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<p>It really is fascinating. I’m just a quilter and needlepointer but it makes me want to take up a hook or needles.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend a knitter that will take commissions? I saw a great pattern for a garment but I do not have the knitting expertise to do this and don’t want to spend a fortune on wool and time (when I could be quilting! 
) for it to look handmade instead of custom-crafted.</p>
<p>I too am a fellow knitter, needlepointer, embroiderer, and hand quilter…lol, I have dozens and dozens of plastic containers with yarns, canvas’s that I started but haven’t finished…a trillion pieces of fabric, cut out and marked for handquilting…but, no idea what my original idea was!! I am always soooo excited and passionate about starting new projects…my problem is getting bored easily…so, I start something “new” and alternate…till they end up in yet another plastic box!! Thats not to say I have never finished anything…There was a baby boom in the family last year…so I was a knitting fool!! Its fun to make baby clothes because the go so quickly. I have knitted squares which I had planned to make an afghan for my daughter…they’re all finished…just need to be sewn together but…then I started to make one for my son…and then my other son…lol…oh boy…I think its time to get to some of those projects again!!</p>
<p>I did stop after my knitting frenzy last year, because believe it or not…I actually got “tennis elbow” from it!! lol, I went to the doctor because the pain was crazy whenever I would knit…and he said knitting is a cause for tennis elbow…so is painting, and gardening…and tennis! Any repetitive motion can cause it. So I stopped for a while to let it heal…but now I’m anxious to pull something out to do!!</p>
<p>I knit socks. I always have a couple of socks on the needles and can churn them out at a rate of about one sock/week. The fascination never fades, I am always excited to see how the pattern will look with the yarn I have chosen. I give a lot of them away and H wears hand knit socks almost exclusively. </p>
<p>D knits, and has done a few sweaters since starting college last fall. Her dorm mates watched an argyle vest in the making and were amazed at how it all worked.</p>
<p>I’m another ravelry and yarn harlot fan.</p>
<p>I admit I am a fiber snob. Only natural fibers and I prefer wool. I have some yarn made from milk protein in my stash and D is currently making a sweater from sugar cane yarn so we do have some flexibility. Acrylic makes me want to quit knitting.</p>
<p>i am currently knitting mobeus scarves. these are not strips that you sew into a circle, these scarves are knitted in a complete twisted circle…not sure that describes it well, but they are fun! </p>
<p>i am wanting to start some baby afghans…i just have trouble concentrating anymore. </p>
<p>not only is it hard to concentrate long enough to knit, i also have trouble concentrating when trying to read. </p>
<p>suppose that a sign of my advancing years…just can’t keep myself focused very long.</p>
<p>in fact, right now a book and a scarf are in reach–and what am i doing? just jumping from one discussion to another…</p>
<p>lol wbow!! I feel the same way…lol, is it advancing age ya think? cause my concentration level is all over the place! The earlier comment about pre-ritalin days, just had me wondering if maybe thats part of my problem!! Maybe I was never diagnosed with adhd? Sounds weird but I am seriously wondering if that could be it?! If not, then I’ll just dump it into the same bag as all my woes…it must be menopause!</p>
<p>inability to concentrate, trouble sleeping, hair on the chin…yup, menopause for me!</p>
<p>The m-word is rampant in my life as well: hot flashes and all. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks: at least in this case, the old dog is afraid to learn the new trick of sweatercreation…</p>
<p>good to know i’m not alone!!:)</p>
<p>My long deceased mother was a great knitter- she learned from her Norwegian grandmother and could alter patterns easily (those math skills/ability- would have been a great engineer but “girls didn’t do that” in her day- late '40’s). I learned from her but never enjoyed it- lack the patience. Here’s a big question for all of you. Do you hold the yarn in your left hand and use the needle to flip it, or do you place the yarn over the needle like they teach in knitting classes? The first method (pardon my lack of proper terminology) is the one learned by my mother and faster since it involves less hand/finger movement.</p>
<p>I learned to knit from my Irish grandma, who could do what you described with Aran sweaters…all in her head!! I have trouble following patterns that other people design! She was a widow with 8 kids and a farm…she did it all on her own!! she never rested…for real…she had something happening 24/7. She made every one of her grandkids an aran sweater:)…I still have mine.</p>
