Knitting Meme!

[lwood]

(A meme is an idea, not just something everyone else is doing on LJ -- although "something everyone on my friends list is doing" is an example of a particularly viral meme. 'k? 'k.)

Wow, knitting's gotten really popular lately. I caved in against my usual aversion to "Idiot" and "Dummy" books and picked up The Complete Idiot's Guide to Knitting and Crocheting. It's actually been quite useful, and I was thankful to have found a single volume with both items.

Also, picked up a beginner book (with a less demeaning name) in another handicraft. Did one of the projects from it last night, and the completed thingy will be a present for lferion. Actually, I pretty much bought the book because of the project on the cover, which is very much a thing she'd enjoy.


But back to knitting...

I turned up at the Knitting Basket, a nice little knitting supply and yarn storn up in Montclair. I approached the counter and said:

"Hi, I'm buying a set of needles for a real beginner. I mean, someone who can just about spell knit, but not much more?"

"Is this a child, or...?"

I raised my hand somewhat sheepishly, "Me, ma'am."

"Ah! Well... we like bamboo needles, sizes 7, 8, or 9."

Yeah, yeah. Even though the size 9 bamboo needles of a reasonably medium length were cheaper than damn near anything else, you're all still going to say I'm predictable, only it might be that pearlshadow will blame Oya as Queen of the Marketplace instead of Odin as Farma-Tyr, God of Cargoes. 8-P

So, anyway, I had a couple skeins of cheapass Red Heart acrylic at home, so I pored over the book, did a sample piece or two to discover what some various castons were like, what "knit" and "purl" were, why dropped stitches stuck, etc. Then I got razzed for continually undoing my work -- hey! I'm not going to charge forward until I have the basics done, so bite me!

I'm nearly done with a long, skinny scarf in worsted-weight acrylic. 3x3 rib, 27 stitches across, striped in nine rows each of alternating dark blue and silvery grey. That taught me a lot of nice basic lessons, including "hey, I can take this to rituals and noboby will bitch, which makes it way cooler than, say, fidgeting randomly." Once that's done (hm, maybe a pair of ladies I know on the East Coast could appreciate this...), Diana (who has knitted like half a dozen scarves and sent them to friends all around the country) and I will start chugging through Hogwarts school scarves in house colors. This will teach me about knitting in the round and, probably, knitting in the dark.

We shall, of course, start with a pair of Ravenclaw scarves, and Fiona's on the list for a Slytherin, and we may just have to send a Hufflepuff to George Hirsch (trance class alpha test people will know why)...

It's like fidgeting, only you get something. 8-)

-- Lorrie

Comments

Welcome to the Knitting meme

[skullyflower.livejournal.com]

I keep wanting to pronounce it "me me", as in "screaming me me". Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you on what sounds like a really great start in knitting. I love to bring my knitting with me to this and that meeting. I agree, it functions really well as creative fidgeting.

I've also been listening to the audio books while I work and it's like good productive dope. I'm currently listening to "American Gods" and knitting up a storm. It's making me very happy and making Tom a nice sweater all at the same time.

--Dragon

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

Good for you! I taught myself to knit about 10 years ago and I love it (except now when I'm battling with a pair of felted clogs). Just take your time and it all comes clear...same with crochet. You won't believe how fast you'll be doing threadwork in crochet and starting to knit socks! Brava to you! Knitting in the round is easier than it looks and I found that I prefer using circular needles to straight ones now even for flat knitting, just because I don't get the long ends weighed down with the fabric. And do not fear doublepoints. They are your friends!! **G**

[camwyn]

Hey, good luck, hon. Let me know how it goes, eh?

[wodandis.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, dark blue and silvery grey...*drool*

I've been getting poked for some time now to take up knitting (apparently it would be good for my nerves, and besides it's so Frigga-esque), and am starting to get bruises from the pokes. Time to go pick up a copy of that Dummies book, I guess, and a pair of knitting needles--this week, if I can manage it.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

There's a Knitting for Dummies, but the Idiot's Guide covers both knitting and crocheting -- therefore a better bargain for your $20, I reckon. 8-)

-- Lorrie

[bellacrow.livejournal.com]

What exactly is knitting in the round?

Re: Welcome to the Knitting meme

[lwood.livejournal.com]

I've been catching up on a few movies I've always wanted to see while knitting -- or knit a row after getting through writing a chunk of some obnoxiously long document.

