Knit one, drop a stitch, knit one... drop a... wait a minute... how many did I drop?
I've decided to share the joys of finally completing my very first knitting project.
This whole idea of knitting started off with an innocent question about a sock that Felicia was knitting during one of our monthly board meetings last fall. As always, the meetings were "oh-so-exciting" that I was quickly absorbed in watching Felicia deftly complete row by row of perfect little stitches while taking detailed minutes of the meeting. I think it must have gotten to the point of being mesmerized by the movement of the metal needle. Amazing! I can't remember what I asked her but I remember her saying that she would be happy to show me the basics if I was interested.
By the December meeting, Felicia had set aside a small pair of needles (from Daiso, I think) and a small ball of yarn. Again, as always, I was one of the earliest people to arrive at her place (for the meeting) and so she sat down with me to show me how to cast on. With patience and encouragement, she helped me get through the cast on stage as well as watched me knit a couple of rows. The tension of the knitting was quite messed up, but Felicia assured me that with practice, I could produce an even-looking piece of final product.
I was quite engrossed in this newly developed "skill" (even if it was just the knit stitch) and when I went over to my parents' place that weekend, I brought along my little plastic bag of Daiso knitting needles and tiny ball of yarn. I was "practicing" my knitting while watching tv when Mommy commented about how impressed she was that I was learning to knit. When asked what I was knitting, I told her that it was nothing in particular. Her response? "OK, first knitting project... knit me a scarf for my birthday." I almost fell off the chair when she said that. I exclaimed my surprise for her request and she answered back with the fact that if I started now (end of Dec), it would be done in time. She even promised she would proudly wear it when completed. Ahh.. I should point out that her birthday is in JUNE... that's a whole SIX months away! I wouldn't need to get started sooooo early! Besides... who wears a scarf in JUNE!!! Of course, you can tell that I don't really think outside of the box... and that I was thinking yarn... thick yarn.
Although I didn't get started immediately, the whole concept of knitting Mommy a birthday gift was lingering in the back of my mind for the next couple of months. Over lunch with a co-worker one day, I told her the above story and was still chuckling at the concept of my mom wearing a scarf in the middle of the summer... until she told me that she had some thread-like yarn that was pretty and colourful which could be used to make a simple scarf. I don't know if scarf really is the right term to use here... but it wasn't quite shawl-like. By mid-March, I had the simple pattern and the yarn which then sat idle around my place for over a month.
By the end of April, I realized I only had 5 weeks to go. I started casting on and knitting... but again, the inexperience became quite apparent quite quickly. Notice in the picture that the thread-like yarn is literally thread-like. Basically it looked like 2 threads attached by patches of coloured thread. I slowly discovered the challenges of using some different "yarn"... esp as a novice. For some strange reason, I always got as far as about 2 inches of knitting (so into the "patterned area" - line 1: knit one, yarn over, knit one, yarn over... etc., line 2: knit one, drop a stitch, knit one drop a stitch, etc.) and then I got all confused and couldn't remember if I had dropped a stitch or still had to drop a stitch. By the 5th time of restarting, I had a fairly good hunch as to what the yarn entanglement looks like if I had dropped a stitch and was ready to knit one. Progress was much smoother from then on... and the countdown was down to the week before Mommy's birthday.
As a precaution, I called up Felicia and asked her if she could show me how to bind off. I was almost ready to bind off ... although I still had a small portion of the yarn to use. I learned how to bind off and then removed the 2-3 stitches of binding off to try to knit up as much of the extra yarn as possible.
Fast forward the calendar to 8:30 pm on the evening before Mommy's birthday, I was at home knitting away. I had just decided that I would knit one more row before binding off (maximizing the use of the yarn and the length of the scarf... ). As I flipped my needles to start this second to last row, I watched in horror as one third of my stitches came off the needle. Nooooooo.....!!!!! I was this || (yes, the simple space between the lines) close to tears. I was also almost ready to do as JoJo suggested ... which was to hold the needles of what was already there and call Felicia to do the rescue work. Ah.. no.. probably not a good idea. While alot of people may think that it would be a simple case of slipping the needle back into the stitches... well... with the yarn that I was using... uh... no... it wasn't that easy. I had enough problems trying to track both threads to ensure that I had both of them on the needle and that the needles had not gone through the wrong "spaces".
After much struggling, I was able to slip the needle along one of the rows that had drop stitches (the holes were big enough for me to differentiate the one thread from the next). The unfortunate thing was that I had to rip out about 1/3 of my completed scarf. The clock was steadily ticking away time so I had to act fast as I ripped out row after row. While I was unraveling my work... I realized that in my haste, the yarn was probably all tangled up now. I stopped unraveling and proceeded to roll up the unravelled yarn back onto the ball. Lo and behold, I hit a point where the yarn was sooooooo tangled, I couldn't even tell who was what and what was where! *sigh* .... I then spent the next TWO hours untangling the yarn. What a waste of time!!!! That was definitely a good lesson on why not to "speed rip". *SIGH*
The next day (Mommy's birthday), I told her my situation and apologized for not being able to complete her present in time. She assured me it was alright... and no matter what it looked like, she would still wear it.
Click the link to see what the finished product looked like.... and yes, she did wear it when we attended a family friend's wedding later that month....
Once again... Mommy was right. I should have started when she told me to.
This whole idea of knitting started off with an innocent question about a sock that Felicia was knitting during one of our monthly board meetings last fall. As always, the meetings were "oh-so-exciting" that I was quickly absorbed in watching Felicia deftly complete row by row of perfect little stitches while taking detailed minutes of the meeting. I think it must have gotten to the point of being mesmerized by the movement of the metal needle. Amazing! I can't remember what I asked her but I remember her saying that she would be happy to show me the basics if I was interested.
