livingdeb | Entries tagged with knitting

Today I organized my knitting stuff.

I was thinking that I have to figure out a place to put all my knitting stuff when I remembered that I have a copier paper box in my closet for that.

So I pulled everything out and put it on the bed. I put all the small things (needles, loops of yarn to use as markers, crochet hooks) into a plastic sandwich bag. I put all my cotton yarns into a plastic bag and stuffed it into the small bucket I use to hold the yarn so it doesn't roll across the floor while I'm knitting. I threw away all the small quantities of yarn I felt unlikely to use. I set aside all my acrylic yarn to donate. Except for one yarn that is so pretty I decided to make my own hat out of that using the pattern I got in my class. The yarn is black, navy, and hunter green, the same colors as my scarf.

I took a picture of my first knitting project in my first knitting class years ago so I could toss it. We learned garter stitch, stockinette, and ribbing working on the front of a miniature sweater.

We learned color changing (strips) working on the front.

I gathered up duplicate knitting equipment to give to my sister who is learning to knit so she can make diaper covers. (Apparently, you can knit things out of thick wool instead of making your baby wear plastic.)

And then all my knitting stuff fit into that box. Isn't that amazing?

And then I found one more bag of supplies.

But then I was still able to fit it into that box, too. Woo hoo! And now when we watch videos, I'll have a knitting project to work on.

Yea! This is how things are supposed to work! I even think I'll be able to continue not buying yarn unless I already have a project in mind for it. I practiced today when I went to Hobby Lobby with my sister and bought nothing.

Now if I can just get the other 57 components of my material life this organized, I will be totally set.

I 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.

I finished my cabling sample.

I like it, though it has lots of mistakes. First I got better at being quick. Then I got better at being accurate. In class, I figured out which cable needle I liked best--the thick one, so I can knit/purl directly from it sometimes.

After class I also got enough better at not using a cable needle so I just quit using it for these one- and two-stitch cables unless the knitting was just too tight. Cabling is still quite time-consuming and brain-consuming. I could maybe see doing it for a hat, but not a whole sweater, oy.

Then I finished my cat's paw lace sample. It was very brain-intensive the whole way.

Then I made a tiny sample of the X-O cabling design. (The O is on top.)

Robin says it looks like one of those gargoyles (oops, but with the O on the bottom, so it looks like the mouth).

I had heard that cabling is a lot more difficult in cotton yarn than wool because cotton yarn doesn't stretch, but I found that I tended to knit the wool yarn tighter, so it came out the same.

People were a bit late to class due to torrential rains, but everyone made it.

The instructor and I were both there early, so I got to show her my hat and my cat's paw lace. She pronounced my hat good. I said I had thought that her decreases were prettier, but she wouldn't tell me about them. She found where I had lost a stitch in the cat's eye lace and tsk-tsked me when I told her about deciding not to use markers on that one.

This week's topic was cabling, described by Robin as noodles woven together. This is what you notice in fisherman sweaters.

I had heard that the technique was actually quite simple. You have to have some of the stitches do-si-do with each other, so you just slip some of them off onto a cable needle, knit a couple of stitches, slip them back on, and work from there.

Oy, except not simple! a) Handling three needles with two hands is, shall we say, amusing. b) Twisting your stitches around each other makes them tight and liable to jump off needles.

So basically, it's like every other class--we're learning something that's a bit more annoying than what we learned last time.

She did show me a way to do cables, at least those involving the movement of only 1 or 2 stitches, without a third needle. I had thought I would like it, but then after trying it a few times, I decided it was too dangerous.

Cabling is cool, though. I figured the gal who said she hated lace last week because she likes chunky stuff would like this, and she did.

Wherein I learn that knitting and my job do not mix well

In my last long-held job, I learned that I had to be careful with the guitar practice and the rock climbing during periods of work when I had a lot of straight typing (most of my typing was editing rather than straight typing). During those periods, I learned that wearing wrist braces made a big difference. Of course people would come up to me and ask if I was okay. "Yes," I would say, "and I'd like to stay that way."

