sciatrix | (no subject)

Learning to knit has turned out to be rather useful, actually.

It gives me something to do with my hands, something nice and soothing and totally repetitive that I can use as an excuse to not-look at something but don't have to focus on. And at the end of it I get the thrill of making something out of nothing, which is nice. (Well. Better than nice. I still get excited every time I look at my tiny washcloth.)

Most of all, though, I think learning to trust the yarn has been pretty important. Let me clarify, when I was starting to knit the washcloth, I pulled every loop as tight as I possibly could. I have some control issues, and I was worried that if I didn't pull the loops tight enough I'd end up with a very loosely woven piece that was going to fall apart immediately.

This resulted in yarn that was looped so tightly around my needles that I couldn't actually do anything with it. It was really difficult to move the yarn around and frustratingly annoying to knit.

So when I started work on the scarf I'm doing now, I tried to let the yarn do what it wanted to, as long as it wasn't actually hanging loose with great big loops. And it worked a lot better!

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The first time I tried to learn to knit, I gave up on it because I didn't seem to be able o keep myself from gradually getting tighter and tighter and tighter until I couldn't get the needle through anymore >_<

I tried again a couple months ago and somehow I can do it fine now. So I can knit *and* crochet! Granted, I can only knit rectangles, while I can crochet dragons and cell phone cases and Jayne hats.

The first two or three times I tried to learn to knit, I invariably failed to so much as learn how to cast on and kept destroying the beginning bits I was supposed to be learning from. (They were trying to teach us in English class, I think originally to tie into learning A Tale of Two Cities but after that I have no idea.) I am not so good with the spatial skills!

I cannot yet crochet at all, because I have gotten so wrapped up in making my knitting skills better that I haven't gotten around to making my roommate teach me. (She knows how to crochet! I am excited for the vague future after I know everything there is to learn about knitting.)

I was exactly the same way! Add in acrylic yarn on acrylic needles and it's a wonder I could move the stitches at all. >_< I usually credit switching to continental style for helping me loosen up, but being in a less stressful situation for that attempt probably helped a good bit too.

Wow--at least I was knitting on aluminum! I don't think I would have been able to move the stitches, either. (And to be honest, I'm faintly suspicious at this point of knitting on anything aluminum--I worry I won't be able to move the yarn effectively.)

*anything but aluminum, I can't type. Is there a way to edit comments on DW, do you know?