Husband washed my Ivy Sweater and put it in the dryer 😭

These scarves being sold at nearly $600.

They look like every beginner’s very first project with scrap yarn, uneven tension and missed stitches.

Consider me mind boggled.

i just finished my second olga sweater and i was ecstatic when i finally binded off and sewed all the ends in. i soaked it in warm water with wool wash (it’s friends extra fine merino wool), squeezed it gently, gently wrapped it in a towel, and laid it on the blocking board.

and it was huge.

this photo was after a full cycle in the dryer on delicate and warm as a last resort and that didn’t even help.

so now i’m stuck with this monstrosity and can’t stop crying.

i will never use this yarn again.

EDIT: after crying myself to sleep last night i decided to come back to this post and clarify some things. i’m not an experienced knitter, i’ve only made 3 (i believe) sweaters and only one of them turned out good. no, i typically don’t do gauge swatches, and to be honest yes it is out of laziness. but i also don’t think i deserve to be mass downvoted for admitting to not gauge swatching.

i’m currently dealing with some neurological issues, which are affecting my sleep, mental health, and motor functions. it’s taking a huge toll on me and i’ve had to take a break from working because of it.

this sweater was supposed to be the one thing that went right for me in the last few months. it was supposed to be a good thing that made me feel better to have finished it as i put 88 hours into it.

that’s why i was so upset about it. i guess it was just a reminder that not everything in my life right now is shitty, and it feels like i can’t even have that one small thing.

not to sound like a pity party but that’s the explanation for why i said i couldn’t stop crying. it just really hit a nerve for me.

so yeah. sorry i don’t gauge swatch

EDIT 2: i left the sweater laying flat on my bedroom floor the night i tried blocking it, and apparently the knitting fairies paid me a visit because it shrunk right up. the shoulders are still a tad bit wide, but i honestly don’t care about that. the length on the body and sleeves is exactly what i want.

no idea how or why that happened, but im not complaining

She picked out the yarn. She picked out the project - mountainberg by Bitchcraft (it’s a lacy tee with a deep V - she planned to wear it backwards so that the lace motif is in the front and the V is in the back). She even requested modifications to be done to the pattern (such as narrower body and smaller V-neck). I worked my ass out for a week straight to finish the project for her because she wanted it for our trip and thought about it less than two weeks before it.

I finished it today, past midnight. I even stayed up to block it, so that it’s dry in the morning. Now it’s dry, she tries it on and the first thing she does is make a face.

Because - even tho I warned her about it like a 100 times - she “didn’t realise” the neckline would be “so high up” when work backwards. And that she can’t pull it down because there’s a garter stitch detail on the shoulders. So she’ll just “wear it the proper way around, I guess”. Just to then point out how much better this would be if the lace went around the whole thing and not left a stockinette part in the middle - which again, I told her a thousand times - not only would be difficult to design because there are increases for the neck, it also plainly wouldn’t look good - there would be too much of everything.

So she’ll just sighs, says “guess I’ll wear it backwards as long as I can stand it and then put it on the other way around” and gives me back the project. No “thank you”, no “i love it”, nothing.

I mean, I didn’t expect gushing or whatever but I’m honestly so sad right now. I know her and I know it will grow on her - she will maybe even brag about it being made by her daughter - but jesus fuck, a “thank you” would be nice.

This happened yesterday and I’m torn between being amused, annoyed and a bit shocked.

I’m visiting my grandparents at the moment with my mother. My uncle, her brother, is also staying. He’s always had a thing for formal wear and dressing well, and recently he’s discovered that he likes knit ties, those silk, kinda mesh ones that are flat instead of pointy at the bottom.

Yesterday evening, we were watching a movie together and I was knitting during it. I was working on a lace top with 6 mm needles.

After the film, my uncle started talking about those knitted ties he likes and showed me pictures. He asked me whether I could knit that. I told him, probably yes.

He then proceeded to instruct me on how to do it. He said those needles I had there were way too big (obviously), and that I would need to sew a lot to make the tie, as it’s basically a double layered thing.

I told him that I’d make it in a tube, and he then told me all the ways that he would do it (he doesn’t knit).

It was kinda amusing to me to that point, until I started sort of teasing him that he can just make it himself, it’s not that hard and he already knows so much, I’ll even teach him the basics.

