I really enjoy crocheting because it is extremely easy and forgiving if you make a mistake (just rip it out until you reach the stitch you messed up on and continue from there) and crocheting small items, like flowers, is fast and easy... but... I really did NOT like the bulky look a crochet item gives in wearable items like as sweater or gloves or head wear.
I did crochet a sweater for Dustin which took me over 2 years to make because it was so extremely easy I was easily bored! Ha Ha!
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| This pattern is from Red Heart and it is called: Father Pullover It is extremely easy to create and VERY warm (if using Red Heart Yarn I started out with 2 years ago). |
The only knitting I have ever done in my life was about 3 years ago I was sitting in our teeny tiny 2 bedroom apartment in Honolulu, Hawaii (just minutes walk to the beach and 3 min drive to Waikiki! For some that was paradise, but i'm a country girl... I thought at the time I thought we were going to live in Hawaii forever that I wanted to move to the country side of the island which would be from Mililani to North Shore.) and all I did was cast on and what I thought was 1 row... oh my goodness... I didn't know a knit from a purl and just went with what I thought was knitting... Oh dear... Hahahaha!
Just over 2 weeks ago I had to try knitting. I wanted to learn to spin sock yarn and not just list for sale but to knit socks for my beloved husband as he works on our land to keep his feet warm and dry and for me and other loved ones as well.
So I had leftover yarn I purchased from Walmart 4 years ago (I wasn't going to use my hand spun yarn. Haha I put a lot of work in that! I needed some practice yarn first before I try my hand at knitting my spun yarn.) and looked up youtube videos on the basic knit and purl and I began to practice. After 2 rounds of immediately understanding I had some US13 circular needles and decided to learn how to rib in the round. I was itching to not waste time and begin creating something.
I searched and searched for a very SIMPLE knitting pattern for fingerless gloves after I found this pattern on Pinterest I found that though I didn't need it, she used double pointed needles.
I went from only knowing cast on on straight needles to quickly jumping onto double pointed needles and not just that... but size ONE double pointed needles because I was working with fingering merino/mohair yarn I purchased at a yarnival in California before we moved to Tennessee (beautiful yarn)!!!!
When I want to learn something, i'm determined. I dive in and then learn to swim. I'm insane in the membrane!
I purchased size 1 double pointed needles and circular needles. I wanted to try one glove on each kind to get practice in at the same time.
My first glove was on DPN.
My husband and I were at a local mom and pop coffee shop that is non-profit to help families who have a heart for children to adopt! Plus their coffee is delicious and the ambience is relaxing, perfect for studying and crafting...
I took out my DPN from it's packaging and I thought, "Wow... these needles sure are tiny and... the stitches can easily fall off the other end if i'm not careful and... I have to use all 4 at the same time in this pattern... and I have a fifth needle to use as my working needle... alrighty then."
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| Cast on and first row |
I remember how I thought, "pffffttt, I can easily do this. Come on now." when I read the pattern, my hands thought, "A little over confident up there in your head, girly.", my hands were right.
I wanted to take one needle and stab at my ball of yarn and scream, "DIE! DIE! DIE!", I was literally this guy below:
But I am no quitter... I kept practicing casting on and making sure my yarn wasn't twisted at each corner and while I was knitting along I was shaking because I was gripping so hard that I was literally sweating... i'm not kidding. I... was... sweating!
But after 4 hours of not giving up I finally got my cast on and first row perfectly!
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| I was so proud of my cast on and first row I wore it. Lol! |
The next couple days I kept going extremely slowly as to not mess it up and I enjoyed the rustic-ness double pointed needles feel and look like while using them, I felt like if I could do this! I can do anything! I kept going about 2 inches when I finally reached the part of the pattern that said to continue in stockinette stitch. Phew! Easy, all I gotta do is knit since there is no turning my work.
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| How cool to work all 5 needles! Very rustic and beautiful to behold. |
La la la la laaaaaa... knit, knit, knit with confidence this time as if I was doing it for ages, I reached about 4 inches of stockinette when for the first time I actually looked at my work... wait ... what the...
No... NO GOD NO! I looked at the ribbing on the cuffs and the beginning looks good until at the halfway point I must have accidentally turned my work inside out or I began knitting the other way, no matter, I was knitting on the WRONG SIDE!!!! ::face palm:: and there I went just knitting away like a doofus! Anger made another special appearance.
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| yep... was knitting on the wrong side. Sigh. |
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| This is right side! Can you tell the difference? By the way, this is from my second glove i'm working on with circular needles as my left glove is completely done. |
So I tried frogging (Which is not a stitch that looks like a frog so I learned.) and I did manage to go back quite some ways without ripping the whole thing out but that didnt work because I kept messing it up more. So... with a sigh of defeat, I took off the yarn from my needles and began to rip it ALL out. Felt like a kick to the gut.
Did I give up? Pfffttt... NO! After talking to the yarn with dominance " you WILL submit, do you hear me? You WILL turn into a glove and you will LIKE IT!" and gave a pep talk to my needles, "It ain't over till the fat lady sings... shut up." I did some stretching and settled down and put on some Rocky music and pumped up to "Eye of the Tiger" as Sadie Girl watched on without batting a eye as she is used to seeing her Mistress go crazy... away I went... 13 stitches on each needle and and ribbing began from there, but this time I was super careful I didn't do anything stupid.
FINALLY! I reached the point where I found out I was knitting wrong side and continued... I never felt so excited in all my knitting years-... I mean days!
If I wasn't crazy enough, after I reached past the thumb gusset I decided to look at YouTube videos and other blog patterns on how to make individual fingers but only halfway to keep the tips free! I am happy to say I actually found a way and had to improvise by increasing/decreasing so that it would be snug on my fingers and not too tight nor loose.
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| I had a scare. I thought I completely lost my fifth needle and as you can see in the background I tore the living room up! Thanks to my mom and dad who helped me locate it! |
Listen, don't be intimidated by anything... give what you are curious to create a try and don't give up! Ya, you WILL have a headache and want to stab your eye out with a DPN but hey... that only means you need to back away for a breather and return when you're ready... because when you finish it, you will feel extremely motivated and proud of yourself!
Now that I have done gloves, I will be working with my own yarn to make beanies, gloves and soon be spinning sock yarn to knit up some socks! This is some fun stuff!
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| Here you see that I am knitting the index finger. It looks scary at first but in all honesty... it's NO big deal. |
You don't have to start knitting at the VERY basic, if you have a knack for understanding the pattern and can follow a video or a friend/class then you can create anything with any kind of needles.
I'm a first time knitter and I created gloves with DPN and Circular needles.
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| left glove: double pointed needles. right glove: circular needles |
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