Monday, October 8, 2007

Knitty-Gritty!




Okay folks...I am taking up a new hobby...as if raising the two little ones, working my transcription business from home, serving on the board at the preschool, AND remodeling our kitchen at the moment was not enough...I am trying to teach myself to knit!

Sarah, over at In the Midst of It, inspired me! She taught herself to knit this past year and has made some adorable hats for her little one. I can do this! I have mastered casting on and the knit stitch...now I am going to tackle purling and then the cast off or binding off...
If anyone out there reading this knits, I welcome ANY advice! I am starting small and trying to work myself a scarf, then my little princess will get a scarf (see that lovely pink, green, and white yarn pictured above!), and then I want to make my little prince some cutsie little hats from the book, Itty-Bitty Hats, by Susan B. Anderson. The book is absolutely darling. If nothing else it is just fun to browse these sweet little creations. However, I do hope to master the art and make some of these myself!

One question for you knitters out there: The picture at the very top shows my practice swatch of what I hope to one day be a scarf for fall...my first knitting project. I am doing a basic knit stitch for this so far, but the edges are going from small (at my cast on stitches) to wider as I go...is this a common problem and if so, what am I doing wrong???
Thanks for any advice.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Hmm. I'm going to guess that you are somehow adding stitches as you knit. Count the number of stitches on your first row and see if the later rows have the same number. If not, you might be knitting into the wrong loop at the very start of each row, which will give you an extra stitch each time. Make sure when you knit the first stitch of the row that you are knitting into the cast-on loop, not the under part, which has two loops.

I hope that makes some sort of sense, and good luck!! I'm so glad to see you diving in--the best way to learn how to knit is just to practice, practice, practice! :)

Jeni said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog - the recipe you suggested sounds yummy! As for your scarf problem - make sure that you keep an even tension as you knit. I have a tendency to let my stitches get looser, and that will make the project wider as you go. Good luck!

Kelly said...

I just stopped by from Sarah's In The midst of It, and I am absolutely no help regarding the knitting, but I was also inspired by the fact that she taught herself, and so I am hoping to learn, too! My daughters have already started with my Mom, so I thought I may as well join them... your knitting looks great to me! I can't wait to even learn one little stitch:-)