Knitting and Maury

Last week, with some of my Christmas money, I purchased my first knitting needles and a book to learn to knit in one day. I did....but that is about as far as I have gotten. I know that I am making my loops too tight, and I just can't seem to do it any differently. I started over several times, but just keep having it too tight. Which I can see, really slows down the process.

I want to learn how to knit b/c it is a challenge to me. My grandmother and mom can both crochet, but cannot knit. So it does challenge me to see if I can be the first in my family to learn to knit. My mother tried to teach me to crochet a few times, but she and I are both ambedextrious, only we are exact opposite with what we do with each hand, so we cannot get our brains or hands in sync with each other. When I was working at the nursing home, I was fascinated watching the ladies crochet, and at the time I was interested in cross stitching. I had several ladies tell me that they used to cross stitch, but weren't able to see or use their hands to do that, so they picked up crocheting. I have to always have something to do when I am sitting down, so I decided I had better teach myself how to crochet. So, I got a book and after a few tries figured it out. I have made a couple of afghans and many doilies over the years and have really enjoyed it.

So, now I have moved on to knitting. I see that it is a real challenge to coordinate both my hands to do different things at the same time. I was literally sore the next morning in my arms, neck, and shoulders after being so tense in learning to knit.....and I am sure that is why my stitches were so tight. I would love some advice/suggestions on how to keep it looser.

This is what I have gotten so far. a knit stitch and a purl stitch....I THINK!?!?

I bought this yarn on sale for $1 at Michael's and I LOVE it, but got frustrated trying to knit with it, and have now moved on to crocheting with it, and am just about to get frustrated with that as well!
I found both of these on sale at Hobby Lobby....the pink one (was $1) is for Rachel, and the purple ($2) is for Leah, I am wanting to knit them scarves.....I started with the purple but am really having troubles b/c it the thread keeps trying to seperate.

Knitting and Lisa

I grew up seeing my mom knit. She made hats, scarves, gloves, afghans, and just about anything else you can think of. Most evenings we could hear her knitting needles clinking together as she worked on one project or another. One year during the 70's she made these ponchos for my sister and me. My girls wore them to school for Spirit Week a couple of years ago.

I'm sure my mom tried to teach me to knit when I was young but I'm sure I was far too impatient to learn. As a result, I had to teach myself a few years ago. At first it drove me absolutely nuts. I did a whole swatch and realized that I was doing what's known as "twisted stitches," even though I thought I was doing it right! My stitches were WAY too tight, I couldn't get more than about ten rows done without dropping a stitch and I really wanted to quit.

I hate to admit that the reason I kept going was because I was determined *not* to let my mom be better at this than I was. How lame is that? Lesson number 1: Mother/daughter rivalry is not good motivation! Although she hadn't knitted in years, I could still remember watching her and could see how the needles and yarn looked as she moved through the process. I tried to mimic that and everything got easier.

After finally getting the stitches down, I decided to tackle a project and I did a couple of dishcloths. I don't have any pictures of them. After that, I moved on to scarves. One year I did two -- one for my daughter Emily and one for my niece Kayley. I didn't really use a pattern, just used Lion Brand Boucle yarn and cast on 15 stitches on size 15 needles. It came together very quickly and that's now my favorite scarf to make. The colors in the yarn tend to be bright and vivid so they're good for kid and teen projects. I've used the Popsicle color twice and am currently working on one in tangerine for Noelle.


I also like to use Lion Brand Homespun for the same reason -- it's bulky and works up quickly. These colors tend to be more muted so they're good to use for adults. I made an uber-long scarf from two strands of homespun. I'll post pictures of it later.