Check-In Post March 9th 2021

[badly_knitted]

Hello to all members, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


Today's Question: What do you do when something you're making isn't going right? Do you abandon it, start over, or what?


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Comments

[badly_knitted]

I've sewn up a second pair of arm warmers and prepared the next pair!

One of my WiPs is a red cabled sweater. I'd done the front before I abandoned it a few years ago, and more recently I knitted one sleeve and started the second, but I'm not happy with it. The neck at the front is too high (I can't stand anything up near my throat), the tops of the raglan sleeves are very narrow and in fact the whole sleeves are narrow, and I have serious doubts about whether my head will even fit through the neck hole once I'm done. I've spent weeks on knitting it but now I'm seriously thinking of unpicking it and starting over with a different pattern, but... over half the yarn has already been knitted up, and anyone who knits knows what unpicked yarn is like. Not sure how it would look re-knitted. *sigh*

[medievalrosalie]

Not being a knitter, may I ask if once it's unravelled, does it sort of unkink is it's washed in a skein, like they do for dyeing?

[badly_knitted]

I've tried that before and it got... less kinky, but not un-kinked. Might try that again, maybe it'll be good enough if I pick a pattern where it won't show too much. Use the yarn that hasn't been knitted yet for the front...

[annofowlshire]

Usually reknitted yarn, once the item is washed and blocked looks just fine. However, some people find that it can cause tension issues, and the final project wonky and so try to unkink the yarn first.

Reskein the yarn, soak it in very hot water (if wool, I like to wait until the water goes cold before removing it because I get paranoid about felting and shrinking, even in superwash), gently squeeze, press it in a towel, and then hang to dry. Some people like to thwack or snap the yarn before hanging it to try. Thwacking is just like it sounds—flinging it hard against a hard, water resistant surface, like a bath or shower wall. Snapping (which is what I usually do) is taking each looped end of the skein and pulling it tight (snapping) the skein a few times.

(So, basically, it’s a lot like blocking a finished item.)

To be fair, I don’t know what kind of yarn you’re working with—I’m talking about wool and other animal based fibers which is what I work with 99% of the time XD

[badly_knitted]

I never wash and block anything, never seen the point because it's time consuming and I'm horribly lazy. (I know, I'm terrible!) I knit, sew up, and wear. Might try washing the yarn and thwacking or snapping it, but I'll wait until summer when I can hang it outside to dry. Assuming we get any warm, dry weather. This is England though, so that's not guaranteed. =/

I only use acrylic yarns because they're easier to care for. The only times I've used anything else, my pure wool sweater got attacked by moths and ruined while the mohair one I made for my mum shrunk the first time it was washed despite following the washing instructions to the letter. Now it would fit a child. So, acrylic it is. May not be as nice to knit with, but I know the moths will stay away and my sweaters will stay the right size.