Knitting information, ideas and success stories from women who create real cash flow from their knitting and crochet.
Archive for the ‘Knitting Bits and Bobs’ Category
World Record Knitting Jobs
Sunday, August 29th, 2010
Next time you think your knitting pattern is too complicated or you just want to set a new knitting goal for yourself, this list of world record knitting jobs should give you something to think about. If nothing else, they are fun and interesting knitting facts. Are you going to be the next knitter to break or set a new world knitting record? After you have looked at these, you may want to think twice about it!
BIG KNITTING JOBS
She’s no Pirate but even in Penzance in Cornwall, nobody is going to be able to fight their way past the super sized set of knitting needles belonging to Julia Hopson. Her knitting needles were three and one-half meters long (or over eleven feet) and six and one half centimeters (or two and one half inches) in diameter. With these monstrous knitting needles, she managed to knit a ten stitch, ten row tension square using stockingette stitches.
Talk about working your fingers to the bone!…
According to Wikipedia, in 2004 a German man managed to finger knit an amazing strand using the finger method often used to teach small children and to help other people who may have difficulty with knitting needles. He ended up fingering enough yarn to knit a strand that was 4,321 meters (14,043 feet) long. I was unable to verify this world record anywhere else but it is still pretty amazing.
Faster than a speeding … knitting job?
Miriam Tegels of the Netherlands appears to have the fastest knitting needles in the West … or anywhere else for that matter. For this world record knitting job, the idea was to stitch as many stitches as possible in a three-minute time period. Her closest competitor came in with a very impressive 183 stitches. Still, that was an amazing seventy-four stitches too slow. Her three minute world record knitting job resulted in an incredible 257 stitches knitted within that three minute period.
A Run in her Stockings … Scarf maybe?
Suzie Hewer managed to tackle a knitting job that saw her create a scarf that was one meter and 20 centimeters (almost forty-seven inches) long. Now that in itself is not such an amazing thing but add to that the fact that she was making the scarf for charity … and it is still really not such an incredible feat. However, when you realize that she managed to tackle this knitting job while running a marathon … at the same time … then it becomes a bit more amazing. There is no word on how long it took her to run the marathon though … and no word whether or not she suffered any runs in her scarf along the way.
After having read about some of these world record knitting jobs, maybe your next task will not look so bleak no matter how difficult the knitting pattern may make it seem. If you would like to attempt to break any of these or any other world record knitting jobs, you are going to have to contact the Guinness book of records because that is one knitting job that we cannot help you with here.
Knitting Jobs -Why Are They So Relaxing For Us?
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
Some people will just never understand how something like knitting can be so relaxing but the truth remains that many knitting jobs are extremely relaxing in addition to being very rewarding on a personal level. What it is about knitting jobs may be difficult to accurately define but there are many common factors that can help to explain the phenomenon. Whether you are looking at the physical aspects or the psychological ones, the fact is that knitting jobs really can be very relaxing in a very real way.
From a purely physical aspect, many studies have concluded that certain people are calmed by low-impact, repetitive tasks. While many high-impact, repetitive tasks will actually increase the heart rate, smaller tasks such as those while doing knitting jobs, which do not require excessive energy or effort, actually help to slow the heart rate allowing the person performing the action to relax while working. While this may not hold true for everybody, especially not people who have a very short attention span or those who get easily bored or frustrated, it is in fact, scientifically held to be true for a great many people.
When you look at the psychological aspects regarding why doing knitting jobs is so relaxing, you can come up with a lot more information. In all fairness though, much of it will be speculation and “theory”, though in reality, many of those theories are sound enough to stand up as evidence in any court of law so there may be a little more to them than what meets the eye. Whether or not you believe all that “psycho-babble” or psychological analyses, it does show that there are numerous things about knitting jobs that make them relaxing.
