Practice Swatch

Learning to knit has certainly been an adventure! I have never been the sort to grasp the proper way to do something by reading a book, or even by watching a video. I pick up on things much easier when I have someone sitting beside me, guiding me and showing me how to do things. However, finding someone to help me with my knitting this summer has proved to be rather difficult. I purchased the book suggested to me by Donna (Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook), but following the carefully written out instructions did not go so well for me. I could not understand what the text was saying, despite the included pictures. So, I turned to Youtube videos. However, I quickly became frustrated because I just could not understand how to even get started with the knitting process. I wanted someone in the room with me, helping me understand what I was doing wrong, and giving me tips on what I needed to do better.

So, I turned to my grandmother. She is an avid knitter, so I felt that going to her home for help with my knitting would be a great idea. However, aside form the simple fact she could not manage to stay on task - she rarely has visitors, despite our large family - she could not explain things to me in a way I could understand them. I think she assumes that because I am smart, I can catch on to tasks such as knitting easily. That is certainly incorrect. I need someone to be patient with me, and she lacked that necessary patience.

Thankfully, I finally found the perfect teacher in Molly Boyd! I went to Fort Smith to visit her, and she sat down with me and showed me techniques for knitting. Within just a short time, I was working away at my practice swatch. I quickly became frustrated when I found myself both losing stitches and adding more, but Molly assured me that was okay, because it was my first real attempt. She also told me my hands would become accustomed to the way it felt to have the knitting needles in my hand, as well as the process of knitting itself, and she was right! Soon, I was moving much quicker, and my rows were looking much better! It certainly is not the most gorgeous thing in the world, but my practice swatch - which is rather long and skinny, but I was simply knitting away, rather than keeping it to a square - is complete! There are holes, but it is a start. I am excited to see where things will go from here!

After several weeks of working on a crocheted blanket, I have come to realize that I somehow COMPLETELY misread the email about our summer assignment!! I, for some strange reason, thought that I was supposed to try to learn a new knitting stitch, and then start either a crocheted OR knitted project. So, I did some research on cable knitting, and finally ended up with a little swatch that looked fairly similar to the picture in the book (Stitch 'n Bitch) where I found the pattern. Then, I took a knitting break and one of my friends taught me how to crochet, which seemed to go a little faster (probably because the crocheting I was doing involved no counting, unlike the cable knit stitch). Before I knew it, I had a pretty good start to a blanket coming together! I figured I would just make the blanket my summer project.
Thankfully, Donna sent us a reminder email with a reprint of my summer assignment, which is that I learn an intermediate knitting stitch and complete a project using it. Then, I can choose to crochet a separate project in addition to the knitted one if I want to. So, after a little frantic reading and re-reading, and re-re-reading, I put my crocheting on hold and started my cable knit scarf!
I am busy at work on my scarf now and it's actually going pretty well!

Side Project: Ribbed Stitch

Once I was sure that I had a basic garter stitch down, I decided to try something a little more technical/challenging. Enter: the 1x1 rib stitch. This posed a bit more of a challenge than the garter stitch because it required more of my attention. As in, I really had to pay attention to what I was doing and what stitch I was on so my stitches wouldn't get off.
At first, the purl stitch was more than a little awkward, but with some practice, I had it down fairly well. The next hurdle was figuring out how to alternate between the garter stitch and purl stitch; before I knew what had happened, I had a mass of tangled, knotted yarn. After a few more attempts, I figured it out, and an actual pattern of sorts began to emerge. My end product definitely isn't perfect, but it turned out a lot better than I imagined it would in the beginning.
Also, I found this video very helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uw-nUvGrBY
With the background music, it's super cheesy, but it takes you through basic knitting skills step-by-step.

Learning to Crochet

I wish I could say I was successful. I really do. But, alas, that is not the case. My first swatch was in a terrible stitch that Donna later informed me is called the “slip stitch”. I was trying to follow the book instructions for single crochet, and instead I ended up with a tight, difficult stitch that didn’t really look right. I should have known something was up! Also, I found that my choice of yarn tended to fall to threads when I tried to work with it… I loved the yarn, so if anyone knows what may have caused this and/or how to avoid it, please let me know!