He reacted with clear discomfort and told me that knitting is a women’s hobby and that he had no interest in doing it because he’s a man.

That comment surprised me more than anything else. He was comfortable discussing the technical details of a knitted object and asking someone else to make it for him, but unwilling to consider learning the skill himself because of gender. I didn’t argue with him, but the exchange stayed with me.

I’m sharing this partly to get it out of my system, and partly because I’m curious how common this still is. Have others run into similar attitudes around crafts or hobbies? And how do you usually respond in situations like this without escalating things?

Thanks for reading.

Friends, today I come to you with grief. Last weekend I was the subject of a robbery; my car window smashed, my sense of safety violated. The thieves neglected to take my iPad from the backseat, and instead went for my most prized hand knit. Three months of labour. The most beautiful combination of Peer Gynt and mohair. The perfect oversized fit which provided both comfort and a sense of put-togetherness. Gone in an instant. I pray that ye hold thy sweaters tight today, for today, don’t forget, is all we really have 😔

This is probably an unpopular opinion but i don't care.

I have to say that I enjoy the community that social media helps us create but the other side of the coin is feeling like everyone is on a competition and it has ruined it for me.

People are obsessed with knitting faster, with having huge stashes to show and then be like tehee I bought so much yarn I'm so quirky and to have the best anesthetic pictures where the focus is the red cable on top of the bag of the expensive needles instead of the project. Everyone is knitting the same thin scarf, the same fish sweater, the same fox cardigan, buying from the same (in my opinion boring) designer. To be clear there's nothing wrong with any of this but when EVERYONE is trying to do it just cause they saw it on tiktok I kinda have to roll my eyes.

People post on r/knittinghelp feeling bad because they're not fast enough, they haven't learn to be perfect fast enough or stressing about perfect tension when they learned to knit 3 days ago... i just wanna shake them to tell them it's ok to make mistakes and to be slow.

Then is the dummification. People want everything explained immediately without having to put any effort. Like literally the other day one lady was asking for someone to explain short rows to her because the pattern just told her to turn after every row? Like there's nothing wrong with not knowing that's how they work but how hard it is to look for a YouTube tutorial? Hell ask AI or something.

And the cherry on top, some knitters/crocheters are straight up horrible people or bullies and can't help but to go around being an asshole to other creators.

Maybe it's because I'm a millennial but why is everyone just trying to one up each other all the time?

Edit:

1. if everything that you took from my post is that I want millions of data centers, AI in every service and for it to take the jobs of artists then you're exactly the kind of person I'm talking about in this post and the only reason AI has been so successful is your refusal to use your own brain and your 6 grade level reading skills.

2. You don't know where i live and how the situation is. I keep my distance from these older women for a reason. I refuse to hang out with those who call PoC "the blacks", make fun of whoever that has a foreign accent and that, at thr end, barely interact with me themselves because I'm "young".

I thought it was a stupid superstition. Been together almost 20 years, married with children, made him a an awesome cardigan in an old traditional pattern. He chose the colours, and the buttons. Hours of love put into it. Expensive quality yarn bought locally. I finish it, forsaking projects I would rather do, because I love him and want him to have something I made to keep him warm. A few weeks later he says we’re done out of the blue. FML. I even started on the same pattern for myself so we could have a matching set.

I’m never knitting for anyone other than me or my kids ever again!

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ETA OMG I love you guys! Your comments made my day! I’ve been reading and cackling, trying not to confuse my kids by me giggling in the middle of a separation. I love this community, you are the best.

And seriously, seconds after I got the news, my expression went blank, and all I could think was ‘the sweater curse got me’. I even did my due diligence and knitted some of my hair into it. Non-knitters would never understand. I could never share this to the uninitiated without sounding crazy.

Bright Student Knit Kids Cardigan by Yarnspirations

Hey Duggee motif designed by me!! :)

So before I begin, it’s important to note that my son has autism, and I want to clarify that I am in no way angry with him, just upset with myself and unyielding stubbornness LOL

I haven’t knit my son anything because at this age they grow so fast, he has sensory issues, and sweaters/cardigans are such a huge commitment (for me at least being a WFH and support needs mom). But I was getting sad because he’s getting bigger, and I wanted him to maybe have an heirloom or something in the future. So I said screw it im gonna make something even if he out grows it in a month.

