Tuesday Learn To Knit Day 14 - The I-Cord

Hello My Dear Students,

I know I didn't really come back and teach you new things the next week like I said I would, I got incredibly busy and these lessons fell by the wayside.  I know.  For Shame.  I apologize profusely and hope to get these back on track. 

This week, we're learning the I-cord.  I was teaching my friend how to knit this the other night and knew that I must show you all! The I-cord is used for a variety of things including straps on bags and various embellishments.  It is also good for knitting jewelry and those sorts of things.

Basically, knitting an I-cord is knitting in the round on a very small scale.

You will need two double pointed needles and whatever yarn you are using.

First, cast on probably 3 or 4 stitches (the more stitches, the thicker the I-cord.  Many patterns call for a specific number, so I'll leave that to them and give you the basics).

Instead of knitting on the side that the last cast on stitch is on, you will slide the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit the first cast on stitch first, instead of the last.

Continue with the rest of the stitches on the needle and when you complete the row, slide the stitches back to the other side of the needle (I hear making the type-writer sound "Ching" while doing this makes it easier ;))

Continue in this fashion until the I-cord is as long as desired and bind off.

If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please feel free to let me know :)

Tuesday Learn to Knit Day 12 - Knitting in the Round

Hello knitters! In this week's installment of my knitting lessons, I will be teaching you the fundamentals of knitting in the round. This type of knitting is perfect for hats, socks, bags and other 'round' type things, it creates one uniform piece of fabric so you don't have to sew up the sides later.

There are two ways to do this, with circular needles (circs) and double pointed needles (dpns).

In both cases, the most important thing about knitting in the round is to make sure your stitches don't get twisted. This can take some practice (as does everything with knitting). The way I do this is to make sure that the ridge created when casting on is all facing downward. If the little ridge is twisted or snakes around your needles, you won't get a flat project and you'll have to start over. Unless, of course, your project calls for twisted stitches, but most of the time they don't :)

I find circular needles a bit easier so I will start with those first.

Cast on the desired number of stitches just as you would with straight needles.

Stretch the stitches over the entire length of the needle so that they reach the other point.

Place a stitch marker (the little elephant in the picture) to mark the beginning of a round. A round is equivalent to a row on straight needles.

Knit as you would on straight needles, passing the stitch marker over from left to right as you come to it.

Now onto double pointed needles.

With double pointed needles, usually they come in a set of 4 or 5. Depending on the size of the project, you will have 3 or 4 in constant use (kind of acting as the loose chord holding circulars together) and one for knitting.

Cast on the desired number of stitches evenly over the 3 or 4 needles. this part can be a bit confusing and frustrating at first. To keep the needles from falling out or getting twisted, I hold the ones with stitches on them in my right hand along with the needle currently receiving stitches sticking out a bit farther than the others.

Make a triangle or square with them as shown to orient the stitches so that the first cast on and the last cast on are next to each other.

Place your marker (the elephant in the photo) and knit two or three stitches from the first needle to the 3rd (or 4th).

Now take your empty needle, needle 4 in this demonstration, and knit all of the stitches from needle 1 onto needle 4.

This will leave needle 1 empty, and you will then use needle 1 to knit all of the stitches from needle 2.

Then you will use needle 2 to knit all of the stitches from needle 3, and so on and so forth.

Tuesday Learn to Knit Day 8 - Help with a Common Issue

One of the most common issues that newbie knitters face (myself included, long long ago when I began) is knitting too tightly.

Karin was having some troubles with the lace knitting I taught you about here because her stitches are too tight. To loosen up your stitches, really you just need a lot of practice knitting, you need to be able to realize that your stitches will not randomly fall off the needle if you loosen up your loops and let the stitches breath some. Its like learning how to drive, once you realize that the road will not jump out from under you, you can relax and enjoy the view a bit more. Knitting is the same way, it takes practice, patience, and the realization that you need to let go some :)

If you find that you continue to knit too tightly and it seems that there is nothing you can do about it (like my mother (hi Mom!)) then I suggest moving up a needle size or two. This will help the yarn breath because, for instance, if you are using a worsted weight yarn and size 8 or 9 needles, moving up to a 10 1/2 will allow the yarn a bit bigger gauge and it won't knit up so tightly naturally and you don't have to do anything about it.

Tuesday Learn to Knit Day 7 - Button Holes

This week's addition to the Knitting Lessons is in response to a request from fellow blogger and Etsy Shop owner Karin.

She asked if we could perhaps learn how to incorporate buttons holes into our knitting and this week I'm going to show you how using techniques you all already know! I will be showing you two different methods, one that I prefer for smaller buttons that is a little easier to "blend in" with your knitting and one that I use for larger buttons, or projects where you want to be able to see the button hole (like sweaters, etc)

Ok, for the smaller button hole all you have to do is knit to where you want the button hole to be, and YO then K2tog like I showed you last week. You only have to do it once! See how nice and petite that hole is? (you almost can't even see the hole its so small! but trust me, its there)

The other method uses only BO and CO. Knit to where you would like the button hole, BO as many stitches as you think you need, then continue knitting. You're going to have a hole on your needles that'll look like this:

On the following row, knit to the hole and cast on the same number of stitches that you had bound off, continue knitting in the pattern you chose.

