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GFTC
Permanent Resident
USA
6331 Posts |
 Posted - 06/22/2004 : 08:11:46 AM
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| What do you consider the most difficult knitting technique you have mastered so far? How did you learn it - book, video, class, another knitter, or any other way? |
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Nelleknits
New Pal
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 08:19:04 AM
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It used to be hanging on to 4 dpn's and doing the first couple of rows without getting twisted up.
MaryEllen :)
Washington State |
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GreysMom
Chatty Knitter
USA
348 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 08:42:17 AM
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Hmmm. That's a good question. While I have attempted many techniques that I found extremely challenging, I have mastered very few of them. Knitting socks with dpn's was definitely a challenge, but I'd have to say lace knitting. All those yarn overs and decreases, it took me forever to master the "art of the chart". Now that I can read charts, I feel a real sense of accomplishment for sticking to it and I am now totally in love with lace.
Kim |
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Marg in Mirror
Permanent Resident
Canada
3204 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 09:10:45 AM
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For me, Fair Isle -- it got simpler when I learned to use both hands! I can do passable Intarsia too, but don't like it that much...
-- Marg in Calgary
TLWKOTB
http://knitsonthebus.blogspot.com |
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ChristinaP
Permanent Resident
USA
1089 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 09:23:51 AM
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I'm still learning Fair Isle. I think that's the hardest. DPN weren't too bad, I just stuck with it. Same for the lace patterns I've tried... but FI is a toughie! I'm using the two hand method but I'm thinking about trying both in the right hand... hmmm.
In Maryland
Blog: http://christinasknitting.blogspot.com |
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prixby
Chatty Knitter
USA
156 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 09:28:50 AM
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So far, for me, it's been double increases and left- and right-facing double decreases in shaker stitch. I taught myself from Buss' Big Book of Knitting and lots of trial and error.
prixby
Life is what happens while we're listening to music. |
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mokey
Permanent Resident
15375 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 09:34:24 AM
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Intarsia and seaming. I took three different Intarsia classes without success and then bought my knitting machine.
"There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness." Gandhi |
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Heather
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
456 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 10:50:45 AM
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One of my first projects was on DPNs. The instructions said "Don't be intimidated. Remember: you are only knitting with two needles at a time." And it was fine! The technique I dislike the most is intarsia, although I'll do it if I have a good reason. It just seems too fiddly--too many stops and starts.
--Heather
He Rest O Pand Spen Das Oci Alho Ur In Harm Les Smirt Hand funl Et fri Ends Hip Re Ign Beju Stand Kin Dan Devils Peak of No Ne! |
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SusanT
Seriously Hooked
950 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 11:13:52 AM
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| I would say that understanding patterns and charts were the most difficult things for me. Charts gave me blinding headaches when I first started using them but now I do prefer them over written-out instructions. |
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kimkrafty
Permanent Resident
USA
2145 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 11:49:12 AM
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I'm learning Fair Isle. It's been a tough climb.
I started out kind of self-teaching, then started a class that wasn't very helpful, now I'm back to learning from the internet and books. 
Kimberly, kniting in VA
http://kimberlyskorner.blogspot.com
FO for 2004: 1 blanket and 2/3 sweater Frogpond: 2 |
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klfrazier
Permanent Resident
1745 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2004 : 12:21:57 PM
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Without a doubt - three-color stranding. I now understand why that's not something that's traditionally done. It took me hours to figure out how to carry all three yarns across the back of one row without ending up with a mess. As with everything, I figured it out myself after research in the matter gave me no answers.
Kristin |
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fmarrs
Guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2004 : 02:54:50 AM
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Working to gauge and making things that fit. Once conquerred, I felt on top of the world! The self confidence of knowing I could pick up needles and something would turn out just as I planned it was mind boggling. I even challenged myself by making a child's sweater and checking the gauge only once with no further measurements until it was finished. All the while I was knitting, I was visualizing one major trip to the frog pond, but when it was finished and measured right on as planned and fit. I finally believed that I could knit things and they would come out the size I wanted.
fran |
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MMario
Permanent Resident
2201 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2004 : 05:37:44 AM
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the purl stitch. I kid you not, it literally took me 40 years to learn how to do it and make it come out right.
