Once Upon a Time...

 Once upon a time I heard about this crazy thing people were doing called blogging. I found some about knitters and read them. I got caught up in the excitement and remembered the good ole days when I had a web site for my machine knitting business. I missed the Internet so took the plunge. Writing about the Boys, knitting and my folks I found a very small group of readers. For a few years I averaged 2-15 people a day. Not many but then, I wasn't the Yarn Harlot so what could I expect.

Then I started to think about the good ole days (that tends to get me in trouble) when I wrote patterns and wrote for a few machine knitting magazines and decided to give writing some of my basic patterns for people a try. One pattern that was put up on the blog was "Rust Goes Green". A simple rectangular crocheted market bag that caught on. People started downloading it - a lot. I decided to put it on Ravelry so I could keep track of how many downloads and to date there's been over 2,000 downloads.

I've put a few other patterns on Ravelry as free downloads and each one has had their own success. Somewhere along the way I was playing with reversible cables and came up with a fairly simple scarf that was totally reversible cables. I like the scarf but never got around to finishing it so for fun I posted it with basic how to's instead of a full pattern. Well, that's when things got weird.

You've probably seen the websites that list patterns by category. My Which Way is Up Cable scarf has been listed by several of these sites. One even listed it as one of the top 5 scarves. This has amused me because, really, it's not even a real pattern. It's kind of a - this is what I did, here's what I'd do next time, go try your own thing - kind of pattern. People like it. Maybe I should really write it up but then I think - why bother. People are doing just fine the way it is.

Statcounter is something you can put on your blog to see how many people stop by, where they're from, what page they land on, etc. That's how I know I used to get 2-15 people. Here's a shot of the last couple weeks. Do you see that tall column? That's saying almost 1,000 people came to visit the blog that day. The other days are 100-over 300. This has been going on for a few months and they are almost all landing on the scarf post.

If this type of community was around 15-20 years ago when I had my knitting/sewing shop maybe I would have been able to stay in business.


Whatever is going on right now, I'm happy people seem to like the patterns I've been putting out there. I have several other designs in process and hope to have them available soon. I've been working on several accessories using different techniques. There a lace scarf and fingerless gloves in Malabrigo; garter stitch hat and mittens, and some other accessory sets. I've also come up with a technique for cable mittens that I haven't seen anywhere before. The testers say it works for them so I'll be writing that up as so as I come up with a hat to go with it.



Speaking of knitting - a while back I bought a ball of Flying Saucer yarn is fun bold colors. I finished the socks but never got around to posting a picture. So - a little late but here's the socks from this yarn.




 
The yarn is dyed with 2 strands together so the socks will come out fairly close to matching. The socks in the picture look different only because you're seeing the 2 different sides. If I had them both facing the same direction they'd look similar. The pattern is just a basic one I did to give a bit of texture without losing the color. It's 10 rows of k-p texture and 10 rows plain. Next time I'd probably just do plain.

What I've Been Up To

I've been rather lazy in getting around to taking pictures. My excuse is the camera and and weather. I had a nice day and took pictures but I forgot to put the card in the camera and the pictures ended up in the camera itself. My cable has been missing for a while which doesn't cause any problems when I use a card because it will just plug into the computer but - pictures from the camera need the cable and well, its not around. That's my story and you just have to live with it...

I've been into socks lately. I got some yarn from a stash exchange my knitting group did and I decided to play around with it. It's Regia Jacquard Color - more of a sport weight. Because its so bright and stripey I decided to keep it simple and just add a slip stitch diagonal for a little interest.


Then there was the May Mystery Sock on the Sock Knitter's Anonymous group on Ravelry. Cookie A designed the sock. Each week in May another clue came out. Mine were made out of Knit Pick Bare figuring I'd decide what to dye them once I saw what they looked like. Well, I like them plain and for now they will stay natural color.

One of the classes I took at Yarnover was 2 color knitting with Meg Swanson. We started a hat and I just kept going. I finished that hat on the right and then plowed right into the hat on the left. I didn't know how much yarn was left so I made a simple striped hat to finish out the 2 skeins. These hats will end up being donated to charity next fall. They're Paton's Classic Merino and its a great basic yarn for projects like this.

I brought out of the small project mode long enough to knit a shawl. It's made from Knit Picks Telemark. Pattern is Haruni. Telemark is a bit rough for a shawl and I haven't blocked it yet so I'm not sure what the final project will end up like.

