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!
4 comments:
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!!
Thanks 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!
I think it's so great that you're learning another fiber art! I'm rather a 'one trick pony'...sighh.
:)
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.
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