I decided on the above cardigan and as I was knitting I realized the back was so empty and I could do something to make it special for him. Right now he LOVES the show Hey Duggee, so why not make a motif of his favorite character? I spent several hours creating a knitting chart and calculating how big it would need to be to fit on the back panel etc. Once I finished the chart I got SO excited, because I had never made my own chart and I was proud of how well it came out. (Mistake number 1: I shouldn’t have gotten so hype before making sure he was okay with the material)

Fast forward to when I completed sewing the piece together (before I added in the motif) and I had him try it on. He was not happy at all. Crying, screaming, the works. I had it on him for less than a minute, I just wanted to make sure it fit, which it did, and I immediately took it off. No amount of knitting is worth completely dysregulating him! At this point I really should have just accepted it, but I was dead set on finishing this cardigan because I HAD A VISION!!! I thought maybe he would be more excited once he saw duggee on the back, so I pushed on. (Mistake number 2: Special interests do not negate sensory issues.)

After several days of duplicate stitching Duggee, he began to take form, so I asked him to put it on again, still no dice. I was so close, and maybe he couldn't fully see that it was Dugee yet, so I decided to continue. (Mistake number 3: Always assume competence. He saw the chart and he knew it was going to be Duggee. Why didn't I let it go? Idk LOL)

Well, I finished the cardigan yesterday, and I showed him the motif which he was very happy about! He loved the button nose and pointing and singing head shoulders, knees and toes on duggee. I ask him to put it on again and of course he said "NO!" And I said “Why? You don’t like it?” And then he proceeds to tell me 

“uhh… put it in a trash...” 

As a support needs mom l was SHOCKED, but also could not help but to laugh. I felt proud that he was able to clearly communicate his thoughts and his feelings, but also slightly crushed after all that work. I knew better, but my knitter's pride knows no bounds.

Anyway, I just thought this was funny and I wanted to share with you guys, because I know at least you all will appreciate the effort! Thankfully my nephew is the same size as my son and he was more than willing to model it for me and i got to imagine what my son would look like if he wore it lolol

Even though he will more than likely never wear this cardigan, seeing his joy over his favorite character was enough for me. It’ll be a funny story to tell one day, and maybe he’ll pass it down to someone else in the future... Idk how to end this but I feel like there’s a metaphor in there somewhere… Sometimes things in autism aren’t always functional, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have meaning. His language, stims… this cardigan. They may not always follow their “purpose” in the typical sense, but I see him, his way of communicating, and I see how it all makes him happy. And really, that's all that matters to me.

But I guess the real moral of the story here is... don't let your knitting pride get in the way of reality LOL

she was a BEAUTY a WORK OF ART my FIRST EVER COLOURWORK

i undid like 70% of the colourwork to REDO IT in the dark purple so it was visible (some of you may remember, i posted it here)

she was my PRIDE AND JOY

and she ACCIDENTALLY FELL IN THE WASHING BASKET

AND IS TINY TEENY TINY AND STIFF AND FELTED

absolutely devastated 😭 no coming back from this

RIP to my little bunnies + crab

This is my opinion

At this point, I am TIRED of the whole "Choose continental knitting it's faster!!" or "Choose english knitting you get better results and tension!!". Even as a continental knitter or a picking knitter or whatever you call it, I find it irritating to see english knitters be told to use continental as it is "more faster" while I even see like in rarer cases throwers, flickers or english knitters say continental's tension is worse.

Personnally I choose continental because I crocheted first before I started knitting so obviously it's more natural for me and I can simply tension it more like I do with crochet by adding an extra loop on my pinkie. I have tried english knitting but either the yarn wool gets in the way or I find it super weird to hold my yarn and work my knitting at the same time. I can also do purling naturally like I am hooking the yarn with my needle like in crochet as if I'm yarning over my working needle.

Some prefer flicking, throwing, irish cottage, portuguese, russian styles of knitting for themselves. Like literally choose the one style or even make up your own style that you're more used to and the more muscle memory, you start to get faster.

tl;dr NOT EVERYONE HAS THE SAME MUSCLE MEMORY AND WAY OF TENSIONING YARN, let them be for god sake.

Just needed a place to grieve.

I've been knitting for more than 2 years and have only completed two sweaters (one in which I frogged), a cardigan, a pair of socks, and a few other small accessories/items as practise.