My mother must have heard the relatively obscene phrases I was spitting from my room because she showed up with her own needle and yarn in hand about two hours into my crochet challenge. Working together, I was able to understand the single stich a lot better! The second swatch wasn’t nearly as stiff or difficult, and it actually flowed quite easily after a while. I only ran into a problem when I had to figure out how to hold the needle steady in my right hand (my hands shake quite a bit). Yet at the end I remained frustrated. As I was stitching a rectangle of single crochet, my mother produced a handful of beautiful Granny blocks. The rectangle I had been somewhat proud of now seemed lackluster…

My attitude didn’t really surprise me. I tend to be fond of finished products, but I rarely have the patience to get them there. (Also evidenced by a couple incomplete needlepoints, an abandoned scarf, a latch-hook that was eventually passed on to my brother, and a forgotten paint-by-numbers.) I hope that in this class I learn the patience and determination to actually FINISH something beautiful and interesting. It’s a personal goal, say.

Yet, as I look towards a last minute research trip to Houston and then a hellish schedule from the first day out (is that not everyone’s thought?), the mastering of crochet beyond a single crochet (or perhaps the patience to try) still eludes me. I think my next project will be knitting. I have yet to learn to purl stitch… then I could see a garter stich in my future. How about a scarf? Well… I won’t get to ambitious. J

(Also, I think that this is the right way to post a blog... if its not, forgive me!!!)

Swatch and Granny Square

I have been looking forward to this class for almost a year now (ever since Donna described it to our Knitwise group). As recommended by a friend, I first learned how to make a long chain of stitches using some leftover RedHeart yarn that I had in my knitting bag. She showed me how to correctly hold the yarn in my left hand in order to have nice tension as well as how to hold the chain of stitches in order to make crocheting the next stitch easier. Holding the yarn in the correct fashion and going through the motions of crocheting felt very awkward at first, especially since I had been knitting for almost two years and had gotten used to holding the yarn differently in order to knit my many different projects. I made a chain that was around 200 chains long, but my stitches were horribly uneven particularly in the beginning of the chain. Unfortunately when I was walking to a different place in my house, the chain got caught on a chair and was almost completely unraveled. Although, this gave me the opportunity to learn how to make rows of stitches instead of one long chain in order to make a swatch. I researched how to accomplish this and found a great YouTube video that showed me exactly how to make a swatch. My stitches had improved tremendously, but the tension was still not uniform so my swatch ended up being lopsided with one end having tighter stitches than the other end. I think I may have lost a couple of stitches along the way, although I’m not experienced enough at this time to be able to tell whether or not I have lost some or not (the single crochet stitches are difficult to tell apart at this time). Next, I found a series of YouTube videos that showed me how to make a Granny Square. I learned a lot about how the stitches are formed and their relationship with one another while making my Granny Square. I also learned the valuable skill of how to unravel several stitches in order to fix a mistake without unraveling the entire project. I am very happy with how my Granny Square turned out since my stitches and tensions are finally getting close to uniform!

Swatch:

Granny Square:

Summer Project

Since my knitting skills were sub-par (to say the least) before this summer, my project was to learn a basic garter stitch. While it sounds simple, I came to realize that it really wasn't. I already knew how to crochet, so I figured that it would be pretty easy to pick up knitting.
My granny is an expert at most things homemade, so I went to her for some knitting lessons; that was mistake number one. Like most grannies, my granny loves to talk. And bake me things. It took a few visits before we ever actually started working on knitting, which is when the second problem arose. Granny is right-handed, but I'm in with the other 10% of the population that happens to be left-handed. After much confusion, and a lot of trial and error, I was able to produce this:Being the perfectionist that I am, I probably had to restart about ten times before I actually truly started anything. After a few days of tangled yarn and frustration, I had finished my first knitted... thing. Before I go back to school, granny said that she would teach me how to do a rib stitch, as well.

Swatched

Learning to knit has been more complicated and less complicated than I thought it would be. I finished my very first swatch a few days ago and I am beyond proud.

After waiting several weeks for my mom to dig my Great Grandma Frankie's needles from the attic only to find she didn't knit with size 8 knitting needles, ordering Stitch n'Bitch in the mail, and finally buying Cover Needles and more appropriate yarn I finally got to sit down and knit.  I decided to knit Continental Style because it was recommended for us South Paw's.

The most complicated part of the knitting process for me has been finding a comfortable position to hold my yarn because I'm holding it in my left hand, I hold my yarn in my right hand when I crochet.  But I powered through and managed about an inch and a half only to have my sister make fun of me for only getting that far in well over an hour.  At first my first rows looked horrible unattractive to me, but when I came back to my swatch and started work again I realized they weren't as unattractive as I thought at first in fact I kind of liked them holes and all.

After I figure out pearling I think I'm going to start on a scarf that's Slytherin colors, if I can find the right yarn, so I have something to work on while I wait in line for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.  Hermione and Mrs. Weasley knit so it's a very witchy thing to do. :)