-- Lorrie

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Knitting in the round is using what's called a circular needle, which is a plastic tube with knitting needle on each end. It, or a series of double-pointed curved needles, allow you to knit seamless tubes. You can also knit flat pieces on circular needles; many people just swear by them for everything.

Did you notice that if you knit one row and purl the next row, you get very consistent stuff that looks like braids or intersecting v's on one side, but bricks/bumps on the other? That's called "stockinette stitch," and while it looks good it has a tendency to curl in on itself. If you knit in the round, that tendency is put to good use. Let it curl; curling is now to your advantage, and how cool is that? Your finished piece will have no wrong (brick/bump/purl) side visible.

Anyway, working in the round is required to put together your own Hogwarts school scarf as they're pretty obviously tube scarfs: they're not flat, there's no "wrong" side visible in any shot, etc. Once I start working through the pattern and seeing if it needs modification for my newbie self, I'll post more about my progress. It looks pretty easy, though: just mark where your row begins and ends with a stitch marker (or, to be cheap, a safety pin), join the end to the beginning, and keep on truckin'.

-- Lorrie

[lwood.livejournal.com]

DLP and I fear double-pointed needles and the knitting of socks.

Also, it seems sort of silly to knit socks; they're far less of a fashion statement... and, well, I don't wear socks very often anyway.

-- Lorrie

[bellacrow.livejournal.com]

ahh, see, I'm still on garter stitch ;-)

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Sankoo. Tomorrow I fare to one or more of the five (five!) knitting-and-similar stores within a 10-mile radius of my house and obtain DK or sport wool yarn (four royal-to-dark blue, four light grey) and two 16"/size 6-8 circular needles -- must get enough for Diana too, apparently.

-- Lorrie

[lwood.livejournal.com]

With a seidh (magical, guys) name like Vefara ("Weaver"), I get poked occasionally that it might be a good idea to live up to the more literal meanings of my name as well as more figurative, metaphorical, and Internet-related ones. ;)

-- Lorrie

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Haven't learned to purl yet, eh?

It's just like knitting, only backwards!

First, you need to bring the new yarn supply so that it's feeding from the front of the piece rather than the back.

Next, take the needle that the yarn is going to (right if knitting right-handed, left if knitting left-handed, I'll assume right-handed knitting for the rest of this explanation) and push it into the first loop on the other side from the front, the point, whatever you call it (instead of from the back like a knit). The right-hand needle should be on top of the left-hand needle.

Now bring the supply loop up and over the right hand needle, so it winds up behind the point of the right-hand needle. Pull the new loop through.

That's a purl. Like a knit, only backwards.

There's a page that explains it somewhat differently at http://www.knitting.co.nz/pages/knitting/basic.php

That help?

-- Lorrie

[camwyn]

DPN's are also ideal for knitting mittens and gloves, which are much more of a fashion statement and probably easier to do than socks anyway. Yeah, you have to put thumb/finger stitches on a holder while you do the rest of the item, but you're not turning a heel at any point, either.

[wodandis.livejournal.com]

I'll look for the Idiot's Guide instead, then--thanks! :-) (I think I remember Jess saying there was a mistake in the instructions somewhere in the Dummies book, anyway.)

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'll be going to the double-pointed place eventually... and the cable place... and I would like some mittens...

But, see, it's California. Unless you specifically drive three hours to visit the snow, it's not apt to get below forty-five outside more than three days of the year, and when it snows it's a novelty that you watch in wide-mouthed wonder.

I scoff at this, of course, having grown up in places where winter is a real thing, and this ain't it.

May make mittens eventually, though.

-- Lorrie

[lwood.livejournal.com]

The knitting directions have all been solid and reliable so far...

-- Lorrie

I blame my mommy!

[purplevenus.livejournal.com]

Who dragged me to the knitting convention in downtown Oakland.

Re: I blame my mommy!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Heh!

[bergtagen.livejournal.com]

Socks can be a fashion statement, if they're done properly. If you make 'em long enough, they become stockings. Mmmmm, stockings. Also, dpn's can be used for mittens and gloves, as mentioned, and hats and bags and sweaters and just about anything else you'd use circulars for. One of the earliest pictorial depictions of knitting show Mary knitting a teensy shirt for Jesus using dpn's, and a lot of the gorgeous early stuff like Charlemagne's silk tunic and liturgical stuff was undoubtedly knit on dpn's.