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Posted by Shillelagh on January 22, 2008, 12:13 pm
> Here I was, just having admired that Hanami shawl and complimenting the
> knitter, stating that I wished I could knit so well, because I can't
> even knit 10 rows of plain stockinette stitch without a mistake if it
> has increases and/or decreases, and then comes Sandi Wiseheart of KD
> trying to make me feel it is wrong for me to be saying that I wished I
> could knit that lovely shawl and to be saying that I can't even knit 10
> rows of plain stockinette stitch with increases and/or decreases.
Melinda, I received KD newsletter and just went back to skim over
both articles. I didn't see anything in there putting knitters down.
If anything, it seemed to me like she was trying to encourage
knitters to try new things, and also asking what knitters wanted
from KD to help them become fearless.
> *throwing up hands in exasperation*
I think you're very frustrated with this project you're
working on. Here's my gentle suggestion. When I've had a project
drive me nuts like your legwarmers are doing to you, I give it a
"time out". Put it away for a few days or a few weeks until you feel
you can tackle it again. I had a pair of socks that I had a problem
with the pattern and had to rip out the heel THREE times on the
second sock. Then I finally got them finished and realized I
hadn't changed to a smaller needle for the main part of the sock.
The pattern had called for a larger needle for the cuff. I knew I
had to rip out the second sock to the cuff and start again. But
I had Christmas projects to finish, so that pair of socks went
into the bag and sat there for a couple of months until I was
ready to tackle it again.
I agree with the other suggestion that you get a pup proof
container for your projects. I don't have any little animals
like that around, so I can safely leave my knitting out.
If the yarn is driving you crazy, how about making yourself
a nice scarf and hat out of it, or just put it back in your
storage and try another yarn for the legwarmers?
> Maybe the expectation here is that people have all the time in the world
> to knit and nothing else to distract them?
I don't think that's the case. As Kim says, try knitting when there are
fewer distractions for you. You have to do what's right for you.
Just to let you know, I'm a fairly "fearless" knitter, but not for all types
of knitting. I went to knitting camp last summer and the course was
on Fair Isle, which I had never done. I thought "oh, a piece of cake".
Hah! Not so for me. I had a terrible time choosing nice colours, but
was able to conquer two handed knitting, but I'm very clumsy at it.
The good thing that came out of that course is that I found out Fair
Isle is not for me and I hadn't wasted any money on a sweater kit.
I've discovered I love lace knitting, and aside from all the careful
counting one must do, it's really only knit, purl, yarn overs and
knitting stitches together. If you've seen my Peacock Feathers
shawl, please know that it took me three tries to actually finish it.
The first two times I made a mistake on the yarn I bought, and
the third try was the right one. Here's a link to the Peacock shawl:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9741815@N03/1764041840/
Also know that this shawl and pretty much any of my knitting
is not error free. There's a pretty big mistake in this shawl,
and I wasn't about to rip it back, even though I did have
lifelines. And we won't talk about all the little errors that I
was able to fudge along the way.
I guess this is a wordy way of saying "don't get discouraged
and just do what is right for you".
RCTY is a great place to vent your frustration, and there are
always people who will try to help.
Knitting hugs
Shelagh
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Posted by suzee on January 22, 2008, 1:42 pm
Shillelagh wrote:
>> Here I was, just having admired that Hanami shawl and complimenting the
>> knitter, stating that I wished I could knit so well, because I can't
>> even knit 10 rows of plain stockinette stitch without a mistake if it
>> has increases and/or decreases, and then comes Sandi Wiseheart of KD
>> trying to make me feel it is wrong for me to be saying that I wished I
>> could knit that lovely shawl and to be saying that I can't even knit 10
>> rows of plain stockinette stitch with increases and/or decreases.
>
> Melinda, I received KD newsletter and just went back to skim over
> both articles. I didn't see anything in there putting knitters down.
> If anything, it seemed to me like she was trying to encourage
> knitters to try new things, and also asking what knitters wanted
> from KD to help them become fearless.
I think you're right Shillelagh. I'm on a couple web based knitting
forums and I see sooo many posts from new knitters who are paralyzed
from going forward with a project or new technique for fear of doing it
wrong. Or they want to know if this or that will work out instead. I try
to encourage them to just DO it and if it doesn't work out, it can be
undone and tried another way. To just play with the yarn and needles and
try out different things to see what happens when they do one thing or
another. Yes, I'm speaking from a lot of years of experience, but I
taught myself long before home computers were even thought of, let alone
the internet, and had no one to ask questions of. So I did this and that
and figured out stuff on my own and learned from all of it.
sue
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Posted by Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS on January 22, 2008, 5:10 pm
suzee wrote:
>
> I think you're right Shillelagh. I'm on a couple web based knitting
> forums and I see sooo many posts from new knitters who are paralyzed
> from going forward with a project or new technique for fear of doing it
> wrong. Or they want to know if this or that will work out instead. I try
> to encourage them to just DO it and if it doesn't work out, it can be
> undone and tried another way. To just play with the yarn and needles and
> try out different things to see what happens when they do one thing or
> another.
Well, there is also merit in picking relatively simple and/or small
projects until one's feet are totally wet in order to maximize
satisfaction and reduce frustration. My daughter made her own Christmas
dresses for 3 years, all princess-line velvet dresses, when she was 10,
11, and 12, and never would do anything else the rest of the year.
