts of them, plus the wrong side was easy. Knit the knit stitches and purl the purled stitches.

Shelagh

Spew!!!! Laughing like mad!! Good thing I wasn't drinking anything in front of my monitor!! ;>) ;>)

Shelagh

I have made two pairs of those *&%$ slippers and they are so HUGE! The ladies small which were for me fit my husband's size 11 feet. I've come to the conclusion my gauge must be way out, so when I have time, I will try them again. There is no way I would use the wool Fiber Trends recommend, it is VERY expensive- Woolpak 10 ply = $20.00/skein from Patternworks. Patternworks recommends Lamb's Pride Worsted by Brown Sheep @ $7.00/ball.

I had problems with this pattern at first but discovered it was the way I was counting stitches. Once I had that figured out, I was able to knit the slippers.

I ended up using a free Internet pattern that I like just as well: here's the link for it:

't be put off by how they look in the picture. What makes them lookfunny is the unfelted slipper underneath the finished ones. I found this tobe a very easy pattern, and hey - the slippers fit!! ;>)Shelagh

If I can't see what it's supposed to look like - I can't be bothered. Give me a picture first.

Shelagh

How could you know if you'd want to make it, if you haven't seen a picture? (unless you'd seen the actual item, of course). JM2C.

-- Carey in MA

I totally agree with you and Shelagh. I search sometimes for patterns on the Internet and I have to discarge those without a pic. It's very difficult to me to image how the finished item looks like. Pictures also help me in correcting mistakes in written directions or charts or to check out if I understood correct. Not all patterns are well written or my English is that good to understand everything.

Hugs,

Anna Maria

I've had that happen to me as well. It was when I was making a poncho for dd last year. I'd spent ages working out the colour that each ball started and finished with, so I could keep the pattern of colours but minimise the wastage. And the ball I started the second side with went the wrong way, so I ended up having lots of odd ends left over.

Yes, I'm like that: there are too many good patterns, to want to spend time on an unknown one.