My mom is a knitter and I am a crocheter. She's visiting from Virginia this week and so I have decided to take this opportunity to get a few knitting lessons. She in return, is getting a little crochet practice. More and more often, we are both seeing patterns that combine the two crafts. My mom is making a sweater that calls for a finishing of single crochets and picots. As for myself, I just hope to one day feel as comfortable with knitting needles as I do with a crochet hook. That would be amazing.
So this is the pattern that I'm using as my learning tool. It's a very sweet baby's cap and I'd love to be able to knit something like this to give as a gift. Now, in the art of knitting, I'm a beginner. I'm not being modest. I have actually never completed a knitting project in my life. I have started a few, so I have a little experience, but not enough to get me to the finish line. Well, now that I think about it, I guess I have made a couple scarves, but that was just straight knitting. I wasn't reading a pattern or trying to create an interesting design. So that's the knitting background on me.
Here's my cap in the darker green. This is the farthest I have gotten without making a mistake. Okay, I feel doomed now that I just typed that, but I'm feeling very proud. This is probably my fourth attempt. I ended up frogging the first few. With this leaf design, getting off by even one stitch ruins the pattern, so it's been a bit of a challenge. Now I have one more row to create the leaf points and then it will be 24 rows of plain old knitting. If I can just get through this last row!I think one of the most valuable things I have learned is how to go back either knitting or purling so that I can fix a mistake. That is what used to make me crazy. I could identify my mistakes, but I couldn't fix them. I have probably spent even more time studying that and the way the stitches look than I have learning new stitches. Really, I feel fairly natural knitting, purling, increasing and now I can add SSK to my list.
The next group of mystery letters are PSSO. I feel a little like I've joined the military or some radical group. The PSSO will be protesting the new administration. See? It works! I'm a radical!
I'm 46 years old and I've been crocheting since I was little, but I, too, felt like I was missing out on so many patterns by not being able to knit, so I decided to teach myself. Well, that didn't go too well (I didn't have the internet so I couldn't rely on You-tube, which would have helped A LOT!). But I persevered! I kept getting different books out of the library and trying, and trying, and trying, and then BOOM! One day it clicked! I remember the sense of accomplishment I felt when I finished my first hat (granted, with many mistakes, but hey, that just made it original :)). It's been 2 1/2 years now and I am SO glad I stuck with it! While I still love crocheting as much as I always did, my favorite patterns now are ones that combine knitting and crocheting. So, stick with it, and good luck!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie! I am going to try to stick with my knitting this time. I want to do a few projects in a row so that things stay in my mind. It is all starting to click for me and that's exciting!
ReplyDeleteI think it's so great that you're learning another fiber art! I'm rather a 'one trick pony'...sighh.
ReplyDelete:)
Knitting has been haunting me. It's this wonderful craft that so many enjoy and one of the few fiber arts related skills that I had yet to embrace. I look forward to the day when I feel proficient enough to add knitting to my list of talents.
ReplyDelete