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Author Topic: . Learning to knit ?  (Read 43872 times)

Dogwalker

  • Joined Nov 2011
Re: . Learning to knit ?
« Reply #30 on: June 20, 2014, 04:21:05 pm »
Send me your address and I'll post you some needles I've got a bundle here I was about to take to a charity shop, you'll save me the trip. :thumbsup:

RUSTYME

  • Joined Oct 2009
.
« Reply #31 on: June 25, 2014, 06:51:23 pm »
Well , i have just made my first jumper !
Ok . I have in fact just managed to cast on 4 stitches .
Only a small step for mankind  i know , but a giant leap for man , well me anyway .
A parcel came today , with needles , wool and some 'knitting know-how' instructions , thanks D .
I had to have a go , but couldn't work out the casting on slip knot , it just fell open each time .
So to get started i just tied the wool on , result !
Then spent waaaaay to long trying to get another stitch made , der wot a div !
First , the wool just vanishes as it comes through the loop , where does it go ?
But then i made a stich , ha ha , knitting !
Made a few more , but then thought i wanted to do the first one properly . So undone all my hours of hard work , all 4 stiches plus a knot of some type .
Kept trying the slip knot , and eventually it worked , not exactly sure what happened or how , but it looked like the picture .
I then attempted to make another stich again , mmmm , they were disappearing again , where do they go ?
In between looking for the little buggers . I did manage to get some from the right hand needle on to the left , 4 in fact , and it looks correct .
The weaving of the wool through the rh fingers may be a problem ,the hand is a bit wonky atm , but will keep on till it works .
So , 4 stitches and a slip knot . The cramp in the hands is ok so far , bareable anyway .
I think i will do 30 stitches , and then go for another row .
Up and running anyway now .  Pharma pain killers  and anti inflamitory gel at the ready .

RUSTYME

  • Joined Oct 2009
.
« Reply #32 on: June 25, 2014, 07:18:05 pm »
Got 10 stitches now !
Getting the new stitch from rh needle to lh needle is a nightmare , but i can at least see what i am doing now .
I can't hold the rh needle like a pen though , way to painful and awkward to grip . So sort of hold it like a bread knife ? Will that cause problems ?
The stress is kicking in , i need a break .

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: . Learning to knit ?
« Reply #33 on: June 25, 2014, 07:29:22 pm »
Russ, the only problem you may have if you hold the needle that way could be the tension but I wouldn't worry about it.
The first row in particular need to be done slowly as it's always tricky trying to 'convert' the cast on stitches into knitting. Once you have done a few rows you should find it gets easier.
Happy knitting  :knit:
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Louise Gaunt

  • Joined May 2011
Re: . Learning to knit ?
« Reply #34 on: June 25, 2014, 07:43:46 pm »
Right now the best thing to concentrate on is making the stitches. Holding the needles will get more comfortable as you gain confidence. I always tuck my right needle under my arm, my daughter just can't understand how it works so doesn't. Do what feels comfortable! And good luck, you will soon be an addict!

RUSTYME

  • Joined Oct 2009
.
« Reply #35 on: June 25, 2014, 08:45:09 pm »
Thanks Sally and Louise , just had din dins and sorted the dogs , so cuppa coffee now and then back to the grind stone .
 It is painfully slow but i am getting there . What is on the needle doesn 't just look like a tangle , although it may well be just that !
It looks like the pics , the edge along the bottom and the stitches on the needle , and they seem fairly  even , all 10 of them .
Trying to relax without just dropping the needles  will be next , tend to grip like grim death atm .
I will also have to work out how to make the yarn stay on my fingers for tension . Somehow it just drops off and just hangs , i don't even notice it fall off my fingers .
Getting the new stitch from the rh needle to the left , is somewhat like trying to tip a barrow load of sand from one wheelbarrow into another , most of it misses .
I will get there though . It won't beat me .
I can see already that i will enjoy knitting ,  being able to create something myself .

Dogwalker

  • Joined Nov 2011
Re: . Learning to knit ?
« Reply #36 on: June 25, 2014, 09:14:30 pm »
Wouldn't worry too much about how the picture tells you to wrap the wool round your fingers, when I started knitting I didn't wrap it round at all and I'm sure I don't do it any proper way Just what works for me.  As with everything else everyone has their own way to do it which just develops as you get the knack.

Glad your having fun.

RUSTYME

  • Joined Oct 2009
.
« Reply #37 on: June 25, 2014, 09:29:41 pm »
Yep , great stuff . I manage to save about one in fifty stitches atm , got 16 on there now , lol , only another 14 and i can  knit my first proper row  .
Will most probably keep on going till i have used up 1 ball of wool , then undo and do it again .
My fingers tend to do their own thing , but i am  getting the hang of it .

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: . Learning to knit ?
« Reply #38 on: June 25, 2014, 10:50:41 pm »
Keep posting, Russ, I am loving "watching" you learn to knit!   :)

Yes, don't worry about tension and yarn-holding techniques too much just yet.  Do as you are doing, and concentrate on forming stitches.  A little each day; you will soon find it is coming easily and you have the yarn wrapped around your fingers in a way that works for *you* :)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

RUSTYME

  • Joined Oct 2009
.
« Reply #39 on: June 25, 2014, 11:07:05 pm »
Lol , will do Sally , have been on the phone for an hour , went out with the dogs , had a coffee , sat down and cast on another 14 stitches in 5 minutes , without dropping one stitch !
 Now for the heavy stuff , a knit row !

RUSTYME

  • Joined Oct 2009
.
« Reply #40 on: June 25, 2014, 11:31:06 pm »
Well that went ok , i think ? I actually 'knitted' the 30 stitches .
Going to give row 2 a go now . I will keep going with knit rows for bit , then will have a go at purl .

RUSTYME

  • Joined Oct 2009
.
« Reply #41 on: June 25, 2014, 11:47:18 pm »
Row 2 done , no dropped stitches so far .
More coffee needed .

RUSTYME

  • Joined Oct 2009
.
« Reply #42 on: June 26, 2014, 12:13:34 am »
Row 3 done . I seem to have learned how to increase somehow . There are now 34 stitches on the needle ? ?
Oh well , will carry on as is .
Starting to look like knitting now , albeit very rough knitting .

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: . Learning to knit ?
« Reply #43 on: June 26, 2014, 12:49:47 am »
Well done, Russ. I knew you would be able to do it so it's good to be proved right.

ellied

  • Joined Sep 2010
  • Fife
    • Facebook
Re: . Learning to knit ?
« Reply #44 on: June 26, 2014, 08:16:09 am »
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 :o

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 ;)

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