r/AdvancedKnitting

Made this sweater using all foraged local natural dyes, and it was suggested I post it here as well! So so stoked on how the colours came out - such a shame it doesn’t fit 😵‍💫🤪

Had some challenges with the colorwork bunching up in spots/being tensioned too tight even though usually I have no issues, I think the dyeing process affected the elasticity of various colours differently, but it was an insanely fun and rewarding project regardless!!

This is my attempt at a historically accurate purse silk version of the Jane Gaugain/Franklin Habit pineapple purse, with beads. I am using size E pearl stringing thread, hand-dyed in acid dyes in 8 different colors, and 2.5mm brass gold-plated beads.

The needle size is US 00000, or 1mm wide. I cast on 80 stitches on each needle to give me a round 320 stitches, each one beaded with the beaded long-tail cast on, and I plan to line this little reticule with white silk.

I have also commissioned a friend to use some of the silk thread I have dyed to make kumihimo braid for me to use as a drawstring and handle for this little purse.

It is a birthday present for a friend whose birthday is in late July. I think I will definitely be done by mid-July.

As of today I am 11 rounds into the pineapple leaves. This is because I had to start over last week when I was 9 rounds in, and I will explain why.

When I first posted this WIP there were people commenting that they were afraid it was twisted. This made me paranoid, and I dropped a stitch 4 rounds in and gave it a twist to counter what I perceived was a twist, then picked the stitches back up.

I then found out 5 rounds after that that... I didn't have to. and it was NOW twisted. Dropping the stitch to fix it caused more problems than it solved, so I just frogged it and started over.

Now I am going to answer some suggestions that were made in the original threads.

• I have tried carbon fiber needles. The points were imperfectly finished so they grabbed the silk thread and shredded it whenever I tried to make a knit stitch.
• I also bought a US00000 circular needle made by HiyaHiya, and while handy for the second time I cast on, it was excruciating to knit with as the transition from cable to needle was not nearly smooth enough for reeled silk thread. More shredding and snagging ensued.
• This has led to a lot of thread that got fuzzy. I remedied it the costume technician way Z— I hand-waxed it with beeswax, winding the waxed thread onto a spare spool, and then placed an iron over it to melt the beeswax in and wound it back onto its own home spool.
• The best needles so far are still the plain boring 5.5 inch US00000 steel dpns, and the best way to prevent the reeled silk from sliding off the needles has been silicone earring backs.
• The slipperiness of the steel needle is vital, as reeled silk will snag even on rough fingers. As I work as a jeweler largely doing fabrications work for my boss, my hands are plenty rough so I smear on some LUSH Palm Reader before I start. If my hands are especially rough I'll use some Dream Cream on them, let it soak in, then wipe it off and put Palm Reader on. This means my pineapple is very fragrant.
• I will wash it in unscented Eucalan later to help set the stitches before I put the lining in, and so my friend won't be assailed by strong perfumes.
• To reiterate: I am a professional. I have a degree in costume production. I am knitting this under conditions that I had tested out. I understand people want to be helpful, but I am getting a lot of comments where people are trying to solve problems that I have already tested out and solved before I started using the actual hand-dyed expensive silk thread to cast on. I have spent about $60 and 20 work hours fixing problems that I didn't need to fix because people kept pointing out problems that weren't really there. Don't worry, I will be fine, I like suffering!
• and for people wondering how I can knit this fine: I am wearing a pair of Optivisors with the 4-diopter (2x magnification) plate in. I can actually knit this without wearing the visor, but I've noticed small mistakes in the round when I go back to it with a visor on later.
• This means it's not a knit alone in public pattern, less because I'm too ashamed to be seen in goofy magnification glasses, but because they reduce my peripheral vision to zero and I don't really want to be caught unawares by some kind of bad actor. I could stab them with the needles but then I'd get blood on my pineapple and that's just no good.

Yes, I am crazy. Yes, I love my friend. But also yes, I love a challenge. I hope to present you all with more pineapply goodness by next week.

PS: The "damn" is not because I'm frustrated doing this, it is the literal pattern name.

I started this fingering-weight sweater more than 10 years ago. It’s mostly finished but I haven’t touched it in years because I’m too intimidated to steek it 🫣 Please convince me to finish this, I spent so many hours on it already! Steeking tips are welcome!

Pattern is “Lissiun” in Ravelry. Sorry about the weird lighting in the picture. It’s grey, pink, and dark purple.

Hi all,

Thought I’d share my latest knitted puppy. I’m really pleased with how this one turned out.

Knitted with Gazzal Marilyn & Merinos and Drops Kid Silk yarns.

First time using the Gazzal yarns and it’s lovely to work with, soo soft and when brushed up, really fluffy.

Needles size 3.75mm (UK)

Pattern ( bit of a mixture) Bullmastiff puppy, basic puppy also some deductions of leg rows to get the shorter legs. All patterns by Claire Garland dotpebbleknits.

I was a little hesitant to post here because this is mostly embroidery!

This is The Starry Sky Sweater by Naomi Tsuda. This is a fully charted pattern from an OOP book. Below is a link to the pattern on Ravelry. You can find my project there. I tried to write down some details on the process there:

https://ravel.me/starry-sky-sweater-

This was made with Harrisville Designs Highland. Highly recommended for heirloom quality items! It is not scratchy at all, it feels like a comfy sweatshirt.

