New To Group

On 31 Dec 2005 16:43:44 -0800, "Kath" spewed forth :

Pick up any or all of the following:

Maggie Righetti, _Knitting in Plain English_ Elizabeth Zimmerman, _Knitting Without Tears_, _Knitters' Workshop_

They're all excellent books for beginning knitters. Maggie retaught me when I picked up the needles 20-odd years after my Granny decided I'd never be a knitter. Elizabeth is a common-sense knitter who presents everything in a straightforward way. They both give you the tools to go forth and make your own without those cheezy patterns :)

See above.

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

Welcome to the group!

Donna in Philly

We're glad too.

Well, technically that is true, but in practise it is somewhat of an exaggeration.

Of course it does. Remember when you were learning to crochet? or type? Try making a scarf first. Then perhaps a watch cap. After that, you might want to get one of those books of dishcloth patterns and make a few squares in different patterns. If you make them in acrylic or wool yarn rather than cotton, you can eventually stitch them all together into a lap robe, afghan or king-size bedcover, depending on how many you make.

You're very welcome, and Welcome Aboard.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Welcome, Kath. NO, unfortunately, knitting is slower than crocheting. But it produces a totally different fabric, and I generally prefer it. And yes, there are two basic stitches, with the various combinations making all kinds of things.

Higs, Katherine

Hi, Kath! Welcome to rcty, the BEST ng on the 'net! Are you learning English/American, or Continental/German style? English: yarn in right hand, THROW. Continental: yarn in left hand, PICK. As a crocheter, you might find Cont. more suited, and Cont. is much faster than Eng/Am. In either case, you WILL get faster, but yes, while crocheting IS faster, it also uses one third more yarn/wool! There's a yahoogroup I'm the list-mom of for Continental Knitters, if you're interested. Hugs, Noreen

Hi Kath, Welcome to the group. What a wonderful way to start a new year...joining RCTY and learning how to knit. My 2 daughters have both just started knitting, although my mother taught them both years ago. DD#1 is just knitting a few rows at a time...I think she is making a scarf. DD#2 finished her scarf. She knit a penguin for her college roommate. And now, she is making another scarf/belt. Oh, I forgot. She also made some fuzzy flip-flops. It will be slower to knit, but what's the rush? LOL

Looking forward to seeing you often. Come back and tell us more about yourself.

Janise, in upstate NY

Welcome to the group.

Think of something you want to make, preferably something that is small so you get to use all the techniques: start, knit, and finish. My suggestion is a hat, because it involves casting on, ribbing (usually), and decreases for shaping, and no matter how it comes out, it's likely to fit somebody. You can make a hat with one skein of yarn, so it's not a big investment. Hats can be knit in the round or knitted flat and seamed up. I prefer knitting in the round, but intarsia is best done flat.

The suggestion of making squares is a good one, too, because that way you can try a lot of different patterns and find out what kinds you like without being stuck to do a large project. Or you could do a sampler scarf with garter stitch edges to help keep it from rolling so much (stockinette will roll no matter what).

Sort of. Crocheting is make a loop and pull it through, and all the rest is combinations... so is knitting. There are pattern books full of combinations.

Yes, yes, and yes. Knitting is a bit slower than crocheting. You'll get faster as you go along. There are some methods that seem faster than others, but they all depend on practice. You don't have to stick with the first one you learn. I use Continental (yarn left, pick for stitch) for some things and American (yarn right, throw for stitch) for others, depending on the mood of the moment.

=Tamar

Hi Kath,

Welcome to this great group and you have received some great suggestions for starting a project. The first thing I learned to knit was mittens. You use the knit, purl stitches and increase and decrease. I now crochet most of the time and yes it does use more yarn and goes a little faster, but once you get working on something knit you'll find that your speed will pick up.

Nora in upstate NY

Welcome to the newsgroup, Kath! :o) You've already got some good answers here, so I am just welcoming you. Although, I do agree with Olwyn Mary that your first project might be a scarf, those are easy enough to do... and you can choose a simple pattern... and it can be for yourself, or for whomever you would like to give it to.

Gem>> Hi everyone! I am new to the group. I have been reading and lurking

Hmmm... I do the English: yarn in right hand, THROW thingie... and I crochet. However, I was knitting for a long time *before* I learned to crochet, so that could be the difference! :o)

Gemini

I guess technically that's probably true -- and maybe yarnovers Combine them in various forms and in various "togethers" and you come up with increases and decreases and cables and all the other modifications that make up stitch patterns.

Just my two cents, but for me, I found that it speeds up. I was a crocheter way back, and now after a couple years, I think I actually knit faster than I crochet, at least with the knit stitch. My purl stitch is still slower for some reason.

Karen in MN

I recently told a friend I was teaching to knit that knitting is only two stitches and variations of that, and that a lot of the variations are like "mistakes" - slipped stitch, knit in the back, twisted stitch... I did that to make her feel a bit better about making mistakes...

Susan K

Nora - I agree - mittens are a great first project, k and p, ribbing, inc and dec... and they're small and will also fit someone. Susan K