At Yarnover the ladies from Lila and Claudine's did an amazing thing. They gave everyone who stopped by their booth a skein of Aslan Trends Pima Classico Cotton and a pattern. This is not a cheap yarn and there were a lot of people! This weekend I decided to give it a try and made a Spa Cloth. This yarn is so soft and silky, I'm in love. It's 4 strands of cotton twisted together. A bit splitty but not terrible. The difference between this yarn and the bargain brands like Sugar N Cream is very noticeable. I'm totally impressed with the yarn and ,of course, with ladies at Lila and Claudine's.

Finally, another sock. A friend is part of the Breast Cancer walk and they have an auction as part of it. Last year I donated a couple things for the auction and this year I decided to do something a bit special. I found some pink yarn and a ribbon pattern sock. The pattern is Pink Ribbons and the yarn is Lion Brand Sock Ease in Cotton Candy.

I've added an extra ribbon to the toe so the foot won't be quite so plain.

There you have it - I've been busy knitting lately just terrible at taking pictures.

Pretty - pretty heels

I've been reading blogs of other knitters and a common theme seems to be problems with short row heels. For some reason I have never had a heel problem which obviously means I lucked into finding a good technique right off the bat.

I knit socks toe up 90-95% of the time. My reasons are good for me and may not work for you. I knit with magic loop so any discussion to follow assumes the sock is in 2 halves (front and back).
I knit toe up because:

1. I do a good job at starting and having a nice smooth toe. My typical start is Judy's Magic Cast on My difference is I leave the cast on pretty loose. After I've knit several rows I'll go back and tighten up the loops. Works great every time.
2. I like my toe increases better than my decreases. When I increase I start the needle with knit 1 then on stitch 2 knit into front back of that stitch. At the end of the needle I do the knit front and back on the 3rd stitch from the end then knit the last 2. That puts the make 1 bump between st 2 & 3 on each end. This also give a bit of body on the 2 edges of the sock. Notice the make 1 stitches just blend in nice and pretty.

3. I can try on sock as I go for length and when it come to the gusset I use the knit front and back increase on the first stitch and the 2nd to last stitch.

4. The heel. I use Wendy Johnson basic set up for short row heels. Works like a charm. Check out the blue heel below. I dare you to find the short row stitches. Can you see any short row holes? Nope! We'll get back to how this heel is made in a moment.

5. The heel flap is done in the usual slip stitch manner. Once you get started its k-sl across till the last stitch of the heel (not counting the gusset stitches) and work an ssk. Coming back purl all stitches till the last one and p2tog. Nice neat flap and easy to do.

6. One of the main reasons I like to knit toe up. I never know how much yarn I'll end up with so toe up lets me knit until half the yarn is used up and then bind off. I don't end up a bit short on the second sock and I don't end up with a bunch of yarn leftover unless I choose to have a shorter sock.

7. The final and sometime most important reason - I have fat legs. So - why toe up socks? It lets me play around with the bind off to create a looser ending and therefore FIT MY LEG! The why I do this is simple. I generally end each sock with a bit of 2x2 rib. One the last row I add some stitches. They don't show when the sock is done but they give extra stretch so the bind off matches the rib stretch and doesn't pull in.

On the last row - k1 - m1 - k1 - p2 repeat all the way around. The bind off normal.

OK - back to the short row on the heel.

Right side - Knit across the heel stitches as indicated on your pattern: knit front & back of a st, Knit 1, wrap & turn

Wrong Side - Purl across the heel stitches as indicated: purl front & back of stitch, purl 1, Wrap & turn.

See any of Wendy Johnson's patterns for exact "when to knit".

Once you've done all the short rows you will knit the stitch and the wrap around it together. This closes up the short row space and it becomes invisible.

Cat Bordhi has another way to knit up the wrap stitches. She has been gracious enough to do videos of this technique so take a look at those to see her technique. Part 1. Part 2.

Other News

One Ravelry I've been busy adding some of my machine knitting projects. I'll post them on my next bog post but if you want to see them (in some pictures) head on over to Ravelry.

It's More than just Sock Yarn

Like a lot of us I have sock yarn. More than I need. A lot more than I need. So - I decided to start hunting up projects to use the sock yarn. Projects that may actually be used or at least are good to have as gifts.