Well, before class #3, I had spent a couple of days intensely thinking the thoughts, "knit, knit, purl, purl, knit, knit, purl ..." which are very boring and repetitive thoughts, but necessary. If I got distracted for a second I would look down and see three or four of the same stitch in a row and have to fix them and then go back to thinking the boring thoughts.

Then in class I had to think continuously during the lace part, both because the pattern is a little complicated and because some of the stitches were new. More very boring thoughts.

Then I went to work and once again had to think highly detailed very boring thoughts for many hours in order to achieve a nice result. I am just not cut out for that. I came home after work the day after class and just slept the rest of the day and all night. I didn't touch my knitting again until Saturday. Then I easily finished my lace sample. I did find myself with 20 stitches on the row instead of the correct 19, but only once, and it was easy to fix.

Wherein I find that I love markers

Then I continued working on the hat. Done with the ribbing, I had easy, nearly thought-free knitting until the decreases. At which point I got to try out some markers. First I tried the plastic bread bag thingies. They fit perfectly over the needles but have a gap that might mean they can shift places. Also they are stiff and kind of in the way sometimes.

Next I tried loops of yarn. These worked great, especially since I had cream-colored cotton loops of yarn to mark my place in a dark brown wool knitting project.

And I love markers! They reduce the boring thinking considerably! Instead of having to count to eighteen (and then do a little something special) four times, then count to sixteen (and then do something special) four times, then fourteen, etc., I could just knit until I got to my marker (and then do something special).

Wherein a birthday gift is readied

I successfully finished the hat. (No, the decreases are not evenly spaced. No, no one is noticing.) It fits Robin's head just fine. He loves it. He insisted on proper lighting for this picture (the dark color of the hat wasn't working well in my usual low-light photo-taking area).

Wherein I confirm that my new lace-knitting skills are transferable

In class we did only "Knitting Sample 2" for some reason, so I went back and tried "Knitting Sample 1," also known as cat paws. This worked well. I didn't finish it before class, but I made only one mistake, which my instructor was able to quickly find--it happened about four rows before I noticed it. Because I wasn't using markers this time.

This was lace week, my favorite, and the first class where she was teaching things I've never seen before. Woo hoo!

But first, the instructor did explain how to do the decreases for the hat and her explanations did make sense to me.

Lace

Then she showed us a bunch of samples of lace knitting including shawls, a table cloth, and some bookmarks. I learned that I like a silk/wool blend for lacy things. And I like crochet cotton for bookmarks. And size 0000 needles, yikes.

Then we actually worked on part of a pattern for my favorite bookmark. It's only the middle; I still don't know how to do the ends. And we did it in our usual wash rag cotton yarn, so it's nice and huge, perfect for, um, a coaster?

New stitches

We learned ssk (slip, slip, knit). But it's not that easy. You slip two stitches from one needle to the other "as to knitting," meaning you put one needle through the loop as if you're about to knit, but then don't knit and just pull that loop off. And the "knit" at the end means you put the left needle through both of the two loops you just slipped, and then knit those two together from there. I never would have guessed any of that even after learning that ssk meant slip, slip, knit. And that's why I'm taking a class. Of course now with YouTube, you don't have to guess anymore.

We also learned psso (pass slip stitch over). In our pattern, we slip one stitch ("as to knitting"), then knit two together, then pull that earlier slip stitch back over the needle to bind it off.

The entire row has only 19 stitches. And I managed to add an extra one almost every time. I learned to figure out where the problem was and even how to fix the problem in all but one case. I even managed to add a stitch on the easy row (knit two, purl fifteen, knit two).

One person did manage to get through the entire pattern, but it wasn't me. Fortunately, I did get far enough to try both of the new stitches.

Other good hints

I learned a few additional valuable lessons. One was that in order to get back to a mistake, you don't necessarily need to unknit. Usually, you can just slip all those stitches, fix the problem and then slip them back. (This would not have worked with the mysterious short row on my hat, but it generally works when dealing with a gratuitous or missing stitch in the current row.)

Which leads me to my next lesson: count your stitches after every row. As I said in my last entry, it was shocking how often this helped me during my tiny, 19-stitch lace sample.

