Wednesday, March 18, 2015

How Far I Got

I actually knitted a swatch before I started this hat pattern.  I used the straight needles I had on hand to see if the size was right, then I bought double-pointed needles in the right size.  I was determined to do this knitted-hat obsession up right.
I was cooking along pretty happily because I was pleased with myself for pushing my basic knitting skills, using yarn I had on hand, and keeping the yarn on the needles thanks to the green point protectors, when . . .

. . .I made a startling discovery:  there seemed to be some gaps at the beginning/end of the round.  I puzzled over this and didn't even take the time to google or call my knitting goddess.  I think what I did at the end of some rounds was turn around and knit back again, without continuing forward to knit a new round, thus joining the two ends.


Knitting is not my native genre.  It is confusing to me - how to match up needles, yarn weights, and patterns; how to spot and fix mistakes; how to ensure that I end up with a wearable, useful thing after all those hours and hours of knitting that resulted in millimeters of progress. . .

I reduced those few inches of hat to a ball of yarn again.  I turned with a sigh of relief to a dishcloth and my sewing machine.  I'll try again next winter to knit something that challenges me (and I still have socks to finish!).


9 comments:

BLD in MT said...

I want to knit. I enjoy it when it goes well, but usually I am lost in the pattern, lost in the counting. I've started socks a half dozen times, but always end up unraveling it to start over. I can knit a mean dish cloth though. And I guess, if nothing else comes of it, I can live with that.

Margo said...

BLD, that's nice to hear! I've been knitting the same dishcloth pattern for 15 years now :)

Polly said...

Circular needles might cure what ails you!!

jenny_o said...

Have you tried crochet? It seems easier to control and it's MUCH easier to unravel to the point of error. (Although, that may be not the most convincing of reasons to take it up.) I crocheted an afghan when I was in my teens with no problem, but I still have a half-finished knitted afghan from twenty years ago in bags in the closet. I started one strip at least five times and had to rip it out, and gave up. And that wasn't even the pattern that challenged me, but the tension. I really should just donate it to someone who will finish it!

Margo said...

jenny_o, I crocheted a scarf for my sister years ago that turned into a strange triangle instead of a rectangle! But I've got a basic crochet book and I want to try again - I've heard it goes MUCH faster than knitting and that is my style :)

Anonymous said...

Knitting a hat on circular needles is much easier. You don't need double points until the crown. Give it a go again when you can :)
MissFifi

Becky said...

I knit as many things as I can in the round - I sometimes get that appearance, which usually takes care of itself as I continue to knit. I will also sometimes slide the stitches around, so that the gap travels, if that makes sense.
I do most of my knitting in the round because it means I don't have to piece the finished project.

Jane said...

I think the gaps might be just a natural kind of thing that happens with changes in yarn tension as you switch from one needle to the next. I deal with that by placing a stitch marker for beginning of round so that point doesn't get lost then as I knit I continually change the place where the stitches divide from needle to needle (when I come to the end of the stitches on one needle I knit a few more from the next needle, and then switch, adding a few stitches on that one. You keep the same number of stitches on each needle the same that way).

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

I deal with the gaps when knitting on double pointed needles by giving the wool a sharp tug after both the first and second stitches on the new needle! Good luck when you get back to it.