What I meant was when I don't have the creature sitting on my lap getting in the way. Now come to think of it perhaps I can spin his shedded fur...

Lots of people have pet fur spun, strange as it sounds. Dog especially, the undercoat they shed seasonally. Dogs have been used for hundreds of years for a fiber animal, actually. I've thought of having my dog's fur spun, she sheds almost 2 lbs of fur every spring. And it's a lovely color. And anyway, I can't keep her fur OUT of my knitting and crochet, so why fight it? If you're going to do something, do it big.

I used to go to a number of dogshows years ago and there was a woman at one who was knitting with dog hair.

both of my sisters know how to knit, and I am a very able crocher, but I do not know how to knit. Both sisters are right handed, and I am left handed, and even with watching them and instructions I still don't get it. I learnt how to crochet because my mother could crochet essentially backwards, that doesn't seem to work with knitting. Any suggestions?

I used Google and came up with this site which shows in diagrams how to learn to knit left handed. I hope it works for you.

http://learn-to-knit.com/left.htm

One of my favorite learn-to-knit sites is www.knittinghelp.com. They have videos. They suggest lefties try learning Continental knitting first, and if that still just doesn't make sense, then they suggest watching their videos in a mirror to learn how to knit "backwards", or left-handed, the reverse of the right-handed method. When I taught myself several years ago, I found videos REALLY helpful, much better than diagrams, and the Knittinghelp.com videos are some of the best on the net. Hope that helps, too.

At college we were taught to teach a left handed child to hold pencils and brushes etc by sitting opposite them and getting them to copy our movements. It works , and I suppose might work for learning to knit.

Well how is you knitting coming along Ren? Any pics of your masterpiece yet?

Ooops I sent it off to Sues daughter last week!! Sorry! I am knitting a jacket for a new baby due this week and then I start the aran for 'he who must not be named'.

I'm picking up my sticks tonight after a short hiatus for knitting baby stuff too! I have a couple of friends having babies soon, and my best friend's son has a first birthday coming up. The same friend found me 17 hanks of a gorgeous indigo dyed cotton yarn by Classic Elite for only $1 a hank, which is almost nothing. So I'm making her son a pair of these knitted blue jeans for his birthday. They're sooo cute, and the yarn is wonderful.

Those blue jeans are adorable.

It's too bad I don't have any little ones to knit for.

The same online knitting mag has little knitted cargo pants that are TOO cute. I actually really love that mag. My daughter is still mostly small enough for knits to go quickly, but it is really nice to have a babe around to satisfy the instant gratification part of me.

Thanks so much Lothruin the site went straight in my folder!

Yay Ren! Glad to be of service.

thanks everyone for the tips and websites

I've just started knitting agian. I finally got something which I actually wanted to knit.

They're squares for a throw rug from a magazine called the Art of Knitting. It's an English one.

Could someone tell me what the different weights of yarn are in ply as that is how they are sold here.

The main one is Double knitting - I think this is 8 ply but I'm not sure.

Yes 8ply is definitely double knitting.
Good luck with the project.

This site might help you for future questions too.

http://www.yarnforward.com/tension.html

But it appears as though DK is an 8 ply yarn.

Thank you.

I thought it was. The reason I was asking is that I have lost some of the squares I knitted from the wool which came with the magazine.

My mum said it felt like 8 ply - I just looked at the pattern and it doesn't say what weight it is. But my mum's usually pretty good at those types of things.

I'm eventually going to go to her place and raid her wool collection as the squares don't take too much wool. - Her current collection is actually made up of hers and my Grandma's as she inherited it.

I'm thinking about starting another project which is a baby blanket for a friend. It saids I have to knit double will I get simalar results if I use a yarn which is twice the weight. I'm not starting it yet - I need to get the money to buy the yarn first.

By the way Sue I like your signature.

I've found that I can substitute different yarn weights for things like blankets. You will get different results, but it won't really matter. However, this does not work well with garments, as the sizes will be seriously off.

Thank you. I think I might go for the double though to give myself a challenge. It also means I won't have to get as much wool as I already got 4 ply by mistake when I should have got 8.

I thought I knew all about knitting; then last year I cam across Illusion Knitting - that's pretty cool!

I'm also wondering if anybody here has seen a pattern for a crocheted frog hat - it looks like a frog sitting on your head. The body is crocheted like a regular winter cap, with the frog legs and eyes crocheted separately and sewn on. I've made my own pattern but it doesn't look quite the same.

Is this it,Catamount?
Frog Hat

I too am male and knit. Well atleast I attempt to knit. I can do either the knit or the perl, but not the alternating method, all or nothing the same way, or I will drop and add stitches like crazy. I have yet to actually finish anything, so have not learned how to bind off. Another strange thing is that I have trouble using anything larger than US size 6 needles and prefer 2's and 4's. Of course this means if I ever get enough concentrated time, a large project will take a long time.
I am currently wanting to finsish a pot holder, two layers thick, but I am worried I might run out of the yarn ball I am using.