I asked the instructor whether she counts her stitches even on those giant shawls, with hundreds of stitches? Yes. Which leads me to the third lesson:

Use markers when you're knitting something large. A marker is something you can slip over the needle between stitches to mark your place. You can buy these. Or you can cut a straw into slices and use that. Or you can use a loop of yarn. I've also heard you can use those plastic bread bag tabs. For large works, if you put these at the beginning and end of the repeated portions, then you can easily count just the stitches in these portions as you finish them.

(This is reminding me about how I once decided there are tricks I never learned to help keep one from writing bugs into programming code. Like testing each (small) testable piece you add before moving on.)

The instructor also showed us how she keeps her place in the pattern. She uses this stuff that comes on a roll like transparent tape but can easily be moved like post-it notes as you finish a line. Hers is light blue.

Finally, she said never wash your wool things in Woolite. Woolite is okay on rayon, cotton and some silk, but not wool, even though "Wool" is part of its name. Instead, she recommended shampoo, since wool is a hair, and, if it comes out stiff, conditioner. Interesting, eh?

I did actually finish my swirly dishcloth. My goal was to finish it before my friends' party Saturday, and I did, by working on it during lunch and on the bus one day instead of walking and reading.

I also learned a photography tip: stand directly over the knitting when I have set it on the couch to photograph so that there is no glare on the leather.

Circular bamboo needles

I also went shopping. I got circular bamboo needles, recommended because for big projects they help keep the weight of the knitting off your wrists and in your lap, plus they don't get in the way like long needles can--with the ends catching on things and tapping people in the elbow, plus a few other reasons I'm forgetting now.

I tried to move to these new needles onto my swirly dishcloth project, but that started as a (subtle) slapstick comedy routine. I'd start with one new needle and one old needle, but then I'd do a short row, not taking the rest of the stitches off the old needle, turn the work around, and slowly work the stitches back off the new needle. I had to wait until the end of a section to succeed.

The bamboo is great. It's prettier than my aluminum needles. I was worried that it might not be slick enough with my cotton yarn, but it really seemed just the same--very smooth. The work on my new needles matches the work on my old needles. Occasionally the circular part got twisted in a way that was uncomfortable and that I couldn't figure out how to fix until the end of the row (though I didn't try that hard), but it was fine. In sum, I love these.

Interestingly, I only just at the store realized that the list of required materials included circular knitting needles but not straight ones. Ha!

Hat Planning

While I was at the store, I also looked for a nice wool yarn from which to make a hat. There was nothing I loved, but there was a 100% wool that Robin loved and he said he wanted a hat, so I got that.

I measured his head and it did not match any of the sizes on my "universal" pattern. I knitted up some fabric with my new yarn to check the gauge and it did not match any of the gauges in the pattern. Fortunately I have the powers of math and google.

The pattern says to cast on the same number of stitches that, with the indicated gauge, would add up to the the number of inches shown as the size. That seems too big. And I am right. Google research showed that the actual hat should be 1 - 1.5 inches smaller around than the head.

Math in real life

So, I took the Robin head measurement minus 1.5 inches times my gauge of 4 stitches per inch and did the same for Robin's head minus 1 inch to calculate an acceptable range of cast-on stitches.

Then I looked at the pattern. First you cast on some stitches, so the number of stitches has to be divisible by one. No problem.

Then you knit 2, purl 2, etc. So the number also has to be divisible by 2. No problem - one number in the range (90) was divisible by 2.

Actually, you knit 2, purl 2 and end with a knit 2, so the number minus 2 has to be divisible by 4. (90-2)/4 = 88/4 = 22. Check.

Then you do a bunch of stockinette, which works for any integer.

Then you shape the top by knitting one, then (knit 2 together twice followed by knitting the number of stitches in the chart) four times, then knit one again. So the number has to equal 1 + [(2 + 2 + x) * 4] + 1. Or the number has to equal 2 + (4 + x) * 4. And x has to be an integer. So I was hoping x was an integer for 90 = 2 + (4 + x) * 4. So 88 = (4 + x ) X 4. So 22 = 4 + x. So 18 = x. Score!

