Posts Tagged ‘Knitting’

New at Knooking

January 30th, 2012 mio

Today I decided it was time to learn something new. I’d been hearing about something called “knooking” for a while, and I had picked up a beginner’s kit at Michaels over the holidays (I found it on the craft books display, not in the yarn department).

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(I forgot to take a picture before diving in to try it – you’ll see the missing hook and cord in the next picture ^_-)

Before I started, I consulted various videos and blogs on the subject, so I was going in with several different techniques in mind.

My goal: a stockinette swatch with a garter stitch border. This is how far I got:
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It’s important to understand that even though you use a crochet hook, this is actually real knitting. It’s not an immitation like Tunisian knit stitch, or slip stitch crochet; it’s knitting. The cord holds the stitches (and acts like the left knitting needle), while you use the hook to work the stitches (which acts like the right knitting needle).

It seems like the entire point of knooking is that it makes it easier for crocheters to knit. It’s hard to say for sure with just this little swatch (so look for further blog posts about it!), but so far I’ve found that while it makes the knit stitch easier (and more familiar!) to a crocheter, it makes the purl stitch ridiculously harder than with needles.

I followed the instructions in the book (at least, I think I did…), and the purl stitches ended up twisted (which is why the first few rows of V’s look kind of wonky). So I followed the instructions I found in a video and that worked much better – by which I mean, the stitches looked right. It was a huge pain to do it that way, though. (And that last sentence is now nominated for the Understatement Of The Year award.)

The up side? If you are a crocheter and have always wanted a Doctor Who scarf, you can now easily make one using this technique. That scarf uses only knit stitches, and knit stitches, as I said above, are very, very easy with knooking.

One last thing: the knooks are crochet hooks with a hole in the end that you can feed a cord through. If you can’t find a knook, or can’t afford to buy more tools, you could easily use a long cabled tunisian hook with the stopper removed , or a locker hook instead.

ETA: I just tried a different way to knit and purl that made the purl stitch a lot easier and make the knit stitch a little harder. The real problem seems to be that the stitches I’m working into have a tendency to shrink on me. I’m not sure what would cause that – I’m still investigating.

Posted in Experimenting Tags: , , , , 7 Comments »

First Knitted FO

January 3rd, 2012 mio

I learned to knit a couple of years ago. I finally sat down with multiple youtube videos and strained my brain until I finally got it. (For the crocheters out there, I recommend learning Continental style with short needles to improve your odds of picking it up!).

The motivation for learning how to knit was actually borne out of my desire to figure out how to do crochet entrelac properly. I thought learning how to knit it would help things along. So, once I had the basics of knit and purl down, I tried out knitting entrelac. I learned how to increase, and decrease, and how to pick up stitches (though, I’m not convinced I’m doing that right yet – entrelac should look like rectangles not trapezoids). I taught myself how to do cables and knit in the round and change colours, too.

With all of this knowledge, it’s only natural that my very first finished knitting project be…

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Wait… garter stitch?

Yes, my first knitted item ended up being a Doctor Who scarf for my brother-in-law.

For those not familiar with this pattern, it is the knit stitch, worked over and over and over again until the scarf is freakishly long (and then you add tassels). (Specs: Vanna’s Choice yarn in Brick, Burgundy, Charcoal Grey, Beige, Toffee, Mustard, and Olive. 4mm circular needles)

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Even though I had to go out into the main hall of our apartment building to get a picture that showed the length, the scarf did end up a bit shorter than the authentic one worn by Tom Baker (the fourth Doctor). It was supposed to be 20 feet long, but mine is only 14 feet. I do believe it’ll stretch out over time, though!

Come to think of it, taking pictures of this thing was quite a challenge. Usually to display scarves I employ the services of my trusty sidekick, Roopurt,
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but…
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In a neat turn of good luck, a few days after I finished the scarf, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was launching her new book here in town. I, of course, brought the scarf to show her:
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I think she was impressed. ^_^
(Also, I love that the people in line behind me are knitting while they wait to have their books signed!)

Posted in Knitting Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments »

Crochet Cast-On

November 4th, 2011 mio

This may be my favourite crochet tutorial I’ve made yet!

The Crochet Cast-On is a knitting technique that we’re totally going to steal and use for our own purposes! Specifically, for use in Tunisian crochet and Crochet-on-the-Double. If you are a knitter, you may find this tutorial useful, too! Just substitute in your mind – replace “afghan hook” with “knitting needle” and you’re good to go.

In Tunisian and CotD, you typically start with a base chain, and then go and lift up a loop in each chain. As with regular crochet, though, starting with a base chain can cause problems – sometimes they’re too tight, they aren’t very stretchy, it’s a pain in the butt to work into them – and sometimes you just really want to extend a row out to the left of your work. For regular crochet, you can use Foundation Stitches to address all of these issues.

For Tunisian and CotD, you can use the crochet cast-on!

You need: an afghan hook (or double-ended hook… or knitting needle… depending on what craft you’re doing), a regular crochet hook in the same size (or a bit bigger), and your yarn.

In these pictures, my afghan hook is metal and 9mm, and my regular hook is bamboo and 10mm.

Start with a loose slip knot on the afghan hook. You would benefit by making the slip knot in the opposite way you might usually, and have the short tail be the one that makes the loop smaller when you pull on it.
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Hold the afghan hook in your left hand, and the regular hook in your right hand. Insert the regular hook into the slip knot behind the afghan hook:
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Working behind the afghan hook, chain 1:
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Now move your regular hook to the front of the afghan hook with the yarn still behind it:
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Yarn over:
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Pull through the loop on the regular hook:
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Now move the yarn back behind the afghan hook:
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Put your regular hook in front of the afghan hook again, and repeat the process (yo, pull through, move yarn to back and hook to front) as many times as needed:
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Stop one loop shy of what you need. Here is what the row of chains will look like:
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Take the working loop and put it over the end of the afghan hook to form your last loop:
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Go ahead and work the loops off as you normally would and now you’re good to go for your next row. One warning: the vertical bars don’t line up *quite* the same way as they do when lifting them up from a base chain (this becomes particularly apparent when doing Tunisian Knit Stitches), however, you can still do any stitch you want to do, you just need to be a little careful with it.

Some extra benefits I’ve discovered so far with this technique are:
- In crochet-on-the-double, it helps make a nearly-invisible seam when making a tube (such as with mio’s hat)

- When working with a fuzzy yarn, one that makes it difficult to see your stitches (such as a boucle), using this technique makes it a LOT easier to be sure you’re starting with the right number of stitches.

Posted in Tutorial Tags: , , , , 1 Comment »
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