I'm impressed Russ, you're way ahead of me - no surprise there
I ventured to the knitting group on Tuesday, carrying a set of my late mum's needles and the only half ball of wool I had, leftover from a pair of socks someone knit for me when I gave them the ball of wool to do it.
After about an hour and a half, I got up nerve to actually have a go at something one of them said was a very simple pattern for a shawl which doesn't need to be a particularly exact piece as I reckon making arms or fingers or socks match would be a challenge too far let alone an item of clothing that has to actually fit a person! Shawls seemed the way to go and it's an elongated triangle starts at one thin end, gets bigger, gets smaller and ends small again - sounds simple and also enough challenge but not a year worth of going back and forth to get something unidentifiable!
So, managed to buy a new ball of wool and some marker things that are like tiny elastic bands which apparently I need. Cast on 6 stitches and knit two rows - on a real high now having remembered that much, tho I can't say the technique is pretty, the fingers are pretty stiff and the facial expression goes beyond concentration and into the realms of possible constipation apparently
Still, lots of encouragement and I am actually knitting..
Except, rows 4-6 start with the wee loop markers, slipping them on and moving them over when I reach them is fine except when they get out of place with a loose piece of yarn. And following instructions, however simple each piece, doesn't seem to result in the next row being what the pattern expects.. A loop has moved by one stitch, so when I get told to knit or purl to the next marker, do x and y and slip the markers and all that, I am supposedly left with 2 to knit to reach the end - there are 3..
At that pointI quietly came home, determined to work out what I'd done. Unravelled my 6 glorious rows and started over - three times so far
One evening I can't knit the first cast on row properly - yarn splits - loop over doesn't work, can't work out if yarn over is different direction depending on whether the stitch before/after is from a knit or a purl. Complete guddle. Rip out and start over, repeat with sweary words. Go to bed. Repeat. Sigh. Go pull weeds or feed chooks. Repeat.
I have 6 stitches cast on.. Again. They look really nice so I am wary of messing up when it's going so well! Think since I am expected back next week ready for the difficult bit at row 20 odd, I may need to leave the country in shame. I was only one s*dding stitch wrong on row 6 the first time, how can't I get there again, even with one stitch wrong? Preferably with all the right stitches in all the right places and the markers too.
Oh and row 20 is things like knitting 2 together, which is a doddle, knitting them apart seems to be the challenge. And what SSL means, slip slip something? Rocket science
Someone else's idea of simple I guess. But I couldn't go up and down and do a Dr Who 70s style scarf, I wanted a nice loose shawl of the kind I might actually wear. I think at present I might just be using the ball of wool as a handwarmer next winter at this rate