Things that go without saying

While watching other people knit, including on YouTube and in Denver, I decided there are certain things that go unsaid in knitting instruction.

For example, no matter what style you use, it looks like everyone has some way to hold most of the knitting on one needle while pulling a single stitch off. And it looks like everyone puts a finger on the end of the needle pulling the stitch off so that it stays on that other needle.

Sometimes people do mention which things tend to be done too loosely and which tend to be done too tightly, which is great.

Lots of people like to say that in knitting there are only two stitches: knitting and purling. Yet, you can't do a project if you know only how to knit and purl. You at least have to know how to cast on (as far as I can tell). And I think you also have to know how to decrease or cast off. Many project call for "yarn overs" which are not knit or purl by any stretch of the definition.

I've decided to make a list of all the things I'm learning, along with notes about tightness and hanging on to stuff.

Hat Making

Oy. Knit 2, purl 2, how hard could it be? After about an inch, I noticed that one end was a couple of rows shorter than the other end. One of those times I quit in the middle of a row and came back, I must have started in the wrong direction. I unknitted and unpurled until I got to the problem area and started again, but it turned out the problem was still there. I ripped it all out and started over. It took all the rest of Sunday to catch up.

Later, a knit stitch disappeared. I don't know where it went. But I did know exactly where it should have been. I kept pulling up different parts of the yarn until it looked like a knit stitch and continued.

I knitted like crazy but did not get to where I wanted to be (the place where the instructor then explains how to do the very pretty decrease) by the time class started. Good thing I had two sets of needles: one to hold the hat and one to use during class.

This is the week we were to learn purling. But first we learned the mattress stitch.

Hats

The instructor brought in one hat for each of us which she had made the previous Saturday on her knitting machine. They were complete except for sewing the (easy part of) the final seam. We each sewed up one hat (so you can barely see the seam) while she told us that hats are always in demand to be donated. She said that when knitting a hat for donation, it is wise to make stripes, to use more than one color. Then you won't accidentally make a hat in a gang color. Also, this makes it easy to use up scraps of yarn.

Gauge

We learned to purl. And then we made a swatch of stockinette stitch so we could practice measuring stitches per inch.

And then she gave us a "universal" pattern for a hat. Basically what you do is:
1) Measure the head of the future hat recipient in inches.
2) Knit a swatch with the hat yarn you've picked out and measure your gauge.
3) Follow directions for your size/gauge combination.

This is different from the usual technique of knitting swatch after swatch with different sized needles until you get the required gauge. All gauges work for this pattern. Cool!

We didn't actually start a hat. But she hoped we would and if we do, we should work through to the decreases (where the hat starts tapering in) and then she'll show us those. There are many ways to decrease, and the one she uses for her hats is downright pretty.

Charts

Apparently there are two ways to code a knitting pattern. One is with abbreviations in the sort of English that recipes are written in. The other is a grid. The ones we looked at had dark squares to show a purl and light squares for a knit. The only tricky part is that after you do a row and flip your work over to start the next row, then you have to do the opposite-purl the darks and knit the whites. (Purls look like knits on the back and vice versa.) So it's especially important to keep track of which side you're on. The instructor recommended hanging a thread off the first row.

She said that the world is going to charts. They:
* are easier to translate
* are less error-prone to create (you can actually see the pattern)
* take less space in magazines and books.
She said you could write out a charted pattern into English if you want to.

We saw samples of several charted patterns and she started us on a checkerboard (with verbal instructions) so we could learn how to switch back and forth between knitting and purling.

Short rows

In the middle of all that she told me to pull out my knitting and start trying to do the "Swirl Dishcloth" pattern. This required me to learn something new. A short row is when you're working on a row and before you finish the row, you turn the knitting around as if you'd finished the row and just skip all those stitches. Later rows can then curve around that end.

There are many technique to keep a hole from appearing there at this spot. I learned the "turn and wrap" technique.

Short rows can be used in knitting socks, which I want to try one day. And this is a pretty swirly dishcloth, so I was happy to start this.

