knitting stuff.
Aug. 25th, 2010 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serynSince I can't put this on my Rav page, I will talk about it here. A bazillion people have come to knitting lately. They all want help choosing projects. I remember being that person. I swear I didn't know how fucking annoying it was.
There's a huge leap as a knitter between a scarf and anything else, then a hat and anything else, then a sweater. Sure, not everyone follows those exact steps, but rectangle that fits everyone, small round item that has to fit someone but most every adult has about the same size head, large item that has to actually fit an individual person. It is extremely difficult to tell where you should go next. You need to make about a dozen scarves before you're nimble enough to try something bigger for sure. Hats are smaller, but the round part is a whole skillset. And it's hard to know if something is too ambitious.
So most newbie knitters want help where someone tells them what to do next. I think most people should make a 4 scarves (3 ribbing and one self-chosen stripes), a seamed hand warmer (well, 2 of them) in Fair Isle or mosaic colorwork, a bag (for colorwork or construction practice) or a shawl (for lacework practice), 3 hats (using different skills, plain to get used to the circular needles, a texture motif, and a color motif), and then a seamed vest from bulky yarn. If you do that, you're going to have most of the skills necessary to be an adequate knitter. You will be able to take those skills and make socks from a good set of instructions, you will be able to make a fitted sweater in the round if there is a good pattern. And you will have enough practice to know which aspects can be adjusted by the knitter.
Knitting group has a box of donated yarn. (I really need to be more proactive in seeking out donations.) Most of the people who come in do not buy their own yarn. So I can't recommend they make bigger projects even though that is one of the developmental stages for any knitter. We just don't have the supplies.
One of the projects people keep wanting is baby booties. They don't exist in any of the books our library has, probably because the easy ones are ridiculously easy.
I finally broke down, searched Ravelry (and I like their new search because of the construction parameters) so I could find an appropriate pattern.
Today while watching the latest Lie To Me, I knitted a bootie, wrote out the pattern for it, and mock-seamed it. (A mock seam is where I crochet on both edges to be seamed in a contrasting yarn so one can easily see where one would need to sew, but the flat example is visible for someone who needs to see the knitting part.)
I should probably do the other pattern as well.
All these patterns say they're copyrighted, you can't use them for commercial or retail use, that flaming needle-tipped bees will fight over your corpse if you do anything other than refer people to the webpage with the pattern. And... ready? there are a dozen of these and they're all essentially the same. You knit a rectangle with a flange. I'm not very impressed by the lack of generosity from these "designers".
Anyway, you can't tell anyone I made baby stuff. I'm sure they'll pull my childfree membership card if anyone finds out. I'm only excusing myself because it was a creative endeavor to adapt patterns for the kinds of yarns available.
There's a huge leap as a knitter between a scarf and anything else, then a hat and anything else, then a sweater. Sure, not everyone follows those exact steps, but rectangle that fits everyone, small round item that has to fit someone but most every adult has about the same size head, large item that has to actually fit an individual person. It is extremely difficult to tell where you should go next. You need to make about a dozen scarves before you're nimble enough to try something bigger for sure. Hats are smaller, but the round part is a whole skillset. And it's hard to know if something is too ambitious.
So most newbie knitters want help where someone tells them what to do next. I think most people should make a 4 scarves (3 ribbing and one self-chosen stripes), a seamed hand warmer (well, 2 of them) in Fair Isle or mosaic colorwork, a bag (for colorwork or construction practice) or a shawl (for lacework practice), 3 hats (using different skills, plain to get used to the circular needles, a texture motif, and a color motif), and then a seamed vest from bulky yarn. If you do that, you're going to have most of the skills necessary to be an adequate knitter. You will be able to take those skills and make socks from a good set of instructions, you will be able to make a fitted sweater in the round if there is a good pattern. And you will have enough practice to know which aspects can be adjusted by the knitter.
Knitting group has a box of donated yarn. (I really need to be more proactive in seeking out donations.) Most of the people who come in do not buy their own yarn. So I can't recommend they make bigger projects even though that is one of the developmental stages for any knitter. We just don't have the supplies.
One of the projects people keep wanting is baby booties. They don't exist in any of the books our library has, probably because the easy ones are ridiculously easy.
I finally broke down, searched Ravelry (and I like their new search because of the construction parameters) so I could find an appropriate pattern.
Today while watching the latest Lie To Me, I knitted a bootie, wrote out the pattern for it, and mock-seamed it. (A mock seam is where I crochet on both edges to be seamed in a contrasting yarn so one can easily see where one would need to sew, but the flat example is visible for someone who needs to see the knitting part.)
I should probably do the other pattern as well.
All these patterns say they're copyrighted, you can't use them for commercial or retail use, that flaming needle-tipped bees will fight over your corpse if you do anything other than refer people to the webpage with the pattern. And... ready? there are a dozen of these and they're all essentially the same. You knit a rectangle with a flange. I'm not very impressed by the lack of generosity from these "designers".
Anyway, you can't tell anyone I made baby stuff. I'm sure they'll pull my childfree membership card if anyone finds out. I'm only excusing myself because it was a creative endeavor to adapt patterns for the kinds of yarns available.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 03:55 am (UTC)And how is a standard baby bootie pattern in any way proprietary? Perhaps you should patent it and sue them. I call hats in the round.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 05:06 am (UTC)What gets me are fingerless mitts made from a rectangle that's seamed... you can't copyright that. (You can copyright your version of the instructions because your words are your own. But there's no way all the fingerless mitts in the world are derivative of something copyrighted 2008. I met the bitch who argued that!) And you sure as hell can't be selling the pattern for $4.50 when it's made from a single skein of Noro without any special technique.
I think probably there's something about the actual words that can be copyrighted for any of these generic patterns. But I think any designer who tries to restrict the access to the obvious is an idiot. At least these were free, and I do get that it sucks if you go through the effort of writing something out and illustrating it when someone just steals your content and reposts it as their own (about.com anyone?) But the threats about selling anything made from these patterns? Someone's a bit egocentric.
I've started making samples of things because paper patterns walk away. Plus when we get people who don't speak English, they can still do it.
One of my friends developed a method for putting pockets in hats. (Not sure why you'd want one.) It's pretty shocking that people will sell patterns that have zero effort in them and some decent folks are giving away real honest innovative ideas.
I hate knitting baby stuff. I think it encourages people to have babies they're ill-prepared and ill-suited to raise effectively. My SIL is one of those squealers who thinks baaaaabies are sooooooh cuuuute! I asked her once what she thinks of toddlers and kindergartners and 8 year olds and teenagers. She just *shrugged* because she only wants the cute babies. She's like the kind of person who buys a baby rabbit for easter wanting to keep it as a pet then when it's grown past the cute phase turns it in at the pound. But she hasn't been arrested for Easy Bake Ovening the shopworn models.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 01:49 pm (UTC)I still like babies, but I HATE the way children around here are having children and locking themselves and the child into some pretty horrendous lives.
I like the idea of a pocket in a hat even though I would probably never use it!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 02:57 pm (UTC)Considering the tremendous rewards for having a child, emancipation and free money, it's actually hard to understand why anyone waits. With the media harping on the idea that if you wait, you might not be able to have babies at all (there is something to that, biologically declining fertility... but they don't mean the decline is between age 15 and 25, they mean between 30 and 40ish).... and the religious and social shift against contraception. It shouldn't surprise anyone that more minors are getting pregnant and keeping their babies. Pretty much the only reason not to use a baby to escape a miserable life is the ability to reason out that damning someone else in your place is abominable.
Promethean pocket hat
no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 09:52 pm (UTC)