Back to Clue #1

My yarn came in on Friday, yay! 

Brick Brown, Classic Blue, Butter, Aqua Frost, Greek Sea

Clue 2
Left: wrong side, Right: right side

Rather than start in with the new colours and finish clue 1 right away though, I opted to finish clue 2; I'd finished my first square on Thursday, and was already partway through the second. I'm now happy to say I'm completely done clue 2! 

Second part of Clue 1

Then, Sunday, with my mom's help I rolled my first skein of Greek Sea (contrast C) into a ball, and started back in on clue 1. Here's the first of four completed squares. 
I really like these colours together (Classic Navy and Greek Sea). 
I'll start on the second square today, and if I can have all four done by Thursday, I'll be on track with the clues; 2 clues in 2 weeks. 


I've also added a little bit to the title of the blog, since I've now decided to learn how to crochet. I bought a 6 pack of Boye crochet hooks (sizes E-J), and tried it on Friday... to unsatisfactory results. I found my biggest problem (among others) was knowing where to put the stitches in a pattern. Sometimes, like when they say "in the third chain from the hook" was fine, but others I ended up lost. Most of the videos I saw on youtube were either too small, too fast, or spent too much time on things like crocheting in a hole (which I found superbly easy to understand). After many frogged attempts at flowers and bracelets, I went back to my knitting for the night. 
On Saturday, I returned to the crochet hook with a new tool on my side; the Bernat forums. Before I went to sleep on Friday night, I found a thread on there called 'Learn to Crochet' and found a beginner dishcloth pattern and videos specifically for that project. The videos were easy to see and follow, not too fast, and overall incredibly helpful! The forum also had questions from other new crocheters, and I know if needed, I can ask for help there. 

My first crocheted project!

Now, I haven't finished the dishcloth, and I don't think I actually will. While working on it, I got much better and faster at crocheting, and figured out the difference between sc (single crochet) in another sc, and sc in the hole beside an sc. I'm still not sure though about the first stitch when you flip your work over... my edges go in (and occasionally out) as it goes on because I'm not sure how to see where the first sc is. Once I figure that last part out, I'll frog my current progress and redo the dishcloth! Then I'll have a whole little set (3) of dishcloths all made in Bernat Handicrafter Potpourri Ombre yarn. 
I'm nowhere near being anything beyond a beginner in crochet, and many "beginner" crochet patterns confuse me, but I'll keep at it, as there's a particularly cute/fast pattern I'd like to make for myself, my mom and my grandmother when I get better at it.


Anyways, time to start my 6/8 square for clue 1, and think about working on the crocheted coaster I've been asked to do!


Things I learned:

• how to single crochet
• how to double crochet
• to see the difference between where to put the hook if a stitch is made in a sc or the hole beside a sc
• how to hold the yarn when crocheting that works for me (I think)
• how to join a chain with a slip stitch to make a circle in crochet 
• how to crochet in the circle
• how to make a slip stitch in crochet
• the awesomeness of Ravelry

Starting Clue #2

Done the first half of clue #1, yay!

Well, I finished my fourth block of clue #1 today! They're all the same size, at about 8"x8" (I was wrong in my earlier guesstimation of the size; I got a measuring tape out this time). 


Being without my contrasts A, C and E for the time being, I've started on clue #2, which uses the last of my contrast D. It's this interesting stitch called the shaker rib stitch. This stitch involves knitting, purling, and knitting one below. Thanks to youtube again, I already understood how to knit 1 below, and it's just as easy as it looks, although it goes against the grain for me to pretty much purposely lose a stitch! At least I also now know how to reclaim that stitch if needed with tinking. 
I saw this very handy video that shows how to tink the knit, purl and k1below stitches. I watched it before I started working on my block, but had to rewatch tinking the k1below stitch when I did actually mess up. I was knitting along, when I accidentally knit one stitch instead of 1 below. I knew I'd messed up somehow, but then I second guessed myself, and let it be for about 6 more stitches before I realized I was now one stitch off (it alternates p1, k1below). Luckily, thanks to that video I was able to successfully tink purl, and k1below stitches to fix my block, even without a crochet hook (which I'll be picking up tomorrow)!

Top: Wrong side
Bottom: Right side

Now, starting in on clue #2, I was a little worried, since it starts you off with casting on 37 stitches and leaves you with that. I'd wondered if this square would be larger than the clue #1 sqaures... turns out I was worrying for nothing! If I was that much smaller in gauge with the first style of blocks, it held over to this style. The height of my block is almost the exact same as my finished blocks (maybe a little smaller), and it's still on the needle. I'll definitely have extra left-over yarn when this afghan is done.
Hmm, looking at what I've knit so far, I'm really not sure which side will be shown. I've included a picture of both sides of my block so far, the top is the wrong side, according to the pattern, and the bottom is the right side. My mom thinks the top looks more like what should be shown though... either way, it is quite stretchy and thick, and looks neat all around. 
Edit: The sides are labelled correctly: the right side is what will show, and really, I prefer the right side anyways... the wrong side could just be a normal rib pattern.


