Announcement/Warning

[mslulu]

Despite the potential danger to myself and/or others, I have decided to learn to knit.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for peer pressure. (Okay, so I only have two peers I'm aware of who knit but that seems to be enough to nudge.)

Comments

[graphxgrrl.livejournal.com]

I am entirely uncoordinated, and have yet to injure myself or anyone else. :)

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

Good to know.

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

I can crochet. Potholders.

Knitting could be neat, but now that there's polar fleece, I don't always see the point for me. I can just sew the little things I would otherwise be knitting (mittens, caps, scarves, booties, etc.) from polar fleece. I suppose if I wanted a particular look in a sweater and couldn't find it, I could knit it for myself. If I learned how to knit anything more complicated than a scarf.

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

My inspiration? I want to get good enough to make one of these.

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

That's just a big potholder with a kitty inside!

LOL

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping it won't be too much more difficult than a potholder. I think my Boo Kitty would love one.

[elabeth.livejournal.com]

To make the kitty bed you need to be able to cast on, knit, and use double pointed needles and circular needles. Don't let people tell you any of that stuff is hard because it's totally not. Get yourself a copy of Knitting For Dummies or just go look at the tutorials on about.com and places like that. There are lots of links on the livejournal knitting community user info page too.

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

I was looking at Knitting for Dummies last night, wondering if it would be worth the investment. Right now, I'm stumbling through with a basic "learn to knit" starter kit, trying to figure out how to control my tension. But I do like the For Dummies books in general, so I might go back and pick it up.

[vivalabonita.livejournal.com]

You want to make a kitty?

[elisandra.livejournal.com]

Let me know when you get fed up with dropping stitches and want to learn to crochet. I can teach you pot holders AND scarves. We might venture to learn together, I'd love to make an afgan.

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

I already know how to crochet. It's a family thing and I never took to it. I dabbled with knitting a little in high school but never really put any effort into it.

But, we could still learn together. There's no reason knitters and crocheters can't get along peacefully. :)

[mschryste.livejournal.com]

Terra's learning, too. (The joys of Waldorf homeschooling.) We'll see which of you has made more progress next time you come to visit! I'm willing to bet you don't have the kind of (too much) tension problems my very strong and forceful child is having so far.

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if the child promptly surpasses me in skill, I might just have to drive a knitting needle through my skull.

[mschryste.livejournal.com]

No worries. She's coordinated, but not delicate.

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

whereas I'm delicate but not coordinated. Should be fun to watch.

[boiwondering.livejournal.com]

Cool! You should talk with mamarhi, the Punk Knitting Goddess, who knitted me an iPod cosy... ;)

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

I just joined the punk knitters community this morning. Didn't realize she was already one of them.

Y'know, I don't have her on my friends list. I should fix that.

[elisandra.livejournal.com]

I want pictures of that!!!!!!!

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

Obviously, this isn't the one she made, but you get the idea

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

or, without the armband

[serenica69.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to learn how to knit or crochet.

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

You should do it! If my 6 year old niece can do it, no reason either of us shouldn't be able to.

[serenica69.livejournal.com]

Okay! Step Number One: What is the difference between knitting and crocheting? Both of them involve wicked long needles and yarn, right?

[mslulu.livejournal.com]

Knitting is two wicked long needles and yarn. Crochet is one needle that tends to be shorter and it has a little hook on the end of it.

Other than that, they're quite similar in nature - use the needle(s) to tie the yarn together in funky ways.

[elisandra.livejournal.com]

But in knitting you do queue up a bunch of stitches and then tie them together in a long complicated process, where in crochetting you do each knot one at a time. The outcome of that for me is that I'd rather do each one at a time so that I don't end up missing a stitch and having to backtrack for six years...

I knitted when I was little but everything would invariably have a hole somewhere back that it would take me hours to fix. Or I'd put the project down and it would unravel half of what I did...

So yeah. Crochet is for those of us who aren't delicate OR coordinated, but determined. Plus, you can make afgan squares one at a time and then put them all together when you're ready.

[elabeth.livejournal.com]

I tend to lose and gain stitches when I crochet. Can't crochet a square to save my life. I always think I need just one more stitch there at the end of the row or I think I'm at the end of the row, turn, and oops..don't notice it till I'm like three or four rows up and have to rip it out. So far I haven't dropped a stitch or gained an untended stitch knitting. I find it much easier to keep track of.

[elisandra.livejournal.com]

Yay, my brain is wired backwards!!! :)