Knitting As Compulsive Behavior

[akirlu]

I was down at the yarn shop the other night, browsing colors for the heck of it, while waiting for Hal to meet me there, when I overheard a beginner asking about how long it would take to do the cabled fingerless gauntlets that she was looking at. The shop assistant said something like, "If you're really dedicated to practicing, you might be able to do this in a year or so of knitting." Now, as it turns out, the woman actually wanted to know how long it would take someone who was already knitting at that level to finish the project, but ... A Year!?! Surely not. I haven't actually tackled cabling yet, but other than that, there's nothing particularly amazing about them. I suspect I would be willing to give them a go pretty soon, and I've been doing this for just a couple of months. Am I a freakishly bold beginner? Am I knitting Too Much? Are most people really that slow on the uptake?

Anyway, I have finished a couple of more things: a hat, and a sock.



I like the roll-brim effect you get if you knit stockinette from a long-tail cast on. It looks like more work than it is, because it isn't any work to get the effect at all. I didn't realize I would get the ombre self-stripe from this multicolor yarn, but I like it. The idea of using little blocks of purl stitch in a sea of knit stitch I stole off a sweater seen at JoAnne.



My first full-sized sock, which fits very nicely and looks a good deal better on my foot than it does flat like this. The toe is purple because I only have two skeins of the blue yarn and can't get another, and the first skein only lasted as far as you see here. I figured I would rather have two matching blue socks with purple toes than an all blue sock and one that was half blue and half purple. Every now and then I go for formal symmetry -- go figure.

Comments

[the-gwenzilliad.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

I've had students come out of my six-hour beginning knitting class (over three weeks) who could have easily tackled a pair of cabled, fingerless gauntlets -- and then sniffed round for more.

It always amuses me when people try to make things so much harder and more complex than they really are. Sure, some people won't progress far enough to do that in three weeks, but some will. A year would be an awfully long time to practice before gaining that level of knitting competency, imo.

I quite like the purple toe. :)

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like the purple toe, too, but if I had known I would run out of blue from the beginning, I think I would have made the heel and toe both purple rather than just the toe. Oh, well, it's apprentice work still.

And thanks for the reality check. I almost butted into the conversation to say that if you're just willing to wade in and try things before you fully understand them, chances are you'll progress quite quickly on skills. At least, for me, hearing that it's easy to make fast progress was much more what I needed when I was first starting.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I like the sock!

In my experience, there are people who never really see the logistics of things like knitting, crocheting, and beading. Then there are the folks at the other end who pick stuff up by looking at it. Everybody else is in the middle.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I like the sock, too, though it's definitely better for wearing than as an aesthetic object. The foot looks too big, even though it isn't really.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Knitting =/= rocket science. OTOH, I think learning piano/clarinet/embroidery as a child helped me learn to knit as an adult. Three cheers for neuroplasticity!

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! indeed for neuroplasticity. Maybe I will take that Chinese course next semester...

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I realised that knitting actually had to be a pretty simple skill, because so many people do it. This is probably also true of DIY, though clearly what is going on there is that many people do it badly.

At any rate, it's clear that many people don't really try very hard to extend their knitting. Having said that, I'm struggling with cables at the moment -- not because the cables are inherently difficult but because I found it hard to work out where I was when I put the knitting down than with other things I've done. Careful notes would help. Plus the yarn isn't really thick enough for what I'm doing with it. Hmm.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Well, I appreciated your "oh, it'll be quick -- you'll be doing stranded color-work in no time" approach to encouragement. I think a lot of knitting turns out to be a lot easier than it looks if you are willing to just wade in and try, and I suspect part of the reason many people don't try very hard to extend their knitting skills beyond the basics is that they've been roundly pre-terrified by people like my shop assistant. Especially since there's bound to be some struggle at the beginning of anything new, I think I (and most people) are much likelier to push through that if told that it won't last long and they'll soon be doing much better than if told that it will be a titanic struggle for months before they're ready for anything complicated.

I know what you mean about losing track -- there are bits of the sock pattern where I really ought to make a note of where I stopped to help figure out which direction I should be going next f'rex -- but as long as I keep knitting on busses and trains I reckon I should leave any cabling at home, because there's no note-taking when it's time to jump off the bus and run for the train.

