any knitters out there?
I've known how to knit for a couple of years now, and by "known how" I mean I could knit and purl and make excellent flat things, but I was terrified to take it any further. I'm a longtime crocheter, but while that came naturally, knitting did not. I think there's something inherently harder about knitting. With crochet, you're just adding knots to an already-complete fabric; to mess up a mistake, you just jerk out exactly what you don't like and start again. But with knitting, you're helping create a fabric, so correcting a mistake means unknitting what you just did. That would, of course, involve knowing what you just did, and therein lies my problem.
I've always been the type of person who needs to understand the big picture before I can tackle the details. It's probably because I'm a bit of a control freak. Therapy's brought that home to me lately. I take it as a good sign, then, that I want to jump back into knitting, where I'm lost and I'm going to screw up in ways I can't always fix, especially for something like knitting-things-that-aren't-scarves, where I have to learn new techniques as I go. Knitting has totally eaten my brain lately! I'm really enjoying the rhythms of knitting -- and learning that those joys are in direct proportion to how non-sucky your materials (yarns, needles, etc) are -- but it's still far from natural to me. Even when I recognize knits and purls and know the stitches that create certain fabrics, I continue to be hopelessly ignorant about what I'm actually doing to create those stitches and weaves. But my strategy recently has been to just say, "Oh, well," and try anyway.
Case in point, I'm making my first pair of socks. Note to all knitting teachers, however professional or amateur: do not make someone's first knitting-in-the-round (magic loop!) project a two-at-a-time sock pattern! My best friend, my patient knitting teacher, quickly realized I am uncoordinated enough with a circular needle that I really didn't need to try two objects on one at the same time. But once we stripped me down to one sock, it's not been too bad (aside from my initial natural inclination when left to my own devices to, um, turn the work inside out and knit backwards?).
I still end up with idiotic accidental yarn overs, but I'm learning to identify them and not knit them in. Even more importantly, I think I've made progress: I turned the heel all on my own! It turns out short rows are not hard; just a matter of following the instructions. If only I were as confident about picking up stitches for the gusset. Instead, I've put the half-finished sock on scrap yarn and started the second sock. Hopefully, tomorrow my best friend will show me how to work the gusset. Of course, I might struggle to understand it, because she prefers double-pointed needles, which bewilder me. I look forward to the day that they don't.
Are any of you sock makers? If so, do you have any pointers? In general, tell me about your history with knitting (and/or crocheting). I need knitting buddies online.