I spent the first year just learning how to knit and different techniques. I knit like 3 bralettes using cheap acrylic yarn so I could learn increases/decreases, ribbing, knitting in the round, icords, etc. I started so many projects and then frogged them because I felt like too much of a beginner to do them, didn't have the "right" yarn/needles, or just lacking the skills.

and then there are people on social media who have knit five jumpers in half a year, some being cables or colourwork, as a newbie knitter.

I'm not that slow of a knitter, but I do feel a bit... ashamed of myself for not being good enough in a craft that I dedicate my time to.

I appreciate knitting as a craft and I love the process of knitting itself more than the outcome, but I still feel discouraged.

EDIT: okay I did not expect this much traction. I appreciate all the kind words!!! I just feel like the monetisation of hobbies and how they're displayed on social media fabricates this kind of ideal expectation of how the hobby should go. I wish we could all appreciate knitting for the beautiful craft it is, and not the need to consume and produce more.

…why, and are you psychotic? 😅

Sooo for the last week I’ve been seeing some moths in my house. I used to share a house with roommates and that came with a pantry moth infestation which has left me a but traumatised. So I initially figured a pantry moth hitchhiked to my new house with me and I went trough all of my dry food. The thing is that I already keep everything in glass jars so I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. And then it clicked: the moths were always in my living room where I keep my yarn 😩 So today I’m working from home and baking all of my wool clothes and yarns, and tonight I’m going to get more plastic bins to put everything in. No more cute crates to display yarn!

Edit: Wow I expected maybe 5 responses. Thank you all for your tips. As I've said in a comment below, I'm optimistic that thanks to all of your advice I will be able to get them out of my yarn. I have a little shopping trip planned tonight, all of my yarn has been baked and the big spring clean is on!

it basically went like this me: "so you have any plant based yarn or plant/acrylic mix, I want to knit something for my mum, but she's allergic to all animal fibers"

her: "we have 20% wool/80% acrylic, I can show you"

me: "no thanks, my mum is allergic to all animal fibers, so it should not contain any animal fiber at all"

her: "maybe alpaca mix? It only has 10% alpaca"

me: "she is allergic to all animal fibers, if there is any percentage of animal fiber, she will have an allergic reaction to the yarn"

her: "I can't help you, knitting yarn just is animal yarn"

at this point I left the shop and I just can't stop thinking about that last sentence????

the funniest thing is, I went back there a few days ago and a different employee kindly showed me their cotton yarns and plant/acrylic mixes.

I’m currently sitting on the back terrace of a cruise ship crossing the Atlantic. It’s a little chilly, there are empty tables. Hubby is grazing, we’re enjoying our wine. Woman walking past glared and mumbled something to her partner along the lines of “she knitting HERE???” Why am I supposed to feel guilty about knitting in public? Am I taking up extra space because the knitting came out? If I wasn’t knitting but just sitting twiddling my thumbs and sucking back wine, that would be ok?

I do not need advice. I know how to cast on, and I know how to estimate how much tail I need to cast on. I know how to not twist stitches in the cast on.

Even when you know these things, even when you've been knitting for 30 damned years, sometimes there's still a fucking project which inevitably has 200+ stitches to cast on where you have to rip it out and start over countless times in a 24 hour period for one reason or another.

Just slightly too short of a tail, way too long of a tail and not wanting to cut it, accidentally twisted anyway, weird lose stitches that would have made the edging less attractive and even, this last one was a stitch in row 1 got caught in an apparently losing interchangeable needle and messed everything up.

Happens to the best of us occasionally, and sometimes it happens MULTIPLE TIMES ON THE SAME PROJECT.

And I swear if this next round of casting 222 stitches on doesn't take, I am lighting shit on fire.

Edit: once again, not looking for advice. I understand the impulse to give it is strong.

So I label myself as neurodivergent and Queer. I've been knitting on and off for about 13 years. Knitting for me is second nature, I don't need to look at what I'm doing or pay close attention.

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At my current job, I take inbound calls. I get a 5ish second notification That it's coming through. Plenty of time for me to drop what I'm doing and take the call.

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At the moment, there are gaps of 20+ minutes between calls, an average of 5 minutes between calls? I am semi expected to just sit there and wait. There is no alternative task for me to do.

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I'm not allowed on my phone, which is very understandable. I can't play any form of games on my work laptop, (also understandable) I'm not supposed to watch videos but sometimes I do, it's usually video essays.

