Through the help of Ravelry I've found a great Tutorial for learning how to do Increases and Decreases and also for explaining the difference between the different types of Increases and Decreases. Patterns often don't explain which ones to use because I guess this is redundant information for people who already know how to knit. It's been a source of great confusion for me. The Tutorial shows a picture of a sampler with matching sets of Increases and Decreases. I've already made the one that was included in the first edition of the Knitting for Dummies book. It wasn't included in the 2d edition.
http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/increases
Will have to check for a similar tutorial that explains which type of Selvedge edge to use where.
I wish there would be a book available some day which has tutorials like this. It's great to be able to physically practice the stitches while comparing them. The book would be especially cool if examples of real sweaters are used. Some of the Increases that are used in sweaters and shawls are very ornate and beautiful and can make a garment a zillion times more attractive.
There are other great Tutorials in the 1st Ed. of Knitting for Dummies. There is a Short Row tutorial in Maggie Righetti's book called Knitting in Plain English. I believe she also includes a tutorial for making a child's sweater with all the basic techniques that are used. I've found great tutorials in a book called The Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee. It might be more fulfilling to make a child's sweater than the ugly tube thing that's offered in this book but since I haven't tried either I don't really have an opinion about this. There's even a whole Tutorial on making bobbles.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Why Men Don't Knit
If you're going to knit you must be able to ask for help. Men are said to not be able to ask for Directions while driving. This might be because men can not ask for help, but I think it might be because men are dyslexic and can't read directions. I think I'm in the category with the men and I am going to have to learn to compensate for what is presumably a huge neurological defect in either my brain or my soul or my will. Once I start going all I can think about is getting there. I don't want to stop and figure out why I'm not there yet.
The last 3 projects that I've completed are basically unwearable because, although I could see that something didn't look right, I was on turbo charge about wanting to get the thing done and couldn't stop to re-read the directions. If the thing you are knitting looks wrong, then something is wrong. Stop. Re-read. Go for a walk. Re-read. No, really, stop, and figure out what is wrong. The ladies in the yarn stores can pick up a stitch 5 rows down but they can't go back and re-knit "30 every other row that should have been purled when it was knitted." And you're making all of womankind look bad when you keep doing this. We might as well be men if we can't re-read and fix our mistakes.
First direction that I didn't follow is to use the yarn that is called for in the pattern. These yarns are always too expensive or not available. I will spend weeks shopping for a substitute yarn. This takes twice as long as it takes for mail order if the yarn stores don't have what I need. I will also spend weeks and much gas traveling to all yarn stores in order to find the substitute yarn. I will get mad at all the Yarn Store ladies who won't let me just look because they need to interrupt my decision making abilities with their need to help me. And if I asked for yarn they would find me a decent yarn. It would be yarn that suits their tastes and not mine. They would at least be friendly with me when I leave the store.
So I made the Norah Gaughan Jyri scarf from her Berroco Book I. This is a project that was very advanced for me but I persevered and made it with only a few mistakes which I still can't see. Boy, was I proud. I wore it for 2 days. I chose a yarn that was half Alpaca, though, when the yarn called for was pure Merino, merino with a special twist that holds the stitch form while lightly not pulling it down into a misshapen mess. The Alpaca is beautiful, much more beautiful than the Merino (and it was on sale and much cheaper) but is too heavy and the scarf curls into a tube. Oops.
Before that I made a Beret which was offered for free from BlueGarter's webside Bluegarter.org. It's called the Columbia Beret. It turned out really cute. It fits, it slouches, I made it my own by designing a bobble thingee for the back. All along I noticed an odd jog in the stitches between where the garter stitch band was and where the yarn-overs started in the main body. All I could think at the time was "Hmm, that's odd." That's the only thought I gave to it because I was on turbo charge to finish the beret.
So I finish the Beret. I'm wearing it. I'm sort of showing off. Then I start looking at those weird stitches. A week down the line I realize that I must have knit the headband, set the thing down, and when I came back to pick it up and knit the main part of the hat I started knitting in the wrong direction. Garter Stitch doesn't have a right or a wrong side. I knew that but who would have thought he/she/it could have made such a stupid mistake?
So, like Jaws, I continue to troll the free patterns on the Internet looking for more awesomely cute patterns to screw up. The last one was the Mary Jane Slippers offered at the Purl Bee. There's nothing more awesome than these. There's no written directions more hand-holding than this pattern.
I made the Slippers with sale yarn from Michael's. Lion Brand Cotton Ease. Pink and Orange. Cute. If I use cheap yarn then I won't have performance anxiety and will be able to think straight. Right?
The Purl Bee website is an awesome thing. If they call out in their pattern to "pick up stitches" they show in photos how to do it. They give tutorials for all the techniques listed in the pattern. So I now know how to do attached i-cord and kitchener stitch. (Well, I'm working on Kitchener Stitch, mine looks a little knotty and splitty). But, what's the use of learning new techniques if you're still performing old tricks?
