Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Knitted Fingerless Glove For Moi And A Knitted Cowl For Someone With A Tiny Neck

You all know how I struggle with knitting. If sewing is my English Language, then knitting is my second language - Chinese! I won't bore you with tales of my struggle learning Chinese. (It's so hard!)

I really want to get better at knitting and I told myself I would give knitting plenty of attention this year. Since the new year, I've been knitting on and off. I kinda forgot how to knit and purl so I made something very basic to practise the stitches. Who said it's like riding a bike?

Me knitting the glove in front of my messy computer space
For this fingerless glove, I did not create a swatch. To be honest, I've never made swatches before, not even for crochet. It's probably because I've not made anything that needed to fit. So I guesstimate the number of stitches for the glove which is not a good idea really. But I have beginner's luck. Somehow, the glove fits me. I only made one because I live in Singapore and it's too hot to wear such things. So this is just for practice. The glove was made in a flat rectangle and later the sides are seamed together. Oh, I discovered I hate seaming knitted sides.

I'm trying very hard to go beyond something flat and rectangular. I have a few circular knitting needles and I've never learnt to use them. I made this thingy - can I call it an Infinity Scarf? Let's call it a cowl. I used the leftover yarn from the glove on my circular knitting needles. First time doing it in the round! I think I joined correctly. It wasn't quite as hard as I imagined.


The one thing I wondered about as I was knitting this scarf was - what happens when you want to knit something with a huge circumference. Does it mean you have to find a circular needle of that dimension? Since I have no need for a woollen cowl, I made a very small one and Yoko is modelling it.

Yoko is an unfortunate Shibajuku doll which I purchased a year ago and must henceforth live her life modelling my makes. She is a big head doll with extremely tiny neck. Perfect for my imperfect makes. (check out her cat stocking)

It's only the 2nd week of 2018 and I've already made a bit of progress in my knitting. In the past, I often gave up on my knitting projects because I dropped the stitches or made mistakes. Every time I made a mistake, I ripped out everything and started all over again. So tedious. This time round, I tried my best to fix my mistakes. Like if I drop a stitch, I put it back. Sometimes (most times) I put it back wrongly but I carry on. One other big improvement in my knitting is I stopped using my toes to help me grip the yarn. I totally rely on my left hand now. I have a very unenthusiastic left hand but I'm slowly coaxing it to cooperate.

Oh, I discovered there's something called double pointed needles. By discovered, I mean "oh hello, you exist". I haven't quite understood how they work but I will go buy myself some and worry about how to use them later on.

I used less than one skein of this yarn for these two projects. The yarn was already in my knitting stash. I'm not kidding. I have a knitting stash. So happy to use something I own!

So what did you make this year?

4 comments:

Kate said...

Your knitting looks quite good. Double pointed needles are used for knitting things in the round, like socks or sweater sleeves. Useful if you don't want to sew seams.
I knit, a lot. It is a good excuse to make bags, because you need project bags for your knitting.

Bethany said...

Your knitting is coming along nicely! As you gain that muscle memory you'll be amazed at how natural it feels, and once you can stop concentrating on every step you just start to...understand what's happening. It's great when it all clicks.

Ely said...

I guess you could make fine gauge tops if you were so inclined? Accessories? Baby things? But seriously, what kinds of things do people knit in your type of climate?!

I have taken up Portuguese style knitting, which I am liking. You only really move your thumbs and the yarn is tensioned either around your kneck or on a pin you wear on your chest. After doing English and Continental styles, I think I like this method best.

I have two small kids so I mostly craft in my fantasy life. I would really like to get back to sewing: I have a bunch of your bag patterns plus clothes patterns and Japanese sewing books (total eye candy for my fantasy life). And I want to needlepoint and make Christmas stockings. Oh, and I have a bunch of patterns I want to knit. And a few accessories to crochet.

http://youtu.be/gzfYS9_t27k



Projects By Jane said...

Hi Ely, I know 3 knitters in Singapore (yes, sad rite?) and one makes clothes for her dolls while the other 2 knit little toys. I tried knitting toys. Waaay too hard for me

I've taken a look at the Portuguese knitting. Thanks for the link. It looks like something I may like. Will explore it. I used to use my toe to hold the yarn. Maybe that's acceptable in Portuguese knitting?

Oh I have a fantasy craft life too except I'm living it. Esp since I stopped doing craft markets and my kids are well, almost adults.

Jane

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