Knitting Put To the Test

Knitting Put to the Test

So after all of these blog posts, do I know how to knit?

I definitely would say that I learned a lot from the book, "Knitting" by Sharon Turner.  I learned how to knit, how to cast-on, how to do a slip-knot, how to cast-off, how to purl, and how to do a double strand.  I didn't know how to do any of this before I read this book.  With the instructions given in this book, I now know the basics of knitting. 

For the final challenge, I am going to be creating a hat

I know previously I said that I was going to be creating a scarf, but I wanted to challenge myself even further and create something that I haven't before, a hat.  I also got the idea because one of my relatives gave one of my cousins a knit hat for Christmas, so I got inspired to also create a hat.  The hat is going to put most of my skills that I have learned to the test: purling, casting-of, etc. in a much harder format.  I also have to use different needles (circular needles).

Let's get started!

So first when knitting with circular needles, you have to cast-on.  Basically, you cast-on the same way you would with regular needles, (Turner 104). 


To actually knit, "Knitting" says, "Hold the end of the needle that the working yarn is attached to in your right hand.  Attach a ring marker after the last stitch that was cast on to mark the end of the round.  Use the needle in your right hand to knit the first cast-on stitch from the needle in your left hand, giving the yarn a firm tug so that the join is snug," (Turner 105).  After that you can knit all the way around until you reach the stitch marker.  Then to begin the second round, slip the marker from the left to right needle and after the last stitch of the round you have to knit the first stitch, (Turner 105). 

My Progress is Below

So am I done?

My goals were to create a knit hat with purls, and I successfully did so, so I completed my goals.  This book, "Knitting" by Sharon Turner has helped me know exactly how to use circular needles to create a beautiful hat.  Just the instructions listed above have helped me know how to create this hat.  This book has helped me with this hobby of knitting in my life because now that I know how to knit and I have successfully mastered the basics of knitting, I can go on and learn new methods and techniques to knit even better!  This book has created a passion for knitting that I never knew I had before and also has helped me master the basics so I can know how to knit. 

A question for all fellow knitters out there...

What is your favorite technique while knitting?
Have you ever tried knitting with circular knitting needles by using two different colors (if so how did you do it)?

What should you take away from this?

Throughout the blog posts my main message and argument have been that even though a new skill such as knitting may be hard at first, the finished product is rewarding.  In this case I didn't even know how to knit before reading this book and starting my blog posts, but now I know how to create a hat!  Anything is possible with hard work.  Even though something may seem super hard at first (like I never imagined I would be able to create a hat at the beginning of the blog posts) I now think it's super easy to knit and also to purl, do double strands, and even create a hat. 


Also to answer the question "How are you using evidence from the text to improve your performance in the chosen activity?"  I am using evidence from the text (listed above) to improve my performance with knitting because with the book "Knitting" it lists all the steps that I have to take in order to achieve my goal (in this case it was a purl knitted hat).  I am improving by learning how to make a purl knitted hat.


MLA CITATION Turner, Sharon. Knitting: Teach Yourself Visually. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Pub., 2007. Print.
Dated: 1/6/16

How do You Knit With Two Strands of Yarn?

How do You Knit With Two Strands of Yarn?

In the book, "Knitting" by Sharon Turner, "Sometimes you want to knit with two strands of yarn at the same time: Your knitting pattern might call for it, or you might want to substitute a double strand of a thin yarn that you have on hand for a thicker yarn required by a particular pattern," (Turner 35).  Basically knitting with two strands of yarn is just knitting, except instead of one strand you have to combine the two strands.  I am going to purl knit with two strands. 

Let's get started!

According to my book on knitting, you do everything such as casting on, knitting, and purling as you do 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). 

First, what are the supplies needed?

The supplies needed are two balls of yarn and needles. 

 

 Now time to start purling with two different strands!

 Here is my finished square...

So am I done?

My goals for this blog post were to create a square knit piece with two different strands of color by purling and also casting off; and I did do this.  Therefore I successfully completed my goals for this specific blog post.  The book, "Knitting" by Sharon Turner gives me the insight I need in order to successfully knit/purl.  I have learned so much from this book.  It gives me a clear understanding with instructions on how to do the specific skill that I want to accomplish.  This time I was wanting to learn how to do a double strand knit piece, and with the instructions given in this book, I figured out how to do it.  This book definitely helped me with this hobby because now I know another skill that I wanted to figure out for knitting.  Before reading this book, I didn't even know how to knit.  Now I know how to purl, do double-strands, cast-off, cast-on, etc. because of the instructions like the ones listed above. 

A question for all fellow knitters out there...

Have you tried a triple strand knit?
Is the knit piece supposed to look thicker after this double strand is applied?

What should you take away from this?

