Knitting, macrame, crochet...?

Question

I need an easy to read book or website, with instructions for some basic stitches, to create small pieces of costuming.

I need something like chainmail, but it doesnt need to be stiff, or from wire (they take a long time to make). I am hoping to create something similiar with metallic yarn and possibly very small guage wire, with easy to create stitches.

Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

There are several online sites to help with learning to crochet:
http://www.anniesattic.com/ This one actually has written words with pictures and then for some things there are small videos.

Some more places for crochet:
http://www.geocities.com/snowymts.geo/crochet2.html
http://www.learntoknit.com/instructions_cr.php3
http://www.crochetcabana.com/
These are just a few. A simple search for crochet will get you many more.

For knitting well there are also many great sites for that also:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/ My favorite place with videos
http://learntoknit.lionbrand.com/ The lionbrand yarns website has many things to check over (oh they also have a crochet area)
http://learn-to-knit.com/ This one will teach you left or right handed knitting.

Macrame is not a difficult thing to learn. It is simple to complex knotting but easy to pick up, but I have never found many sites to teach it on the internet. Still there is this:
http://www.elainecraft.com/instructions/instrucFAQ.html

You have to realize that it takes time to learn to crochet, knit, or to do macrame. For a piece of chainmail the best might be the macrame, expecially if you have any experience with knotting.

None of these crafts are a learn it in minutes type of thing. It takes practice to learn how to handle hook, and needle and to be able to make knots uniform.

Answer 2

I would say knitting is your best option, as it looks a lot like chainmail when you look at the purl side of the work.
And learning to knit is not that much work.

Best start with a bit of yarn or head over to a yarn shop and ask the staff to help you to get the basic stitch under control.

All people here who think that learning to knit takes as much time as making chainmail have clearly never done any chainmail work.

There are many online instructions for knitting, and they will work good for back-up purposes, but hands on lessons are still the best. (You might also have someone near who knits and can show you the basics.)
If you just know the knit stitch you can get far. Just square pieces of cloth will allow you to drape and / or sew into the chainmail shape.

Here is a link to a site with macrame instructions:
http://knopen.ismijnhobby.nl/tables/macrame_text_table.html
And the structure that emerges here might be what you have in mind:
http://knopen.ismijnhobby.nl/tables/combined_square_knot_table.html
Instead of starting in a point you can also put many strings side by side when you start like this. Pin them down or tie them to a bit of string which you tie to something solid.

Answer 3

knitting, macrame, crochet, cro-knit any of these stitches whether worked with with a hook, sewing needle, or knitting pins. Chainmail can be made with a sewing needle, a hook, or with macame (with fingers) Cro-Knit is nothing more than button-hole stitches. One button-hole stitch forward, and one button-hole backward will give the "tatting" stitch. These are loop stitches and you can look some of these stitches up on the internet. Cro-Knit, macrame, knitting, or tatting all use the same button-hole stitches, the only difference is that you use a different tool for each type of work. You may also be able to check out books from your local library on embroidery and how to make the stitches. The "loop" stitches are what you use when you are working with just a needle. All of the loop stitches in embroidery are also button-hole stitches. I hope this will be of some help to you. Dorothy M Hooper

Answer 4

Big needles and thin yarn may be what you need. Try a search on the patterns at lionbrand.com or berrocco.com, one of them had, as I recall, a costume knit like chainmail at Halloween for free.

Answer 5

No. Rosey Grier did needlepoint and I don't think anyone would dare make fun of him. I crochet for a stress release. It makes you forget about things for a while and it gives you something really great when you are done. If you want to find other males that are interested in these crafts, sign up with the yahoo groups. There is one crochet group that has a couple of men.

Answer 6

It's easier and quicker to learn to make chainmail than it is to learn to knit shaped pieces. Make a mandril that will fit onto an electric drill. That won't take long, and won't cost too much either. When knitting fake chainmail, they use grey, not metalic wool; that would be too shiny.

Answer 7

What are you poor ? Take it to a professional . And you want to learn knitting!! Haha really gay