Tag Archives: knitting

Holy crap, it’s a hat!

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A couple years ago, my mom decided to move on to the next generation and teach my daughter to knit (since I was clearly a lost cause). Because we don’t live that close, she sent her a book to help her remember after we’d gone back home. I was looking at the book the other day and decided to both learn to purl and knit a hat. (Why not?)

So, I took the remainder of the red yarn from my son’s scarf and made him a hat!

Why did nobody tell me how magical this whole knitting thing is? (Oh, wait, she did…)

I only had instructions for an adult-size hat, so I had to improvise a bit on the number of stitches, but it fits!

This purling thing is not so bad, actually….

Totally sold on this knitting thing…

The tale of two scarves

knitting,

I’ve been working on two scarves. One is a secret, which is why I haven’t posted anything about it. Well, it was secret until my youngest child told Redbeard yesterday “You’ve got a grey scarf, Daddy! But, it’s a secret.” So, no pictures of it yet, but I will now acknowledge its existence.

Anyway, I made that scarf with a heavier (yes, grey) yarn and it was so easy. All my stitches were just right – it looks great, if I say so myself. I used size 10 needles, for what that’s worth.

So, my youngest wants a red scarf and so I’ve started knitting one for him. It’s worsted-weight, on the same needles. I’m not finished yet, but let’s just say that I’m banking on the undiscriminating tastes of 3-year-olds when it comes to fine fashion. (So far so good, he ran up a little while ago while I was knitting and rubbed his cheek against it, happily exclaimed that it was soft and ran on).

I’m not sure what’s going on with this scarf, but everything that can go wrong has. I pulled out a couple rows, but what I redid was worse. So, now I’m just plowing ahead. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

It’s not totally clear from the picture, but it’s like my stitches reversed themselves briefly. And then left a big hole. I’m trying to decide if I can claim it is a button hole…

It’s a square!

knitting

I think I figured out how to turn the corner to the next row:

And I know what I did – at the end of the row (at least my rows) there is always a big loop that can’t be tightened. Unless, you loop the yarn over the needle. I just assumed that anything that made that big loop go away was the right thing to do!

First attempt

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After watching some really helpful videos at Knittinghelp, I decided to give a few rows a try.

But first, what style of stitch, English or Continental? Knitting help says to pick whichever, but clearly seems to be pulling for Continental. I also think that’s what my Mom tried to teach me. So, I go with that. I cast on, which is surprisingly easy (and eerily familiar), then knit back and forth a few times. Whee! It feels a little magical to take yarn and turn it into something. Filled with confidence, I watch the video for purling. I watch it again. Then I continue knitting.

Because I’m not counting stitches, it takes me awhile to notice it is getting harder and harder to squeeze my little project onto the needles. But, even when I do notice (why won’t this stitch go on the needle?), I’m not sure what’s going wrong. But, I flail with the needles in a way that seems to stem the tide of extra stitches. I learn to cast off and survey the damage:

Hmmm… I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to have fewer corners.

And whatever I am doing at the ends is not pretty.

I’m going to try again with a narrower “scarf” and count the stitches this time.