Knitting is causing me stress

by Karen Walrond (Subscribe to Karen Walrond's posts) Mar 20th 2006 10:05AM

Categories: Fun & Activities, Baby Essentials, Kid Decor & Style

So, after quitting my lawyer job and moving to Trinidad last year, I took up knitting.

Stop laughing.

Yes, I realize I live in the tropics. But I'd always wanted to learn to knit (especially after watching my sister-in-law do it -- she's a pro), so I bought a book, loaded up on wool the last time we were in England, and now I knit. I've become very good at rectangular things. And square things, while a bit more challenging, I'm beginning to master. Of course, because we live in the tropics, there are very few things that I can knit that are actually of any use here in Trinidad. For this reason, most of our friends and family in San Francisco and England received most of my work product.
Up to now, I've loved knitting -- I've found it very therapeutic and meditative (why didn't I start this while I was still at my lawyer job? I would've been a much nicer person). However, seeing as you could only make so many scarves, coupled with the fact that we're going to Canada this summer, I thought I'd give myself a bit of a challenge, and try to knit a short-sleeved pullover for my daughter, Alex. This pullover, to be precise. After all -- it's a cute sweater, and the website promised it would be easy.

Now, I've always considered myself relatively intelligent person -- after all, I have an engineering degree! I can draft an air-tight contract! And if that's not enough proof, I've even picked up on all the knitting lingo. So with relative ease, I CO'd with the best of them!! I k2p2-ribbed for two inches like a champ! I was on a roll!

And then, I came to a screeching halt when I read this:

On all WS rows: k1, p1, k to last 2 sts, p1, k1.
Work all decreases inside this border as follows: on RS, k2, ssk, k to last 4 sts, k2tog, k2.
Dec 1 st at each end every 6th row 5[5 ,6, 7] times. 32[38, 42 ,46] sts remain.

Okay, what??

I've tried to figure this out for the past hour, and frankly? I give up. I'm just going to make it up as I go along. So, for those of you who live in Vancouver, if this summer you see a little girl walking around in a wonky-looking pullover, next to her mother who is avoiding everyone's gaze, do me a favour:

Try not to laugh until after we've passed.

Comments (17)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

sarah gilbert 3-19-2006 @ 6:45PM

at the risk of being a know-it-all: i can help you with this :)

but it's interesting, at a knit-along larissa and i attended last week, a super knitting (and blogging) mama told us that she would rather spin than knit. her reason: when she knits, she "broods," whereas when she spins, her mind goes blank and peaceful.

i love to knit but i realized this weekend, she's totally right! i think about such stressful things when i'm knitting. i remember all the things i needed to accomplish. i worry about un-sent emails and never-composed blog posts. although knitting *focuses* me wonderfully, it stresses me out, too!

Angelica 3-20-2006 @ 10:18AM

My mother-in-law taught me how to knit about a year ago. I promptly forgot every step she showed me on the plane ride home (eight hours from Germany with two children and a husband who sit still and your mind kind of slips from you). Anyway...I just can't seem to pick it up again, and I literally have yarn and the needles sitting next to me in the T.V. room. So far I have knit two 'scarves'. I am so proud of me!

Angelica 3-20-2006 @ 10:23AM

CORRECTION!! My husband and kids CAN'T sit still...but I am sure you figured that out by yourselves. ;)

thordora 3-20-2006 @ 10:30AM

as someone who laboured to learn 4 needle knitting and gave up since I could find NOTHING to actually show me hoe, I gave up. BUT

About.com has some good knitting resources, and the Stitch and Bitch books are GREAT for new knitters.

With 2 kids under three, the best I attempt at the momnent are scarfs and piecemeal baby blankets. I tried to make a complicated scarf. After starting over 4 times from a child froggin it out, I gave up.

email me for help if you'd like!

Angelica 3-20-2006 @ 10:47AM

Ummm what is FOUR NEEDLE knitting!?

Angelica 3-20-2006 @ 10:48AM

Ummm what is FOUR NEEDLE knitting!?

I'm going to have to 'google'.

eden 3-20-2006 @ 10:55AM

I taught myself just over a year ago from the first SNB book and it's still my go-to book when I don't know what a pattern is saying. I recently stated doing ssk for the first time too, for a lace pattern. SNB showed me in a way I could really understand.

