I know it may not be exciting to anyone else, but it certainly is to me
Casting on was no problem, but it took me a day or two (and I ended up finding a much more informative site than the book I had) to learn to actually do the basic knit stitch.
After 2 rows my stitches were looking a little mangled, but after 3 or 4 more rows, it actually looked right! I know I annoyed the hell out of my boyfriend last night, poor guy. I was sitting next to him knitting while he was playing a video game, and after I’d finish every row I’d make him look at the piece. I couldn’t help but be excited
It’s a small victory for me since I normally get frustrated too quickly to learn anything.
Congrats! Knitting is very satisfying. I love looking at something I’ve made my ownself.
I knit sporadically. I usually only do it while watching TV or listening to the radio, and lately I haven’t been doing much of either, so no knitting for me. Some friends and I used to have a knitting night, where we would all get together, drink wine, and purl to our hearts’ content. It was a lot of fun.
I wanted to learn to knit for like 40 years (well, maybe less since that would have been from birth). I finally learned last year and haven’t stopped since. I am dying to find a knitting group now.
Woot! Congratulations! You may have just picked up an addiction. Wait and see how frustrated your boyfriend is when you drag him into yarn stores and start fondling fibers. This is a good time to give him your credit card, as unrestrained Visa use in a yarn store is ultimately a bad thing. Knitting is a fever no cowbell can cure.
There’re a few Doper knitters. Last week there was a big knitting thread in CS. I adore knitting myself and just made myself a pair of Superman-blue mittens.
Have fun and don’t be afraid to throw things when you get frustrated.
Yay! Isn’t it fun? Something I’m still trying to learn about knitting: as my grandmother-in-law always said, “If you can’t rip, you can’t knit.” You have to be willing to rip out inches of work to fix a mistake, or start over. I hate doing it, but I have a lot more pride in my accomplishments when I do it.
If you haven’t found it yet, here’s last week’s knitting thread, and www.knittinghelp.com is a great resource – they have videos! I find those a lot easier to learn from than books, because I can play them over and over again as I get each part of the stitch down.
Have fun! And yarn stores are trouble. It might be a good idea to stay away from one until you’re almost done with this project, because otherwise you might end up with a yarn collection so big you have to pass it down to your children.
As long as everybody’s here: HELP, MY GAUGE STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN!
To get the right gauge, I knit bulky yarn on size 7 needles. Worsted on size 2. This is a bit of a pain, because the needles are so fine compared to the yarn that I’m always poking through the strand, but so far I’ve been able to cope.
However, I got myself some Regia 4-ply sock yarn, which is very fine, and I just cannot get a reasonable gauge on it, even on size 0 needles, which are the smallest I have. I could go get some lace needles, but consarnit, I think it’s time to confront this problem head on.
I learned the picking method (Continental)—and I am fast, I might add. I’m teaching myself the throwing method (English), and I think it’s helping some, but not much. Gonna have to make some dishrags or something to practice it.
But I want to make myself some socks, damnit. Any suggestions on how I can tighten up? Maybe I should drink more coffee?
Podkayne, you might want to try tightening each stitch after you make it. So you get into a rhythm of knit, tug to tighten, knit, tug to tighten, etc. How do you hold your yarn in your left hand, though? Do you weave in and out of your fingers or is it just sort of there?
I’m trying to learn Continental right now, and find it makes my gauge much looser than English. To get the gauge I’m used to I have to hold the working yarn so taut in my left hand that it cramps. So very frustrating, but it puts a lot less stress on my right arm, which I need to spare for note-taking. (Stupid college. Cutting into my knitting time.)
Podkayne how far off is your gauge from what you need to hit? For most ‘sock’ purposes Regia knits up at 7-8 sts. per inch. Are you making socks? Have you tried swatching it in the round? Gauge does vary when knitting flat vs ITR. Very cool if the change of technique works, when I pick continentalwise everything ends up too tight!
Miss Purl, (I’ve been envious of your username since you signed up by the way. ) I hold the yarn wrapped two-three times around my left index finger. I don’t make an effort to hold it tight; it mainly just wrap it around there so I have good control over where it goes. I’ll try giving each stitch a tug as I work. (I see many, many gauge swatches in my future. Luckily I have plennnnnty of Redheart lying around.)
chattywine, I have a sock pattern calling for 8 sts / in. The yarn label says 7 sts / in on size 3 and I was knitting more like 6 sts / inch on size 0. Durn it! I haven’t tried swatching in the round, but I did just make a raglan sweater out of worsted, and my two-needle swatch showed the same gauge as the work in the round. My gauge may stink to high heaven, but it’s consistent, by god!
My first attempt at socks was an unmitigated sizing disaster for numerous reasons: I was a relatively inexperienced knitter, using a vintage pattern that of course assumed that you’ve been knitting since you were 4 years old, the yarn was a poor choice (too heavy with almost no twist), etc. I later made a simpler sock in worsted that worked okay, but it was not, shall we say, an elegant sock. Big and thick. Fun to scootch around the house in, though.