I will be attending NY Sheep and Wool (Rhinebeck), A Woolen Affair, and Indie Untangled this year. So if you see me, feel free to say hello! I'm really looking forward to attending. The Hudson Valley in the fall is gorgeous.

Not going to lie, I'm feeling a bit lost on what to make next. I don't think anything I make will be as cool as this.

Thank you for looking, it has been such an honor to make this sweater. Reviving an almost forgotten pattern.

I'd be happy to answer any questions about the techniques used!

I saw a cute sweater for sale online. The sweater itself did not have good reviews, but I loved the stitch pattern. So I decided to make one myself. I wound up just knitting a vest, and I love how it turned out. I used Plucky Knitter Primo Sport yarn in colorway Haberdasher and KnitPro Symfonie Viva yarn in colorway Party Lights. I did not use a pattern, but I have made quite a few vests in my time so it was easy to make it up as I went.

Greetings. I was asked in r/knitting to post this here, so here I go.

I'm Melissa. I have a background in theatrical costume design, although I work as a jeweler these days.

I have a friend who is a massive Regency nut — and she has costumes of the period. For her birthday this year I am knitting her a pineapple reticule using Franklin Habit's pattern, except instead of using fingering weight silk yarn and US #1 needles, I am instead using reeled silk thread and US #00000 needles.

The thread I am using is pearl-stringing thread in size E hand-dyed with acid dyes to make 8 different hues — two yellows, two browns, and four greens — and I am beading the entire thing with tiny gold-tone brass beads.

This little reticule is not entirely unknown to costume history, either. This specific example hails from c.1800 to 1810, although the beads used were silver-toned, not gold.

Nevertheless — I have finished two pattern rows and am currently working on a third... I will post photo updates as I have the time to.

I intend to line the finished purse with fine silk fabric.

EDIT: Details I forgot to post

1: the silk thread is very slippery and the needles are very pointy. I have used silicone earring backs to tip each unused needle so that I don't have the needles slide straight out of the knitting as they have threatened to do once or twice when I was casting on.

2: I am wearing a pair of Optivisors to knit this; currently using the 4-diopter plate, which is 2x magnification.

3: I chose to use a beaded long-tail cast on instead of beading all 320 cast-on stitches. That actually makes the edge of the "stalk" part curl in a very becoming fashion so I'm pleased I chose to be lazy instead of accurate :p

This is St Kilda Square Shawl by Iaroslava Rud. The yarn is Heirloom Knitting's "Gossamer CashSilk." It's listed as cobweb, but it's so thin I think it might qualify as thread weight. It does fit through a wedding band! All in all, it was a tedious knit but not insanely difficult, and the yarn is stronger than it looks. I blocked this hard enough for the mats to curl, and nothing broke. I still have 2577yds of this stuff since I misread what weight the pattern called for and ordered waaaay too much. Definitely taking a break to work on something else before tackling another cobweb shawl though (and making sure the pattern actually calls for cobweb...)

I am knitting the Kronborg by Maria Bach Jensen and I’m just getting to the sleeves. German short rows I have a pretty good handle on, but I am confused at the wording from the instructions. From what I can understand you start on the right side (outside of the sweater) and moss stitch 6 st, do the GRS, turn your work and knit from the “wrong side” back towards M1. Then it asks you to knit 6st past M1, on the other side of the marker (end of round). I don’t understand how you’d be on the “right side” again. Wouldn’t you be knitting past M1 or beginning of round on the wrong side? Is this a typo or by right side does she mean something else I’m not understanding?

Hi Mods, not sure if this is the right flair, I've messaged the designer and probably will continue to reach out to her but it's not been very helpful. It's also my first complicated wearable with shaping and incorporating different stitch patterns.

I've read through the pattern heaps of time, and I am driving myself nuts trying to visualise different parts of the pattern while keeping track of the increases (which changes the rows and stitch counts of each section). I have not started the pattern yet as I want to get a general sense of how the knitting process and finding myself very overwhelmed.

The designer has also taken to shorten subsequent rows after the set up into something like

Row 7: Zig Zag P5, C2L, P6 Diamond P5, C2L, P6, C2R, P5

Basically omitting the additional cables and basket stitches at the start and between each section

I get that because those section instructions doesn't change over a few rows, it's the same stitch but I can't visualize it and I'm trying to see if there's a way to put it into excel so I'm able to tell row by row what I'm doing.

(I've emailed the designer asking which section constitutes a diamond as stated in the pattern and which is Zig zag and she explained it but it took a while before I realized she expected me to understand there are cables and basket stitches between those section)

In addition to that, there are increases that are done into the basket stitches and later on into the Zig Zag patten.

I'm not ranting, I really would appreciate any advice given as to how I can start this as I really want to learn and be better at reading patterns, there are schematics included but they are filled with so many various instructions for different sizing in one page that it's not helpful for me right now.

Do I just cast on, give it a go? I could try putting it into excel so it's easier to see (she gave a picture of the completed work and marked out where the increases are so I can check that as well)

I'm sorry if it's not appropriate or anything, I really tried reading through and understanding and I'm still a little loss. :(