Learning to Knit - A Beginners Point of View

Squishy balls of yarn are happy balls of yarn.

Yes, this is what I learned in my knitting class.

Did you know that there is a very specific way to wind a yarn of ball. Not too tight, "you will stretch the yarn too much or it might even break", declared my knitting instructor. Just wind it around the back of a chair or if you have a willing partner ask them to hold their arms up for a very long time. Now I know why I had children. To help wind my balls of yarn.

I thought knitting was as simple as picking up two needles and knitting away. Quite the contrary. I took my first knitting class and decided to take the class on making a hat. I live in the cold midwest winter, so a hat was something I really wanted to accomplish. You can see some of the things I learned in my first class under a previous blog. (Do I have to climb a mountain to be adventurous, February 11, 2010).

I taught myself to knit from a booklet and friends giving some tips. I never knew there was so much more to knitting. First we had to create a swatch to see our gauge on knitting. I guess we all stitch differently and it is quite important to measure how many knit stitches we complete in an inch. So as a dutiful student, I knitted a swatch and measured my stitches per inch gauge.

"Now unravel the swatch", declared the instructor. "What!" (is all I could think, and yes others thought the same as I did).

"You don't need the swatch now and you don't want to waste yarn", explained the instructor.

I obeyed and unraveled the one hour's worth of work. Seasoned knitters will wonder how it took an hour to knit a little swatch. But hey I made some mistakes at the beginning (such as knitting backwards). I told you - there is a right way and a wrong way to knit.

Next, I needed to measure my head around forehead to back of head and over the top of my head, bottom earlobe to bottom of earlobe (you have to make sure those ears are covered with the hat - it is cold in the winter). The measuring of our heads took teamwork as we measured each others heads.

Now the thinking part. I needed to take my gauge and do several mathematical equations. A- 1" = B. B x your gauge = C. Now subtract 10% of C to find D. Did you get that? This is why I took a class because I am a very visual person and had the most lost look as the instructor went through details. All I want to know is how many stitches to cast on (I learned the correct way to do this as well).

The answer is D. Got it, now divide that by 4, if you are making a ribbing, but leave it at D, if you are rolling the end or creating a hem. Alright I'm lost again. What am I dividing and why? I'll just go with the hemmed end and leave it at that.

"Make sure not to twist the stitches on the first row", said the instructor. "Your hat will be backwards if you twist the first row." Why can't knitting be simple?

I was so excited to get started that I went beyond the three inches I was supposed to stitch.

"You have to do a purl stitch row at 3 inches, if you are creating a hem", explained my instructor. Now what do I do. "I guess you can leave the hem at 4 inches if you want", helped my instructor. "Or I will just make it a rolled hem", I declared. "That works too", finished my instructor.

So now I'm on my way to a hat with a rolled hem. Don't you love how some decisions are made for you because you are way too lazy to unravel rows of completed stitches. Now don't forget that before you continue after your hem of three inches to add back the 10% you took out at the beginning for the brim of your hat. "Oh for crying out loud", is all I thought. I really should have read those instructions better or perhaps not got ahead of myself, and the instructor for that matter.

O.k. now to more math equations. Take D-C and increase a stitch every E stitch. But, if your E is a fraction, then stitch E and then redo your math half way around and add an extra stitch at that new answer. Do you now see why it's sometimes a little more helpful to take a class and not learn completely from a book. I just gave my instructor that lost look again and she walked me though the row.

Now back to regular knitting, but not for long. After awhile it will be time to decrease your stitches to make the top of you hat. Once again I was excited and didn't wait to listen to my instructor. I decreased and decreased (yes, there are more math equations to determine this) and came to a point that the stitches were too tight for the circular needle. If I waited, I would have learned to knit onto double pointed needles. O.k. back to correcting my mistake and slowly transferring each stitch to the new needles, but make sure not to twist the stitch. I will have nightmares on not twisting the stitch.

A lot of concentration is needed (at least on my part) to complete the hat. My 4 year old daughter would love this (plenty of counting). I continued with instructions on making the top of the hat with the least amount of calculations. The more calculations there were, the more chances there would be to make a mistake. I continued with the double pointed needles till I had only 8 stitches left.

Now what do I do with these. Cut a 6" tail with a darning needle, thread the yarn through the 8 stitches and cinch shut. Thread yarn to inside of hat, weave in ends. This I can handle. All was put together.

I finished weaving and took a careful look at my finished product. I was quite impressed with myself. It looked like a pretty good hat and it fit. The eight of us put on our completed hats and admired each other's work. We all were amazed at how a simple ball of yarn, became something useful, such as a hat. It was something we accomplished on our own.

My daughter admired my work and requested that I teach her to knit. I wanted to say, "but you are still too young". However, one of the students in the hat class said she was taught at age 3. So as an encouraging mom I told her, "Yes, I will teach you to knit". These words came from someone who had no idea how to knit a couple of months ago, but I'm ready for the challenge.

I will miss my knitting class. Eight students of varying ages and stages of our lives, came together to learn to make a simple project. The instructor was quite patient and helped each and every one of us. Including the ones such as me who didn't always listen and wait. And of course I learned the most important thing in knitting.

Squishy balls of yarn are happy balls of yarn.