Knitting links for future reference

[neadods]

Rope and Ladders scarf pattern (pdf)
Yarn dying in a crockpot
Dying yarn with icing dye
Three ways of dying varigated yarn I don't know why she's complaining that the final method leaves the yarn non-colorfast. It's a simple matter of steaming or ironing the yarn before rinsing.
Prepping yarn for reuse Mostly of interest because of the bit at the end, how to roll your own center-pull skeins without a skein winder. *eyes almost-gone toilet paper appraisingly*

I'm probably reinventing the wheel here, but over Malice I had my balled yarn shoved into the elastic-topped mesh water bottle holder of my tote. It was perfect - enough give for the ball to spin, enough constraint to keep the yarn from snarling, and the elastic at the top kept the ball from popping out. In future, if I'm just starting a project, I'll thread the yarn right through the mesh for an extra measure of guiding.

More:
Building an "odd ball" of leftovers I'd rather splice than knot... now I just need to learn how to splice!
And Google will provide: Yarn splicing tutorial
Another splicing tutorial I had no idea how much saliva was involved.
Making your own circular needles Hmmmm.... although I'm betting that I could adapt the directions to "circularize" some dpns and skip the finishing of the wood...
One skein shawl pattern
pdf of the one-skein shawl
How to Felt in 6 Easy Steps
Beaded knitting
Nifty cabled short-row socks

Comments

[fyrdrakken]

I had severe problems with the toilet paper core winding -- mostly because the core wasn't long enough for a 400-yd skein of sock yarn and I kept having loops falling off the ends. Wound up springing for a skein winder -- and eventually for an umbrella swift as well, since I had some real non-fun evenings getting skeins tangled while trying to wind them up. (Some of those skeins were just wound in loops too big to go on the lampshade I'd been using, and I had some real messes happen.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

In the long run, I'm going to buy both as well, but that's a financial outlay that's going to have to wait for quite some time. (I'm still working up to seeing if I can/should spring for a set of Colonial circulars, which are much cheaper. Well, cheaper, maybe not *much*!)

[fyrdrakken]

Yeah, first I bought the winder because my attempts to wind center-pull balls sucked so badly, and then some months later I bought the umbrella swift because I had some severe skein tangles, and then finally I gave up on the whole concept of working socks toe-up from both ends of the same skein and just dropped $20 or so on a wee digital scale to allow myself to halve skeins accurately enough to suit my purposes. The winder is a convenience but I generally prefer actual balls rather than the little wound cakes (and I work with my balls from the outside in, so they shrink tidily as I go and can be neatly rewound to take up slack for tidy storage -- I'd only want centerpulls to be able to use both ends at once), so I actually could have done without it, but I'm glad to have it when I have something like 3 500-yard skeins of laceweight to wind up.

And I've never gotten a needle set -- I just buy the individual ones as I need them (or points and loops, as with the KnitPicks Options stuff), which is handy since there are a few sizes I use frequently that I have like five sets of, and others I've never used at all.

Cheaper version?

[tchwrtr.livejournal.com]

Lego Ball Winder.

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=21252.0

Enjoy!

Re: Cheaper version?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I love it!

Dang, why don't all the engineers I know build me cool toys?

Re: Cheaper version?

[tchwrtr.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

Challenge faireraven. She'd do it.

Re: Cheaper version?

[iko.livejournal.com]

Dang, I need to get my husband to make me one of those...

[satine79.livejournal.com]

Thank you soooo much for that comment over at 10thdoctor. I had totally forgotten that there would be no episode this week until I saw what you said ;) The posts have been deleted. Thanks again!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

(Visiting via Homekeeping) - this has impelled me to go in search of a ball winder on the net. I've been doing a spinning, weaving and dyeing class over the last year and have a lot of skeins which now need balling up, as I've embarked on the weaving. The class has a small and wonky Toyota ball winder and I need to find a source of something more reliable here in the UK.