Gillowbugs & Daisy Tales: July 2016

Credit: "Tangled"
craftsfromthecwtch.co.uk

I had my suspicions ... there must be a special way to hold the knitting needles while working. I was sure the left hand needed to feed the loops to the right. The right hand, the heavy lifter, must somehow keep tension on the feeder yarn while completing each stitch. If I was ever going to speed up the knitting process I needed to discover and learn this technique.

Well, according to a vintage 1975 "Learn How Book," some fingers go one place and other fingers go another. The booklet provides a detailed description of "what to do with the right hand" and "what to do with the left hand." I knew it.

Credit: learn2knit.co.uk

The left hand is straightforward ... hold the first stitch lightly by the index finger near the tip of the needle. Here comes the tricky part ... in the right hand, hold the needle between the thumb and index finger then place the yarn "over the first finger, under the second, over the third, and under the fourth." This placement facilitates adjusting the yarn to maintain tension and obtain "the best results." The challenge is to keep the right hand's fingers wrapped according to plan while maintaining tension on the yarn and knitting each stitch.

Whoops! I've created my own way of holding the needle and yarn ... time to learn the correct way to knit.

Credit: keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk

I'm going to explore "YouTube" to see if I can find some video of the correct position and movement of each hand. Then it's going to be "practice, practice, practice" until I master these movements. It's back to "Square One!"

P.S. I found an insightful article for beginning knitters, "Some Beginner Tips (or "Things I hadn't thought about before Learning to Knit")"

www.craftsfromthecwtch.co.uk/2012/08/some-beginner-tips-or-things-i-hadnt.html

The highlights from the article:

1) Be prepared to make mistakes,

2) Knitting shouldn't be a headache,

3) Get (at bit of) the right kit,

4) Find a Mentor,

5) It's not a race, and

6) It's addictive.

Take the time to read this entertaining article!

OK ... my afghan project ... I'm almost back to the point I'd been when I discovered I needed to R-I-P-P-I-T out! I need to finish the current and complete 25% of the next rounds to be back where I need to be ...

I visited another local library the evening before last to attend a "drumming" session -- what fun!

While at the library I discovered a glass display case filled with projects completed by the library's needlework group. Now, I've upped the ante ... not only do I want to learn how to knit mittens, but I want them to be in the "Fair Ilse" style. These mittens have beautiful patterns that incorporate a motif in one or more colors into a piece.

I had another R-I-P-P-I-T adventure at Tuesday's needlecrafters' meeting. I'm attempting my first project -- an orange cotton "Honeycomb" dust/dish/counter/what-have-you cloth -- and realized I'd made a mistake ... soooo, I carefully pulled out about three inches of knitting and replaced the piece on the needle. I needed some help from Shirley to get my yarn "tail" in the right position. Thanks, Shirley!

Sooo, my knitting program is still "on hold" until I complete the afghan.

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Thursday, July 14, 2016