Project #1 - Knit Picks Essentials Gloves.
These are a basic glove pattern because the colorway is too busy to add cables and things that would take extra time to knit but get lost in the striping. Plain works for me. I started this glove yesterday and have worked on other things beside this glove. It's a quick knit. The yarn came from my cousin who winters in Tucson and surprise of surprises the Color is Tuscon Multi. Isn't she clever!
Project #2 -Opal Zirkus Socks
OK. So I didn't say I wouldn't knit ANY socks. Just start knitting some other projects beside socks. The yarn is Opal Zirkus color 2007. It's another busy striping yarn so I decided to start a pair of plain garter rib socks. These make a great knit for times when I don't want to have to pay attention to what I'm doing. The color is actually brighter than the picture shows.

Project #3 Mitered Squares that may actually become something someday.

I don't plan on making a mitered square afghan as it would take about a bazillion squares but I'm making squares out of my leftover yarn until I come up with something to do with them.

Meanwhile, while I'm knitting sock yarn stuff Chief has been busy discovering the serger cover. I often wonder why people bother to buy things for their kids and pets because the best toys are usually the wrapping and boxes things come in.

Well, it's time to get ready for another work week. Only 5 days till the weekend and counting!

Bags, Socks and MItts

As I've mentioned before Chief likes plastic. He lives for me throwing a bag on the floor to play with and chew on. Well, now he's started something new. He doesn't just play with them - he is now picking them up, carrying them places to sit on and protect. I'm not sure if this is "just because" or because I cleaned up all the extra bags when I was getting ready for Thanksgiving. Whatever the reason, he is being very careful to keep me away from the current bag which includes carrying it to the bathroom in the middle of the night to sit on.

"What!? It's my bag and you can't have it! - Chief

In knitting news, I finished the Eagle's Flight socks last week and finally got a pic of them. It's really hard to get a picture without showing massively white legs and scaring everyone. As I mentioned last post - I increased the stitches on the last row of the leg (I knit toe-up) so that the edge would not be too tight. This sock fits perfect.


For my birthday Christine gave me a kit to make Cat Bordhi's Flying Carpet Socks. They're made with Mountain Color Bearfoot- Mountain Tango colorway and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Yarn- Tahoe colorway. They're made using techniques from the New Pathway for Sock Knitters book and are lots of fun. I have the first sock done but the pictures just don;'t show the cuff properly. Head to the link and you'll see a much better pic!

In other knitting news, I've been pining over the loss of one of my patterns. Back many, many years ago I got Elizabeth Zimmermann's Woolgathering with several mittens in it, including the mitten below. A garter stitch beauty that hugs the wrist, has a mitered thumb and just plain fits and feels great. I made tons of these including the one below that never quite got finished. Fast forward 20 years and I decide to make some more which was prompted by finding this guy when I moved and sorted out boxes of "stuff".

I found the pattern which included 3 mittens but the page with this mitten - missing! I looked, I cried, I emailed Schoolhouse press and got no answer. I put a message up on the EZ group in Ravelry- everyone was interested but no one had the pattern. I've counted stitches on this one and come up with what I think will be close but - there's some special fitting to the mitten and I can't quite see how I did things.

If anyone has this pattern I'd love to hear. I believe it's Woolgathering #6 - Mittful of Mittens. The other 2 patterns include the Norwegian mitten. It's one of the WG that were 8.5x14 paper folded in half.

In the meantime - Chief has decided his plastic bag is safe and decided to join me at the recliner.
Bert? - he's running around jumping on things right now. Oh to be young and energetic!

Return of knitting talk

The past week has been busy and filled with many emotions. We had to deal with the loss of Mom and all the things that accompany it: notifying people, planning the services, hosting my brother and SIL at my house, seeing friends and family I haven't seen for MANY years, helping Dad to understand what happened, packing up her apartment, and oh so many things. Before anyone worries - I'm doing great. Mom had a good, long life and she's busy celebrating with God. You can't ask for more than that.

One person I saw that totally surprised me was Vivian Skoog. She was the owner of the Yarn Shed for many years and the person who is responsible for heading me down the path of knitting that I took. There's so much to tell about her I'll save it for another post. But - it was so wonderful to see her and I'm incredibly grateful she came to the services.

While Mom was in ER and later in the hospital I always had knitting with me. The socks below are what I worked on most often. They are Opal and a simple garter rib - my favorite for simple socks. I'll give you more details when I get them completed.

