Learning to Knit

Nicepeach

Hi Sarluk,

GREAT NEWS!:j I've managed to get a picture of my knitted creations onto the computer without my son's help! He gave me a VERY quick tutorial this morning but I managed to do it this afternoon ALL BY MY OWN!

Shame I can't seem to work out how to insert a picture into a post now... been trying for ages but have finally given up the ghost. I'll ask him to help me again tomorrow so check back then & it might be here.

Not boasting, just wanted to share the photo with you in the hope it might inspire you. Anyone who knows me will tell you how impatient I am, but I do seem to be improving with age, and I managed to start these after completing only 2 practice dishcloths.

Hope you are doing well & managed the casting off.:)

tavimama

So lovely to see so many people taking up my fave hobby! I love knitting and have been having great fun teaching my daughters - my mum taught me and she loves watching them learning! I have found that however stressy my life gets, knitting a few rows can calm me right down - and more hospitals and care homes are recommending that patients take up this rewarding hobby, for its calming influence - very therapeutic watching the rows grow and finding a certain flow in following a pattern. Good luck to all knitters, new and old - and may your yarn never grow tangled, or your needles rust! X

Nicepeach

Sorry Sarluk, still no luck with the picture thing.

Never mind, you'll have to take my word that I did do them!

For patterns see the Jean Greenhowe website under free patterns, they are easy to do & quite quick.

She does say in the pattern not to make any changes but I have had to adapt mine as I couldn't get the goggle eyes to stick to the wool (expensive mistake after buying packed of goggle eyes & tube of yoo hoo!)

Hope you are still making progress.

Seraphim

tavimama wrote: »

! I have found that however stressy my life gets, knitting a few rows can calm me right down - and more hospitals and care homes are recommending that patients take up this rewarding hobby, for its calming influence -

Not surprised! They say that knitting causes the same theta waves in the brain that occur in monks in deep meditation

shining_light

Hi all I would like to take up knitting. Has anyone got any useful tips / links to any sites which might help a complete beginner?

Apologies if there is already a thread on this btw

Pink.

Hi shining light,

Welcome to MSE

This thread has advice and links that should help:

Learning to Knit

Also you'll find lots of experienced knitters on this thread who will be more than happy to help if you need to ask questions:

The Knitters Thread

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the replies together.

Pink

rachie_2011

Hi all... I've decided that I'd like to give knitting ago and have already started some basic casting on, knit and pearl and not forgetting casting off.

However, i'm very confused by all the instructions that are provided on on knit patterns. For example,

K1, 4P *k2, p2*

And what does () and [] mean?

If anyone knows of a good website that explains all this in a way that's easy for a dummy, such as myself, can understand that would be grand! :rotfl:

krustylouise

Hi,

Have a look at this website and see if it helps to explain things.

Good luck and enjoy

http://knitting.about.com/od/learntoknit/a/readingpattern.htm

OrkneyStar

rachie_2011 wrote: »

Hi all... I've decided that I'd like to give knitting ago and have already started some basic casting on, knit and pearl and not forgetting casting off.

However, i'm very confused by all the instructions that are provided on on knit patterns. For example,

K1, 4P *k2, p2*

And what does () and [] mean?

If anyone knows of a good website that explains all this in a way that's easy for a dummy, such as myself, can understand that would be grand! :rotfl:

Generally anything within stars is to be repeated, so from your example up there:

K1, 4P (is it meant to be P4 ?) *K2,P2* would simply mean that at the start of the row you knit the first stitch, purl the next 4 stitches, and from then on you would knit the next two, purl the next two, knit the next two, purl the next to, and so on until then end. Often it might say to repeat the part in brackets/stars to a certain point, eg 4 stitches from the end, and then tell you what to do with those 4 stitches.

Generally brackets are used when there is more than one size on the patter. The amount of stitches for the first size will be written and then the following sizes will be in the brackets afterward. Sometimes the different sizes are written in different colour/boldness to help your eye follow the correct one. It can also help to circle the size you are making. This is common on things like jumper patterns, where you might be able to use the same pattern to make anything from a size 8 to 28!!!

HTH

valk_scot

Purl, not pearl. Pet hate of mine, that. Arrghhh!!

Anyway, my suggestion is to go and peruse a couple of the current knitting mags such as Simply Knitting or such. Most of them have an excellent How To and Glossary section in the back. The trouble with looking at some of the on line sites is that US knitting terms don't quite match up with UK ones and if you don't realise what you're looking at you can end up in a bit of a guddle.