[Bionic]

Ellied, I am glad that you found my advice useful. Although you are still ripping out you do seem to be getting further along and have more understanding of what you are doing. I have no doubt you will get there in the end, even though it might take a while.
As you have already done yarn over I don't think that SSK and K2tog will be too difficult when you get there but if you need advice outside of your knitting group you know where we are.


Keep up the good work and enjoy your wood working too

[RUSTYME]

Oooo , a lifeline ?
Trouble is if i had one of those , the other end would be attatched to the Titanic ! Knitted life jackets ? , they'd be like those knitted trunks !
 I am still just doing stocking stitch atm . Not making so many new stitches now thankfully .
The quality seems to be staying the same , rough , but it stays together and looks like knitting . The odd dropped stitch appears now and then , but not many . Wrapping the yarn around the rh needle with the end of my index finger is somewhat like getting a camel through the eye of a needle , so i mainly use finger and thumb , but keep trying .
Will try a bit of rib soon , now i have worked out where i had gone wrong before , i was just leaving the yarn at the back . I am quite happy just getting used to stocking stitch though .
The tension is much tighter when i do a knit row than when i do purl .
I think it is a bit too tight on the left hand needle on the knit rows , and a lot too loose on the purl .
I am trying to cure this , but don't seem to be doing so as yet . The right hand is playing up atm though , so will just keep on going .
Well done Ellie , you are braver than me . Little squares and then big squares is my limit for now . Keep at it , never give in , it is just a bit of wool lol ! 

[Lesley Silvester]

Did they show you how to make a 'lifeline'?  Now that you have one section complete and are about to start the next, I'd run a lifeline through the stitches on the pins now, so you have somewhere secure to rip back to if the next section goes wrong

Why have I never heard of this? It's clearly something I need to learn.


Well done, Ellie, for keeping going and being so determined. Glad the group were able to help. Most people are happy to show how to do their crafts. It does help as well if you can see what you are aiming for.


Well done to you as well, Russ. Perseverance is paying off. Don't worry about the 'right' way to hold the wool. Just do what is most comfortable, remembering that the wool between fingers (or finger and thumb) helps apply tension. Are you holding it the same way for doing knit as for purl? Tension is important but will come with practice.

[ellied]

No never heard of a lifeline.  Presumably a thread along where the needle currently is and tied off to pick up again at some stage or cut out?

The woman that was helping most yesterday tried to show me how to go back a row from behind or underneath or something, but I can't learn by watching from the other side, and she couldn't explain while I did it so it ended with her just doing it for me or undoing and redoing odd stitches and handing it back.  Very frustrating when I want to learn how to do it for myself, but at least I didn't have to start all over from casting on again   There was a wee girl there with her mum who had the same expression when her mum did it for her, but I didn't feel able to respond the way she did

I think because I remembered how to cast on and do basic knit rows, they assumed more than I was actually capable of - like when I got the yarnovers being different depending where you are and what you have to do next in a mixed row of knit and purl, but couldn't remember which was which way about, and I started to think I'd wrapped the yarn round the wrong way when purling.  My first assumption wasn't wrong but here on my own I had to try every option to find out where and what the issue was, which took 18 attempts   But at least I knew which bit needed asking and had two questions ready.  One, is my purl stitch actually correct (yes) and if so how am I getting the yarnover wrong between the knit and purl and purl and knit cos I've tried both ways - turns out there are more than two ways and both what I need are different and not on the tried list..  Live and learn!

But I'm not risking new stitches without being there, can't start over now, I just can't.  Even if there is a mistake or two in there!

[Louise Gaunt]

When I am with my daughter helping her sort her knitting I stand behind her to see what she is doing, and if necessary put my hands on hers from behind to guide what she is doing. Could you try standing behind someone whilst they show you so you can see what they are doing the correct way round rather than seeing it from in front ?

[SallyintNorth]

No never heard of a lifeline.  Presumably a thread along where the needle currently is and tied off to pick up again at some stage or cut out?

Yes, but remember to leave it very long so it doesn't pull.  Actually I don't usually tie them, I just leave a good 6"-12" hanging out at both ends.  (More if the knitting is very wide.)  Once I am sure I don't need them again, I pull them out.


My Mum is a demon knitter  but can't show me how to do things at all - she can't slow it down.  Very frustrating!  So on fixing stitches on the row(s) below, I have just had to learn the hard way.  Start by just picking up stitches you dropped in the row below (using a crochet hook is easiest), and seeing how the yarn has to move through the loop to make the 'V' of a knit stitch or the 'o' of a purl.  Then drop a couple together and remake them.  Then a knit, a purl and a knit.  Then bring one up from a few rows down, then one that has to do knit purl knit on different rows, then a couple of those.  Then introduce a 'made stitch' (yarnover), and eventually some k2togs and ssls.  Just take it steady, use plenty of lifelines!, and if you can't manage it, rip the lot back to the last lifeline or safe point and reknit.  It's all learning

[Dogwalker]

How's it going?

We need an update.

