New to knitting-help!

[ashleyb87]

DH has been forced to give me a gift of a JoAnn's knitting class for my b-day and I bought some stuff to get me going but need to know if I need anything else. My goal is to make longies/shorties/soakers (maybe skirties if I have a girl) for our next baby that we'll start TTC early Sept/late August. I'd like to make longies for DS for Christmas (but hopefully he'll be PT by then and they'll just be for fun). I also plan to make afgahns, etc someday. SO here's what I got:
-6 skeins of Paton's wool yarn (JoAnn's) which I plan to dye w/koolaid (do I need to wash this first? Any good tuts for dying yarn-I've done playsilks? Any tips?)
-size 2/24 in circular needle
-size 4/24 in circular needle
-size 6/24 in circular needles
-a needle set w/size 6, 7, and 8 needles I think 11 inches?
-size 6/7 in double point needles (set of 4)
-size 7/7 in double point needles (set of 4)
-20 locking stitch markers (2 different colors)
-3 stitch holders (different sizes NO idea how to use them LOL)
-2 double ended stitch holders (again NO idea how to use them)
-a set of 6 different sizes of crochet hooks-I will have my mom help me figure out how to crochet if I decide I need to finish things w/a crochet edge.

Any other things I NEED? Any other sizes of needles? Has anyone taken the JoAnn's class? Will I learn how to use all of those things? I have knitting wool covers from start to finish (the book) and plan to get going after making a few dishcloths or whatever. Any tips? I'm getting overwhelmed lol!

[MeepyCat]

Huh. Okay.

So the problem with hand-dying Paton's is that the stuff comes wound into center-pull skeins. This is really useful for knitting, but it sucks for dying (the dye never gets to the yarn in the middle). Unless you have found some form of Patons I don't know about, that's sold in hanks, you are going to have to unwind it so that it's a bunch of strands in one big loop. And then to knit, you'll have to rewind it into balls. You may want to return these and find a nice, cheap, wool yarn that's sold in hanks already.

Presuming the yarn you picked up is mostly natural fiber, you should have no trouble dying it with kool-aid. There's some nifty instructions on-line here: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

From the looks of things, you currently have *way* more than you need. Seriously mama, I have been knitting for years, and have never used either a locking stitch marker or a stitch holder. (When I need to mark a stitch, I tie a contrasting piece of yarn or thread around the needle, or use a safety pin or a hair elastic. When I need to move stitches off the needle and hold them, I thread them on a spare piece of yarn.) Crochet hooks are really handy for picking up dropped stitches and fixing mistakes, but I've been getting by with two (one big, one little) for years.

You could probably use a yarn needle (an ordinary darning needle will do if you already have one) for seaming.

[ashleyb87]

I just got the things the Knitting Wool Covers... said to get-I needed size 4 and 6 circulars but it said smaller for newborn so I got a 2 also. I couldn't buy some things individually and wanted a variety of sizes because that's what books told me. I also heard good things about Paton's yarn (especially that it was really soft for newborns). Guess I screwed up on everything?

[MeepyCat]

You're not even close to screwing up on everything, trust me. My first knitting project, I wanted to make socks and a kind knitting store lady sold me three sets of straight, single-pointed needles.

Patons is awesome - soft for newborns, good to work with, washable and inexpensive. But if you really want to dye it, I recommend that you knit what you want and dye the finished product. (And check for fiber content, because acrylic just won't take dye.)

Needle sets are really good to have. There is no guarantee that you will (ever) get the same gauge as the pattern designer does, so it's good to have needles in a range of sizes, so that you're not stalled when you discover that the needles you have won't produce the fabric you want unless you are willing to give yourself arthritis. The size two circulars do seem absurdly small to me for knititng (I'm currently knitting a lace scarf on fours), but I have often used teeny circulars as a "lifeline" when I've made a serious mistake or the cat has chewed a hole in a piece and I need to frog back. Just thread the circular through the first row of salvageable stitches and rip until you get back to it.

[cristeen]

Pattons - Absolutely do not wash this. You will wind up with an unuseable ball. You'll need to hank it in order to dye it, and you can do that a few ways... My first skein of wool I dyed, I hanked on a wide ruler - think it was about 6 inches by 24. Wrapped it the long way, tied it up and dyed it. After that I used my ironing board for a long time... from one side of one leg, around the other leg, to the other side of the first leg, and then back again. It was a bit clunky, but it worked well. Eventually I built myself a warping board, but any stationary object that you can use to wrap your yarn - from the center of a bolt of fabric (ask at the fabric store - they just toss them), to two chairs weighted with books and set a few feet apart, will work. If you want self striping, go with the chairs (or the ironing board) - the further apart they are, the better stripe you'll get. I think I usually do a 17 ft hank (circumference), and I get a decent stripe on soakers (I'll try to post a picture of the pair I just finished later).

The issue with doing self striping is getting it out of the hank and back into a ball for knitting. This is why I have a warping board, an umbrella swift and a ball winder - it saves a lot of time (I sell my yarn, so time saving is required). However, you can learn to wind a center-pull ball by hand (I believe knittinghelp.com has instructions), and just wind it right off the chairs after the yarn is dry. It takes a little practice, but it is do-able... I did this for the first few skeins I did.

As for the rest of your supplies, I agree with the pp - you have more than you'll need for now. I highly recommend knittinghelp.com if you have questions... their videos were SOOO helpful when I first started knitting, I actually learned off that website and was knitting within about an hour.

The one thing I would recommend - don't start with a soaker. Start by making a washcloth or something else really simple. My first project was a cotton washcloth (working with cotton is difficult), which allowed me to play with the stitches to see what patterns I could make, and it also allowed me to easily see mistakes (and not get emotional about them). By the time I got the washcloth done, I was feeling pretty confident in the basics.

[ashleyb87]

Sounds good-thanks for the good tips mamas! Keep them coming ! And sorry I keep forgetting to say my yarn is 100% wool . I'm going to get some acrylic for my class and to practice though (not to dye). I will likely make blankets and everything from acrylic because I am slightly allergic to wool lol.

[MeepyCat]

If you're even slightly allergic to wool, I'm going to strongly recommend against knitting in it. It doesn't sound fun. Itchy hands. Ow.

Also, keep in mind that many allergies are genetic, and that babies have very sensitive skin.

It will put a kink in your kool-aid dying plans, but I just can't imagine getting even halfway through a project with a fiber I was allergic to.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by ashleyb87

I will likely make blankets and everything from acrylic because I am slightly allergic to wool lol.

If you're allergic, I would not work with Pattons or any other mainstream wool. I'd be searching out organic wools. They tend to not have the properties that cause that allergic reaction (which is usually a reaction to the chemicals used in processing).

[ashleyb87]

I've sewn it-it just makes my nose tickle and occasionally itchy eyes. My DS hasn't had a bit of an issue w/it. I have several things I've made out of recycled wool sweaters. I wouldn't use it as a backing to mama cloth but I don't get itchy hands just a tickly nose . I might search out organic stuff but right now (and for the next 7 years) money is going to be super tight. DH is going to go to grad school and we'll be living off of stipends (sp?) which will be just barely enough for rent and food.