I’m still pretty intimidated, but, darn it, I want to make some sexy self-striped socks. (Did I mention that it’s self-striping yarn!) I’m not married to that pattern, by the way. Anybody know of a good, simple, free sock pattern that will work with Regia 4-ply?
Podkayne ooh consistency is good! Of course that doesn’t help with your socks. Check out Wendy Johnson’s Generic Toe Up Sock , I’ve seen quite a few of these completed in knit blogs using Regia (yes self striping is uber-cool!). She also has a page with links to quite a few other online (and free) sock patterns here . Happy Knitting!
I knit Continental and my stitches are usually too tight! I’m doing my first project on circular needles, and I was so eager to start it I didn’t make a gauge swatch! I’m hoping the the hat’ll fit someone when I’m done…got a baby picked out if it doesn’t fit my daughter, and if it’s too big, I’ll felt it! Right now I’ve got to snuggle in under the covers and finish a scarf for my son’s girlfriend…ice-blue satin yarn with white eyelash for an inch at the ends, and ice-blue Cha-Cha fun fur for the rest.
I asked Santa for some speciality eyelash yarn for Christmas…he’d better come through!
I checked knittinghelp out to see about circular needle technique, and no matter what video I click on I keep getting a porn video…very bizarre. Not the kind of videos I need right now!
I learned to knit the basics as a child, from my Oma. Nowadays – this is the website that got me interested in knitting again. Especially the vegan fox stole, which you can see from that website – amuses the heck out of me.
Yay! Congratulations! I have knitted a teensy bit in the past, but I never was much good at it. I have had more experience crocheting, but all I’ve ever done is make these square-like small “blanket” type things. (Which, actually, have come in handy as lap blankets.) I just don’t have the ambition to perfect my knitting or crocheting skills, but I do love the beautiful yarns! Allow me to live vicariously through the rest of you!
Congratulations! I haven’t gotten around to participating in the Cafe Society thread yet, but I’ve been knitting for years. My current projects are a pair of socks and a sweater. I like doing the fancy stuff – cables, lace, etc. – because I’m easily bored. I’ve been known to point out to people that it’s organized fidgeting. I mean, let’s face it. If you’re stuck somewhere waiting for hours, getting antsy or restless looks bad. Knitting something leads people be curious about what you’re doing and envy your skill. It got me through 4 hours of waiting while my car’s timing belt was changed. I also knit on car and plane trips and, when I was in college, I knitted in classes. I was also somewhat notorious for knitting through adult education at my old church, although someone I went to church with got a hand-knit, cashmere-mix scarf for her daughter and I got to work with the good stuff!
I’m starting to think more about the use of knitting as meditation and prayer, especially since picking up The Zen of Knitting some time ago. A friend of mine braved the crowds at the mall the day after Thanksgiving to get me Mindful Knitting for my birthday, and I’m looking forward to having time to read it.
Enjoy. There’s something really marvelous about seeing a pattern or a piece of clothing take shape beneath your hands or about seeing something, deciding it would be perfect for a friend of yours and giving it to her.
I will pass on one knitters’ superstition: never knit a sweater for your boyfriend because, by the time you finish it, he won’t be your boyfriend any more. There’s some logical sense to it. Making a sweater does take a lot of time, as in 6 months or more for me with my schedule, and it’s not something most people will undertake until the relationship’s fairly well established. If the two people disagree on where the relationship’s going to wind up, the knitter might well wind up with a half-finished sweater, especially if she works on it less as things go less well. Oh yes, let me know if you want advice on what to do with a half-finished sweater you were knitting for a now ex-boyfriend.
And yes, you have to be able to unknit as well as knit to complete a project - I learned to knit three decades ago, and while I’m not a fanatic I did keep my skills up over the years. I’m just finishing up a vest now, a fairly simple cable pattern, and darn it there are bits I had to redo three times to get the gauge and shape right!
The only consolation is that when you’re more experienced you find the boo-boo’s quicker, meaning less to take out.
I’ve got a “loose gauge”, too - consistent, but I always have to go down a size or two in the needles to get the gauge right.
Also, having been taught by both a lefty and a righty I have a very unconventional knitting style - I don’t usually turn the work around, the work just goes back and forth. I knit one row right-hand and the next left-hand. In the past this has really freaked out some fellow knitters, but the end result is the same so what’s the difference?
The fancy stuff intimidates me at this point… cables and such. I’m sure the more I knit the easier it will become.
Oh, and I’ve heard the bit about not knitting your boyfriend a sweater. My boyfriend is picky anyways, so I doubt he’d wear anything I’d make. Although I am going to make him a scarf
Btw, I’m stuck with the same size 9 needles and boring yarn that I bought to practice with. Now that I have it down I’m aching for more needles and more yarn, but going to ANY stores this week has been hell… Tomorrow my bf and I are going to visit his mom, however, and there’s a yarn store close to her house, so I think I’m going to drag him there
