Knitting 101- Slip Stitches - the patterns

Slip Stitch Speckles
from Halfknits.com

How's that slip stitch going?  I hope you're having a ball with it.  These are a few free patterns that include slip stitch as their primary design element.  So pretty!

The cloth at left is more practice, and much like one of the exercises in the first article.  It's nice in that it's fast to knit, and would make a great blanket square or washcloth.

Slip Rib Fingerless Gloves

The fingerless gloves at right are from Cascade Yarns.  The photo shows them made in Pure Alpaca, in a particularly lovely heathered colorway.  This pattern is knit in the round, so if you're not there yet, be patient.  If you already knit in the round, you'll love this project and the beautiful gloves.  The finishing and weaving in goes in a flash!

Texture Study 1

This last is a stunning scarf that has the wonderful benefit of being easy while looking intricate and difficult.  Like the turkey at Thanksgiving, it's a WOW piece that merely requires a little patience and attention.  It's from Flying Dog Fibers, and it suggests you find "300 yds of the softest sport weight yarn you can find" and have a go.  I agree!  One caveat - it will not look as textured the fuzzier the yarn you use is.  Low-halo softies like cashmere and baby alpaca will be stunners.  Mohair and other high-halo yarns will hide your wonderful stitch work.

Knitting and Ladders

I hear it all the time: "I'm not very good," or "I'm just learning."  So many of the best knitters I know are very talented, and yet shy of teaching what they know. Ask them a question, and they'll pass you on to a knitting teacher, and sigh with relief when you walk away.  What doesn't happen often enough is that they don't help you up the ladder of learning.  They stay on their rung, and let you stay on yours.

Why do so many of us doubt our own knitting skills?  Why are we so attached to one "right" way of knitting?  Let me burst your bubble:  there is no one right way to knit, and you're better than you think. 

Remember when you were a child and thought that your parents were magical beings because they could open tough jars, at least hit the backboard with the basketball, and fix your broken bicycle?  Well, knowing things about knitting makes you a wizard to anyone who doesn't know that same skill.  Maybe you aren't great at cables, yet you know three different, terrific cast-ons.  Teach 'em to anyone who asks. 

Are there "wrong" ways to knit?  Not really.  There are ways that are slower, ways that create stitches that twist a little, and other variations.  As long as the stitches stay knitted and don't unravel, you're off to a good start.  We tend to be so self-conscious about the skills we don't have that we overlook the skills we do well.  Not sure?

Try this.  Find one of your knitting friends, and plan some time together each teaching the other one skill.  Maybe you know a nice bind-off, and she knows a decorative lace stitch.  Trade knowledge!  Ask each other, "Do you know this stitch/skill?"  "I'll be happy to teach you a cable technique, or I-cords!"  A few cups of coffee and some hearty laughs later, you'll have bolstered your knitting skills and your friendship. 

SATs and knitting

It's time for my daughter to take the SATs.  I can't believe she's 17!  She's so grown up, and beautiful, and tall.  It's one of those milestones that has me looking back on her life.  And her life in knitting.

While I was pregnant, my mother-in-law crocheted her a beautiful baby blanket in a soft but sturdy cotton.  She was a winter baby, and it became a staple of our day to wrap her in the blanket in the car seat.

When she was still a baby, my childhood friend Lisa started knitting for her.  There were strawberry caps and lemonhead hats.  She was adorable in all of them.  A happy and busy baby, she liked to show off her hats to passers by as we would shop and run errands.  She would "vogue" for anyone willing to watch.

At about 7 she wanted to learn to knit (I guess I made it look like fun?) and started knitting up thin little ribbons of knitting that she would use as collars on her stuffed animals.  This phase lasted for a couple of years.  Build-a-Bear animals, Beanie Babies, and even Elmo were very fashionable in their collars and scarves, and most of them involved glitter.

At 12 she wanted to participate in clothing some teddy bears given out by a local charity.  She made scarves and belts, and a couple of teddy bear sized baby blankets.  She considered herself a knitter.  The bears were adorable in their little outfits, and I was very proud.  She had taken to "borrowing" my fair isle mittens and earflap hats, and that spurred me to make her a knitwear wardrobe of her own.  Middle school being what it is, we quickly ended up with single mittens, missing hats, and many requests for "one more pair.  I won't lose them.  I promise."  And I knitted her several more pairs.

At 14 she started getting into the scarf craze, and picked out some yarns for me to make her a fashion scarf.  Shimmering ribbon yarn became a scarf, which was worn twice before it was declared "too hot" to wear all day.  I'm grateful she chose colors that I wear, because I've enjoyed it ever since.

At this point, she's not into knitwear or knitting.  She likes military-influenced jackets over trendy t-shirts, and goes mitten, scarf and hat free most days.  If there is a hat, it's a canvas cadet cap. 

As she moves on in her life, I still have many of the things that she knitted, and that I knitted for her.  It's funny to me how each piece brings to life a chunk of our history.  Vivid memories flood back.  And it makes me wonder what she'll want me to knit next.  Stuff for college?  A wrap for a party dress?  Will I have to wait until she needs baby blankets?  I don't know, but thinking about this knitted bond, past and future, makes me smile.