After that she was so frustrated from dealing with velvet (and
stubbornly refused to consider anything else) that she got sick of
sewing and didn't want to do it any more.
--
Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your
work with excellence.
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Posted by on January 23, 2008, 12:24 am
> Shillelagh wrote:
e in
> >> Here I was, just having admired that Hanami shawl and complimenting the=
> >> knitter, stating that I wished I could knit so well, because I can't
> >> even knit 10 rows of plain stockinette stitch without a mistake if it
> >> has increases and/or decreases, and then comes Sandi Wiseheart of KD
> >> trying to make me feel it is wrong for me to be saying that I wished I
> >> could knit that lovely shawl and to be saying that I can't even knit 10=
> >> rows of plain stockinette stitch with increases and/or decreases.
>
> > Melinda, I received KD newsletter and just went back to skim over
> > both articles. I didn't see anything in there putting knitters down.
> > If anything, it seemed to me like she was trying to encourage
> > knitters to try new things, and also asking what knitters wanted
> > from KD to help them become fearless.
>
> I think you're right Shillelagh. I'm on a couple web based knitting
> forums and I see sooo many posts from new knitters who are paralyzed
> from going forward with a project or new technique for fear of doing it
> wrong. Or they want to know if this or that will work out instead. I try
> to encourage them to just DO it and if it doesn't work out, it can be
> undone and tried another way. To just play with the yarn and needles and
> try out different things to see what happens when they do one thing or
> another. Yes, I'm speaking from a lot of years of experience, but I
> taught myself long before home computers were even thought of, let alone
> the internet, and had no one to ask questions of. So I did this and that
> and figured out stuff on my own and learned from all of it.
>
> sue- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Shelagh and Sue and all ,,,
I learned the basics from my mother and other women ,,, but soon found
my self experimenting esp with breaking some tabboes , and doing
things i was told i shouldn`t do or Not doing things i was told to
always do ,,,
I think my Greatest BREAK THROUGH the fear element or Hesitation about
my abilities , was at the time i knitted school sweaters and vest for
my children [ all in a certain GREEN]. I didn`t see the point in
making ROUND [ 4,3,2,1,1,1,1 ] decreases for a Vest`s arm
opening ,,,,, these decreases were relevant if i wanted to add a round
top sleeve , but they were bulky and uncomfortable for the children`s
moovements ,, thus i started to decrease Vest arm holes 10 st at
once !!! and knitting straight up ,,, than one day i just went on
knitting shaping te shoulder WITHOUT ending the work , just used short
rows, again short rows for other side knit down increased 10 st on
each side and ended at hem ,,,,,,,
Thus slowly i tried and did many things i later read about in
books ,,,, my greatest help and right hand was GUAGUING AND
SWATCHING !!!!!And last not least writing my experiments in my work
books !!!!
mirjam
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Posted by Marilyn on January 22, 2008, 2:41 pm
Melinda,
Maybe you should thank your puppy for chewing the legwarmer. If it hadn't
then you would have been working woth the Lion Brand Homespun that much
longer. I hate that yarn! I made a sweater out of it for my great nephew in
a toddler size 5. I swore I would never use it again. Anytime I see a yarn
that has a fiber that wraps around the outside of the length of the yarn I
think of the homespun and pass it by. No matter who makes it.
I am slowly but surely learning to knit patterns that uses something other
than the basic knit and purl. I usually have to frog something 3 times
before I stop making dumb mistakes or begin to really understand the
pattern.
I am lucky that my two cats leave my yarn alone. When My DD#2 is home with
her cat, that is another story!
You will get the hang of it. And like my husband tells me when I am getting
frustrated, it is supposed to be fun! It usually is.
Marilyn
> Here I was, just having admired that Hanami shawl and complimenting the
> knitter, stating that I wished I could knit so well, because I can't even
> knit 10 rows of plain stockinette stitch without a mistake if it has
> increases and/or decreases, and then comes Sandi Wiseheart of KD trying to
> make me feel it is wrong for me to be saying that I wished I could knit
> that lovely shawl and to be saying that I can't even knit 10 rows of plain
> stockinette stitch with increases and/or decreases.
>
> *throwing up hands in exasperation*
>
> Maybe the expectation here is that people have all the time in the world
> to knit and nothing else to distract them?
>
> I did get one legwarmer knit -- it was a beast because I made the st&pid
> mistake of using Lion "Homespun" and it was horrid to rip out when I made
> mistakes and even worse to re-count stitches to make sure my counts were
> correct -- and before I could even get it seamed up (I knit it flat after
> blowing it twice on trying to do it in the round), my
> almost-not-a-puppy-any-more had grabbed it out of my knitting bucket and
> chewed a hole the size of the base of a 1-pound can in it.
> $@(*$@)*($@*($&@()$*&@)*$&@)*$*@$(*@&$!#%$&*($%#_%*(& (and she undid
> another hand-wound center-pull ball I had made, too, and after two hours
> of working on it, I could only rescue about half the yarn and pitched the
> other half in frustration. It was a mismatch ball that I was knitting
> tesselated fish with, so it's not like a project is getting ruined because
> I threw it out.
>
> So much for legwarmers. Maybe I should make a pair in polarfleece first,
> draping it to fit, and then just knit a shape to match what shape the
> polarfleece ends up being.
>
> And I have to find a bigger poochie-proof container for my knitting before
> I can start a sweater.
>
> --
> Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your
> work with excellence.
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Page 4 of 6 < 1 2 3 > last >>
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