Saturday, July 18, 2015

A knitting post

Please bear with me on this... The perhaps not terribly impressive bit of knitwear I'm presenting here (in all its unfinished glory) represents a huge leap forward in my (admittedly extremely modest) skills. 

In an ideal world when I decided I wanted to re learn how to knit there would have been a pool of expertise I could call on for tea, advice, and maybe even a biscuit. As it is I'm relying on books, which is fine until I've found something that's really hot me stuck. 

My sticking point, and a real blow to knitting confidence, was a total inability to master 'a simple chevron pattern' or anything which demanded that stitches be added and subtracted. Every time I tried it I ended up with extra stitches, dropped stitches, and an increasing sense of frustration. In short I didn't find it in the least bit simple.

Not to be beaten I picked up a copy of 'The Magic of Shetland Lace' when I was away (it was for sale seemingly everywhere with a wooly connection) and decided to have another go. Finding the right book turned out to be a big help. In the end what I really needed was a genuinely simple pattern and to see it in chart form which finally
made perfect sense of the written instructions. 

It might not look like much at the moment but I'm definitely getting the hang of this. 

3 comments:

  1. I can't knit at all, so I am honestly impressed.

    My church started a knitting and sewing group, but they meet in the middle of the day. I guess they think only retired people or homemakers do crafting.

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  2. What a shame about the timing. The basics of knitting are simple enough to master, but it's so much better if there's someone to show you how it's done when you get stuck. I'm hoping more complicated manoeuvres will be reasonably easy to pick up as well as my general confidence grows.

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  3. So much of knitting is like that - it all makes sense when something clicks, but it had be hard getting to that point. I've found that YouTube can be helpful - if very American - and I'd be lost without Ravelry, but there's something very reassuring about a knitting book.

    Your lace is looking lovely, and I wish I had the patience for it.

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