By the December meeting, Felicia had set aside a small pair of needles (from Daiso, I think) and a small ball of yarn. Again, as always, I was one of the earliest people to arrive at her place (for the meeting) and so she sat down with me to show me how to cast on. With patience and encouragement, she helped me get through the cast on stage as well as watched me knit a couple of rows. The tension of the knitting was quite messed up, but Felicia assured me that with practice, I could produce an even-looking piece of final product.
I was quite engrossed in this newly developed "skill" (even if it was just the knit stitch) and when I went over to my parents' place that weekend, I brought along my little plastic bag of Daiso knitting needles and tiny ball of yarn. I was "practicing" my knitting while watching tv when Mommy commented about how impressed she was that I was learning to knit. When asked what I was knitting, I told her that it was nothing in particular. Her response? "OK, first knitting project... knit me a scarf for my birthday." I almost fell off the chair when she said that. I exclaimed my surprise for her request and she answered back with the fact that if I started now (end of Dec), it would be done in time. She even promised she would proudly wear it when completed. Ahh.. I should point out that her birthday is in JUNE... that's a whole SIX months away! I wouldn't need to get started sooooo early! Besides... who wears a scarf in JUNE!!! Of course, you can tell that I don't really think outside of the box... and that I was thinking yarn... thick yarn.
Although I didn't get started immediately, the whole concept of knitting Mommy a birthday gift was lingering in the back of my mind for the next couple of months. Over lunch with a co-worker one day, I told her the above story and was still chuckling at the concept of my mom wearing a scarf in the middle of the summer... until she told me that she had some thread-like yarn that was pretty and colourful which could be used to make a simple scarf. I don't know if scarf really is the right term to use here... but it wasn't quite shawl-like. By mid-March, I had the simple pattern and the yarn which then sat idle around my place for over a month.
By the end of April, I realized I only had 5 weeks to go. I started casting on and knitting... but again, the inexperience became quite apparent quite quickly. Notice in the picture that the thread-like yarn is literally thread-like. Basically it looked like 2 threads attached by patches of coloured thread. I slowly discovered the challenges of using some different "yarn"... esp as a novice. For some strange reason, I always got as far as about 2 inches of knitting (so into the "patterned area" - line 1: knit one, yarn over, knit one, yarn over... etc., line 2: knit one, drop a stitch, knit one drop a stitch, etc.) and then I got all confused and couldn't remember if I had dropped a stitch or still had to drop a stitch. By the 5th time of restarting, I had a fairly good hunch as to what the yarn entanglement looks like if I had dropped a stitch and was ready to knit one. Progress was much smoother from then on... and the countdown was down to the week before Mommy's birthday.
As a precaution, I called up Felicia and asked her if she could show me how to bind off. I was almost ready to bind off ... although I still had a small portion of the yarn to use. I learned how to bind off and then removed the 2-3 stitches of binding off to try to knit up as much of the extra yarn as possible.
Fast forward the calendar to 8:30 pm on the evening before Mommy's birthday, I was at home knitting away. I had just decided that I would knit one more row before binding off (maximizing the use of the yarn and the length of the scarf... ). As I flipped my needles to start this second to last row, I watched in horror as one third of my stitches came off the needle. Nooooooo.....!!!!! I was this || (yes, the simple space between the lines) close to tears. I was also almost ready to do as JoJo suggested ... which was to hold the needles of what was already there and call Felicia to do the rescue work. Ah.. no.. probably not a good idea. While alot of people may think that it would be a simple case of slipping the needle back into the stitches... well... with the yarn that I was using... uh... no... it wasn't that easy. I had enough problems trying to track both threads to ensure that I had both of them on the needle and that the needles had not gone through the wrong "spaces".
After much struggling, I was able to slip the needle along one of the rows that had drop stitches (the holes were big enough for me to differentiate the one thread from the next). The unfortunate thing was that I had to rip out about 1/3 of my completed scarf. The clock was steadily ticking away time so I had to act fast as I ripped out row after row. While I was unraveling my work... I realized that in my haste, the yarn was probably all tangled up now. I stopped unraveling and proceeded to roll up the unravelled yarn back onto the ball. Lo and behold, I hit a point where the yarn was sooooooo tangled, I couldn't even tell who was what and what was where! *sigh* .... I then spent the next TWO hours untangling the yarn. What a waste of time!!!! That was definitely a good lesson on why not to "speed rip". *SIGH*
The next day (Mommy's birthday), I told her my situation and apologized for not being able to complete her present in time. She assured me it was alright... and no matter what it looked like, she would still wear it.
Click the link to see what the finished product looked like.... and yes, she did wear it when we attended a family friend's wedding later that month....
Once again... Mommy was right. I should have started when she told me to.
5 comments:
OMG. I had no idea of the drama that ensued when you tried to bind off!!!! But I'm so happy it's done and that your mom is enjoying it. So... new project time?!?!
It's beautiful - that was a tough yarn for your first project, congratulations. Knitting with a nice worsted wool will be so easy!
Cute! Eeeee, start with a thicker yarn....it's easier not to drop. I've tried that yarn too and it's like thread....LOL Good perserverance! I'm not sure I'd have knit that much myself... :)
Hey Gigglesgin! My blog is up, you can see my knitting story there. http://sarlye.blogspot.com/
Thanks for sharing the joy! I definitely will choose a thicker yarn next time... just so I can build that knitting confidence!!
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