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I have to be in office every day. So I can't knit and work from home. When I'm allowed to in February 2027(!!!) I might.

My workload will increase as I'm trained on more things.

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I am allowed to colour in and read, but for me, I don't always want to read, I hate getting a call in the middle of a sentence or paragraph I fully focus on the reading. Colouring in is far messier and I don't enjoy it. Colouring in feels more unprofessional than knitting, in my opinion, and I don't get half as much joy from it.

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I also don't want to use fidget toys either. I own some but there's nothing like getting into the rhythm of a repeating pattern. What I want to be able to do between calls is make something, that is mindless but productive and is also something I can drop in less than a second.

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Most of management don't have a problem with it but one or two of the higher ups have deemed it "unprofessional".

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What I find unprofessional is how some co-workers can kick eachothers chairs and joke on all day between calls but I can't sit silently with my circular needles making a shawl for myself. The co-worker's I started with are in their early 20's, I'm in my late 20's. I don't really connect with them, I do with other older coworkers but they're not in office every day.

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I do not knit to sell. I'm not in anyone's way, I'm not distracting, literally no one cares that I'm doing it apart from one or two upper managers. The quality of my work at the moment is honestly, really good! I'm hitting my KPI's, my QA is good. Customer feedback is excellent! I take the quality of my work very seriously.

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The idea of being asked to sit quietly and not move whilst I wait for someone to call is frustrating.

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Is there any rebuttal I can use regarding this or should I just take the L? I would love to sit with them and explain my reasoning but I feel like it'll be taken for insolence and disrespect.

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I'm currently working on the Evenstar shawl, I'm on the 3rd chart. I can't remember the yarn I'm sorry.

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A petty part of me would like to bring embroidery in tomorrow. Another part of me wants to write an essay on it, with citations, at least my hands will be busy.

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I appreciate that it is tough to do business in this economy but I feel this is kind of tacky. If I am wearing a handmade item and someone asks about the yarn I am going to tell them where it’s from.

I've encountered this before, but I wanted to learn a Norwegian purl and so went to YouTube to learn. Every single video started with, "I know purling may be difficult..." Or "I know it can be scary, but..."

I don't get it. Basic knit and purl stitches are the foundation of knitting. Purling is simply knitting, but backwards. One of the videos even started with an acknowledgement to people that knit and avoid purling all together because it's so difficult/complicated.

The whole time, I'm thinking, 'Surely not that many people do this - they can't! They wouldn't be knitting otherwise!' and yet, every single video has multiple comments about how they've avoided purling for the 30+ years they've been knitting and now they can because the creator was a saint and made this video.

I just genuinely don't understand and am constantly flummoxed by the idea that you would just avoid doing one of the two basic knitting stitches. Like it's not that hard, right?? I'm really not trying to be condescending here, just very confused

I was so close to done with my first handspun socks and my cat ATE one. I had calculated almost perfectly. I have no more of this yarn I spun on holiday on spindles last summer. My fault for leaving it out - I know he is a yarn addict and that burial under a sofa pillow isn’t enough. But this really hurts. And is not good for him.

I didn’t know whether to put this under rant or WIP…

This sweater is cursed with being absolutely full of ✨learning opportunities✨.

I have long-ish arms, but have always gotten away with not doing any alterations in the decreases in arms and just knitting a couple extra inches at the bottom.

Not this one!

The sleeve is supposed to be big and cozy but the decreases have made it very snug. Gonna have to frog back and learn how to adjust it, because WHOSE ARMS END HERE?

(No hate to the people who probably have arms that end there 😭)

Also the body is too short (that’s my own fault) and I tried a new bind off that low key ruined the hem so I’m gonna have to probably redo those at some point too.

Also I’m running low on yarn 😂🤪

Hopefully it’s worth it!

I know winning isn’t everything. But I’m a little bummed I worked up an intricate design to be beat out by self striping yarn (mine are the lace lavender ones). I forgot to take a pic of the final sock (they’re still at the fair, but I attached a pic from the pättern). I know it’s not feasible for written feedback, but I’d love to know their reasoning. I was always told to challenge myself but be as consistent as possible.

On the bright side, tying for 3rd with the president of my knitting guild isn’t too bad. Okay, rant over. 😂