I am back after a short break. Life just got too busy, but now I hope to spend some time on Hive.
I spend some time learning how to knit. I am a crocheter and learned to crochet in my childhood. Knitting seemed a nightmare to me, but one day, when I was searching YouTube, I came across a video of a person knitting using circular needles. That particular knitter explained it very well, so I decided to knit using the flat sticks that I already had.
It came out well, and then I decided to buy some circular needles online. Turned out that Meesho had a good offer, and I got a pack of bamboo circular needles in various sizes. It is usually expensive, but somehow, Meesho had a seller giving out cheaply.
The chord of the needles seemed very long, and I tried learning the magic loop method, but it seemed too complicated for me, and I almost gave up, but I decided to give it a try. I cast on 91 stitches and did it as per the video tutorial. I then looked up sweaters and found that circular knitting can be used to make freestyle Raglan Sweaters. It seemed ambitious, but I wanted to give it a try.
(a little help from chatgpt)
One of the many mistakes that I made was to ignore the 'swatch' step. Knitters usually knit a small square of the yarn before starting a project. It is done to decide the gauge, yarn look when knitted, etc. I also ignored the tension part and had some loose stitches that I later corrected using my crochet hook. So, this is a self-reminder to make sure that a swatch is done and to always check the stitches, and also count the loops. Another mistake was not to take measurements. This took a heavy toll because I had to redo many rounds. The raglan markers were off, and I had to guess the placement after redoing. Since the sweater is my first attempt and it's not a present, I am safe for now, but it was a hard lesson learnt.
Care should be taken to always rest your hands from time to time. If you are a first-time knitter, then your hands will become very sore.
Coming to yarns, it is better to buy cheap yarns for practice. After you have mastered the skill, you can invest in good quality yarns and also gift projects such as sweaters, socks, caps, berets, etc to loved ones or even sell them online or offline.
I do hope to finish it well. Other complicated parts include knitting the sleeves, the bottom, and the neck portion ribbing.
Praying for world peace.
Images - own