My argument throughout these blog posts is that learning a new skill may be hard at first, but with practice it can become very easy and the end result is always rewarding.  I apply this message throughout this blog post because I show how I didn't know how to do a double stranded piece before and thought it would be hard, but now looking at my instructional book, I now know how to accomplish a double stranded square and still apply the other skills that I learned (such as purling, casting-off, etc.).


Also to answer the question "How are you using evidence from the text to improve your performance in the chosen activity?"  I am using evidence from the text (listed above) to improve my performance with knitting because with the book "Knitting" it lists all the steps that I have to take in order to achieve my goal (in this case it was a purl double stranded knit square).  I am improving by learning how to do a double stranded square. 

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

Dated: 1/6/16

What's a Purl Knit?

What's a Purl Knit? 

A purl knit, according to Knitting by Sharon Turner, 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).

Let's get started

Okay so now that we know what purling is, how do we purl?  According to the knitting book I am reading, you first have to hold the needle with the cast-on stitch on it in your left hand and hold both the working needle and the working yarn in your right hand.  Then you have to insert the right needle from back to front into the first stitch on the left needle, (Turner 26).  After this you basically just knit the same way as before.  The only difference between knitting and purling is that in purling you insert the right needle on top of the left needle and in knitting you do the opposite. 

 

My Progress So Far

So am I done?

Well let's look at my goals for this blog post.  I wanted to make a knit square with purl knits.  I successfully accomplished the square, so my goals are completed!  The book, "Knitting" by Sharon Turner gives me insight into how to knit, and for this blog post, how to purl knit.  It gives clear instructions so that I can easily know how to do certain projects.  This book has helped me with knitting (as a hobby in my life) because it has made me a better knitter.  I think I will knit for a hobby now and maybe even make knit pieces for birthday presents and for Christmas presents.  This book has made me an overall better knitter with skills of knowing how to cast-on, create a slip-knot, knit, bind-off, and now purl. 

A question for all fellow knitters out there...

Do you like knitting or purling better?

Have you found more than one way to purl?

Have you found another method to knit besides the regular knitting/purling?

What should you take away from this?

You should take away from this blog that knitting can be fun and easy with an easy instructional book just like the one I am using called "Knitting" by Sharon Turner.  Also the argument that I am trying to express is that purling and knitting is exciting and learning a new skill is something everyone should take up; because even though the skill may be hard at first, the end result is rewarding.

Also to answer the question "How are you using evidence from the text to improve your performance in the chosen activity?"  I am using evidence from the text (listed above) to improve my performance with knitting because with the book "Knitting" it lists all the steps that I have to take in order to achieve my goal (in this case it was a purl knit square).  I am improving by learning how to purl. 

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

Dated: 1/6/16

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

Learning to Knit? Mastering the Basics of Knitting Comes First!

Basics of Knitting

Have you ever wanted to learn the beautiful art of knitting?  At first knitting may seem very difficult, but with practice and patience, it can become really fun and easy.  I didn't really know how to knit when I first picked up the book "Knitting- Teach Yourself Visually" by Sharon Turner, and it was a challenge to start learning, but I gave it time, and now I know the basics of knitting. 


I am going to be learning throughout the 3 months in which we were assigned to read and blog about one particular non-fiction book and how we incorporate it into our everyday lives, to learn a new skill every single blog post.  For the first blog post, I mastered the skill of the basics of knitting, for example casting-on, and the basic knit.  For the second blog post, I am going to master and complete a knitted square and learn how to cast the square off.  For the third blog post, I am going to knit a square using a type of special knit called a purl.  For the 4th, I am going to complete a square with purls and different colors.  And for the 5th and final blog post, I am going to put all my knowledge to a test and create a scarf with purl knits, different colors, and cast-off. 


A knit piece may look something like this...

 

So what's the big deal with knitting?
According to the non-fiction book, "Knitting", knitting is fun and relaxing, "Once you begin to get into a knitting rhythm, you'll discover one of the most relaxing and satisfying of hobbies." (Turner 4).  Knitting is not just for grandmothers; children, teens, 20 year-olds, and new mothers are learning to share the hobby (Turner 4).  I decided to take up this challenge of learning how to knit, because for Christmas I wish to give my mom a hand-knit scarf with beautiful colors and different kinds of stitches.  "A hand-knit gift with extra meaning for both the person giving and the one receiving.  When you knit a special hat, scarf, or baby sweater for someone, you weave your love into the fabric, and the person receiving your gift will know it and appreciate it." (Turner 5)


So what did I learn to do, you may ask?
For this specific blog post, I learned to take up the art of casting on and learning to do a basic knit (stich).  According to this non-fiction book, "Knitting", I first learned the different yarn types.  A few different types are cotton, mohair, wool, alpaca, nylon, acrylic, and polyester (Turner 6).  For this specific project, I used acrylic yarn.  Secondly I learned all about different yarn weights.  There are lots of different yarn weights such as, "super-fine, fine, light, medium, bulky, and super-bulky," (Turner 6).  For this knitting experience I used medium.  Next I learned about different types of needles.  There are lots of different types such as wood, metal, bamboo, and plastic, (Turner 10).  I will be using bamboo needles.  Also there are lots of different types of shapes for needles.  I will be using the straight needles, since I am a beginner, but the others are double-pointed and circular.  Also I will be using some extra supplies that I may need like scissors.  

