A Few General Questions

[HamaLee]

As I get sucked more and more into the world of knitting (yay!), I have a few random questions. One is about fingering weight yarns: What is it, exactly? I gather it's a light yarn and generally used for socks but...I guess I'm asking why it's called fingering weight. Anybody know? Do people use it to finger knit like you learn in kindergarten? Is it one of those mysteries never to be answered?

Second question regards knitting with a double strand, which I've seen mentioned around here. Again I get the general idea but I just wanted to verify: pretty much you're knitting with two strands of yarn together for each stitch, like from two separate skeins of the yarn you're using...yeah?

Last question is: Why oh why do my local AC Moore/Michaels/Fabric Place stores have such a lousy selection of yarns??? It's so terribly sad...and whatever they have is never enough for a large project like an afghan. And why does it cost more to buy the yarn to make and afghan than it does to buy the finished product???

...Ok, ok...those last two was just ventilated whinging :blush: Ahhh...it felt good to get it out though, I'm sure that's a complaint pretty much everyone has.

This site is such a crazy amazing resource, I love it.

[Ingrid]

That's an interesting question--why is fingering weight called that? It's very thin, and its used for lace, too, but that's not a reason. :thinking: I always wondered why dk--double knitting--was called that. I found it very confusing when I encountered that. You'd think dk would be thicker than worsted, since it's double. And what about sport weight?

You can use as many strands as you want when you knit--I've done baby blankets using four at once on size 35 needles(talk about a quick knit). You just treat them as one.

As for Michaels and them--they're a craft store, not a knitting store, I guess they try to pander to the casual buyer, maybe.

Cost?? There was a long period of time that I didn't knit because I could buy things cheaper than I could make them. Now I often tell people that I don't knit because I need clothing. I make clothing because I love to knit.

[njknitter]

And why does it cost more to buy the yarn to make and afghan than it does to buy the finished product???.

Yes, but you'll never to be able to BUY a finished product that gives you as much enjoyment and satisfaction as you'd get from one you knitted!!

[KellyK]

Last question is: Why oh why do my local AC Moore/Michaels/Fabric Place stores have such a lousy selection of yarns??? It's so terribly sad...and whatever they have is never enough for a large project like an afghan.

I recently sent emails to Michaels and Joanns asking them to improve their selection of yarn and NOTIONS (all they carry is 29" circs! Who can make a hat with that???). If we all start an email campaign telling them what knitters and other needle artists REALLY want and need, maybe they'll listen!