You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
Trying to teach myself and so far it goes, think I will practice the Continental method as will be less stress on elbows.
When doing K1, P1 ribbing I get confused. Say I cast on 10 stitches and do the ribbing ending with the last stitch being a P1; how do I start the next row??? P1, K1 or what. Am I always supposed to knit the knit stichest and purl the purls?
Thanks for any assistance.
Assuming I'm correctly understanding which way your ribbing is going, when you start the next row all your stitches should be opposite and backwards of the row before. In other words, if the last three stitches of the row you ended were P1, K1, P1, then when you start your next row the first three stitches should be K1, P1, K1. Hope that helps!
Got ya, so you basically just keep the same pattern going p1, k1, p1, k1 and so forth and when you turn if the last stitch was p1, then I would k1. Thanks.
Yep, that's it! The reason is that when you knit a stitch, it makes a raised pattern on one side of your piece, and when you purl you get the raised part on the opposite side, so if you want a raised pattern like your ribs to always be on the same side of the piece, you need to knit it in one row and purl in the next.
Thanks for the lesson and making it make sense to me, this is quite a challenge at my age, you know what they say "can't teach an old dog new tricks", we shall see.
Never gonna get this at my age! I tried that technique and it just didn't look like the book so tried the knit in knit and purl in purl and got what looked like the book ribbing.
I am guessing that there are many many different ribs and stiches and I just need to know all of them and not sure that is ever gonna happen in this lifetime LOL!
I have crocheted so long and it is so easy, thought the knitting would be similar in learning, so I bought a pattern, way too advanced and have just been practicing ever since. Perhaps one of these days it will make sense to me.
I'll just keep trying and asking as I go.
Candee
There are a ton of different stitches and patterns in knitting, ribbing is actually one of the simpler ones. Your K1 P1 K1 pattern that you were talking about is going to give you very narrow ribs that run the length of your piece, if you wanted ribs that are a little wider you could do K3 (or 4), P3 (or 4), etc. Cable patterns I find are tricky, but for most other patterns it's just a matter of following exactly what the instructions say. The thing that'll mess you up is if you're adding or dropping stitches accidentally along the way, that will really mess up your pattern. And adding/dropping is one of the easiest mistakes to make when you're beginning! I would recommend practicing some very simple pieces first where you just knit or purl every row, or knit one entire row then purl the next, and count your stitches each time to see if you're adding or dropping. Once you've gotten good at keeping your right number of stitches, then try one of the patterns where there are some knit stitches and some purl stitches in each row and I think you'll have better luck.
Another thing you might try if you still want to learn, many yarn shops will have knitting classes for beginners, that way you can have someone watch what you're doing and help you, as well as being a fun chance to meet new people.
My Y2Knit shop locally only gives lessons on Thursday mornings and I work full time. I am still practicing and will get this eventually. As of yesterday I have learned how to tell the difference in each row and able to count them. Yippee!
Have been practicing the gauge but think I may be using the wrong size yarn. Thought I will do the swatch and take it to Y2Knit and have Ann give me some advice in person after looking.
Thanks for all your ideas and will pick your brain again I am sure.
Candee
Glad you're making progress! Each package of yarn should come with directions for what size needles to use, so if you read the directions on the package you should be able to tell if you're using the wrong combination or not. If you've got the right needles for that yarn, then the gauge should come out right and if it doesn't then you know you're knitting too loose or too tight, but if your yarn and needles don't match then you don't have much chance of getting the gauge right.
Calls for fingering yarn, bought the baby soft yarn bit smaller than sport weight. Using size 3 needles and still a bit large on the gauge. Right now in practicing just using leftover yarn from crochet and the labels are gone on the leftovers.
Gave it up due to frustration level LOL, finally got to the part to increase and got it all screwed up. Figure if I had started with larger yarn and hook instead of the baby size might have gone easier and perhaps a pattern other than an involved baby outfit for the first try. Found it to be extremely painful to my hands and fingers so went back to the crochet.
Thanks for all the help, would probably not have a problem making a scarf or something, but not really in need of anything just wanted to try a different outfit for the new grandbabies as the crochet doesn't have a lot of different patterns. Oh well, not my area of expertise, but was fun trying.
Candee
working with worseted instead of baby is better. Have been knitting for a while. Am left handed, my gramma, bless her soul taught me to knit. She was right handed, my nana, bless he soul taught me to crochet, she was left handed. Is always easier following right handed patterns than left, for me left comes out backwards. So I do both just with different hands. Cables aren't bad you just need holding needle. Once you learn a pattern it isnt' hard. Hope your project comes out ok. ~ sherry
Got the hang of it alright, but find it very tiring on my fingers and wrists, much more than crochet. Guess part is due to the fact is is a small baby pattern and smaller yarn.
Marcia, thanks, have had that bookmarked from the start. Not having a problem with the concept, just find it more painful and quite a bit more tedius than crochet. HAve given it a rest for now.
Candee
