Knitting Class, Week 5
Jul. 11th, 2010 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI have now completed the informal class in beginning knitting.
Questions
I had decided on some questions I wanted to ask the instructor at this final class:
* Can she show us an increase that doesn't leave a hole? when I was putting together my own personal manual of stitches, I figured out that the only one I know of is the yarn-over.
* Can she show me how to start and end that bookmark which we did just the middle of during lace week?
* When a pattern says to knit until your knitting gets to be a certain length, do you measure to the top of the needle?
When I asked, the instructor said that she had not, in fact, shown us any increases besides the yarn over, and she quickly showed me a few. Only one where you knit into the front, then into the back, then maybe into the front again, then maybe into the back again, made any sense, but I can't do that now either. Quickly showing me while I sit there trying to pay attention does not really work for me. I will be googling that later.
Once I do that, I hope to be able to figure out how to start that bookmark myself.
I forgot to ask about how to measure the knitting.
Colors
This class was about using colors. We learned two ways to mix colors. First is the "intarsia" method. This is where you have large masses of color. My favorite example was this huge sweater she showed us with a map of the world and each continent was a different color (so so sorry, no picture). In general, you need one ball of yarn for each section, and you knit a row of one section, then twist the two colors together so you don't have a hole, then knit the next section, etc. Sometimes, the way the pattern is organized, you will need to have more than one ball of yarn for a single color (like the ocean in the map sweater), and you should plan this all out ahead of time.
The other method was Fair Isle knitting. This is where you start off with both colors and then switch which color is in back and which is getting knitted. If one color is in back for too many stitches, you will either get a giant loop in back through which your fingers or toes might get caught when you try to put on the garment, or you need to do some extra twisting. I worked on a sample with one ball of cream yarn and one of multi-color yarn.
On the bottom I have one kind of yarn on one side and one on the other, using the intarsia method. On the top I started dragging the cream yarn across the back so I could try the other method.
Here is what the back looks like:
At the bottom, you see some kind of vertical dotted lines of each yarn between the two colors, showing that the intarsia method was used. On the top, you can see yarns being dragged across the back on the colored side. (Actually, both yarns are hanging back there, but only the cream one shows up well in the photo.)
The instructor was also talking about all kinds of ways people do all kinds of knitting in different parts of the world, but my brain was basically full, it was all I could do to keep from falling asleep, and I was quite glad the class was over. I got plenty out of it and am glad I took the class.
Future projects
So, has this class changed me? Will I suddenly start knitting all the time and going to knitting circles and buying huge stashes of expensive, pretty yarns that I never quite get around to using? Or now that I know just exactly how troublesome these new things are, will I continue not ever doing them?
The answer is that I will use some of my new skills in the future, but I'm still afraid of big projects (even just a sweater in my own scrawny size). I am also vowing not to buy any more yarn unless I have a specific project in mind, because I know what can happen. I may even get rid of one or two of the books I already own on knitting.
I wish I liked dish rags because they are fun to make, even when they are a little complicated, but I just don't.
I really like that hat pattern and may make more hats like the one I made for Robin. Certainly one for me when I find the perfect wool yarn.
And I really like some of the lacy and cabling stuff. I'm going to try to figure out how to make that bookmark.
And I've decided to make a lacy scarf for me, and I've already found a pattern in one of my books that requires me to keep track of stuff only on one out of four rows and yet looks complex and pretty.
I may also one day try to knit socks. I think socks are too big and complicated for my tastes. They're not actually big, but my favorite kind uses such skinny yarn that it requires as much work as if they were big. Plus you have to make two, and they should kind of match, even if you want to learn from your mistakes and improve the second one.
Finally, I think Fair Isle knitting can be just gorgeous when you're using favorite colors, and there are some really nice patterns that require the use of only two colors per row, so I could imagine doing something in that one day. Something small.
Questions
I had decided on some questions I wanted to ask the instructor at this final class:
* Can she show us an increase that doesn't leave a hole? when I was putting together my own personal manual of stitches, I figured out that the only one I know of is the yarn-over.
* Can she show me how to start and end that bookmark which we did just the middle of during lace week?
* When a pattern says to knit until your knitting gets to be a certain length, do you measure to the top of the needle?
When I asked, the instructor said that she had not, in fact, shown us any increases besides the yarn over, and she quickly showed me a few. Only one where you knit into the front, then into the back, then maybe into the front again, then maybe into the back again, made any sense, but I can't do that now either. Quickly showing me while I sit there trying to pay attention does not really work for me. I will be googling that later.
Once I do that, I hope to be able to figure out how to start that bookmark myself.
I forgot to ask about how to measure the knitting.
Colors
This class was about using colors. We learned two ways to mix colors. First is the "intarsia" method. This is where you have large masses of color. My favorite example was this huge sweater she showed us with a map of the world and each continent was a different color (so so sorry, no picture). In general, you need one ball of yarn for each section, and you knit a row of one section, then twist the two colors together so you don't have a hole, then knit the next section, etc. Sometimes, the way the pattern is organized, you will need to have more than one ball of yarn for a single color (like the ocean in the map sweater), and you should plan this all out ahead of time.
The other method was Fair Isle knitting. This is where you start off with both colors and then switch which color is in back and which is getting knitted. If one color is in back for too many stitches, you will either get a giant loop in back through which your fingers or toes might get caught when you try to put on the garment, or you need to do some extra twisting. I worked on a sample with one ball of cream yarn and one of multi-color yarn.
On the bottom I have one kind of yarn on one side and one on the other, using the intarsia method. On the top I started dragging the cream yarn across the back so I could try the other method.
Here is what the back looks like:
At the bottom, you see some kind of vertical dotted lines of each yarn between the two colors, showing that the intarsia method was used. On the top, you can see yarns being dragged across the back on the colored side. (Actually, both yarns are hanging back there, but only the cream one shows up well in the photo.)
The instructor was also talking about all kinds of ways people do all kinds of knitting in different parts of the world, but my brain was basically full, it was all I could do to keep from falling asleep, and I was quite glad the class was over. I got plenty out of it and am glad I took the class.
Future projects
So, has this class changed me? Will I suddenly start knitting all the time and going to knitting circles and buying huge stashes of expensive, pretty yarns that I never quite get around to using? Or now that I know just exactly how troublesome these new things are, will I continue not ever doing them?
The answer is that I will use some of my new skills in the future, but I'm still afraid of big projects (even just a sweater in my own scrawny size). I am also vowing not to buy any more yarn unless I have a specific project in mind, because I know what can happen. I may even get rid of one or two of the books I already own on knitting.
I wish I liked dish rags because they are fun to make, even when they are a little complicated, but I just don't.
I really like that hat pattern and may make more hats like the one I made for Robin. Certainly one for me when I find the perfect wool yarn.
And I really like some of the lacy and cabling stuff. I'm going to try to figure out how to make that bookmark.
And I've decided to make a lacy scarf for me, and I've already found a pattern in one of my books that requires me to keep track of stuff only on one out of four rows and yet looks complex and pretty.
I may also one day try to knit socks. I think socks are too big and complicated for my tastes. They're not actually big, but my favorite kind uses such skinny yarn that it requires as much work as if they were big. Plus you have to make two, and they should kind of match, even if you want to learn from your mistakes and improve the second one.
Finally, I think Fair Isle knitting can be just gorgeous when you're using favorite colors, and there are some really nice patterns that require the use of only two colors per row, so I could imagine doing something in that one day. Something small.