Sunday, August 14, 2005

The knit phase continues . . .

The next project I decided to tackle was a scarf. I bought some cheap acrylic yarn (again, what did I know) and some bamboo needles (my first wise knitting decision!!). It was a knit stitch striped scarf (to be honest, it still is a WIP). It went along pretty well until . . . true to my nature, I became obsessed with something else and put the knitting aside.

In my defense, my new obsession was the wedding - so I've cut myself a little slack on that one!!!

About another year passed, the wedding came and went, and once again the knitting called. I bought more knitting books, lots of cotton yarn, and finally taught myself how to purl . . . or so I thought. But knitting was just plain hard, and there was only so much wrestling with needles and yarn I could take in one sitting.

One day, while knitting another practice dishcloth (they are small enough to finish and if you mess up, who cares - it's only going to wipe the counter), I was reading about how to increase. You can knit through the front leg and then the back leg of the same stitch. "Knit through the back leg??? Don't you always knit through the back leg?"

Thus, my knitting epiphany. I was knitting ass-backward!! I was knitting all my stitches through the wrong leg!!!! And, I was purling all wrong too!!! At that point, knitting became much easier and much more enjoyable! An obsession was born.

So, the question stands: Is it better to learn from your mistakes through trial and error, or to take a knitting class and learn correctly from the start?

3 comments:

tekopp said...

Learning the hard way alas.
(I'm glad I have people teaching me those things..)

~Kristie said...

I've been knitting for a year & have never taken a class. I'm completely self-taught & for the most part have been proud of that fact. I am however, taking a class at Stitches West on gauge. I don't know why since my preferred way to learn things is trial & error (even if I do it wrong), but maybe subconciously I signed up for the class so that I'd make sure I was commited to going to a knitting event. Who knows?

Anyway, it was fun reading about your knitting experience. Just look how far you've come!

Nancy said...

Both ways, I think. When I want to know something I figure it out - read books, search the Internet and then, lastly, ask someone. But, I also love to take classes, too. What do I know - I'm an Aquarius, we're flaky.

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment!!