In my admittedly novice opinion, mittens for a kid might be a little small to start with. Multiple double pointed needles are intimidating at first.
Try a scarf. Just remember that the scarf will be about twice as wide as it looks when you first cast on the stitches. If the scarf works, make a matching hat to get exposure to circular and double pointed needles.
Back to my hat…
Two stitches shy this time.
:(:(:(
At the beginning of that row - (assuming that’s all you do), you should have some multiple of 19 stitches.
At the end of that row, you should have the same number of stitches (equal increases and decreases).
How many stitches are you starting with? Can you look back at the row and tell that you knit exactly 7 in each of the K7 sections (I sometimes miscount, and have one that has 6 or one that has 8).
To knit mittens you typically need to be able to:
Cast on
Knit
Purl (possibly)
Increase (maybe)
Decrease (almost definitely)
Put stitches on a holder
Pick up stitches
Bind off
Use double pointed needles.
They’re not the hardest thing in the world, but can easily get confusing. And most people are intimidated by double points when they start out.
You can knit a hat or a scarf only knowing how to:
Cast on
Knit
Bind off
(most likely seam if you knit it flat, but you already know how to sew so you’ve got a leg up there)
I wouldn’t start with a hat–too long and boring. I might start with a hat (did in fact start with a hat) then I knit half a scarf, then I posted a thread looking for suggestions on what to do next. I knit some of the pieces of a sweater doomed to be discarded rather than assembled (I’m not impressed by my knit skills at the time. Nothing improves knitting skills like knitting). And then a tube sock, then half a sock with heel flap and gusset (gauge issues), then I participated in Sock Wars, and now I’m not afraid of anything, but I don’t like lace–it makes my brain melt.
(If you want to see pictures of almost everything I’ve knit, get on Ravelry and check out Eurekas projects–there’s an s on the end of my name there).
I’d try a child’s sock before I did a child’s mitten, I think–but then I’ve mastered (more or less) socks (minus the part where you get two just alike–sort of joking, I did it for Sock Wars, but the only other time I’ve knit a mate so far I’ve lost the first sock of the pair). I’ve never tried mittens.
On the other hand, there are virtues to picking something which speaks to YOU, and if mittens do that, trying knitting one or three. (Odd numbers for two reasons. Firstly, if your first try is embarassing, hide it (or frog it) and try again. Secondly, if you knit three, you can give the child’s mother a spare for if the child loses one mitten).
They’re not too bad, but you need to look for a two-needle pattern, instead of a four-needle. You’ll have to sew up the side when you’re done knitting, but it’s an easier project for a beginner. You can move on to double-point needles in a while, after some practice.
In my head, and in the first draft of this post, it said I wouldn’t start with a
SCARF because a SCARF was too long and boring.
Okay, I finally got logged on. I have made one hat like this–the hard part for me was joining together the two needles full of stitches–something always went wrong.
I am not good at visualizing without it in front of me. Can you say again what is going wrong?
Could it be: make one stitch is pull the thread up from between two stitches, place it on the left needle, then knit that stitch. You have made a stitch.
Is that the problem?
Are you getting the SSK right?
Yeah, re-reading the OP, I think you may have been picking up the stitch but not knitting it.
Have you tried what I said yet?
Okay, third post in a row. I have changed my mind. I think you are doing it right–it is supposed to be tight. That is how the point of the leaf is created. It just seems strange utnil you have more of it knitted up. Somehow you are dropping or adding a stitch incorrectly and getting the wrong # of stitches.
Is this an early project for you? Because it is a little difficult for a beginner.
howdy.
I’ve made hats before, but usually with stockinette, moss, or ribbed patterns just because that’s the direction my fashion tastes bend. I’ve made scarves with patterns before. Not patterns using SSK, but with YO, K2tog, M1, and some of the other basic stitches. This hat is on the next level up, but it doesn’t seem like something I shouldn’t be able to handle. I haven’t had problems with dropped stitches in a long time.
There are 114 stitches in the round (just double checked) and 114/19 is 6, so no theoretical problem there. I’ve been very careful to count each batch of K7 to make sure, but it’s possible I missed one.
I guess there’s no option but to try it again and hope for the best.
Yeah, counting as you go is good. It’s just hard to see the pattern at first.
Good luck!
Huzzah!
I have no idea what I did different, but it worked this time. I have successfully completed 4 rounds! Yay! Just a couple more and I can do a new color!
Thanks!
Something I found helpful when knitting a pair of socks with a cable pattern was to put a stitch marker in between every pattern repeat. I knew I was supposed to have 12 stitches in between each marker, and if I screwed something up it was apparent immediately, and I could tink and fix it easily.