[RUSTYME]

Lol , sorry mate , all going ok so far thanks .
I am still just doing stocking stitch atm .
I am trying to even out the tension on knit and purl rows . The stitches on the needles are tight on a knit row , and much looser on a purl row .
I can't consentrate too hard on technique as it all goes very wrong when i do . So i just try , in general to even things up a bit .
I was using index finger and thumb to put the wool around the rh needle to make a stitch , but i am now trying to do it with the index finger only , omg , hard work to say the least , but it is getting easier now .
I know how i was making new stitches all the time now  . I was , still am , splitting the ply , making 2 stiches out of 1 lol . But i am doing it less , and can now lose a stitch by knitting 2 into 1 .
So although i am still doing stocking stitch , i am moving forward in general , albeit slowly .
Getting things fixed in my head is tough , but repetition will do the job and then i will just need to add another action to the list , ie rib !
 Had to leave it yesterday as my hand was to stiff , a little better today , so will do a few rows in a bit now .
Went to Carmarthen yesterday and found myself looking at the wool shop in the covered market , lol . Couldn't buy anything as i had no money , but the looks i got were classic .

[Lesley Silvester]

Well done, Russ. You will find that some yarns split more easily than others and we've all ended up making two out of one stitch. You've also learned to art of knit 2 together, shown as K2tog in knitting patterns. This stitch is often used for decreasing when shaping garments so you'll be well away when you get to make your first jumper.


Ellie, how is your knitting going?

[Dogwalker]

Well done Russ.

Looking at a wool stall - brilliant, we've converted you, you're an addict now and on the slippery slope to a wool stash.
Perhaps it's a good thing you can't afford it and won't have space.

Take it steady, a bit at a time and it'll all click into place with practise.

[Bionic]

I can just imagine Russ trying to choose between red, pink, green etc

[RUSTYME]

I saw the looks i was getting as i was looking through the pattern book , so when i realized i was a long way off being able to try any , and i saw the price , i looked at the wool . Although i worked in a knitting factory for 3 years , it was 30 years ago , i have no idea what what different wools are for etc . I just see wool !
Also saw the price , omg , won't be getting any from there , and that was mainly acrylic or mixes .
So anyway , thought i would give them something to talk about , i slid along to the pink and lilac wool !
I don't like pastels and i hate pink , muddy greens , browns etc are my thing , but it was so funny , they all stopped talking and just looked at me , lol .
I went in the pound shop and they had some huge balls of wool , all pink , pale blue and lilac , all acrylic again , oh well .
I did spend my last £3 in the world on 6 bare root plants though . I got 2 raspberries , 2 red gooseberries , 1 blackcurrant and 1 tayberry , couldn't resist 50p each .
They may all be dead but it was only £3 .
I thought i came across some of my old spindles whilst sorting through the shed ? No sign of them now , so i will make some more and start spinning again .
I only managed 6 rows or so last night , my hand would not do what i told it to do , it was hard work  . Had a go this morning and my hand was ok , did 4 rows in no time . Just the way it goes , all good fun .

[Bionic]

Russ, I know you have been sent some wool. Do you have enough for now? If not I could send you some pink and lilac acrylic (obviously your favourite colours  ) or some of the handspun yarn left over from a jumper I made OH. The handspun is natural colour grey/brown.
If you want any pm me the address to send it to.

[ellied]

I haven't done any more since Tuesday - well, I did go into the shop and get Laura to talk me through SSK but she always does something different, slip one knit one and pass slipped stitch over.  I sat doing that and it didn't look right so she took it back and looked up SSK on youtube to show me what it was expecting, which I think I remember about half of but my laptop at home can't do video.  She also counted and I have the wrong number of stitches per side so have obviously done something wrong along the way but she didn't think that was a major issue.

Today I took it in to the shop as I was looking after things there for her today while she's away.  First time I've ever done it and I earned myself a few quid aswell as talking to and listening to a lot of expert knitters, crocheters, felters, spinners and weavers which was really good for my social anxiety.  I thought I'd have time to sit and do it with her laptop playing the youtube video but I barely sat down for the 7 hours the shop was open, didn't get my lunch out (just humous and crackers) til the back of 2, so not a stitch got knitted.

But I will go back on Tuesday to the knitting group, and see what I can do to progress a little further.  Trying here has never worked out and this week has been particularly hectic with manual labour, finding and returning 3 ponies that disappeared overnight from my field and another 2 from my neighbours that I found on the road in the process, all at 530am and a couple hours doing woodworking with the guy I did the turned bowl with, but this time making what I'd have said were 3 very posh planks of wood!  Very posh as in precision cut/planed, thickness matched one millimetre at a time, all angles precise, goodness I was turning into an OCD person almost, but they may be a mini table one day with turned legs, maybe to put my bowl on and a knitted mat or something to protect both from each other!

Oh and a couple of massages, one last week one next, so things are starting to pick up all round, just when I was thinking it was all over for me at self employment

[Bionic]

Ellie, it sounds as if you had a really good week one way or another. It would appear to me that looking after things in the shop was a great step forwards for you so it doesn't matter that you didn't get any knitting done. You progressed in other ways.
You haven't given up with the knitting and are going back on Tuesday so that has to be good news too.