I'm not giving you a specific project this week, because I'm sure many of you are already coming up with your own ideas for pieces you'd like to create. If you are wanting to practice the button holes on a smaller project, I suggest wrist cuffs (bracelets, basically) or a neckwarmer (a shorter scarf secured with buttons around the neck).

Tuesday Learn to Knit Day 4 - Purling

Alright, so how did your first projects come along? I would really appreciate some feedback on these lessons so that I know what I can improve in the future :) Also, suggestions for future projects and questions are always welcome!

This week we are going to continue with dishcloths (because I'm teaching you the "other" basic stitch and I don't want you to get bored with a big long scarf or project and also because I'm sure you still have a little bit more of the cotton left). We are going to make a checkerboard patterned cloth this time :)

First, CO (cast on) 24 stitches like I showed you in this post.

Knit the first 4 sts, given the directions in this post.

Now for the purling: With the 4 K (knit) sts in your right hand and the remaining 20 sts in your left, take the yarn from the back of the work between the two needles so that it is now in the front.

Insert the right hand needle from the back to the front of the middle of the stitch (basically, do a knit st backwards). Wrap the yarn around the needle from right, around the back, to the left and back to the front as shown.

While keeping this new loop on the right hand needle, pull the rhn (right hand needle) back through the stitch in the direction you put it in and slide the st off the lhn (left hand needle).

Purl 3 more sts so that you now have eight sts on the rhn.

Continue in this pattern (K4, P4) to the end of the row.

Repeat 4 more rows (5 total) in this pattern.

For the next 5 rows, P4, K4 all across the needle.

Every 5 rows, switch back and forth so that you form a checkered pattern. Continue in pattern as set until desired length and bind off and shown in this post.

Tuesday Learn to Knit Day 3 - Binding Off

Ok, now that you have the body of your washcloth knitted up (congratulations!) you must now finish the piece. You can't simply slide it off your needles and call it good, it will unravel and all your hard work will be lost.

This week I am teaching you how to Bind Off (BO). Again, like the cast on method, there are so many different ways to do this but I am teaching you the easiest, most basic method.

First, position your work as if you are about to knit another row (needle with stitches in left hand, empty needle in right).

Knit the first two stitches as you have been, but try to do so as LOOSELY as possible.

When you have just two stitches on the right hand needle, take your left hand needle, slide it into the first stitch (right-most stitch)

and pass this stitch over the second (left-most) stitch keeping sure to leave the second stitch on the needle.

Continue these steps to the last stitch.

Cut the yarn leaving a few inches for tail and pull the tail through the remaining loop.

You can now weave in the ends and start using your very first knitting project! Yay! Congratulations!

And please feel free to send in your photos so I can show them off to all the other "students" and share your questions, problems, successes. I'll try to answer any questions I can and help you all work out the kinks :)

Tuesday Learn to Knit Day 2 - The Basics

Alrighty, so now you all have your materials and its time to learn to knit! Today I will show you how to Cast On (CO) and the basic Knit (K) stitch. (The letters in parentheses are the commonly used shorthand in knitting patterns, etc). There are many ways to cast on for a knitted piece, but today I am showing you the easiest, most commonly used method.

Ok, here we go:

To Cast On, first find the end of your yarn and make a loop.

Pull the tail end of the yarn behind the loop as shown

Take your needle and insert it through the loop from the right, behind the tail and out through the loop again on the left (a slip knot, if you will). Congratulations! You now have your first cast on stitch :)

To add more stitches, take the needle with the first stitch and hold it in your right hand, the yarn in you left hand and wrap the yarn around your left thumb from front to back:

Insert the needle in your right hand through the loop from front to back and slide off your thumb, you now have two stitches!

Continue in this manner until you have twenty (20) stitches on your needle.

Knitting:

Put the needle with the new stitches on it in your left hand and take your other needle (empty) in your right.

Insert the right hand needle into the first stitch (or loop, if its easier for you to envision it this way) from front to back through the middle.

take the yarn (which is behind your work) and wrap it around the right hand needle from the back, to the left and around the front to the right.

while keeping this loop on the right hand needle, pull the needle back through the stitch on the left hand needle the way it went in so that the right hand needle is back in the front of the work, and pull the stitch off the left hand needle.

Continue in this manner to the end of the row so that all of the stitches are now on the right hand needle and then turn it around (now all of the stitches are in your left hand and the empty needle in your right).

This week, practice your knitting and make this piece into a little square or rectangle (whichever you prefer) and next week I will show you how to bind off! Please let me know if these directions make sense so that I can improve my lessons throughout the year :) I wanted to do a video, but with my little camera, everything was so fuzzy it would be impossible to show you all :( so I sincerely hope that these photos help. And please feel free to share your progress, problems, triumphs, etc so we can all join in and help each other out :D