A bunch of useless crap
I Must Be Knitting Impaired
Published on December 31, 2006 By MasonM In Blogging
Or just plain stupid.

Knitting is so frustrating! I'll never finish this stupid simple scarf! I worked on the thing for hours, trying to be careful and get everything right. It's just a simple friggin 2x2 ribbing pattern. Nothing complicated.

After hours of working on it and having it start to actually take some shape and have a bit of length (well, ok, only about 8 inches or so), I totally screwed up a row. I tried to fix it and messed that up. I tried to unravel a couple of rows but couldn't figure out how to thread the needle back in. I finally just frogged the whole thing. Arrrrgh!

I just don't see how people can make all of the very nice stuff I see pictured when I can't even do a stupid scarf. I'm hopeless.

Comments
on Dec 31, 2006
Put the needles down and slowly step away from the knitting and go get a drink!

Don't worry M, practice makes perfect. How do you think they became so good at it uh? Practice, practice, practice! And lots of mistakes, lots and lots so go easy on yourself. Just don't give up ok!


HAPPY NEW YEAR. [i've had three glasses of wine so I hope I said somehting that mde siense,.hick] I'm just messing w/you...no really, I've had three glasses but not drunk yet..and I'm at home! wheeeeeeeee
on Dec 31, 2006
Thanks FS. I've had myself a cold one and calmed myself down.

I've cast on and restarted the thing yet again. I'm looking at the big pile of yarn laying at my feet and trying to imagine how the hell I'm going to get it all knitted back up in time for me to leave out again Tuesday morning. I need to get it knitted back to the skein so I can put it all in the bag without getting tangled up. I have a bunch of knitting to do.

And I'm not drink...drank...drunc...drunk either.

on Jan 01, 2007
Nah, you're not knitting impaired just a beginner. Stick with it and soon you'll be a knitting wiz. It can be frustrating learning something new but think of how proud you will be when you've finished your first project.
on Jan 01, 2007
quote]Thanks FS. I've had myself a cold one and calmed myself down.

Good!


I've cast on and restarted the thing yet again. I'm looking at the big pile of yarn laying at my feet and trying to imagine how the hell I'm going to get it all knitted back up in time for me to leave out again Tuesday morning. I need to get it knitted back to the skein so I can put it all in the bag without getting tangled up. I have a bunch of knitting to do.


Oy! I dunno either but you'll figure it out! Maybe rewind it back on it's thingy?


And I'm not drink...drank...drunc...drunk either.

Hahaha, good to know....meech...meeee...nee..me too!


think of how proud you will be when you've finished your first project.



Yeah...what she said!  
on Jan 01, 2007
Good grief, what happened?
on Jan 01, 2007
Good grief, what happened?
MasonM
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yep something weird!
on Jan 01, 2007

Ok, here's what you can do:

Wind the yarn that you frogged around the skein.  That's what I always do when I've frogged or tinked something and I've never had much of an issue.

Knit a swatch in garter stitch (all knit stitches) and one all in purl stitches so that you can get the hang of working those two stitches separately.  I think that part of the issues you're having might be that you're trying to put stitches together too soon.

Invest in a darning needle and run a line of thread through the last row you KNOW you did right before you continue.  That way if you screw up you won't have to frog the whole thing.

As far as putting the needle back into live stitches after you've frogged, well, you just thread it through.  Once you come to knit (or purl) the stitches it'll be obvious if you have the twisted or not - and you'll be able to untwist them using the right needle.  You slip the stitch off with the right needle by inserting it into the FRONT of the stitch, slipping it onto the right needle, then replacing it back on the left needle where it belongs - and then you can knit it.

If you are ever, ever within an hour or so of St Louis, give me a shout and I'll come meet you and we'll have a knitting lesson.  I think that'd be kinda fun...

on Jan 01, 2007
Thanks Dharma, I appreciate it.
on Jan 01, 2007
And here i thought we had a pirate blog on the go!!
on Jan 02, 2007
Reply By: dharmagrl


What she said.......a day late. Sorry.
on Jan 02, 2007
What she said.......a day late. Sorry.


Thanks. I followed her advice and wound it around the skein. Works great. I really need to learn how to roll it into one of those nifty center pull balls.

I did finally figure out where my mistakes were coming from. It was all in the knit stitches. I was sometimes not inserting the needle properly and was picking up more than just that center strand that you actually want. It was causing a twisted stitch and increased stitch count. Once I figured out what I was doing wrong it was fairly simple to watch for, learn to feel when it wasn't right, and correct it.

I've realized that it's impossible to never make any mistakes so I learned how to fix the mistakes I was making. Now that I can actually fix the mistakes it's going much better. When I go to make a knit stitch and it doesn't feel right I just stop, remove the needle, and start it again. It seems to be working.

But now that I've solved that repeating mistake I'm sure I can come up with a few new ones.

I have a short darning needle and have started weaving in a lifeline as Dharma helpfully suggested. That should help a lot if I need to unravel a section. I'm just removing and reweaving it every couple dozen rows or so.