Continental Method

I used YouTube to look up how to knit using the continental method and determined to complete the rest of my little dishrag using that method.

I'm not totally sure that the continental method is actually more efficient than the English method. I know! Blasphemy! But although I don't let go of and re-grab the the needle using that method, I do actually move the right needle quite a bit more. In fact, I decided that the English method is more appropriate when you don't have a lot of space, like on an airplane or next to the arm of the couch.

Of course right away my knitting got super tight (and thus harder to deal with), just like last time I was a beginner, but by the fifth row or so it was getting reasonable and I went to bed.

The next day I had a pretty bad crick in my neck that did not go away for three days, so now I am afraid of the continental method. Yes, this is only one data point. But I am a chicken and do not want to risk trying it again.

Social Networking

It was recommended that we join Ravelry, "a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, weavers and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, project and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration" according to the website.

I often forget details about projects I want to repeat. And you can find patterns and pictures and ask people who have actually done the project about hints.

Right away my sister befriended me.

It's kind of a pain, but I might like doing this. I am here.

Grandma's Favorite Dishrag

I finished my dishrag, minutes before class started (going back to the English method).

I am pleased with my first knitting class which was yesterday.

Casting on

Already I learned something: the knit on cast-on method. (Casting on is how you get the first row of stitches onto your knitting needle.) I love this method better than the other method I learned because you do not have to guess how much yarn you will need. You just make the tail however long you want it and get started.

We have been warned that it's useful to know several methods for casting on because different methods have different strengths. This method "resembles the knit stitch and is stretchy." Sounds perfect to me.

Our little book of handouts also describes another method which "is firm and good for items that receive a lot of wear." I can't exactly tell how to do it, but I can tell that this method also does not make you guess how much yarn you will need. Woo hoo!

Cotton yarn

Sparkylibrarian warned that all-cotton yarns "don't have as much stretch-and-rebound as wool or other blends and they are HEAVY." My instructor explained why she had specified that we get cotton yarn:
* it forces you to be precise
* you can see your mistakes more easily
* it is what dishcloths are made of

She also recommended using circular needles for, really, any kind of knitting job, because they let you hold your knitting in your lap rather than having all the weight hanging from your wrists. So she at least addressed the heaviness issue.

Since I am not a beginning knitter, I don't care about lack of stretchiness. Especially with this new (to me) cast-on method which is so much looser and easier to work with the way I do it than my old method which is always quite tight the way I do it. And we certainly will be making a lot of dishcloths.

Dishcloths

Our first project, due next week, is Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth. In some ways, this is a great beginner pattern. It uses knit stitches but not perls, it's a small project, and it's interesting.

The not-so-ideal part is that no one finished the first half in class, so we didn't practice knitting two stitches together. I'm not a beginner, so it works for me.

Except that I am not into dishcloths. I don't even really get them. I use a sponge for dishes with a scrubby part on the back. Like dishcloths, sponges are washable.

The link above that I found says, "once you give one away and they find out that you can Scrub Glass with one, you will be knitting these things for the rest of your life." Once again, I just don't get it. I can scrub glass with my sponge and even with my SOS pad.

My pattern says that instead of maxing out at 43 stitches, you can go to 50 stitches for a facecloth or even more stitches for a baby blanket. We prefer regular terry cloth washcloths over knitted facecloths. And baby blankets are not quite as exciting in this part of the country as in places that actually get chilly.

Another idea is to continue knitting the widest part for a long while to make a scarf with pointy ends. Cute. More ideas are shown here.

Continental method

I was hoping to re-learn knitting using the continental method, which is generally considered more difficult to learn but quicker to do than the English method I use. However, my instructor doesn't really like the continental method, so I won't be learning it from her.

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Note of the Living Deb

Entries tagged with knitting

Organized Knitting

Knitting Class, Week 5

Knitting Class, Week 4 Follow-up

Knitting Class, Week 4

Knitting Class, Week 3 Follow-up

Knitting Class, Week 3

Knitting Class, Week 2 Follow-up

Knitting Class, Week 2

Knitting Class, Week 1 Follow-Up

Knitting Class, Week 1