General Discussion

@AlphaTwin and @Eialyne - You both have my deepest respect for even thinking about attempting a 4th Doctor Scarf! I am in awe of people who have the dedication and patience for that. :) Oh, and Eialyne, your John Watson jumper is gorgeous. I've cast on for my Cubes Pullover. I'm using bulky (possibly super-bulky) yarn so it's going quickly. I had two color combinations in mind, but ended up going with the charcoal-and-gold since it was giving me a nice plush fabric. [url=https://flic.kr/p/pWh6X6][img]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5600/15710438255_eeb6fc6896_n.jpg[/img][/url] I love the chocolate and teal combo but I wasn't feeling up to fiddling with the gauge and stitch counts to make it work. Alas! (Please excuse the untidiness in the photo.)

@twotone

Yay for you recognizing it! >w< As much suffering it caused me while making it I do still love it dearly, especially since it falls into the category of subtle cosplay (anyone who needs to recognize it will recognize it while everyone else thinks it's just regular clothes).

I also did Jude Law's scarf from Game of Shadows recently (can't get the picture to upload upright while at work but you still get the gist of it) so i'm apparently on the road to knit at least one thing of every John Watson in the history of forever (and I can't say I have any problems with this...).

@twotone @Eialyne
I love both those color combos!! I wouldn't mind knitting Doctor Who scarves considering it's all garter stitch and I'm a relatively fast knitter. Probably wouldn't take me more than a week of dedicated knitting to get one done.

As for gauge issues, my swatch for my sweater and my gauge was way way off. Not even knitting a smaller size would make a proper sweater. I found out that you can very easily fix your gauge in a pattern by doing the following math.

Divide your gauge by the pattern gauge. Multiply the result with the stitch number in the pattern.

For example, my sweater required 80 stitches for cast on. My gauge was 12 stitches per 4", the pattern called for 15 stitches. So the math I did was this:

12/15 = 0.8
0.8*80 = 64 CO stitches

Some parts of the pattern call for the same # of decreases for all sizes so that's an easy modifier. Other stitches get multiplied by 0.8 to get the proper number. It's really a genius way to adjust a pattern for a different gauge! Thankfully my pattern measures a lot in inches instead of rows, but the formula works for row gauge too. :)



I'm aiming for between 61-71 cms here. This is the back piece. I'm working slowly but in bulky yarn it knits up pretty fast.

@DaftThoughts

Ahhh! I need to save this when I get home for future reference! I've been oh so terrified of mucking about wtih gauge (and I'll confess to being an impatient knitter here and I haven't swatched once ">>) but this looks super helpful!

@Meggo929
I strongly recommend finding YouTube tutorials on the techniques you want to learn. I've heard that in many classes, the teachers can be pretty headstrong about the 'right way' to knit and refuse to acknowledge any other way. I think that's wrong, with many stitches and patterns there are multiple ways to achieve the same result, and what's comfy and doable for one person isn't necessarily comfy and doable for others.

(For example, there are people who act like you've just killed a puppy if you mention you tie knots in your work instead of weaving the ends in. Some are pretty religious about it for reasons nobody knows, but in reality there are plenty of projects where it doesn't make a damn difference whether you knot or weave. Unless you're planning on ripping out your work later on, or the knot may end up being uncomfortable, knotting is the easiest way to secure your yarn.

There are good and bad tutorials on YT for this, but Stacy from Very Pink Knits is by far my favorite. She explains things really well. She has separate videos for techniques for pattern videos, and she focuses on teaching you the technique that you can apply to patterns.

https://www.youtube.com/user/verypinkknits/videos

There are some things I do different than her, but that's because I browsed YT a lot and sort of combined multiple videos for the best results. I have a favorites playlist with some of the videos I used when I started out. Maybe there's something useful in it for you.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3pPpjKzVCbkH_Tmfnp06jG-03cV1EDhT

@Eialyne
I've memorized the formula by now lmao. I was recommended the book Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman because she explains how to fix gauge and other things that make having a pattern (or modifying one) a piece of cake. Basically it teaches you to knit from scratch. You can knit a sweater without a pattern from it.

Doesn't have pictures and is a long read, but stuff like this is in it and that makes me want it!

@DaftThoughts I had an AMAZING instructor through the community college I work at. She was very much "let's do this a way that works for you". I also have a tiny knitting store in my town and the owner is super supportive of people who want to come in and experiment.

I crochet. I really want to learn to knit though. There's some really neat patterns that I'd like to try.

@Meggo929
I'm jealous! There are very few around here, and the ones I talked to are as I described. :( Very unfun. I hope YouTube can be a suitable alternative for you though.

@Bovinae
Crochet is next on my list! It seems like fun for a lot of plushie projects. Less seaming. :P

Kinda late to the party, but... I'm a beginner knitter, and I've done a couple projects (mostly scarves and stuff and small stuff). I recently got gifted some thick, red yearn, so I'm trying to find a simple, but nice design for a scarf!

Hoping to try knitting in the round and/or crocheting soon :)