Hello everyone. What amazing good you are all doing. I don't yet know how to knit or crochet, but have just been looking at some youtube videos. So I'll be able to join you soon in making squares.
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Hi Aprile, glad to meet you! Regarding learning to knit or crochet, if the first videos you watch don't help, do try others. Some teachers are awesome, some are rather too wordy or confusing for me, or the camera work isn't the best. (one of my best video teachers was a teenager and I'm old enough to be her grandmother!)
You can ask us any questions you like. FYI there's two different ways to use a crochet hook, like a pencil or like a dinner knife and at least 3 different knitting styles (ways of doing the same plain knitting). I taught myself to crochet using instruction books but when I decided to take up knitting again I found a style on you tube that was much easier for me to do than the style my Mum taught me. (sorry Mum)
Oh crochet uses up more yarn than knitting another interesting tidbit. Don't be afraid to ask questions, that's how we all learn. Oh and you can also use a round knitting loom if you wish to try it....a couple of members do that and make excellent squares and hats, very warm and thick for the children. I find things work up fast on a knitting loom.
Hi from the middle of Canada...Jeanne xoxoxo
Hi Jeanne, thank you so much for your warm welcome! And also for your great helpful comments, which I really appreciated. I attended a charity knitting/crochet group a few hours before I discovered KAS - I left an hour later almost in tears, because the lady who teaches newbies kept saying 'but it's so EASY!' when I kept making mistakes. But that was good, because I went online and discovered KAS, which is just PERFECT for me.
I have produced some really weird 'sculptural' effects the last couple of days - but a friend visited yesterday, and sorted out what I was doing wrong. So far I can't get my head around granny squares, but on youtube I found a way of doing granny 'straight', which is now working better for me....
I gave up trying to learn knitting years ago - everybody gave up trying to teach me. So I'll stick with crochet meantime. And wow, thanks, I'll look up the loom option too! (Sadly, I'm not a 'natural' needlewoman or craftsperson - but I feel a real URGENCY to persist with this, because of the kids on the KAS site.....)
Thanks Jeanne again from me in outer Sydney, Australia to you in the middle of your beautiful country (I haven't been there yet) Canada! Aprile :)
I feel sure you'll get the hang of crochet, you just need to keep practicing. Good luck, and I hope my video in the other thread helped.
Hi Cherry! I laughed at your recollections learning to knit - it reminded me of one of the women who tried to teach me (all gave up, eventually) who said 'You are so clumsy! You are right-handed, but you are trying to knit as though you are left-handed, it's all back to front! Why can't you knit like a right-handed person?' Ha ha, I still haven't figure out that answer to that conundrum. (Or, come to think of it, why the children being helped by KAS, and so many other children around the world, have to suffer the plights that are dished out to them...)
Unfortunately I couldn't find the other comment that you referred to? Would you mind sending it again, please? (I am a beginner with forums too, and am finding it a bit confusing finding my way around the forum!)
Best wishes meantime Cherry, and thank you so much for your encouragement! Aprile
This may seem silly, but have you considered trying left handed knitting? My sister tried to teach me right handed, but I write with my left hand, so I learned left handed off of youtube. Strange thing is I can crochet right handed. But that may be because with right handed crochet, you hold the yarn in your left hand.... I'm contradicting what I said on your other thread about trying one thing at a time, but maybe you could try knitting left handed. It's interesting the lady who was trying to teach you mentioned you were trying to do it left handed- that cued me in.
I don't know if you've heard this before, but there are only two stitches in knitting besides the cast on stitches: knit and purl, which are inverses of each other. All other stitches and patterns, such as "moss" and "seed" stitches, are just different variations of these two stitches.
If you're interested, here is a link to left handed cast on:http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YRvy45DV6pA
Left handed knit stitch, is a little harder to find. If you're like me, you may be more comfortable holding the yarn in your left hand. I think this is called the "traditional" way, which is slower, and I kind of wish I'd learned to knit "contiential" style, because it is like twice as fast. But I wasn't able to get comfortable holding the yarn in my right hand (aka contiential style) because I'm a lefty. So, here is a link to a contiential style knit stitch youtube video;http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7AY2JF_zXMA
They should have shown that once you reach the end of that row, you turn the fabric so that the yarn you are working with is facing towards you. Then you just start again, working in the front part of each loop like shown in the video. If you want to do it the way I do, you can just hold the "working yarn" inbetween the index and middle finger of your left hand, or inbetween your thumb and index finger. I got used to crocheting that way, so it worked for me. You just hold the left needle with your remaining fingers. Once you get the hang of the knit stitch, just search on youtube "how to knit the purl stitch left handed" or something like that, there aren't nearly as many videos as for right handers, so you won't be swamped.
Hope I've been of help, sorry the post is so long. I really think you can do it if you just keep trying. For me it felt like I kept beating my head against a brick wall and then suddenly the wall crumbled and I never forgot how to do it. That maybe a little dramatic, but hey, it feels that way some times!
Keep at it, you can get it!
Good luck,
Cherry
Well I can't believe my eyes because I am a knitter but need to change to crochet because of some hand problems. Anyway it has taken me nigh on two years just to do single crochet and make a more or less square. I guess we all have our problems. Well done Aprile for trying at knitting and I am sure your crochet squares will be beautiful.
Me too Sue - as a life-long knitter I just couldn't get the hang of crochet and I marvel at people who say that they have just learned and show beautiful items. I can crochet now but four years after starting I still struggle with straight squares and much prefer to go round and round as in the different granny patterns. I have the opposite problem to you though - having injured my hands six months ago I am knitting again but crochet is too painful. You will master knitting and crochet Aprile if you persist but it could take some time.
Hi Aprile,
I am a new member too. And relatively new to knitting. I have learned a lot from Youtube! And these squares are a great way to learn. Good Luck.
Hi Nancy. I hope your squares are looking better than mine, which look like 'something the dog dragged in', ha ha! So it's lots more practice for me! Good luck to you, too.
Hi Aprile.
Welcome to KAS from over here in wet, windy and very cold WA. It has done nothing but rain and blow all day (and now night, too) here in the south-west.
Its GREAT to have another Aussie here in the forum. You might like to pop in on the Aussie/NZ group, join us and say 'Hi'. Here is the link: http://forum.knit-a-square.com/group/downunderandlandofthewhitecloud
Happy knitting/crocheting!!
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