My mum taught me Knit and Purl but nothing else, no Cast ons, no bind offs...nothin'!
I remember my first scarf, being a rookie I didn't know that a pattern with knit-purl-knit-purl was going to give me curled up edges and basically an ugly scarf!
I took my curled up scarf for judging by Grandma and she pointed out all my flaws! Holes here and there but other than that she was mildly impressed.
This was probably the first and last time I knitted.
Now being a grown up my dear mum bought me a big ball of yarn and a set of plastic knitting needles for my 27th birthday! Yay!??!
So, I decided I'm going to redeem myself and make a decent scarf!
I asked my daughters what they would like me to knit for them. The 5 year old said "oooh! a scarf!" and the 3 year old said "A square!"
um, okay? cool, I'm glad they didn't ask for anything more complex. A scarf and a square I can handle!
First step I needed to learn was Casting on. I thought I kind of knew what I was doing so made an attempt.
I vaguely remembered how to do a knit stitch and if you know how to do that you should be able to do the traditional method of Casting on (CO). see here for a youtube video with the "slow" cast on method. I think this video is rather slow, and I could totally make a way better one but can't be bothered!
Anyway I prefer the faster method, known as the Long Tail CO or Continental CO.
Whilst youtubing to see if I was casting on properly I found this method and I've become pretty good at it. Once you get the hang of it, it's easypeezy. Here is the video I learnt this method from.
Concentrating on the length of the tail is pretty important, I've had to unravel and start over again so many times because my tail wasn't long enough!
Which isn't too much of a pain because it gives you good practice and is such a fast way to do it.
Also, I find my Cast ons with this method to be rather tight so remember with the continental method you can afford to be loosey-goosey. If you find you still cant loosen up try this, it is a poor video but you really only want to follow how they are doing it more loosely. Please note, near the end of the video they are starting their first row of Continental knit stitch.
To continue with my scarf, I decided to stick to a plain ol' fully loaded knit scarf, with no purls or cables, this is called the garter stitch.
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| Not a very good example of my garter stitch but trust me the final product was not funny lookin' like it is here. |
I grabbed one of my daughters scarves she already has for sizing. Playing round with my new CO method I did enough stitches to make sure my scarf would be the same width as the original scarf then started with my many rows of knit!
If you don't yet know how to do the knit stitch here is a helpful video. I find the way the woman does it in this video a bit uncomfortable but after doing a scarf-length of garter stitch you'll find what's comfortable for you.
While flicking through these traditional method videos for the knit stitch I came across a few easy to follow continental method videos and may give it a go later on. I like the videos made by this lady.
My scarf was rather long, and half way through was about the point that I got over it, but I was determined to knit at least one thing worthwhile in my life, plus I had the constant nagging from my daughter for her scarf!
My mum has told me I keep excellent tension, I don't know how I do that I just keep it taught against the needle, if you can find a way to keep tension even throughout your project make sure you do so as to avoid a misshapen result.
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| My first ever Bind Off! Isn't it beautiful... |
Easy huh!! Yay!!! A scarf is not complete without awesome tassles! I thought "oh that cant be difficult" and it's not! Here is how I did it.
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| Hopefully this awesome scarf will keep my sickly girl warm! 'tis a cold winter in Perth this year... |
