Learn to knit

I’m making a (small, decorative) scarf – pictures to come – in straight knit stitch. My original thought was to do a block of knit, a block of purl, and repeat until I had both down.

I suck at purl. Seriously. I had to take out all the stitches and start over. So I may put that aside until I’m really good at knitting. Or I may just do everything in knit stitch. :)

I’m having an extraordinary amount of trouble finding kitchen textiles I like to replace my current set. Actually, I quite like my current set, except that it’s shifted more and more to that anemic green since my original main color (plum) went out of style. So I was thinking of coordinating with the slate colors I’m planning on using in the living room…I just can’t find all the pieces I need to replace in the right colors.

But maybe I could make them. It’s already been suggested that I cut my teeth on something smallish and rectangular as I learn to knit. I need towels, dish cloths, and decorative hot pads – all of which I think I could probably knit (or crochet, in the case of the hot pads). I’ll have to go check out my yarn options.

I took advantage of my incapacitation Saturday to revisit this goal…and succeeded in making two squares! (I’m so proud.) One of them is done in knit stitch, and the other in purl…don’t ask me which is which, ‘cause I’ve slept since then (and need to some more).

On to the next challenge: Making something more useful than a 2-inch square.

After mangling the same 3 feet of yarn for an hour, it dawned on me to try the left-handed instructions. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before…according to my mother, I crochet left-handed (or “upside-down and backwards,” as she puts it). My brain must be wired different from hers; knitting left-handed is way easier for me.

Of course, I still suck. But at least I have some idea what I’m doing now!

I think I’ve got casting on down. The way Mom showed me confused me, but the book’s diagram was pretty easy to understand. I thought I had the tension right, too, but when I went to knit the first row, I ended up twisting the needles in this convoluted way to pull the loop through. And that was what I was doing well when Mom was standing over my shoulder!

I’m taking a break from it now, lest I hurl the needles and skein across the room…

Mom bought me a knitting starter kit. And got so excited showing me how that she bought her own yarn, and was working on a poncho when I left. :)

I was putting this one off because I can’t afford to go out and buy supplies right now. Well, the other day while I was dusting, I realized I have an afghan’s worth of yarn I bought years ago, for a blanket I started to crochet but never finished. I also have some old pattern books of my mother’s, which include instructions on learning to knit. So all I need is the needles…and my mom has tons of those. I’m thinking I’ll head out there later and pick them up. I was going to start off knitting a pair of socks, but on second thought a big square would probably be a more reasonable first project.

I haven’t decided on a project yet, but nothing beats curling up on the couch and watching a movie while working on something that can double as a blanket!