<p>I was taught (by her when I was about 6) to knit…I hold the yarn in the left hand and flip…I’ve tried taking classes from people who knit the other way, and it just messes me up, lol.</p>
<p>wis75 and papengena: the left finger and flip with needle method is usually referred to as Continental knitting and the right hand-over-needle style is called English knitting. I learned English knitting when age 8 and have never been able to learn Continental knitting, although it is unquestionably faster and less strain on the hands. </p>
<p>Wikipedia (and who know if it’s true?) claims Continental knitting went out of fashion during WW2 because it was associated with the Germans: [Continental</a> knitting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_knitting]Continental”>Continental knitting - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>And for those of you who can’t visualize either method, Youtube has a ton of how-tos on either method.</p>
<p><a href=“those%20math%20skills/ability-%20would%20have%20been%20a%20great%20engineer%20but%20%22girls%20didn’t%20do%20that%22%20in%20her%20day-%20late%20’40’s”>quote</a>
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This is actually, I think, what I like so much about knitting – it’s very mathematical. I’ve never been crafty in other ways, but even as a beginner, I can see how to modify patterns to make them fit a desired result.</p>
<p>motherdear, ask in your neighborhood knitting shop if they take commissions. They may be able to refer you to someone. At a place where I shop for wool there are a couple of ladies who do though I have no idea how much it costs.</p>
<p>dmd77, I use the continental knitting method (didn’t know that was what it was called), and it is so much faster, it’s worth learning. Also, if you can do both, you can knit with two colors simultaneously and do patterns easily. Really.</p>
<p>The toughest knitting job was for me was a sweater with a bizzare multi-colored flower design on the front (oh, those darn eighties! :)). I managed to finish it; however, I will never, ever take on another knitting job that requires simultaneous handling of 12 different yarns!</p>
<p>And I’m a yarn snob, too. Gimme wool, cotton or mohair! And thanks to dmd, I now know that I’m a continental knitter.</p>
<p>I was taught basic knitting by an aunt when I was about 11 years old, but since she never taught me how to correct mistakes, pick up dropped stitches, “Tink” back, etc., I became extremely frustrated by the holes I created no matter how careful I was, and eventually stopped knitting after producing some of the most sorry scarves you ever saw—LOL. </p>
<p>A few years ago, I took a sock knitting class from a local yarn store, and have been hooked on socks ever since. Eventually, I’d like to start knitting lace shawls and Fair Isle sweaters. I have few neat DVDs that have been invaluable. Lucy Neatby has produced a grunch of knitting instruction videos that are very clear and well presented. I have her Socks Techniques (both 1 and 2), which I refer to when I need a memory refresher. But I have to say that before I ordered these, I got a lot of help with general knitting from a site called, Knittinghelp.com. Anyone who’s rusty on their knitting skills due to the fact that it’s been a few years, will find this site extremely helpful. It has videos, showing all the basics and some neat tips and tricks. </p>
<p>I’m a yarn snob, too—only natural fibers for my needles.
I love the feel of fingering weight sock yarn as it skirls through my hands (Mountain Colors Barefoot, Lorna’s laces, Cherry Tree Hill, and Dream in Color Smooshy is like heaven!). I knit most socks using the magic loop method, but sometimes, I’ll start a project with DPNs. Some of Nancy Bush’s sock patterns seem to work best if they’re worked on DPNs during the cast on and cuff portions.</p>
<p>I’ve not knitting a thing in several months, but I think it’s about time to overcome second-sock-syndrome and finish the pair I’m knitting from Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways for Sock Knitters book.:)</p>
<p>wis75, I learned from a European so I do it the efficient way. I love the mathematicalness of knitting and the fact that you can make so many patterns out of two basic stiches. I’ve never been any good at handling mutliple colors though.</p>
<p>Illustrating the mathematical character of knitting:</p>
<p>[The</a> Institute For Figuring // Online Exhibit: Hyperbolic Space](<a href=“http://www.theiff.org/oexhibits/oe1e.html]The”>The Institute For Figuring // Online Exhibit: Hyperbolic Space)</p>
<p>Now, I’m confused. I learned to knit as a child in France. But it seems that the method I learned is English knitting. Did France move from the Continent when I was a child? :(</p>