Things I learned:

• how to k1below
• the shaker rib stitch (such a cool name!)
• how to tink purl stitches
• how to tink k1below stitches

An Aside with Practice

In my first two posts, I skipped the learning of a few other knitting-related skills and tidbits that didn't quite fit in, but were learned in the last week as well. 

I bought some point protectors at Wal-Mart today because I learned that I can't put my needles in this yarn to keep my stitches on them; the yarn is just too... loose? I had put them in, and when I was knitting later, I came across some fuzzy, wider parts where I figured my needles pushed through the string of yarn, gross. 

I also learned the proper method of how to k1p1, and how to "inc 1 st in first st", or knit in the front and back of a stitch. Both of these I learned while whiling the time away by working on a practice piece of knitting, while waiting for my car. I started with the k1p1, which was... disastrous. 

I'd recalled my grandmother mentioning that there was a style in knitting that used knitting and purling back and forth all in one row. When I finished my second dish cloth, I took out my old practice piece, and started by knitting a few rows. Then I did a row of k1p1... I ended up "frogging" more than half of the old work I'd had on there, let alone the new part. The problem was, I was just going from what I knew about each stitch in their own rows, how I'd knitted before, so I didn't know I had to move my yarn to the front before each purl stitch, and to the back for each knit stitch. The result was the most frustrating thing I've encountered in knitting. 

I wanted to pull my hair out when trying to knit the next row from this!

In trying to knit my next row, I lost tons of stitches, and made even more from just where my yarn crossed over. Before I even finished my doomed attempt, I Googled how to unravel my work, and found out how some could be salvaged by putting my needle in further down, and frogging (unraveling) it, until it reached the needle, where it would stop. I did just that, and then waited a day before seeing a video showing me how to k1p1, and going from there. 

Once I'd done a fair amount of that pattern, (the broken rib pattern, which I found here), I tried two patterns from the Bernat website: the single basketweave, and the oat stitch. The oat stitch is what I used to learn how to knit into the front and back of a stitch, and has come in handy for clue 1 of the KAL. 
Finally, I learned about blocking. Blocking is mentioned as something we should do with the KAL, and everything I read made me more unsure about it. It seemed great because I can make sure all of my blocks are the same size for assembly, and make them bigger if I have to. It'll also straighten out my stitches, and lay down any curly or wavy bits of the blocks. But then I read that blocking acrylic is hard to do, and if done by steam (which seems to be the only way to do it properly for acrylic yarn), you run the risk of "killing" your yarn, or melting it so it is no longer elastic... great for a kid's blanket, not so much for this project. 
I've decided to use some pins I picked up at Wal-Mart, on the ironing board, with the iron. I'll do what's been suggested online and that I've seen in videos: hold the iron an inch or two above the project for a few seconds and pat it with your hand if needed. I'd rather start with less steam than too much, so I'll be cautious, and since my squares are smaller than expected, I'll be waiting until I've knitted them all and I'm ready to assemble them before blocking them. 


Things I learned:

• what point protectors are
• how to properly k1p1 (arrgh!)
• how to knit into the front and back of a stitch
• what frogging is
• how to put your needle into your project, to only frog up to a point
• the broken rib pattern
• the single basketweave
• the oat stitch
• how to block (in theory), what it even is, and why it's important

Preparing for the KAL and Clue #1

Having made the decision to do the KAL afghan, and having the benefit of joining in after the event was completed, I looked through the completed blankets. There is a prescribed layout for the afghan, but it wasn't required, and there's a lot of very creative combinations! I picked a blanket I liked best, and wrote down how often each colour was used. The Waverly for Bernat yarn that's used is expensive, and I wanted to be sure I'd be happy with my colours. I was able to discern from the person's pattern which of their colours were contrast A, B, C, D and E. 
Initially I picked out Aqua Frost, Greek Sea, Butter, Bark, and Turtle Green. I'm glad I didn't order online right away though. When I finally got my car back (it'd been in the shop and for two days I was getting more and more anxious to get out and get the supplies to START ALREADY!), I went down to Zellers and checked out their prices. It turned out to be more economical to order the yarns online, even with a $10 shipping fee, but by this time I was so anxious to start, I bought my B and D contrasts so I could start on clue 1. 
While looking through the selection at Zellers, I revised my colour picks. Aqua Frost, Greek Sea (now contrast C), and Butter (now contrast E) remained from my original picks. Brick Brown replaced Bark as my contrast D, because Bark was much lighter than I'd thought, and my contrast B became Classic Navy. 
I stopped by Michael's to buy a 29" long, 5mm circular knitting needle (bamboo of course!). Their price intimidated me, when I compared to Zellers and Wal-Mart, so I didn't get any straight 5mm needles; I knew it was possible to knit on circular needles. 