There was other knitting in the evenings and some crocheting. I made another Rust Goes Green market bag. This one was made from Sugar n Cream cotton - 3 balls of 3 different colors.

The base and bottom third is a beige/white combination. The middle is a beige/white/green combination and the top is a white/green combination. I thought changing the colorways like this would be fun and I was right. I like the way to turned out. Of course, as usual, I still need to sew on a button.
Other knitting that took place the past week was the "Socks that will not get finished". Not their real name but more an attitude I had about these. I started these socks back before Christmas for my SIL who is a fire captain (stop me if you've heard this story before). Anyway - she requested tall basic socks for under her fire boots. Tall to help prevent boot chafing. I ended up getting Maizy because the corn fiber is supposed to wick away the sweat. These socks took 3 balls.

I started at the toes and did my basic sock.For the body I decided on a 3x1 rib. Once I got up a bit on the leg I started adding a few stitches by making the back ribs 4x1. Every 10 rows I'd add and couple stitched until all the back ribs were 4x1. Once I used up and entire balls and started the second ball (each sock 1 1/2 balls) I started to decrease back down to 3x1 ribs the same way. This gives a little extra width for the calf but make the top tight enough to stay on.

The last 2 1/2 inches were 2x2 rib to help pull it in. You may notice the yarn look a little squishy. It looks like it is 3 plies with each ply being 3 plies. The strands are not totally even which gives is a bit more texture. I did have a small problem with splitting not it wasn't too bad.

I'd make another pair of socks out of this yarn but 2 things would change. I'd pick a color that I liked and I'd make them shorter out of a pattern that wasn't so boring!

Currently I'm working on the bag I said I'd design in honor of Mom. It's looking pretty good and I can't wait to be able to show you!

And the Knit Goes On

I've had a busy week at work and home. The NW Twin Cities Burbs Knit Night was last Thursday (first Thurs. of the month). It was our 2nd time getting together so the group is still "finding itself". It's a very mixed group of people and everyone is very friendly. We've got new knitters and old timers like myself. Then there's our token guy (his term, not mine!) He has been knitting about 2 minutes and has made several felted tote bags (lined) and working on a fair isle hat. This guy had knitting mojo coming out his ears!

I worked on a top for my cousin's daughter's wedding in June. I had some Berroco Denim Silk in the stash and found a lace top and shrug to make. It's not too far along and is knit from the top down so the picture is more of a gray blob but here it is so far...

The 1x3 rib Fire Socks are still coming along. I swear my SIL will retire as a fire captain by the time I finish these. It has nothing to do with the yarn - Maizy is great. I just am bored with the design (or lack of design) and the length of these socks. In case you forgot - they are Maizy because it will wick and being a fire captain my SIL has hot feet a lot. They are also going to be super long to go over her fire boots to help prevent the chafing from the boots. So far each sock is 1 skein of Maizy.

It has a lot of yardage. I'll be splitting the 3rd skein and making them as long as it allows. The design is just a simple 1x3 rib. In the back I changed the ribbing every 10th row to slowly increase the ribbing at the calf to 1x4 for extra fabric. The front stayed 1x3.

I found a pattern for crocheted sponges and made one. I actually made this on Earth day but forgot to post a picture. I decided to play around with a knit version and will test it out a bit. If it seems to hold up well I'll write my directions on a future post.

Well - it's Sunday night and that means I have to go back to work tomorrow. The new work situation is nothing to get excited about and more something to endure so - I have to start a countdown till next week.

Speaking of next weekend - Saturday is the MS 30/60 bike ride. If you want to donate the link is on the right. After the bike ride I will be randomly picking someone to win some knitterly goodness. It could be you!

Actual Knitting Content

I finally got my act together and took a couple pictures of the little bit of knitting I've been doing. Just to prove I really am working on "The socks that will not be finished", here's a shot of them so far. Well - sort of a shot. My model wasn't quite up to the job of standing by them and looking cute. He was busy protecting this week's junk mail.

I dump the junk mail in a pile all week and then Saturday or Sunday I go through and throw out the paper in recycling, the stuff with "credit card applications" in the shredder, and the plastic and other junk in the mail in the garbage. It's amazing how much my folks still get. It's been almost 2 years since they lived here. I've never bought, donated, or in any other way acknowledged the junk mail but - it just keeps coming. Obviously, many companies don't think too green!

