Saturday started out as a fine day. I had the house to myself, which is always kind of a treat. We had a fun evening planned with friends. And I had nothing pressing that had to get done that day, which meant I could work on one of the projects I have on the go.
I checked out my stash/project corner in the spare bedroom in an effort to try to decide what I was going to work on that day.
I considered trying to perfect these little flowers - figure out why mine come out with five petals instead of six. But I realized crochet wasn't how I wanted to spend my day. No, I wanted to give knitting a try.
To be fair, I'd been doing some knitting last weekend. I've been toying with the idea of doing an afghan of blocks of garter stitch (I love the simplicity of it - both in the making and, especially, the way it looks).
This was some of my progress from last weekend. An easy first project, if you ask me. But in my mind I thought perhaps it was a little too easy and that I wasn't challenging myself.
So I decided to knit some of these:
I'd borrowed this from the library earlier this week. There are some "beginner" patterns in there, they're all meant to come out the same size. "Why not give it a try and work on some different stitch patterns? Today I could knit a block and triumphantly show it off on my blog and my Ravelry page!"
If only it'd been that easy.
Well, in truth, it WAS easy! It wasn't a complex pattern!
Seeded Diamonds. It had a "one pair of knitting needles" difficulty rating. That's as low as it gets.
The trouble with yesterday wasn't in the difficulty of the pattern. No. At first I just made stupid mistakes in reading the pattern, so I started over. Then I made a mistake reading another line. So I started over again. And again. And again.
... And again.
Now, I've seen how to rip out stitches to a point, without having to begin again, but my confidence was so shaken yesterday that I didn't trust myself to give it a try.
Stop-And-Try-Again #1.
Stop-And-Try-Again #4 (yes, four!!!!1!!1!)
Silent observer.
Progress!
More progress, yes, but I'm telling you, she's not pretty. Somehow there are twisted stitches in there. A purl where there should be no purl. And everything is SO. TIGHT. I was nervous about making another mistake on this, my fifth try at this one-pair-of-knitting-needles-difficulty pattern - so I guess that made for too-tight stitches.
It's amazing how discouraged this all managed to make me feel. WHY I think I should be able to do things flawlessly on my first attempt is beyond me.
So that was yesterday and this is today. I don't want to give up on Ms. Eaton's knitting blocks. I refuse to let them outsmart me. They'd be such a good way to learn how to knit and knit comfortably. I can do this!... I can. ...
8 comments:
So are you self taught on all your crafting adventures? Trevor keeps mentioning that I should get into knitting/crocheting and I'm definitely interested. How did you go about it? Lessons? Books? Internet?
Books and the internet, primarily. I had some wee shadow of a memory of how to do some basic crochet stuff back when my mom taught me when I was about 10 or so. And I'd given knitting a try before, a few years ago, but gave up, as I apparently tend to do with things that I find the least bit difficult. Sigh.
But yes, books are good (I love the "For Dummies" books when it comes to teaching myself how to do something). And the internet is heavenly! There are paragraphs and photographs and videos and all KINDS of wonderful things to help a person learn.
I'm sure Austin is chock full of neat little places where people get together to knit or crochet that offers lessions. Look it up!
Why Trevor Froese keeps mentioning I should get into knitting is beyond me....
I was going to say - is this MY Trevor or YOUR Trevor telling you to knit.
If it was MY Trevor, maybe he just wants to turn knitting into some sort of sporting event so that he can get more involved in my hobby. Like a referee or something.
If it was YOUR Trevor, maybe he just wants a snazzy Longhorns sweater or something for those cold, cold Austin nights.
Another question. And bear in mind, I'm a newbie. What's the difference between knitting and crocheting, and which one is (or do you find) easier?
You can do it!
I promise, just a little perserverance. I feel the same way about wanting to do things perfectly the first time out. And knitting has really helped me to start to get over that.
Good luck!
Amber - knitting involves two needles, and as you create stitches, you move the old stitch off the left needle and the new stitch onto the right needle, until they're all on the right, and then you switch needles, flip your work, and start from the end. Crocheting involves making a "foundation chain" of stitches (or a circle, depending on what you're making) and working stitches with a single hook into a stitch in the row below it.
I found crocheting easier, which is why I stuck to it, unlike knitting when I tried it a few years back, but I wouldn't call myself typical (or atypical) - it really just depends on the person.
My advice is to take some book out from the library on each topic, have a read and see what each craft entails. Then pick one (or both!) and try your hand at some practice swatches. It's AAAALL about the practice swatches. (My tendency is to start too big too soon and get discouraged - I advise against this...)
And, better than taking "some book" out of the library, try taking "some books"...
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