knitting

There are a number of different knitting styles/techniques. Which way did they teach you? Which hand do you hold the yarn in? Do you knit into the front or back of the stitches? Is one hand mostly still, or are both hands supposed to be in motion?

grandma made me learn... did for a ever years... forgot it cus granny never made me do it again

Beth - I learned in italian. I believe she taught me to knit and to perl. I know if you make a scarf by knitting and then perling, it'll roll inwards on itself.

Anyway - I mostly move the right hand to make new stitches onto the old rows, holding the previously knitted stuff in my left hand with little moving. I hold the yarn in my right hand.

I have no idea what you mean about adding stitches to the front or back.

Seed - good for your grandma. If you ever wanted to pick it up again, I bet it'd be as easy as getting back on a bike.

eh i life flowers more then knitting so i would get back into that before the knitting

Sounds like you learned the European way, l'k - which is much easier than the North American once you relax into it.

What's going wrong with the knitting?

seed - what about flowers do you like?

Beth - I did, it's not knitting and perling, but dritto and reversio. And they're not stitches, but points.

There are 2 major things wrong. I make big holes, that's probably an easy problem to fix. The other problem is the odd fact that the scarf which started out being 41 stitches wide now is over 60 stitches wide.

I just asked Fran about knitting to the front vs knitting to the back. I'm not sure whether the question I asked her was the one you meant, Beth, but it seems I have been drittoing willy nilly crossing the right needle (the receiving needle) either over or under the left one without giving it much thought.

flowers can make a make you smile, they can make your heart melt when they are from someone you love. they can make your day... i used to work at a florist.... im jus a big fan of them

The willy-nilly drittoing is probably what's creating the extra stitches. You have to make sure you're only drittoing only once in each stitch. You may need to count each stitch/point for the first couple of rows - you'll start to see where you're adding extra points.

Take a look at about.com - knitting - the continental way. There are some good pix to go with the descriptions.

and the holes are likely caused by creating extra points in one row, and then knitting two points together in the next row.

that's something you'll want to do later on - just not in the first scarf

why not? maybe its a scarf to help keep the wind in? did you ever think of that ehBeth?

It's been long time. I used to knit adult sweaters and baby shower gifts.

Littlek, it is important that you count the stitches often, about every few rows.

I'm not familiar with Italian knitting(didn't know there were different ways of knitting)

This is a great season if you're a knitter. Really simple ponchos - that are really just two rectangles sewn together are "in". I've figured out I can knock off one in just over a week of transit knitting. Perfect for beginning knitters - and for easy Christmas presents. I found a pile of free patterns for them at about.com. Gotta love that place.

When I first learned to knit I can remember having extra stitches...the work would start out skinny and end up real wide. Just one mistake and I have taken rows and rows and rows apart and then started over again.

i remember when i first started to knit. it was a cold day, all i had to wear was the yarn... so i decided to knit something to wear... then i stabbed myself with the thingies and swore never to knit again... umm actually all that was a lie... the first think i knitted was a scarg as well and it was wider on side then the other.

Well, I'll be bringing the offensive article to the regional expert - Katie at my sister's office. I'll tell you what she has to say about it.

Hey lk, it is normal to have big holes and uneven number of stitches in the beginning. you shouldda seen lili's scarf during its first week. had to be taken out and restarted. i do european knitting too, once you get the hang of it, it goes soooo fast, much faster then american, cause you're using both hands. we can have knitting evenings every now and then!

Dag - yes please!

After the 29th! I have a scary talk at the department about my long-neglected dissertation (well they don't know that and will never know as I will go on a binge writing this coming week). Oh and 30th we were thinking of having a wee little party at my new house, you can bring your knitting and Fran with you!

Party!

So, no matinee movie for you this saturday?