Time to Knit!

Time to Knit!

In the last blog post I talked about how to do a slip-knot, how to cast-on, and also the basics of knitting.  In this blog post I am going to be refreshing some main points of knitting and also covering how to bind-off. 

Wait so how do you knit?

In the last blog post I did talk about the basics of knitting, but I am going to be talking about it briefly again.  There are two main techniques, the English method and the Continental method.  "Some people knit holding the yarn in their right hand, which is called the English method, while others hold it in their left hand, which is called Continental method.  Try both methods and experiment to see which suits you.  The most important thing is to be relaxed and comfortable."  (Turner 22).  I decided to go with the English method.  A few steps from the English method are the following, "Hold the needle with the cast-on stitches on it in your left hand and hold the working (empty) needle in your right hand, with the working yarn wound around the fingers of your right hand.  Holding the yarn in back of both needles, insert the right needle into the front of the first stitch on the left needle.  Your needles with form an X, with the right needle behind the left needle," (Turner 24).  I am not going to quote all of the instructions, but to summarize the rest of the English Method for knitting; you have to hold the cross needles between your fingers and then bring the needle from back to front and then down between the two needles.  After that pull the right needle toward the front and bring the new loop of yarn and wrap it around through the stitch on the needle and slip the old stitch off the left needle.  Then repeat the steps, (Turner 25).  I did those steps exactly and my progress is below.

                                             I think I'm ready to Bind-off

Ok So How do you Bind-off?

Binding-off is what you do when you are ready to finish a project.  "Binding off is what you do when you want to get your stitches off the needle permanently, without allowing them to unravel,"  (Turner 36) says the book "Knitting".  Also it says that you may bind off at the end of a project to finish it but also to finish an armhole or neck-hole in a garment.  I am going to bind-off knitwise.  The clear instructions in the book say the following, "On the bind-off row, knit until you have 2 stitches total on the right needle; then insert the left needle into the front of the first stitch knit on the right needle (that it, the rightmost stitch).  Pull the stitch over the second knit stitch and off the right needle.  You have bound off 1 stitch knitwise, and you have 1 stitch on the right needle.  Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have bound off the desired number of stitches.  Cut the working yarn, leaving a long enough tail to weave in later, and pull it through the last loop on the needle," (Turner 36).  I did all of these instructions. 

I know it doesn't look very good, but that's because I am new to the skill and I will get better as the blog posts continue. 

So am I done?

Well let's look at my goals.  They were to continue knitting and to cast-off, which I did both.  I learned how to cast-off.  I have successfully completed my goals thanks to the book, "Knitting".  It clearly helped me master my goal of learning how to cast-off with the very clear instructions given in the book.  This will help me with this goal in my life of knitting and this hobby because learning how to cast-off (bind off) it will help me finish a project which is definitely needed if someone were wanting to knit.  Binding-off helps finish off a project.  If someone were going to give a person a knit scarf, say for a birthday, they need to know how to bind-off because they couldn't give a person a knit scarf with needles hanging on the end of the scarf.  Now that I know how to bind-off, I can successfully make a scarf for someone. 

A question for all fellow bloggers out there...

What way have you found easiest to cast-off?
What is your favorite method of knitting?
Do you think purling or knitting is easier?  (Since I need feedback before I actually start purling and/or making a scarf?

What should you take away from this?

You (the reader) should take away that knitting is fun and easy.  If  you follow an instructional book like "Knitting" by Sharon Turner, knitting becomes fun and easy.  Also binding-off is really fun and lets you complete your knitting piece. 
Also throughout these blog posts, the argument and message that I am trying to express is that you should take up a hobby that you have always wanted to do, because it may be hard at first, but the end result will be rewarding. 


MLA CITATIONTurner, Sharon. Knitting: Teach Yourself Visually. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Pub., 2007. Print.




Dated: 12/12/15