One of the most relaxing aspects of most knitting jobs is knowing and understanding that there is going to be some type of reward when you complete your knitting project. Whether you are knitting something so relatively simple as a bracelet or headband or even that hand-knitted, full-length cape that you always wanted, when you are done you know that you are going to have a knitted product that is (at least relatively) unique and made with your own hand. The satisfaction that you get from completing your personal knitting jobs may stem in some part from the fact that you will now have a lasting memory that you created from scratch and made by hand.
Many people these days listen to “soothing sounds” that are repetitive and soft, allowing the listener to relax as the sounds are played. Sounds like waterfalls, rain showers and running streams are among the most common. The same can be said for most knitting jobs that you take on. The smaller, smooth and repetitive movements create a sense of calm for many people. There is a deep psychological comfort in doing something familiar and the end result is very soothing for many people … even those who may not be a little quick to get bored.
Whatever the reasons though, and whether everybody will ever truly understand it or even have the same reasoning behind it, when you are working on your knitting jobs, I bet you are relaxed.
Knitting Jobs Through The Ages
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Here, for your fun and useless trivial information anecdote of the day, you will find lots of pointless facts about the history of knitting and the people who have been doing those lovely knitting jobs throughout the ages.
Throughout history, knitting jobs have been for both the super-poor and the super-rich. During some periods of history, knitting was associated with royalty and in some locations, knitting is a tradition going back literally tens of thousands of years since the prehistoric days.
While it is difficult to know exactly where it began, knitting jobs throughout the ages all have one thing in common.People who knit seem to share an intrinsic love for making beautiful creations. The people who do those knitting jobs have been from all different areas of the world and society but they all seem to take great pride in their knitted fashions and other knitted items.
Knitting In Spain
In Spain, knitting is relatively new historically speaking. The knitting jobs in Spain mostly go back to somewhere during the middle ages around the 1100s and 1200s when the Merino sheep was introduced by Muslim Traders. The Merino sheep, largely due to the fine quality of wool and knitting yarn produced from them, were primarily owned by the Royal Families and the Church. For quite some time, if a commoner were found with the sheep, the wool or the yarn, it would very likely end with a death sentence. Now I know we all take our knitting jobs seriously but that does seem to be just a little bit extreme.
Knitting In Scotland
In Scotland, evidence shows that both knitting and weaving has been around since history has been recorded and probably further back then that. In the lowlands of Scotland, much of the wool was woven into linen or light fabrics to accommodate the higher temperatures. In the highlands however, spinning the wool into yarn and then using the yarn for knitting jobs to make kilts, shawls and wraps that were more durable and capable of fending off the colder temperatures.
In fact, one of the most common forms of knitting today is the Fair Isle method which is a derivative of the methods used in both the Scottish highlands and in the Coastal Regions where protection from the weather was much more than a matter of comfort. In many cases, it was literally a matter of survival though being more comfortable certainly did not hurt.
Knitting In Ireland
Not to be outdone, the Irish have also made many contributions to knitting. Jobs including lace embellishments and fancier knitting designs were common in Ireland and many of these techniques are still used today.
Knitting In France
Knitting jobs did not become commercial enterprises until the middle of the 1500s in France. Since that time, most commercial knitting is done on knitting machines. Hand-knitting has piqued and ebbed in popularity since those days but it remains an excellent hobby, craft and just an excuse to get together and pass some yarns back and forth.
Knitting jobs through the ages may have undergone some changes but the love for creating something beautiful seems to be one of the things that draws knitters, young and old, experienced and new, into a common bond.
Knitting Jobs for Groups
Friday, April 16th, 2010
While these knitting jobs are certainly the exception and not the rule, they can still be a great excuse for getting together and spinning some yarn(s). But what kinds of knitting jobs are really available that are large enough for an entire group of people to work on? Certainly there are very few traditional or even conventional knitting patterns that are large enough to require more than one person but this is not really conventional knitting work we are talking about. These are the kinds of knitting jobs that are done to create an interest in knitting and more often than not, also to help worthy causes.