MMario - I don't live in the 21st century - but I play a character who does. |
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picknitter
New Pal
United Kingdom
39 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2004 : 05:55:59 AM
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When knitting from a graph ie. Intarsia I put the pattern in my scanner and enlarge it as big as I can,sometimes doing the pattern in two halves. This makes the squares easier to count and saves eyestrain. I've also enlarged written patterns this way as some of the older ones were printed very small and as you get older the eyes are not as good as they used to be.
Emilie |
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Ditzy Girl
Permanent Resident
USA
4712 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2004 : 08:36:21 AM
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It is not a technique but just trying to understand a new pattern sometimes can be a challenge. Although intarsia has been a real learning experience for me, but I really love it. Emilie, I wish we had a scanner that would make the charts so much easier to read.
Zola, Seattle, Wash.
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SusanT
Seriously Hooked
950 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2004 : 09:00:54 AM
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Zola - you can also enlarge a pattern on a copier. I do this for cable charts then color code the different cables with highlighters.
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Ilonka
Chatty Knitter
141 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2004 : 11:56:41 AM
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I use the color copier for any project, because mostly anything I do is from books. Having a copy (and enlarged)is so much easier to carry around. The good thing is, my husband owns a print shop...I too, after not knitting for about 20 yrs. I picked up again, and I finally understood the gauge. and now I just know what I am doing. Everything fits.
Also the purl stitch. I absoutely hate it. Therefore, many years ago, I started doing everything on circs,just to cut back on purling.
Helene M. Diener |
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iknitsox
New Pal
USA
11 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2004 : 07:37:44 AM
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 The hardest thing that I ever knit and FINISHED by all means has to be my first pair of socks! I had profound respect for "turning the heel" - something I'd heard of as hard but not understood. When I did actually start knitting a simple pair of wool socks, I found that the heel was nothing - it was the gusset that was the confusing part for me. I found using a crochet hook to pull the yarn through to make the gusset stitches was the way to go. Since then, I have knit many pairs of socks, taught a woman to knit socks as her FIRST knitting project, etc. They are so portable a project and I find every time I work on them in public, someone comes over to see what they are. Now...my next fearful thing is to knit something in a Fair Isle pattern!
Cindy L. |
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GreysMom
Chatty Knitter
USA
348 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2004 : 08:23:19 AM
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Just curious, has anyone "mastered" entrelac? I always thought it was so beautiful to look at, and decided I would give it a try. Well, that knitting backwards thing didn't work out so well for me. I got tangled in yarn, sprained a finger, and came close to losing an eye. Giving up on that, I resorted to just turning the work and purling back. I had every confidence that this would to the trick. I couldn't have been more wrong. By that point, I had actually tied myself to my chair somehow and had to call out for help until my 6 yo finally came down and untied me. After he was finally able to breath again for all the laughing.
So, I'm just wondering, does anyone actually utilize this technique successfully and without grave injury?
Kim |
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lucinda6737
New Pal
0 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2004 : 08:58:56 AM
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| What is INTARSIA? I've never heard of KNITTING BACKWARDS. I have been knitting for a long time but maybe I know of these moves under another name. Thanks. Lucinda |
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Ditzy Girl
Permanent Resident
USA
4712 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2004 : 09:26:17 AM
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Kim, I just laughed and laughed when I read your entrelac story.
Lucinda, Intarsia is a colorwork technique in which blocks of color are worked with separate balls of yarn. The yarns are not carried across the back of the work between color changes and must be twisted around ea other at ea change to prevent holes in the work. You could have many many different colors in same row. Different from Fair Isle where you do carry the colors across as you would only be using 2/3 at the most.
Zola, Seattle, Wash.
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