Turns out I'm not very good at knitting

[spandit]

Had the urge to learn to knit and 2 balls of wool later, I have a scarf. It's warm enough and the colour will blend in nicely with the outdoors but keeping my tension consistent has been a problem and it's almost twice as wide at one end than the other. The left hand side of the picture is the last bit I completed and it's reasonably square. There's one dropped stitch too...

http://creffield.com/pics/bushcraft/scarf.jpg

 

[John Fenna]

I cannot knit at all!
I have no left-hand/ right-hand co-ordination - I cannot type or play an instrement or do anything that needs the use of two hands doing different things at the same time...
I envy your attempts!

 

[Mesquite]

For the first attempt at knitting you did a pretty good job.

Try knitting another 9 scarfves and I bet the tenth will be a lot neater than the first

Nice thing about knitting is you can recycle your mistakes without any real loss of material

 

[Stew]

Good stuff!

I have a desire to try to knit too. Want to try it to appreciate those that are skilled at it. I've had some wool and needles for some time now but yet to go for it!

 

[Woody girl]

Keep practicing. I teach knitting and nobody is perfect when they start out. You should be proud you finished the project and have a unique item. Many get frustrated and give up. Practice practice practice. It's the same with any skill. WELL DONE.

 

[spandit]

I was fishing for compliments so thank you! I could unravel it all, I suppose, but it did take a long time.

I was using extra chunky wool and 10mm wooden needles - lots of videos on YouTube to get you started (it's all I used) and this is all done doing knit stitch. The next attempt will have some purl in the mix, although not quite sure how much...

 

[Bishop]

Bravo! there's not enough of us practising the dark arts lol

 

[Toddy]

I'm impressed for a first go at it, and you kept going until you had something that you could actually use, that's good going.

Practice, patience and perseverence, that's all it is.....and before you know it you'll be eyeing up the wool on the fences in Spring and wondering how to spin it

M

 

[Woody girl]

It was my dad taught me to knit. He was in the navy and they used to while away downtime knitting hats and jumpers etc. I'd love to see more chaps taking it up.

 

[spandit]

Next project I think will be a shave horse. Then I can look at spinning wool! This is 100% acrylic. I like having something to do whilst watching telly and this beats mindlessly surfing the internet on my phone. It will also give me something to do whilst waiting through one of my daughter interminable dance classes, of which she seems to have about 15 a week...

 

[Woody girl]

Try a wooly hat next. You will use purl stitch and knitting two stitches together and end up with another bit of kit. Quicker to knit than a scarf too.

 

[oldtimer]

My great-uncle Caleb was a shell back: someone who had been found Cape Horn under sail. He was hard as nails and l still can't get the image of Popeye out of my mind when I think about him, but he was a wonderful knitter. He was of the opinion that a real man could make everything he needed. "No clothes shops in the middle of the ocean," he'd say.

He was my hero and role model when I was little and seeking to emulate him I tried to learn to knit. My grandmother tried to teach me, my mother tried, my infants and junior school teachers had a go; when I became a teacher myself I even got some of the girls in my class to teach me. My wife has tried several times.

Despite knowing how to weave, make many useful things out of a wide range of materials and generally having a high level of self -sufficiency, I STILL CAN'T KNIT.

Sorry, great-uncle Caleb!

 

[Janne]

Not bad for a first knitting!

 

[Broch]

As a child I used to knit dolls' cloths for my sisters dolls!! However, it has been nearly 50 years since I last tried and, watching the missus, I really no longer have a clue!

 

[spandit]

Have bought some circular needles now to try making a hat...

 

[Toddy]

You're better than me if you're using circular needles. Four or five pins I manage fine, but I get my tension totally screwed up on circular needles.

 

[spandit]

Doesn't take a lot of skill to buy them! Using double ended needles looks hard

 

[Toddy]

I'm pretty sure I've posted Sally's link before, but here it is again.....
Sally Pointer...makes really good stuff and she's a good teacher too.

http://www.downsizer.net/Articles/Make_your_own/Quick_and_Chunky_Sock_Pattern/

 

[Robson Valley]

That looks perfectly fine. Nice choice of color = not too green.
I'd be really happy to wear that in today's wind. Blowing like Hello here.

Go to a wool sale and buy a fleece to clean. Good money in that bull-work.
I liked spinning. You can shut out the world if you wish.

 

[spandit]

It's warm enough but a bit short to wrap comfortably. Still wondering if I should unpick it and start again, although for £6 worth of wool (acrylic) is it worth the bother?