Back to the socks.

These socks are still not done. Each sock is 1 skein of Maizy so far. They aren't long enough for my SIL yet but, I'm impressed at how much yardage is on each skein. I've got one more and will split it between the two socks and see how long these suckers can get.

Stitches Midwest

I signed up for 2 classes at Stitches Midwest this August. One of them is Cat Bordhi's sock class on Sunday. It's based on her new book "New Pathways for Sock Knitters". She has several ways to change where the gusset "increase" is and thus create very unique socks. I made the first baby sock last night to see how they worked. It's the Little Sky Sock.

See how the increases are on either side of the front.

That means the sides go straight down to the heel. I can see some pretty interest patterning ideas with increases being in different places! This should be a fun class.

In the meantime - Chief has been helping me knit. he snuggles in between my legs and rests on my tummy. Often he'll help hold the yarn for me. Having a warm purr near me seems to help my knitting mojo - at least until he decides to climb up on my chest!

Why does Chief get all the pictures today? I'm cute too. AND I'm awake! - Bert

Finally some knitting

There's been some actual knitting going on at Maison Chat. My friends that come over every Friday night couldn't make it this week because of various reasons but I had the time to knit instead of teach/coach. Earlier this week I started a new pair of socks. This this Araucania Ranco Multi. It's wonderful yarn with a firm twist and very minimal splitting. The pattern is a mix of patterns. It's my basic toe-up design but the pattern on it is from Eagle's Flight. A free sock on the internet.

I like this design with this yarn. The yarn isn't so busy that the design gets lost.

I've also started another baby sweater this weekend. There's something in the water at work because the past 6 or so months everyone has had a baby. At least that's what it seems like. This is the 4th baby and I'm tired fo the EZ surprise kacjet so I switched over to Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Sweater on 2 needles (February sweater from Knitting Almanac). The original is 1 color but last week when I was at the NU Outlet I bought 1 skein of 2 different color of Snuggly DK by Sirdar (can't beat $2.75 a skein!). Once I decided what to make I didn't want to go back down there for more of one of the colors so - the yoke and garter stitch areas are white and the body red.

House Rules

One rule we have in the house is - all bags that come into the house must live on the floor for at least a week. It's not my rule but I must follow it if I want to live in peace. This bag becomes the toy & nap place of the week.

OOH This Paton's bag is just the thing to sleep on! - Bert

15 minutes later -

Are you sure there's not something inside the bag. Let's explore. - Chief

You're bothering me. I want to sleep! - Bert

30 minutes later -

Like I said, It's a great place to nap! - Bert

Misc. Item

When I was at the MOA last week I found a pillow at Bloomies that I managed to kinnear. It looks very easy to make. It was expensive. And it may be a project in the near future.

Where's My Needle?!

Most of this weekend was ignoring the artic blast that hit us and sleeping. I started getting the "sinus pressure-migraine-hey, you've got a cold coming on" symptoms and since I had a job interview today I didn't want to walk in to the meeting all snarky and puffy eyes. So - I slept. But between bouts of sleeping and seeing 5 minutes of various TV shows I did manage a little knitting.

One of my goals this weekend was to finish the Regia socks. DONE. They're for my Uncle as a thank you for all the parent help he's given me this past year. Previously I made a pair of slippers for my Aunt using a basic toe-up sock with thicker yarn and a short cuff. I'll see both of them this week to thank them. (My cousin that's been coming to the Friday night group is their daughter so maybe she'll make them something for Christmas.)

The socks are Regia Designer Line Kaffe Fassett, color 4251. I used 2 skeins with just a little left. As usual I knit them toe-up. This lets you knit until you get to the end of the skein without worrying about having enough yarn for the 2nd sock. The inspiration for the socks was Wendy's Eyelet Rib Toe-up socks. I use this pattern for basic number in the heel but go off on my own from there. The design is a Garter stitch rib - 1 round knit - 2 round k2,p2. I really like the way this rib gives just a bit of design texture without being too fussy. Once I got near the top I put 10 rows of k2-p2 rib to finish them off. I know I'll make this sock again for myself.