I don't think it's crazy to knit in the tropics. You can knit w/ all kinds of materials (like ribbon or plastic grocery bags torn into strips). You can make more than cold weather gear (handbags, belts, jewelry, cell phone cozies, etc.). I think knitting is a practical hobby that will be fun to pass on to your kids.

BTW: I find knitting so relaxing that I sometimes drift off!

thordora 3-20-2006 @ 11:05AM

Sorry-wrong term-Doublepointed knitting.

See? It even confuses my BRAIN! :P

Kristen 3-20-2006 @ 11:13AM

Knitting patterns are written in a secret code that NO ONE can understand. I followed one to the tee and I still made a hat that looked like a gourd - then the lady tells me at the store that sometimes they are wrong.

I've given up for awhile - but I am going to start to do knitting for charity. We're highlighting it over at my place this afternoon.

Beth A. 3-20-2006 @ 11:38AM

Looking at the pattern, here's my best interpretation:

On the wrong side (i.e., the side that would be on the inside when Alex wears it), knit 1, purl 1, then knit to the last two stitches, purl 1, knit 1.

At the beginning and end of every sixth row, decrease one stitch. Do this every sixth row five times, so you would decrease at row 6, row 12, row 18, row 24 and row 30. You should have 32 stitches left after doing this.

The middle sentence is instructions for how they want you to decrease: On the right side (the side that faces outward), knit two stitches, then decrease a stitch (just knit two stitches together). Knit to the last four stitches, decrease a stitch, then knit the last two stitches.

I hope this helps! I've been knitting for 15 years now, and these instructions still take me a while to figure out.

Missy 3-20-2006 @ 12:59PM

I've been crocheting for 20 years. I've tried to learn how to knit three of four times now. Everytime, I know I'm doing it right but my tension is too tight and I try using bigger needles, which helps but I'm still not comfortable enough with it and I end up feeling angry and tensed up. With crocheting, I just blank out. It's so meditative.

Crocheting patterns are just as cryptic.

Have you considered just pouring yourself a nice cold drink, instead?

Elizabeth 3-20-2006 @ 1:11PM

Beth is right, except that they want the decrease at the beginning of the row to be a slip-slip-knit, instead of a knit-two-together. You can see how to do each at http://knitting.about.com/library/bllearndecrease.htm (the last and first links in the list, respectively). The difference between the two is whether the stitch in front leans left or leans right after you knit it.

Good luck!

Karen Walrond 3-20-2006 @ 1:17PM

Elizabeth --

Oh THAT's the difference! I'd always wondered!

Thanks to all of you -- I actually made it through the back. I'm now doing the front. For what it's worth, I'm afraid to get to the neck of the front -- it makes even less sense to me than the lines above did!

Thanks again!

K.

Elizabeth 3-20-2006 @ 1:33PM

Oh, fun - short rows. It's not too bad, and the pattern is actually written clearly. It will probably be easier to figure out when you're actually doing it, if you just do exactly what it says even though it seems strange. Basically, you're going to knit some extra stitches around the front of the shoulders on either side of the neck to create a neckline, like this:

XXX__/XXX

Elizabeth 3-20-2006 @ 1:35PM

Well, that was weird - half my comment disappeared! Here it is:

(The X's are the extra stitches.)

In many patterns, you do this by binding off the stitches at the neckline (where the ___'s are in my diagram). In this one, you just leave them live on the needle, but don't actually knit them until after you've finished the XXX region.

I would say that you should try following the directions slavishly on the first shoulder, and then look at what you've produced when you're done. I think you'll get a better idea of how it works when you see it.

Knitty also had a nice article on short rows recently: http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer03/FEATbonnetric.html

The pictures are certainly a lot better than my attempts to produce ASCII art!

Mama Grouch 3-20-2006 @ 4:31PM

http://www.knittinghelp.com has videos of different techniques that I found EXTREMEMLY helpful when I just couldn't picture a written or diagramed explanation.

Sometimes you just have to see someone doing it to 'get it'.

Karen 3-20-2006 @ 5:36PM

Oh, Karen! You need the knitting bible - aka Vogue Knitting - The Ultimate Knitting Book. This is a must have and will explain anything you ever need to know. I promise.

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