Need some tips for stitch uniformity

[GrumpyGramma]

I think I am kinda putting the cart in front of the horse. I've seen it time and time again with my rc you suggest something appropriate for their skill level and then they go for the jet anyway, it always ends in disaster for the plane.

I think I may take a look at a hat. It's also not like it'll be the last thing I ever knit right? Plus I'm bald so the hat would keep the dome warm!

Lucky us, yarn is more forgiving than a plane.

[Jan in CA]

I make a lot of hats, mostly for charity. I just enjoy making them. They are small and usually easy to take along anywhere. I use them for experimenting with design, shape, colors, etc.

I prefer bottom up myself and I use magic loop so there are no seams and no switching of needles for the decreases. I rarely use patterns anymore.

I had to get an MRI last year and to keep myself from freaking out in that enclosed space I designed and "knit" a hat. When I got out I continued to think about it and eventually knit it.

This is the result-
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/JanCA/mri-hat

[mojo11]

Hey, you might be one of those people who's able to pull off knitting a working TARDIS once you know a few basics. Such folk do exist, but I'm SO not one of them. Take on what you think you can handle. And if you crash, it's not as hard to rebuild as it would be with an airplane.

[suzeeq]

Well I don't want to hold them like that mainly due to my needles, they are round and the line connecting the two needles is a metal cable.

Well, I only knit on circs, though I have plastic cords, but on some of them, the joins are metal. I don't think they're be too much stress on the joins, depends how long the cords are, I guess.

A hat is a great idea - not only do you learn to work in the round, but you also get practice at decreasing.

[dudeKnit]

@mojo11, I did design and build a flying rc Tardis, I'll have to find pics and if I can't find em I'll rebuild it and get some pics.

Sadly I am not one of those that can learn a thing or two then blast off solo never to be seen again. I've learned it pays to take baby steps at least for me. My memory is pretty bad I've got a retention span slightly longer than a goldfish. So practice practice practice is the best answer. I didn't go from thinking planes were cool to designing and building jets, I started with basics, I didn't go from Hello World to The Baconator (an app I wrote while bored that tells you how many pieces of bacon stacked would equal your height how much it would weigh and how many calories it is) wrote one for Pringles as well. Both were simple apps but I learned tons while doing it, adding in animated splash screens as well as drawing a background that was not a typical square or rectangle.

@suzeeq, my needles are 24inch rounds what really stresses them is that I rest the right needle on my stomach and after I hook the stitch and slip it though I push it down onto the right needle, after each stitch I have to straighten the cable due to it being bent. That's why I'm worried about stressing it. I worked in a metal shop, you can do many things with metal but it doesn't like to be bent then rebent then rebent. Done enough times it will break.

[suzeeq]

You might try a 30 or 32" needle next time you get one. For a hat you can use the 24" or the longer one and do the single loop method of knitting in the round.

[mojo11]

@mojo11, I did design and build a flying rc Tardis, I'll have to find pics and if I can't find em I'll rebuild it and get some pics.

I might've known...

[Jan in CA]

I can do single loop, but i find it stresses the needles and project more than i like. I prefer to use a longer cable when doing magic loop. For socks I use a 32" and for hats I prefer a 40". Thank goodness for interchangeable needles. I only use circular now. I think I own only one pair of straights.

[GrumpyGramma]

I did design and build a flying rc Tardis, I'll have to find pics and if I can't find em I'll rebuild it and get some pics.

Please oh please oh please!

[mojo11]

I prefer to use a longer cable when doing magic loop. For socks I use a 32" and for hats I prefer a 40". Thank goodness for interchangeable needles. I only use circular now. I think I own only one pair of straights.

I've been using 32" for pretty much everything, but I just got a 40" to try out. Eventually I will break down and shell out for an interchangeable set, that's just more cake than I feel comfortable putting down right now. Besides which, there are two sets I'm considering and I haven't decided yet which one to get.

I only ever had one set of straight needles, and I almost never use them. I've run into one or two occasions when I was working on something that I needed a small piece for and it wouldn't wait (Bantamime's wings for one), so I used DPNs. But in the case of the wings at least, I wanted to be able to work them from either end anyway, so I'd have probably used DPNs regardless.