Learning How-To Knit

Being a long time crocheter,,,,knitting needles always felt awkward in my hands..... My Mom bought me really long size 10 needles years ago and tried to teach me how to knit dishcloths..... They have been sitting in my craft box all this time,,,,haunting me.... I bought knitting looms last year thinking maybe I could make these dishcloths on a loom. Well,,,I learned how to loom knit alot of things, even some dishcloths,,,,but they still wasn't the same as Moms. So,,,,I went shopping for some new knitting needles. I found a set of 3 at walmart for around $8.00. Not sure the exact length (I think 10"), but they are alot shorter than the ones Mom bought me and aren't as awkward to hold.

I am determined to learn how to knit....Anyone else wanting to learn,,,,,You are more than welcome to follow me on my journey. 
I will be posting links to the sites I have found most useful helping me learn and links to patterns I find and want to try.
Before we get started...

First.......While searching Youtube ,I found a video where the girl was holding the working yarn in her left hand. The needles were still feeling a little awkward in my hands and that way looked  better to me than awkwardly moving my hand, wrist and fingers for each stitch. 

After a little research, I found out that.....
Working yarn held in Right Hand is known as English Knitting.

Working yarn held in Left Hand is known as Continental Knitting.

This video tutorial, by ackwood @ CraftSanity.com, really shows the benefits of Continental Knitting.
Continental knitting demo
Check out both versions at Knitpicks, give them both a try and see which one works best for you.


I find that Continental Knitting works best for me, but
I will try to post links to both versions of knitting for those of you who prefer English Knitting.
Second.....The thing that always scared me away from knitting was....
It is not as unforgiving as crochet. Make a mistake in crochet, you just pull it out until you get to your mistake, fix your mistake and you're good to go.  
When I would try to do that in knitting,,, I would lose track of the stitch, my project would start unraveling, I would panic, didn't know which row I was on and end up ripping the whole thing out. After that happening, a few to many times, I would give up and go back to crochet.
I knew that if I ever wanted to succeed at knitting,,,,I needed  to learn how to read stitches and how to unknit and unravel my knitting without losing track of my stitches.
Learning a little about reading stitches, unknitting and unraveling,,,gave me the confidence to start an actual project. Nothing big,,,yet   :-)

Reading and Counting Stitches and Rows
Video tutorial by VeryPink Knits



 Unraveling, Unknitting and Picking up dropped stitches
Video tutorials by Knitpicks 



Now that we got that out of the way.....
We need to learn Casting on....
From what I have found so far, there are many different ways of casting on. Some are better than others for different kinds of projects. I find this one by HowToEugene,,, works good for this dishcloth pattern.
How to Cast On, Fast and Easy Knitting

and finally.....the pattern....let's get started.
just click on each stitch used , in the pattern,  to go to a video tutorial and learn the stitch.... the picture below is one of my first completed dishcloths....not perfect, but my son doesn't know that and he's the one who got it :-)



Knitting Project #1/Knitting a Dishcloth (the way my Mom makes them)                          

Needle size: 10                                              
Lily Sugar 'n Cream or 100% cotton yarn
yarn needle to weave in ends


Stitches Used:
Knitting Help-Video Tutorials by VeryPink Knits

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cast on 4
  • Knit 4
  • Knit 4
Increase rows:  
  • K2, yo, Knit Across  *Repeat this until 40 stitches on needle
Decrease rows:
  • K1, K2tog, yo, K2tog, Knit Across  *Repeat this until you have 5 stitches left on needle
  • K2, K2tog,K1
Bind off/Cast off 4 stitches
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


While working on this,,,I found the same knitted dishcloth in written patterns and video tutorials all over the place....Seems like this is one very famous dishcloth pattern....
This video tutorial How to Knit a Cotton Dishcloth by HowToEugene is the closest to the one my Mom makes. (The only difference being the 2 rows of knit 4)  So....If you get stuck....check it out. I'm sure her video will help you.

 There are many, many, many written and video tutorials on-line now a days. What better time to learn to knit.
The tutorials I chose are the ones that helped me best. 
A big thank you for all your hard work in making these videos to help all us wanna-be-knitters learn.
ackwood @ CraftSanity.com
Knit Picks


No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)