Knitting graffiti has become commonplace in many locations around the world. There may be a downside to these types of knitting jobs though, since some local law enforcement agencies have made this action comparable to standard graffiti even though it is usually very easy to remove. While there is no readily available record of anybody being prosecuted for this, it may be a good idea to use a modicum of caution and common sense if you do wish to try it.
Still, there are other ways of accomplishing much the same thing. If some guy can draw crowds and fill his coffers by hanging pink plastic all over the place, why would it not be possible to do something equally as grandiose with a group knitting job? Who is to say that the Statue of Liberty would not like a nice warm scarf or perhaps a loin cloth for Michelangelo’s David? If you approach it from a strictly artistic point of view, add in a healthy dose of charitable contributions and conclude with the fact that it would be a great way to get rid of that extra yarn where the dye just did not match quite well enough or that half a skein you had left over, knitting jobs like these sound a lot less crazy.
If you want to go with something a little more traditional and still get some good press for your knitting organizations, why not try some group charity knitting? These knitting jobs are diverse and would create some really positive PR. Groups around the world regularly knit supplies and materials for our soldiers such as socks and even helmet liners. Cancer research has also been a great beneficiary of knitting jobs that were taken up for charity.
One group commits as much time as it can to knitting teddy bears that will be given out free of charge to the children in the local hospitals. Now granted, it may take a slow news day to get you on the evening news but that does not make it impossible. How many worthy causes can you think of? How many of them could benefit by knitting jobs that your entire social circle could take up? The rewards for these types of knitting jobs go far beyond the satisfaction of a job well done. These types of knitting jobs warm the hearts and maybe even the bodies of some of the people who really do need it the most.
Different Knitting Needles for Different Knitting Jobs
Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Different knitting needles are needed for different knitting jobs. It is not like some needlecrafts where you can cheat and use the same needles for different threads or knitting yarns. When it comes to knitting jobs, about the only time you want to change the needle size from the recommended size is when you are felting something but that is an altogether different knitting job in and of itself. The knitting needles you need for your knitting jobs vary depending on the job but so do the measurements and sometimes that can be confusing.
Knitting needles are generally based on their gauge or metric measurements. The size needle you need for a knitting job will depend on the size and type of yarn that the knitting pattern calls for. Most knitting yarns are marked with what size needles work best but sometimes, the pattern for a particular knitting job may call for something slightly different … especially if there are complexities of any kind in the knitting pattern that have to be incorporated into the finished product.
The knitting jobs and patterns are pretty much the same wherever you go in the world but the knitting needle measurements will be different in different markets. For that reason, we have included a list of knitting needles, measurements and uses so that no matter what type of knitting jobs you want to do, you can get the correct knitting needles no matter where you are.
Now knitting needles also come made out of many different materials. Plastic, Bamboo and metal knitting needles are the most common but unlike the size, your knitting jobs will not require a certain type of knitting needle so much as your personal preference will. Some people are more comfortable with the natural feel of the bamboo knitting needles. I remember my Grandmother was especially fond of the metal knitting needles though. I think she just liked it because we could all hear her when she was working on her knitting jobs there at the house. Whatever the reasons you have for selecting any particular make of knitting needles, that will not matter nearly as much as the size.
Machine Knitting for Fun and Profit
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Knitting throughout the ages has enjoyed both peaks and ebbs in popularity but there have always been some people who had difficulty handling the knitting needles and thus, used to be unable to attempt knitting to see whether they enjoyed it or not. For the last few hundred years, knitting machines have made it possible for nearly everyone to at least try knitting. While machine knitting does make it possible for everyone to at least try their hand at knitting, you should not go out and order the most expensive knitting machine you can find just yet.
Machine knitting can be a great way to increase knitting production, help you to make even more profit from your knitting work and experience and even to replace those knitting needles if you are having a difficult time holding or controlling them. However, knitting machines, like knitting yarn, come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and price-ranges. Before you go spending any money on your knitting machine, you need to figure out exactly what you hope to be able to knit, what kind of knitting production you want to be able to create and whether or not the knitting machine is going to be one that you can operate.
