Satuday, September 20, 2003

And I'm trying to teach myself to knit and not having much luck. I printed out some clearer instructions, so we'll see if I can manage to follow them and actually get somewhere.

More later, no doubt, especially if I get frustrated with this knitting stuff. :)

Monday, September 22, 2003

Haven't tried the knitting book yet, because my clearer instructions didn't work (I can't figure out what to *do* after you cast on!) but I shall tonight, perhaps. At the moment I'm trying to find something for Dad's b-day tomorrow.

Thursday, December 4, 2003

I knitted!!! I knitted!!! :)

Friday, December 5, 2003

Um. Still not at 30k. But I'm knitting!

I told myself that if I couldn't figure it out after readingKids Knitting, then I wasn't meant to knit. And honestly, it took me about 25 minutes to figure out Step 3, which NONE of the knitting books I have purchased recently show at all.

See, you make a slip knot, and slide it on the right hand needle. And then you make stitches and cast them on the needle, which I had already figured out. But Step 3, how to actually make a stitch and what you do with the stitches, was not illustrated in any of the knitting books I have. They have Steps 1 and 2, and then, as if by magic, their illustrations show a piece of knitting about three inches long. I had no idea how to get from Step 2 to their illustrations. And reading the text did not help.

Well, if you've always wanted to knit but couldn't figure it out, this is a VERY good book! I can't recommend it enough. I have the basic knit stitch down now; it's not very hard once you figure out what you're supposed to do. And I'm planning to go through the whole book and make most of the projects, just to get into the swing of things and figure out other stitches. (I have yet to purl, for example.)

And I'm having fun. At the moment, I'm working on what I think will be a scarf. But after crocheted (I can whip out a scarf in about an hour) knitting is like learning Dvorak for the first time. I know I'll get faster, but at the moment, it's going very slowly. Beginner's speed, I guess. :)

Ah well.

Saturday, December 6, 2003

Let's see. I finished the scarf I started. It's pink and blue with a white stripe through the middle, and it's for my cousin (and goddaughter) Teresa for Christmas. I also crocheted her a matching hat (well, the hat is just pink, but it will be okay.) (I have a picture of the scarf, which I will post later. It's cute.)

So I can knit. That means I can cross something off on my Goal List, which was "knit a scarf by 12/04." I was going to give myself a year to learn. Thank goodness it didn't take me that long.

It seems, though, that knitting uses more yarn than crocheting? I ended up using two skeins of yarn plus a partial skein, and it's a short scarf. Maybe it was the yarn; I don't know. Next up: a scarf for someone else in the family for Christmas (I've already made her a hat.)

Monday, January 12, 2004

My Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needles came by UPS today. I'm attempting a hat at the moment, using acrylic yarn because I got sick and tired of fighting with the silk. So far so good. They're really nice and smooth, and it seems like they'll be very easy to work with.

I will post a pic of what I get done, even if it's not a hat. :)

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

So far so good on my maybe-hat. I used up all the gray and decided to make the rest black wool. The needles are extremely smooth and easy to work with. I haven't had any problems with them yet. (It remains to be seen whether knitting will ever take the place of crochet in my life... maybe when I learn to purl?)

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Hat: Done!

Yes, I cheated and finished the top with crochet. So sue me.

AND I'M PURLING!! YES!!! I figured it out! I am knitting a lopi scarf in denim blue.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

I'm knitting a scarf now. It's ribbed, but I'm breaking up the ribs and making it interesting. (I get bored easily; what can I say? Probably the reason why I've only crocheted two afghans.) I tried a modified basket weave last night, which didn't really work, but it looks ok. It's definitely going to be an interesting scarf. :)

Sunday, January 25, 2004

I read a suggestion on a knitting site somewhere that you can use the same size needles for a hat, get as small as you can go, and then drawstring the rest, and perhaps sew it a little to close up the hole.

I finished the new hat tonight, using that suggestion. Not only did it work; it looks great! And you can't even tell I messed up when I turned it inside out, so that's the side I'm going to use. Yay.

I will post pics later, I think. Have to find a disk for the camera.

So I guess that pretty much destroys my reluctance to knit hats. Especially if they all look as cool as this one does. I'm really proud of myself with this one. It looks almost professional. *g*

Used Bernat chunky yarn, too, in medium green. Lovely yarn to work with.

Almost done with the lopi scarf, too. I decided just to add on the rest with the gray, and it doesn't look bad at all. I *might* make a hat to match with the gray or the red; I haven't decided yet. We'll see.

Have not progressed on the sweaters. Maybe tomorrow, a little. Not sure.

Designing patterns for knitting should be an interesting thing to do. I tried to do letters, and came through with a passable 'J', but the bumpy parts weren't on the right sides for part of it. You can read it, but it's not quite right. So I'm still working on that.

I think part of the problem is that I knitted it flat, and got a bit confused as to when to knit and when to purl. It might be easier using a circular needle. So I might attempt to do Jessica a hat with her name on it or something. Or maybe Bethel-Tate. Or something she would wear.

I remain hopeful, however, that I can do an alphabet something-or-other in the near future.

And I haven't even tried to cable yet!

Monday, January 26, 2004

Okay. Today I designed and made yet another hat, and this time... well... I have to take a picture. :)

It was intended to be a cat's head, but it looks more like a koala bear, or maybe one of those Japanese-style animals. Honestly, it looks like something my sister Emily would wear. It's cute. The face ended up being a bit too fat for a cat head.

I'm designing these things on graph paper, and I think that's part of the problem. Knitting stitches aren't square, after all; they're more rectangular. Now I know I saw knitter's graph paper as a download somewhere, but it might take me a bit to find again. We'll see.

But what fun!

I also finished Ethan's hat... which spells his name. You can read it once you figure out where the 'E' is, but I had the same problem I had with the 'J' before. Not all of the bumps ended up on the correct side. It's really weird. I'm going to take and post a picture of it as well, and try to get a good picture so his name can be read. It might take me a bit to figure out how to do that, though.

I'm calling it textural knitting. Although I'm sure what I'm doing has a proper name, that sounds better to me.

--posts from DisOrganization

 

I have always wanted to learn how to knit. Crocheting is easy for me; I make hats and scarves and other things for my yearly craft shows and they always sell well. But knitting, up until now, has been too difficult for me to master.

I think I've figured it out now. I have yet to make my first sweater, but it's been started. So we'll see.

And I can always be bribed with cool yarn. Remember that. It might come in handy some day. :)

 

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