Marlo's Crochet Corner

Learning to Knit

I used to knit along time ago and never felt quite comfortable doing it. At the time I was a very novice knitter and crocheter. I had not mastered tension, gauge or holding my yarn and crochet hook properly. I did not know how to read a pattern and most stitches were a total confusion to me. I have since fine tuned my crochet skill and don't have that intimidated feeling any more when I read a pattern (except sweaters LOL!) I had recently felt the urge to teach myself to knit again. It was so long ago that I had forgotten how to do anything with my needles. I love the spongy feeling of knit, the tight weave, the luxurious yarns that are sold at my local yarn store. So I jumped in and gave it a try.

I chose to make a scarf as my first project. I picked a chunky weight yarn in 4 different colors and I am knitting every row which is called the Garter Stitch. I taught myself to knit using this website http://www.theyarnco.com/to_knit.php This website worked the best for me but there are several out there that have pictures that show you how to knit. Here are a few more links:

http://www.stitchguide.com/stitches/knitting/index.html

http://www.vogueknitting.com/tech/tech.html

http://www.knitting.co.nz//pages/knitting/learntoknit.php

Casting on was the most difficult step for me. Once I figured it out there was no stopping me. To me kitting is very easy, I am left handed so when I hold my yarn and crochet it is the same when I hold it and knit. I have had good luck with my tension as it is the same for crochet. I make sure that when I cast on it is loose so I wont have trouble with my first row.

I love the rhymes that have been shared in a knitting group on yahoo that I belong too, here are a few of them

Purl Rhymes

In front of the fence,
Catch the goat,
Back we go,
Jump off the boat!

Under the fence,
Catch the sheep,
Back we come,
Off we leap!

Knit Rhyme

"In through the front door,
once around the back,
peek through the window,
and off jumps jack".

TIPS:

Here are a few things I have learned:

When doing the purl one row and the knit stitch one row it is called Stockinette Stitch, to tell what stitch you need to do next look at the piece, one side will be smooth (knit side) and the other will be bumpy (purl side)

When doing the purl stitch make sure you are holding the yarn in on front of your needle

When you knit every row it is called the Garter Stitch

When you change colors like I did in my scarf you will add your new color and stop the old color on the same side each time that way you will have a back and front to your piece. I learned this the hard way and had to rip out a big piece of my scarf.

Get the pattern here

This is my second project I have made. It is a bunny that I made in a night, this is the first time I have done the Purl stitch and it took me a bit to get used to it. I go the pattern here, it is made with a 6 inch square and 2 small pieces for the ears http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/bunny.htm

I crocheted the tail like this,

ch 4, join with a sl st to form a ring,

ch3, work 6 dc in the ring, join with a sl st to the top of beg ch 3,

fasten off leaving a length to sew with.

This hat was made with Noro Silk Garden and it turned out wonderful. I got the pattern here at DIY Net from the show Knit one Purl Two http://diynet.com/diy/lb_bedding/article/0,2025,DIY_13993_2276411,00.html I love this hat and the pattern was very simple. I plan on making several more of these.

This hat is just a garter stitch rectangle that you sew and shape into a hat, it was a free pattern on Lion Brand Wool-Ease chunky and it is so soft and pretty.

I also made a Mobius -a one-sided surface that is constructed from a rectangle by holding one end fixed, rotating the opposite end through 180 degrees, and joining it to the first end. This one is seamed but I have plans to make one that is not seamed and worked in the round.

This shawl was such a joy to make the pattern couldn't be any simpler, here it is

Cast on 2 stitches, knit 1sts st, yo knit next stitch

knit first st, yo, knit to the end of the row

I used size 17 inch needles and worsted weight Gedifra Cordilla yarn in a wool/alpaca mix. I used almost 5 balls and they are 50 grams each ball. I wound up with 148 stitches on my needle.

A large knit rectangle seamed and attached to wooden handles

If you would like to read more about my knitting adventures go HERE