Machine knitting can be easy with many of the knitting machines on the market today but it can also be difficult, frustrating and not really what you expected. If all you want to work on with your machine knitting is small embellishments and decorations for your knitted garments, this can usually be done on very small, inexpensive, hand-held knitting machines that are easily found online. If you want to do something a bit more complex, your knitting machine needs may be a little more involved as well.
Some people prefer to use the large, flat knitting machines for their knitting work at home. Machine knitting large swaths of cloth or fabric is easily accomplished on these flat-knitting machines and those in turn are used to create other garments. These flat knitting machines run the full-range from the ability to create a small selection of simple knots all the way up to some knitting machines that are attached to your computer and are much more complex but will allow you to take your machine knitting projects to amazing new heights.
What kind of machine knitting you get involved in and what kind of knitting machine you will need really do depend on what you want to do with it. If you are just knitting for fun, you may actually have a wide selection of the smaller, manual knitting machines that are always handy, inexpensive and still make some great knitted products. If you are knitting for profit, you may still want numerous knitting machines eventually. The small hand-held knitting machines can help you to add that “final touch” while the large flat machines can be used to create swathes of cloth for capes, sweaters, scarves and other large knitted items.
The fact of the matter is that really, no matter what type of machine knitting you want to do, you can do it these days. Simply figure out which knitting machine best fits your current needs before you go investing large sums of money. As you progress, no matter whether you are just knitting for fun or even if you are knitting for profit, you can always add more knitting machines later.
33 Places To Find Great Knitting Patterns
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
There are so many places you can find knitting patterns, it can be a bit overwhelming!
The best way to sift through this massive collection is to get specific. When you know what niche market you are going to supply, you'll know what sort of patterns are you looking for and it will make your search much easier and faster.
Here's a few places to look offline:
►yarn stores
►bookstores (especially second-hand bookshops)
►craft shops
►garage or yard sales
►swap meets
►craft markets or fairs fiber festivals
►ebay and other online auction and trading sites
► stuffed away at the back of your (or your mother's) cupboard!
And here's some useful links to online resources:
► yarn store sites: www.jimmybeanswool.com, www.yarnmarket.com, www.y2knit.net, www.bellaknitting.com, www.yarnsupply.com, www.theyarnco.com,
►dedicated knitting or crochet pattern sites: www.knittingpatterncentral.com, www.crochetpatterncentral.com, www.knittingonthenet.com, www.patternfish.com, www.freepatterns.com, www.freevintagecrochet.com, www.theknittingvault.com
►yarn manufacturers sites: http://freeknittingpatterns.lionbrand.com, www.berroco.com, www.knitrowan.com, www.patonsyarns.com, http://redheart.com
►specialised designers sites: www.vogueknitting.com, www.bymelissa.net
►knitting supply sites: www.knitpicks.com
►knitting and crochet information and magazine sites: www.dailyknitter.com, www.knittinghelp.com/patterns, www.knitty.com, www.smartcrochet.com,
Or you can type your specific pattern search into Google or Yahoo and see what comes up! For example just type into the Google search bar "cable knitting patterns" and it won't take long before youl find exactly what you are looking for.
Can You Help Rose Convert Crochet Patterns To Knitting?
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
I have had a great question from Rose, which I thought someone may have an answer for. Here is her question:
The Knitting Song
Friday, May 15th, 2009
Just a little song that someone on Twitter recommended, which I have been enjoying with my afternoon tea!
If you would like to follow my updates on Twitter, I’m "knitterpreneur"
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About Liz
Welcome! My name is Liz and I am a work at home mother of two. I am also the author of the new book “Knitting for Profit”. I have created this blog to give you more great information, ideas and resources for making money from your knitting passion! [more]
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