birthday jumper
knitting forum
 

Hello Fellow Knitters,

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the very welcoming email I received from your admin staff in return for filling in the registration form. Unfortunately I do feel it necessary to tell you that it was in fact the longest registration form I have ever had the experience of completing. Luckily, shortly after the second page I realised I could copy and paste most of the (required!?) information from my curriculum vitae. Now that I’ve had the time to read some threads I must say how honoured I feel to have become part of this, the most wondrous online knitting community the internet has to offer.

My name is Ronald Summers and in just over a month’s time it will be my partner Joan’s 50th birthday. For a present this year I feel she deserves something a bit special and decided a while back that I would attempt to knit her a surprise birthday jumper.

She hasn’t been having the best time lately. In what is increasingly looking like becoming a weekly event, she had yet another fall yesterday; this time while reaching for one of her scented tissues. Tired and a little confused, she accidentally switched to one of the dreadful shopping channels. The only thing stopping me grabbing the remote and quickly switching channel again was the knitted jumper I saw the channel were selling, reminding me that I hadn’t yet got round to making Joan’s present.

Although I have never knitted before, an argument with Joan once and her subsequent foul mood meant I was forced to attempt to sew a button back onto my favourite shirt myself. I think the fact that the button stayed on for over two days goes some way to showing I know at least the basics. Also (despite her telling me how off-putting it is), I have on occasion watched Joan knit and I must say that it doesn’t look like the most complicated of things to do.

I have been having a think and have so far decided that I want the jumper to:

  1. Be warm (I even heard the doctor say she should keep warm at the moment)
  2. Have either “Happy Birthday”, “the big five zero” or “my birthday jumper” on either the front or the back.
  3. Be personal to her and therefore contain an embroidered picture of at least a few of her favourite things in life.

So my questions to you knitters therefore are:

  1. What is the best wool I should use to ensure the jumper will be warm?
  2. How do I knit the lettering I am after?
  3. How do I embroider?

I thank you in advance of any responses,

Farewell for now,

Ronald Summers

Hello Ronald and welcome to the boards.

Sorry you found the registration form long winded. We appreciate any feedback given so please could you visit our comments page and voice your opinions. Please can you also enter a post on the “introduce yourself” board.

I hope you continue to enjoy being a part of our community.

John, Site Admin

Hello Ronald,

I must say while it’s a lovely thing to think of, I think you might have underestimated the complexity of what you would like to make.

The skills it would require take quite a while to master and a month might not be long enough.

Maybe you should consider buying your partner a gift for this birthday and making the jumper for another occasion that is a bit further away.

Deedee

Ronald,

I think the jumper sounds a little tragic. Sorry to be blunt with you but I can’t imagine any woman wanting a jumper with her age plastered all over it, and what use is an “it’s my birthday” jumper for the other 364 days??

Go and buy a jumper for heavens sake.

Carol

Hi Ronald,

Have you ever knitted before? If you haven’t got anyone to actually teach you then you could try a DVD - "Teach yourself visually: Knitting" by Sharon Turner is really good.

There are often how to knit guides in the first few pages of most pattern books, but some people (me included) find it hard to visualise the stitch from a 2D picture.

I’m a relatively new knitter myself and it’s something that I’ve really grown to love, I hope you enjoy your new hobby too!

One final point, sorry but I have to agree with Deedee, I think a month might not be enough time to get this done!

Welcome to our lovely boards!

Tracey

Hello again

I must firstly thank John from the admin team for your very swift reply - I am glad that you appear to be doing your job properly. Although I am grateful for your apology regarding the registration form, I feel unsatisfied - Is there any chance you to tell me why registering for a knitting forum requires as much information as starting a bank account?

Thank you to Deedee and Tracey for your insightful comments however I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed that you think I may not be able to “master” this skill as quickly as I had first hoped. After reading your reply I called my boss Mr. Ian Pollack to ask if I could have the next two weeks off work and luckily, despite the short notice I gave him, he agreed. I would hope that now I have two whole weeks to dedicate to learning, you will change your mind.

Thank you also for the tip regarding the DVD by Sharon Turner though I must ask whether you know if it is available on VHS?

Thanks again

Ronald Summers

Ronald,

The registration form (and all the information required) is for the benefit of all forum users. Not only is it a great way of getting to know one another but it also stops spam-bots from being able to register and deters hoax users.

Now that you’ve obviously filled it in, perhaps it would be an idea to try and forget about it. If you’re not able to do so, may I once more direct you to the comments page,

NOTE TO ALL USERS – PLEASE KEEP POSTS ON-TOPIC.

Any further O/T discussion in this thread will be removed.

John, Site Admin

Hi again Ron, 2 weeks is still a relatively short space of time but if you’re determined to give it a go then good luck!

I don’t know if the Sharon Turner DVD is available on VHS – try Amazon!

Love Tracey

Hello,

Sorry for the somewhat long delay in replying – I had only just started typing when Joan reminded me of my jobs and deemed it necessary that I clean the toaster “till it sparkles”. If I thought I could get away with it I would rather buy a brand-new toaster for all the bother it’s worth.

I must again say thank you to John for taking the time to answer my question and for providing me a reason for the registration form being so incredibly tedious. Do you not think, however, that if a hoaxer really wanted to intrude then a long registration form would be the least of their worries?!

Despite all the (relatively) wonderful help I have received here, I have decided that knitting Joan a jumper may not have been one of my best ideas. While walking Barney an hour or so ago, an older lady walked past us wearing a knitted jumper and Joan’s following comments left me no choice but to abandon my plan.

Thank you to everyone that tried to help me

Ronald Summers
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