I meant to make a post last week, but yet again got kinda swamped by other stuff. Finals is also not helping.
But hey, here's a pic of what I currently have!
Look! That's a lot more progress!
That's more than one foot of the scarf finished! It's amazing how much faster you can get once you understand the motions in knitting: casting on, stitching, slipping stitches, etc. I've only made mess-ups twice, one of them you can see at the very beginning of the scarf, but the other you can't because of my master hiding skills! Mwahahahaahahaaaaa
Anyways, here's some samples of how my book explains how to knit! I realized now that I haven't shown any of the instructions inside the book, whoops!
"Choice of [knitting] needle material-- plastic, metal, or wood--is largely a matter of personal preference and availability. Plastic is quieter and somewhat easier for a beginner to manage. Metal is noisier but stitches slide more readily, an advantage for a fast knitter. Wood is esthetically pleasing (sic), but wood needles are scarce and more trouble to obtain" (Reader's Digest 272).
What I personally think of that quote is that it's completely different from the advice everyone tells me. The two people I've talked to about knitting highly recommend wooden needles for beginners, despite the book discouraging it.
"A side edge, whether it is exposed or in a seam, should be neat and suited to its purpose. Usually, greater precision is attained by working a narrow border, called a selvage, in addition to the pattern stitches. ... One-stitch methods are used for edges to be seamed, or along which stitches will be picked up. Two-stitch methods are more decorative, and also prevent curling. They are especially suitable where no other finish will be applied, for example, the edge of a facing" (Reader's Digest 288).
I'm personally using what the book calls a Single Chain Edge II, where I slip the first stitch of each row and then continue normally. It gives the sides an interesting appearance, and its flat.
"For written knitting instructions there is a special vocabulary, much of it expressed in abbreviated or symbolic form. ... These abbreviations or their facsimiles are in common use elsewhere. You may encounter terms that are expressed differently, or which are not included here, but an explanatory key for them will usually be provided" (Reader's Digest 322).
I haven't yet done any projects that use special instructions for the stitching, mainly because the scarf project is more or less "start stitching and don't stop knitting until you get sick and tired of it" but it'll come in handy for more advanced projects.
"A pattern stitch (often called pattern for short) is the sequence of knitting techniques, repeated continuously, that forms knitted fabric. It consists of a multiple, the stitches needed for one horizontal motif, and a repeat, the rows required to form one vertical unit" (Reader's Digest 284).
Patterns are really cool, and I'm excited to do a project using them! They can create some interesting textures.
What is your favorite type of texture? Without any knowledge of knitting, what would you think the best needle material would be?
No comments:
Post a Comment