Square 1 on the circular knitting needles.

I did not know that I needed to straighten out the plastic wire between the needles before knitting though. So just after switching to contrast D, I bought some straight 5mm bamboo needles at Wal-Mart (as well as some pins for blocking later), and switched to those. I'm starting to think I may go buy the $10 Clover brand needles at Michael's though; my circular needles are Clover and they're softer and smoother. 


Also, you may have noticed that my yarn is in a ball. I dislike using the yarn as it comes, because you have to stop each time you run out to unravel more pf it, and this way my knitting stays more consistent. I just rolled it up by hand, which always takes less time than I anticipate. 


On to clue #1...

Completed block 1!

Clue 1 is knitting 4 squares on the bias (diagonally) in contrasts B and D, and another 4 in contrasts B and C. 
And here's my finished first square! The blue looks much more life-like in the top picture, but you can see my stitches better in the lighter picture. 
Now, I did not make a gauge first, and my block ended up about 8.5"x8.5", rather than the expected 9.5"x9.5". I'll just block them a bit bigger once I'm done them all, and have a smaller afghan. 
Currently, I'm more than halfway done my third square, and waiting for the rest of my yarn to come in the mail. If it doesn't get here before I'm done these four, I'll be starting clue #2 early.


Things I learned:

• why making a gauge is important (oops!)
• how circular needles work and to straighten out the cord first (oops again!)
• the difference between the right side and wrong side (right side is marked by the white yarn)
• how to change colours midway through knitting
• how to (k1, p1, k1) all in one stitch
• how to sl1, k2tog, psso
• how to tink (undo stitches individually... "tink" is "knit" backwards), since I occasionally miss the second increase or decrease in a row

Foray Back Into Knitting

First some history and about this blog...


I first learned how to knit from my grandmother about 10 years ago. She taught me how to cast on, the knit stitch, purl stitch, and how to cast off. I practiced the garter and the stockinette stitches. However, I'm notoriously bad at completing projects, so even though I'd since started 5 different knitting projects, I only used (and relearned) casting off for the first time last week. Up until then, I didn't know what a garter or stockinette stitch was, nor what blocking or a gauge were.
About 12 days ago, I picked up a scarf I'd been working on intermittently. It was the only one of my projects that was consistent in width that I also had enough yarn to complete, or so I'd thought. But for the life of me, I could not find my 3rd ball of yarn! The knitting bug had bitten me though, so when I found myself at Wal-Mart the next day, I grabbed some 6mm bamboo needles, and 2 balls of Bernat Handicrafter yarn, and got ambitious. For the first time ever, I looked at the pattern inside of the label... Mother's Day was in one day, and I still hadn't bought anything for my mom... time to make a dish cloth! 

Mother's Day Gift

The dish cloth was finished within the day (my fastest, neatest knitting ever; completely uniform and no dropped stitches). She understood the significance of a completed project from me, and doesn't have the heart to dirty it as a dish cloth, so she puts her glasses on it at night instead.


Next, I found an old ball of the same yarn, and there was a more complex pattern inside the label, so with the Bernat website helping me understand the abbreviations, and youtube showing me how they were done, I made another one-day dish cloth. (I mean really, when I saw 'k2tog' I just thought of the Australian term for swim trunks.)

A more complex pattern including yarn over and knitting two together.

While browsing around the Bernat website, I happened upon a link to a "KAL", or knit-a-long. Just a few months ago, they had run a 2012 Mystery Afghan CAL/KAL, (C being for crochet). I'd never thought of attempting such a huge project, surely I'd never come close to completing it! But then I saw some pictures of the completed blankets, and fell in love. I knew I had to try... I mean, it was only squares, and I'd just completed two squares in two days! So here I am. Like my knitting, my past blog quickly fell into disarrayed, intermittent use. I figure I can keep up the blogging if I do it with a specific project, and I can give my fingers a rest from my knitting while I type. 
I do tend to ramble on, sorry! This first post should be an indication of that. I'll at least try to stay related to knitting though. So here we go!


Things I learned:

• how to k2tog
• how to yo
• how to cast off (relearn)
• importance of lot number in relation to yarn colour