 

 

 Yay!!! Now it's time to make a slip knot!

Now that I got all of the things that I need to begin knitting, I can start.  From the book, it says the following, "Basic Techniques: A knitted fabric is made up of many stitches.  In this chapter, you will learn the basics: how to get your first row of stitches on the needle as well as how to knit."  (Turner 11).  This is what I am going to be focusing on in this blog post.  First I will be learning how to make a slipknot.  Well what is a slipknot?  A slipknot is "your very first stitch," (Turner 14).  To make a slipknot, I followed the very clear instructions that were listed in the book, "Start about 10 inches in from the end of your yarn, make a loop.  Pull the working yarn (the yarn coming from the ball) behind the loop as shown.  Insert the needle underneath the working yarn and pull it up through the loop.  Pull the ends of the yarn so that the slipknot sits snugly on the needle,"  (Turner 14).  These instructions were very easy to follow and I made a slip knot myself with yarn and a needle.

Well what's next?
Casting on is next.  According to the nonfiction book, "Knitting", "Casting on is what you do to get a foundation row of stitches on you needle so that you can start to knit," (Turner 15).  There were many types of methods of casting on shown in the book such as the backward-loop cast-on, the long-tail cast-on, the knit cast-on, the cable cast-on, and the provisional cast-on, (Turner 17-20).  I experimented with all of the methods, but found that the knit cast-on was the easiest to do and would be good for this particular project.  "The knit cast-on produces an elegant elastic edge, so it's good for most anything..." (Turner 18).  The instructions say to, "Put a slipknot on your needle.  Holding this needle in your left hand and the empty needle in your right hand, insert the right needle into the stitch from front to back, as if to knit.  Wrap the working yarn around the tip of the right needle and pull up a loop, as when knitting a stitch.  Do not slip the stitch off the needle.  Transfer the new stitch to the left needle by inserting the left needle into the stitch then sliding the right needle out.  Pull the working yarn to tighten.  Repeat steps 1-4, placing each new stitch to the right of the previously cast-on stitch until you have the desired number of stitches on the left needle," (Turner 18).  I followed this exactly, and now I know how to cast on!  I'm almost done with mastering the basics of knitting, just need to know how to do a basic row of stitches first!  My progress is below. 

Time to Knit!!!
So according to the book "Knitting", "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).  The method shown in the book to knit is called the English Method.  A few instructions that come from the book is to hold the needle with the cast-on stitches in your left hand and hold the working needle in your right hand and then create an X with both of your needles with the right needle behind the left needle.  Then holding the crossed needles bring the yarn around the right needle from back to front and then bring it down between the two needles.   After that pull the right needle toward the front, bringing the new loop of yarn you just wrapped around it through the stitch on the needle and slip the old stitch off the left needle.  This is the 1st stich.  The book then says to repeat these steps until the there is no more stitches that can happen until going to the next row, (Turner 24-25).  I followed these steps very closely and created my first row of stitches.  I then went on to create two more rows of stitches.  My progress is as follows.

So am I done?
Let's look at my goals for this blog-post.  They were to master the basics of knitting by casting-on and doing the basic knit.   I successfully did this!  This book told me the steps of how to cast-on and how to a basic knit (stich) and now I know how to do a slip-knot, a basic stitch, a cast-on, and I completed my first 3 rows!  Now you may be asking, 'Ok so how does this help you with your life'.  Which this is part of the project.  This helps me with my life, because now that I know and have mastered the basics of knitting, I can make a scarf or anything else that I want to.  This is going to impact my life, because thanks to the book "Knitting" I will be making a scarf for my mom for Christmas.  I won't have to take time and effort and money trying to think of the perfect gift to buy at the store, because a knit scarf will be genuine and not cost near as much money as a present I could buy.  This has always been a passion of mine, creating art, and now that I know how to knit, I will take up knitting, and instead of wasting my money on gifts that don't really count from a store, I can make my family and friends meaningful gifts in which they will treasure.


A question for any fellow knitting-bloggers out there:
Have you found an easy way to cast-off? (Since I think I may struggle with this).


Also do you think that purling or the basic stich is harder?  I personally like purling better, but I was wondering what any readers thought and liked better. 


What should you take away from reading this?
You should take away that although knitting, or anything can be a struggle, you should just try and do it anyway, because it could change your life (no matter how small of a change, it will still impact your life). 
Also the argument that I am trying to express in this post, 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 CITATION
Turner, Sharon. Knitting: Teach Yourself Visually. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Pub., 2007. Print.








Dated: 11/30/15