I get the slippers finished except for the strap on top and finally question why the upper parts of the shoes don't look quite right. I've been noticing this all along. And although I re-read the pattern I didn't re-read it correctly until everything was all bound off. All bound off! While knitting the uppers you're supposed to knit a decrease row and purl the entire next row. No matter how much I read the pattern I didn't see the line that said "repeat the last two rows." I read it as keep knitting decrease rows. I knew that was wrong. It looked wrong. I've knit hats and I know that there's a decrease row followed by a 2d plain row. And the slippers fit funny. But, still, I had to wait to see that one squirrely little line until after everything was all bound off. Done. (Well done considering what knots my Kitchener Stitches ended up being.) Those Directions could not be better or more clearly written too. I can literally mess up anything.
So, I now have 3 funny looking projects completed. A grey scarf, a white hat, and some sherbet colored slippers. And I have to tell people all about a fictitious 11 year old niece who makes these things for me.
The last 3 projects that I've completed are basically unwearable because, although I could see that something didn't look right, I was on turbo charge about wanting to get the thing done and couldn't stop to re-read the directions. If the thing you are knitting looks wrong, then something is wrong. Stop. Re-read. Go for a walk. Re-read. No, really, stop, and figure out what is wrong. The ladies in the yarn stores can pick up a stitch 5 rows down but they can't go back and re-knit "30 every other row that should have been purled when it was knitted." And you're making all of womankind look bad when you keep doing this. We might as well be men if we can't re-read and fix our mistakes.
First direction that I didn't follow is to use the yarn that is called for in the pattern. These yarns are always too expensive or not available. I will spend weeks shopping for a substitute yarn. This takes twice as long as it takes for mail order if the yarn stores don't have what I need. I will also spend weeks and much gas traveling to all yarn stores in order to find the substitute yarn. I will get mad at all the Yarn Store ladies who won't let me just look because they need to interrupt my decision making abilities with their need to help me. And if I asked for yarn they would find me a decent yarn. It would be yarn that suits their tastes and not mine. They would at least be friendly with me when I leave the store.
So I made the Norah Gaughan Jyri scarf from her Berroco Book I. This is a project that was very advanced for me but I persevered and made it with only a few mistakes which I still can't see. Boy, was I proud. I wore it for 2 days. I chose a yarn that was half Alpaca, though, when the yarn called for was pure Merino, merino with a special twist that holds the stitch form while lightly not pulling it down into a misshapen mess. The Alpaca is beautiful, much more beautiful than the Merino (and it was on sale and much cheaper) but is too heavy and the scarf curls into a tube. Oops.
Before that I made a Beret which was offered for free from BlueGarter's webside Bluegarter.org. It's called the Columbia Beret. It turned out really cute. It fits, it slouches, I made it my own by designing a bobble thingee for the back. All along I noticed an odd jog in the stitches between where the garter stitch band was and where the yarn-overs started in the main body. All I could think at the time was "Hmm, that's odd." That's the only thought I gave to it because I was on turbo charge to finish the beret.
So I finish the Beret. I'm wearing it. I'm sort of showing off. Then I start looking at those weird stitches. A week down the line I realize that I must have knit the headband, set the thing down, and when I came back to pick it up and knit the main part of the hat I started knitting in the wrong direction. Garter Stitch doesn't have a right or a wrong side. I knew that but who would have thought he/she/it could have made such a stupid mistake?
So, like Jaws, I continue to troll the free patterns on the Internet looking for more awesomely cute patterns to screw up. The last one was the Mary Jane Slippers offered at the Purl Bee. There's nothing more awesome than these. There's no written directions more hand-holding than this pattern.
I made the Slippers with sale yarn from Michael's. Lion Brand Cotton Ease. Pink and Orange. Cute. If I use cheap yarn then I won't have performance anxiety and will be able to think straight. Right?
The Purl Bee website is an awesome thing. If they call out in their pattern to "pick up stitches" they show in photos how to do it. They give tutorials for all the techniques listed in the pattern. So I now know how to do attached i-cord and kitchener stitch. (Well, I'm working on Kitchener Stitch, mine looks a little knotty and splitty). But, what's the use of learning new techniques if you're still performing old tricks?
I get the slippers finished except for the strap on top and finally question why the upper parts of the shoes don't look quite right. I've been noticing this all along. And although I re-read the pattern I didn't re-read it correctly until everything was all bound off. All bound off! While knitting the uppers you're supposed to knit a decrease row and purl the entire next row. No matter how much I read the pattern I didn't see the line that said "repeat the last two rows." I read it as keep knitting decrease rows. I knew that was wrong. It looked wrong. I've knit hats and I know that there's a decrease row followed by a 2d plain row. And the slippers fit funny. But, still, I had to wait to see that one squirrely little line until after everything was all bound off. Done. (Well done considering what knots my Kitchener Stitches ended up being.) Those Directions could not be better or more clearly written too. I can literally mess up anything.
So, I now have 3 funny looking projects completed. A grey scarf, a white hat, and some sherbet colored slippers. And I have to tell people all about a fictitious 11 year old niece who makes these things for me.
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