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How many different ways can you think of to make a slip knot?
Eckman, Edie. I Can Knit. Big Sandy, TX: Annie's Attic, 2013. Print
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Casting On
New skills are always fun to gain! For this quarter I chose to learn the skill of knitting. The first step in making anything in knitting is casting on. To cast on first you will want to make a slip knot. To do that you will take your yarn and make it into a loop, then you will take the end that is attached to your ball of yarn and pull it through the loop to where it looks like this ( Eckman P4):
Then you will want to tighten it so that it fits well on to your knitting needles. Your next step is to make loops to put on your needles, you will want to make sure that they are not too tight and that they aren't too close together. Keep going until you have the desired amount of loops, which are called stitches. This will be how wide your scarf is (Eckman P5).
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Good job so far. The first steps of knitting are indeed making a slip-knot and casting on. Your knitting looks good so far and I can't wait to see what else you are going to be learning and showing in your next blog posts throughout the quarter. To answer you question about, "How many different ways can you think of to make a slip knot," I only know how to do it one way, but in my book called "Knitting" by Sharon Turner, it says "You have probably made a slipknot before, but there's a special method for putting one onto your knitting needle." (Turner 14). She then goes on to saying that there is only one basic technique in making a slipknot, but other people come up with different ways in making different techniques. There are a lot of different ways to cast-on though. My book has 5 different methods! (They are Backward-Loop Cast-On, Long-Tail Cast-On, Knit Cast-On, Cable Cast-On, and Provisional Cast-On)(Turner 20)
ReplyDeleteAlso I agree with you that new skills are always fun to gain! You say that the desired number of loops is called stitches, which is completely right and my book, "Knitting" by Sharon Turner says that, "Now that you know how to cast on stitches and hold your yarn and needles, you can try actually knitting." (Turner 24). So first you make the slip-knot and then you make the 'desired number of loops' which is the stitches and then you finally knit! There are lots of different ways to knit and one tip on knitting when you are ready from my book is, "It's a good idea to start with a small number of stitches (10-15) on your needles. You will want to count your stitches after every row to make sure you haven't dropped or added any accidentally," (Turner 24). Good luck!
ReplyDeleteNow that you are done with casting-on, knitting comes next. According to your article, "Keep going until you have the desired amount of loops, which are called stitches. This will be how wide your scarf is." This is basically what you do to knit too. From my book, "Knitting" by Sharon Turner, it says, "It's a good idea to start with a small number of stitches (10-15) on your needle," (Turner 24). This is just a tip when starting to knit so that it doesn't get super complicated.
ReplyDeleteI have found that purling is actually much easier for me than knitting with regular stitches. It's really fun and easy to do, "Purling is the opposite of knitting. You hold the needles the same way as for knitting, but you keep the yarn in front of the needles instead of at the back," (Turner 26). I think it's really fun to purl and maybe if you wanted to try purling you would like it too. Also you say, "Your next step is to make loops to put on your needles, you will want to make sure that they are not too tight and that they aren't too close together." This is important if you want to purl too to make sure the end result is awesome!
ReplyDeleteLastly, I found that knitting with a double strand of yarn is really awesome and fun too! From my book, Knitting, by Sharon Turner, "When you knit with a double strand of yarn, you do everything- casting on, knitting, and purling- as you would with a single strand of yarn, only you hold both strands together as if they're one and knit or purl both strands at the same time," (Turner 35). Knitting with a double strand of yarn is awesome because it's easier to have even not to tight strands like you say here, "Your next step is to make loops to put on your needles, you will want to make sure that they are not too tight and that they aren't too close together." I find it's easy to make sure that the loops aren't very tight and they aren't to loose with doing double strands. By the way, good job so far!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comments! I haven't been able to try purling yet but I will soon. For my next personal practice I might try my hand at a double strand yarn. For me I tend to pull my loops too tight so maybe a different yarn would help. Right now I am working on a scarf and I will definitely try purling for it.
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DeleteI believe a different yarn would help make the loops be not as tight. Maybe different sized needles (like bigger needles) would also make the loops be too tight.
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