any knitters or interested knitters going to waka?

[emmablue]

ive just taken it up as a craft and know we will be together for the rest of my life. I'm at work right now with a giant pile of tangled hand dyed spring green yarn in front of me. It adds a whole new element having this beautiful delicate yarn out at the gym (and me totally absorbed and rhythmic with the detangling) and people love it.

Anyways Im just moving on to hats but hope to have a bikini done in time for waka. I would love to sit and have a little stitch circle under a tree at some point at waka if anyone's interested. I still have tons of question but new comers are welcome, I have extra needles!

[luckeestar]

I'd love to learn a few basics! What type of needles & yarn do you suggest for beginners?

[tnkrbellup]

I've always wanted to learn to knit. So far I've held out & not taken any classes. The way it is now I don't spend anywhere near enough time focusing on my craft at hand!

We just got a new book in today which looks very interesting.I thought you might be interested, emma. It shows some really cool techniques for hand-dying yarn and includes projects for knitting & crocheting.

Hand-Dyed Yarn Craft Projects by Debbie Tomkies ISBN 1861083419

[emmablue]

This is an excerpt from my knitting book/bible 'Stitch n' Bitch'...( luckee i answered your question in the next post) it might look long but trust me it's awesome, it brought tears to my eyes at the end:

\" In the mid-1300s and 1400s, a number of paintngs were made in italy and other areas of Europe showing the virgin Mary, with little baby Jesus at her feet, knitting away on some sort of round garment. They suggest that, by the late Middle Ages, knitting had arrived in various parts of Europe. Working with four needles--no slouch, she!--the knitting Mary in these paintings tells us that even Jesus Christ wore sweaters made by his mom.
Both men and women knit in those days, but the men belonged to fancy, exclusive guilds where they would spend six years training to become master knitters, the piece de resistance of their studies being a vast knit carpet they would complete at the end of their schooling. For most of its history however, knitting has been a women's craft, perhaps because it is so portable and can be done in small stretches of time, which makes it perfectly compatible with child rearing. Knit one, purl two, nurse the baby, knit another row.
During times of war, knitting's popularity has soared. Although we've often heard of Rosie the Riveter, we've overlooked someone whom I'll call Ned the Knitter--the men at home recovering from war injuries, the veterans too old to serve, and the young Boy Scouts, who, during the last two world wars, were enlisted to help knit socks and blankets for the soldiers, right beside the women folk. Apparently, in times of war the false limitations of gender fall away. Of course, we've always known there's no reason men can't knit just as well as women can......

(skipping some stuff)

It didn't so much matter what they were making--after all, what purpose is served by hand-tatted lace sewn on the edge of a handkerchief?--as long as their hands remained in motion, for, as my grandmother used to say, \"Idle hands are the devil's workshop.\"
But there was something else behind all this activity as well. The handwork of my grandmother and great-aunts seemed to provide comfort and serenity. Seated at these family gatherings, their purposeful motions gave them a focused air of self-containment, an earthy solidity. They were, after all, women who had learned their crafts as children, and who had practiced these skills throughout their lives--before and after the birth of children, the loss of husbands, and through two world wars. Their knitting was as regular and rhythmic as their breathing, as framiliar as the feel of their own skin, and just as much a part of them.
From the time she first learned to knit, at age six, my grandmother was responsible for knitting socks to cover each of the thirty feet in her family. \"In the evenings, the boys were free to do anything they liked,\" she once told me, with a lingering tinge of resentment, \"but all the girls had to sit and knit\". Later on in her life she made more extravagant items, including a fanciful knit suit in a beautiful, dusty-rose-colored nubby yarn, which my aunt still talks about to this day. But my grandmother aways returned to her sock knitting. Even in her nineties, when her eyesight began to fail, she could still turn out perfect pairs of socks--the memory of their creation so well worn into her hands that she could knit them practically by feel alone. My grandmother's hand knit socks are still the only thing my father ever wears on his feet.
In my grandmother's time, knitting was not just a way to keep one's hands busy--it was also a way to save money. When my mother was small, it was standard practice to buy yarn and knit a sweater for a child, then, a year or so later, unravel and reknit it, with a bit more yarn, when the child had outgrown the original. Then there was the time, during the Second World War, that my grandmother had to unravel an old cotton bedspread--which her own mother had to knit--to make underwear for her children. My mother still remembers sitting on uncomfortably hard wooden school benches, the bumpy side of the knit underwear leaving \"

[emmablue]

tink--if you feel like schleping the book to langer id love to have a look but it might not be worth the schlep! maybe you can post some cool projects here or email them to me once you start out on them...

luck--i reccommend starting out with a size 8(US) or 5mm needle and an inexpensive acrylic yarn (which good yarn stores dont even carry) or a simple hand dyed yarn--if you look at the label it will tell you what size needles to use. I enjoy metal needles but some folks prefer wooden. I looked up the the us air regulations and they said flying with knitting is fine.

[southernknitter]

Hello. I have been knitting for about a year now, and i will be bringing a few projects along with me to Waka. So if you would like to set up a time and a meeting place that would be cool. I'm not really a fan of the Stitch n bitch book... i like more classic pieces like Debbie Bliss, Rowan and Jaeger stuff. I have a knitting blog (www.southernknitter.blog-city.com) i have some of my projects listed on their if you would like to take a look. Anyhow please let me know if you would like to meet up.

[ajones6]

I dunno if this counts, but I crochet...? I can do scarves, blankets, beenies, socks, ...etc. I like crochet cuz you can use hemp and make jewelry with it, too.

[emmablue]

i def. think that counts! it involves hooking a line eh? i guess we should include fisherpeople too!

i really want to learn how to crochet at some point...

[tatphishgirl]

there is also another thread about knitting def think there will enough knitters to get together for a circle -- I think it would be great if people could get together and exchange talents and crafts. I personally would like to learn how to crochet esp. with hemp. anywho hopefully we all can meet up.

[touchofgray]

I've never tried knitting before, but I believe I'd be a natural as I can roll a mean dube. I'd be interested in learning as I believe it would really enhance my \"rap\" with the festival hippie chicks and show my sensitive side (plus you never know when you're going to need a nice cardigan).