That is wonderful and hilarious!
That is EXCELLENT!
Haze, the way I read the pattern, you start and end with six stitches for the edging. in the last row, the P2tog turns 2 stitches into 1 stitch, BO3 unloads 3 stitches that you’d added along the way, and then you should only have 5 stitches left to go. It took me a little bit to get the hang of it, but I found that focusing on starting and ending with 6 stitches helped me. I’ve knit enough stuff with that pattern on the edge (two scarves, 2 headbands and now some handwarmers) that I can almost do the pattern by heart.
I’ll knit through a leaf again if you want a better explanation (I think I have to knit it to really be able to describe it.)
Thanks. I did manage to confirm, after some extensive googling, that the one stitch left on your right needle after the bind offs counts as the next k1. I mean, I always ended up with 6 stitches anyway, it’s just that after the bind off 3 (which uses up 4 stitches, right?) I always had 4 stitches remaining on my left needle. So the k1, p1, k3 always confused me. But if I count the stitch on my right needle (that’s left after the bind off 3) as the k1 that comes next, it all makes sense.
It just seems counterintuitive and I don’t understand why none of the books and websites I’ve used (all targeted for beginners!) have EVER MENTIONED THIS. Seems like a mistake that every beginner would make unless they were told otherwise. :smack:
In other news, I’ve ordered some wool/cashmere yarn for my Willoughby project, God help us. Still working on my stranded knitting hat, as well as yet another hat for my boyfriend and please God let this one be THE ONE THAT FINALLY FITS HIS HEAD. I thought the last one was fine but the length turned out to be rather awkward (too long to wear without folding back, but too short to fold back comfortably).
Okay, earlier in the thread I said I was going ot knit socks next, but we all know what they say about good intentions. I stumbled across a knit afghan pattern that looks interesting but doesn’t include really complicated cables. It’s knit all the way across in a series of different tectured stitches. Reading through the pattern it seems as if I’d be able to finish it. The example shown is colors that would be perfect in my mom’s living room.
I cannot afford the suggested yarn. If I can find a suitable substitute that I can afford I am going to make this for my mom’s birthday, which is in November so I think I can manage it.
Also, I plan to participate more actively on Ravelry. I wasted a ton of time last year watching mindless television. In pondering New Year’s resolutions I decided I wanted to produce actual articles, including knitting products, and also connect more with real people, instead of the characters on Law & Order.
When I’m reading a long book I usually also have a “fluff” book going in case I need a break. Maybe I can knit my son’s socks when I need a break from the afghan, or can’t lug it somewhere.
I’ve been wanting to learn (re-learn?) to crochet, so last night I sat down with practice yarn and a book. It went pretty well. What I really want to be able to do is crochet thread lace edgings, but I have to work up to that. I figured out all the basic stitches and a circle, next I’ll do a granny square and maybe try out a doily-type thing, there are a bunch in my book.
There’s a SDMB group on Ravelry? I’m there!!
My wool/cashmere yarn arrived, and I couldn’t wait - I cast on Willoughby. I’ve only knit 3 rows so far but it’s SO STRESSFUL. Every time I approach the end of a row I start praying that it’ll turn out as it should be. Hopefully I’ll get used to the pattern somewhere between now and the 20th repeat.
Well done! And your husband looks very cute wearing it.
Oooo, pretty pattern. I’ve had good luck with Jared Flood’s patterns. I bet it’ll turn out really well.
Right now I’m working on some Bella’s Mittens using Three Irish Girls Galenas Chunky in Neve. Then, I’m going to make a sweater for a dog that I don’t own, which is good because my dog is big and the dog-recipient is a Yorkie.
I feel stupid. I’ve had to rip out stitches for Willoughby several times, all before I got past the third row, until I finally learned that when you read a pattern, the wrong-sided rows are read from left to right. :smack: :smack: :smack: In my defense I’ve only ever knitted from written instructions! Well, I have read patterns for hats, but those are in the round. Anyway, I feel stupid, but at least now I know what the hell I’ve been doing wrong.
I have grandbabies on the way! So I started knitting booties, of course. But now I want to do the Big Bad Baby Blanket. And a Skully sweater…and a hat…and some quilts…
I feel your pain. I successfully cast on for torreyana (I linked to it previously). It’s a shawl which starts from “near the bottom edge”, so you cast on billions of stitches. And then you knit back and forth. But I struggle a bit with the fancy selvedge stuff, becaust that’s patterned on both sides and isn’t symmetric, whereas the pine cone chart I’m knitting for the rest of the shawl is also not quite symmetric, but the wrong side is “knit the knits, purl the purls”.
I know intellectually that one should read charts in reverse on the wrong side, but I struggle to actually do so.
And when casting on the cabled sweater I’m working on, I had issues more than once because one starts with a wrong side row, which means knits and purls go in the opposite direction as where I wanted to put them.
Eureka, that shawl looks lovely but just skimming through the instructions gave me a headache. I was explaining to my co-workers over lunch the source of my stress and they were all, “I thought knitting was supposed to be relaxing!”
I had the hardest time learning to knit from charts. I resisted for a long time. Finally I figured it out by trial and error, so I, too, feel your pain.
What kind of cast on do y’all do for hats? The brims of my hats keep stretching once I start wearing them, to the point where they’re too big for me. Should I just reduce the number of sts I cast on in the first place? Or knit the first few rows tighter? I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s better off to knit them a bit small and stretch them a bit when blocking.
Knitty did label Torreyana ExtraSpicy–and I think that’s partly due to complicated stitches (N-stitches and 5 or 6 stitch cables in lace) and a complicated pattern. It’s not hard, so far, but there are areas in my spreadsheet which are blank, because the pattern doesn’t tell me how many repeats widthwise to do of a particular lace pattern, and I don’t feel like trying to calculate them.
And then there are the choices, two different possible selvedges, three possible final pine nut chart versions, and you aren’t limited to the four sizes of shawl shown, although figuring out how to make a custom size took more calculating than I like.
On the other hand, the actual knitting is going smoothly, so far, though I must admit to not being a perfectionist.
But if you’ve never done lace–or at least, nothing more complicated than saroyan, I would not call this a beginner’s lace shawl.
I don’t do hats–generally. I don’t wear them much, I did knit coronet–which has a simple braided cable that you knit first and then pick up stitches for the crown.
If you are knitting hats with a ribbed hem, I’d be inclined to tell you to go down a needle size for the ribbing–it has the effect of knitting the first few rows tighter, mostly, I think . . .
I’ve seen instructions where they tell you to use a smaller needle size for the ribbing. Whether you do it that way or by casting on fewer stitches, you want to knit it with quite a bit of negative ease, so that it’s snug enough. I’ve re-knit several headbands because they ended up too loose, but that’s been a great way to get an idea of how to deal with hats.
I still find charts VERY intimidating and vastly prefer the written instructions.
Thought you guys might get a laugh out of this - I made some rookie mistakes :smack::
You should have seen my first attempts at a scarf - it looked like someone had chewed it up and spit it out.
Thanks for the hat advice, ladies. The Norwegian Star hat I just finished seems to have turned out okay, anyway.
I sent you a FB friend request. What an adorable pup! He (she?) looks good in green!
Ps…totally don’t feel pressured into accepting it.