Between sleeping and socks I also spent some time hunting for my knitting needle. Bert has developed a new obsession - he keeps stealing one of my big-ole- plastic 14" needles. This time I found it tucked under my slippers. This means he grabbed the needle from the living room where a friend was using it, hauled it across the living room, down the hall, past 2 bedrooms & the bathroom, brought it in my bedroom and tucked it under the slipper. He has WAY too much time on his hands!

Quick question for anyone else who uses blogger. Have you had problems with spell check on blogger lately? It hasn't worked for me for about a week.

Going to the dark side

I haven't shown any fresh knitting lately which may make you think I've been idle. Nope. Just bad at taking pictures. Last weekend I started a new pair of socks- Regia Design Line (Kaffe Fassett) color4251. I told my Uncle I would make him socks as a thank you for all the extra work he's done for my parents. He gets them for church every Sunday and Christmas he went over to get them so I could get the house and meal ready for everyone. What a guy!
The first picture shows the actual color a bit better (but a little 'dull') . As usual I'm doing toe up. I decided the colorway was about as much excitement as my Uncle could handle so I made them in a 2x2 rib. But- I wanted something a bit more than plain rib so these are a cable rib. One round knit all the way around - next round knit 2- purl 2. This gives a bit of texture and interest without so much that the colorway losses the design.

The other thing you may notice is - I've gone over to the dark side. Yup. I'm knitting magic loop. It took me a while to try it but I had other projects on all my dpts so rather than not start these socks I gave the magic loop a try. So far, so good. However, I do not see myself ever trying the 2 circs. The thought of all the dangling 'stuff' doesn't appeal to me at all.

The other thing that kept me busy this week was getting my new "toy" down stairs and put together. This puppy weighs about a million pounds and was in a big box with a million parts to put together. After one day getting it home, one day it getting down stairs and one day putting it together, it's now a fully functional Nordic track excer-cycle. It has a MP3 plug in, personal trainer chips to plug in, all sorts of good stuff. I decided the bike is what I do best as far as excercise and the club near me closed so - put my money into a bike and see if I can get healthier. The Saturday of Mother's Day weekend is the MS 30-60 bike ride so I need to get myself ready. Last year my knee was acting up so I didn't ride. This year I'll be ready!

Who Knew? - or I've got a bunch of questions

Little did I know that mentioning Poptarts would bring so many comments! Guess ya gotta give the people want they want - junk food. There were a few off line emails going back and forth today and the general opinion of everyone is the Brown Sugar Cinnamon (frosted or not frosted) are the best, Frosted Raspberry is a favorite but the Chocolate varieties are generally avoided. I hadn't had Poptarts for a while and bought the Chocolate chip cookie dough ones just for the fun of it. Don't bother. They taste very fake and have no real chocolate flavor. The other one I didn't like was the S'mores. Just not like the real thing. But - all in all - I still like Toaster Strudels the best. Any one else have a favorite - Poptart or Toaster Strudel and what flavor?

Indie Sock Yarn Question

Since I'm asking questions I've got another. I got All Things Heather yarn from my secret pal a while back - made some great socks and love them. When I made them they ran a lot. The water was changed many times till I thought I had them free of extra dye. Today I was washing my pile of socks and the water turned raspberry fairly fast. So - everyone got "out of the pool" cause the All Things Heather socks were peeing in the water. I washed them separate (bad socks!) and rinsed them several times. The rinse water still had a bunch of dye in it.

Some of the water after washing and 2 rinses - this time around.

Is this common? I haven't bought much indie dyed yarn and I've had minimal problem with dye after the first wash. What's everyone elses experience?

Socks after several rinses - still a nice dark raspberry.

Teaching New Knitters Question

I've been teaching my friends to knit for a couple weeks now. The 2 gals that came the first week are knitting. Bad tension, adding a lot of extra stitches but - they're knitting. One friend joined us the 2nd week and picked it up right away except for adding a ton of extra stitches. The guy that started the first week gets it for a while then totally loses it. They're coming over tonight again and I think I'm going to have him try crochet for a bit. 1 hook - 1 live loop. It might give him a success that we can turn into knitting. The problem right now is he'll drop a needle and pull the yarn or have such loose tension that his size 8 needle looks like he's knitting on a size 15 needle. We tried bulky yarn and larger needles but that didn't help. I just think he need to get a feel for tension before he'll be successful at knitting. Anyone have opinions on this? In the mean time the 3 gals are practicing: through the door - around the back - out the window and off jumps Jack (hey - don't laugh - it works!)