[carbonel]

That shop assistant is on drugs. I haven't done fingerless gloves, but I'd bet one assiduous weekend or a week of evenings would do it -- that's about what it takes for simple socks for me.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm pretty sure she meant that it would take a year to get skilled enough/ practiced enough to tackle a project with cables and knitting in the round, rather than a year of working on the same project to finish it, but still, it sounded awfully pessimistic to me.

[carbonel]

Yep. Still on drugs.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Kinda what I thought.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I didn't think cables were a big deal. Now, *color work*, that I've yet to get into (OTOH, I've taken a four-year hiatus in knitting.) I did lace and cables relatively soon after taking up knitting. Y'know what still gets me? Doing seams. Go fig.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I've watched some YouTube videos, and cables don't seem like a big deal to me, either, but then, at least simple color work doesn't seem like a very big deal either -- on the other hand, I started out knitting Continental, so two strands in the left hand is not seeming like it's such a big thing.

[carbonel]

I do color work with one color in each hand based on the technique from the video here. I originally learned to knit Continental style, so I had to teach myself American/English style for the right hand. Now it seems pretty natural.

Unfortunately, all my color work still comes out a bit lumpy, and I can't figure out why. If I make it looser, it's still lumpy, just loose and lumpy. Blocking helps some, but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I'm currently working on these colorwork socks at the moment -- finished the first sock, and am about a quarter of the way through the second.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Interesting technique. I may have to teach myself English-style at some point just to be able to follow some of the YouTube videos better, anyway.

Those colorwork socks are very cool looking, though I suspect I would want to mod them to have a ribbed cuff at the top. They look like they'd fit better cuffed.

[carbonel]

Having finished the first sock, I'm inclined to agree with you, though I knit the first one as written just to see how it'd come out. Since the yarn it calls for (and that I'm using) is 80% cotton, 20% wool, there isn't much stretch in it.

Also, the sock ended up a bit long for my feet, so I think these are going to get gifted to someone who wears size 9 or 9 1/2 shoes and has thickish calves, if I can find such a person.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

oh. er. well, i do wear a 9.5 shoe and have thickish calves, yes. though i'm sure there are others nearer to you who fit that description.

[carbonel]

I'll bear it in mind, in any case.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

*grins*

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that I think, I realize that the only thing I've knitted thus far that involved any seams were my first pair of fingerless gloves. Everything else has either been scarves or knitted in the round on dpns.

[ladyjestocost.livejournal.com]

It seems odd to me too - but it's also seemed odd that other people don't think in colors and/or need patterns to explain how to design something. Of course you need patterns, but once you're past a certain point, I'd think you could design your own.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I think in colors exactly, but at least with knitting, so far patterns are primarily a useful reference at times when I get lost or confused. Most of the time, I'm happy just to figure out the pattern in my head, wade in, and modify as needed once I see actual results in progress.

Far Less than a Year

[quirky-teal.livejournal.com]

Never fear. Cabling is no big deal- simply slipping X stitches onto a double-pointed needle, which is put behind work, knitting next X number of stitches, then pulling needle with slipped stitches forward, knitting them back in and continuing on your merry way.

My very first knitting project (I taught myself from a book) was a pair of socks done in the round with a cable pattern up the side. I did them in summer camp, for brother Steve then serving in the airforce in Korea (gets cold there). Never asked if he wore them, but they looked great. They got done within the 8 weeks I was at camp. How much longer could gauntlets take?

I KNOW you're as capable at this kind of thing as I am. And if you're already incorporating (stealing?) ideas into your projects, you're ready for gauntlets.

Love ya.

Re: Far Less than a Year

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm sure I could tackle cabled gauntlets by now -- it's not me I'm thinking of, so much as the perception being fostered by the store clerk that knitting is HARD and you have to practice A REALLY LONG TIME before moving on to new thing or attempting something different. Which is utter nonsense. So far everything I've tried has been easy after the initial problem of getting the motions in muscle memory, and as far as I'm concerned, the best approach to knitting is to dive right in and try whatever it is you're interested in -- it will probably turn out to be easy too.

But thanks for the encouragement. Cabling is undoubtedly not far off -- possibly when I make Hal's sweater vest.