Knitting after "The Picasso"

     Supremely satisfied with my lack of knitting ability, I decided that I needed to go ahead and venture forth into a second project. I learned to make a hat. Using a worsted weight, self striping yarn, Encore I believe, I grabbed my number 7 circular turbo's and went to town. Several days later, I got:

Not too bad, huh? Only a few mistakes and only a couple of people could really see them! By now, I was hooked! I really felt like I wouldn't need decades to improve my skill to a usable level, I already had the beginnings of some decent skills! Now, though, I thirsted for more!

So, for those that want to know, here are the patterns for what I have shown so far!

To make a dishcloth:

Cast on 4.

Knit to end of row, turn your work.

knit two, yarn over, knit to the end. ( K2, YO, K to end)

after this, each row is:

K2, Yo, K to end

Once you have somewhere between forty and fifty stitches on your needle you will:

Knit 1, Knit two together, Yarn Over, Knit two together, knit to end of row

( K, K2TOG, YO, K2TOG, K to end )

Once you have worked down to 4 stitches, bind off!

For the Hat:

Cast on 89 ( multiples of 8 plus 1) using circular needles, or evenly spaced stitches  on your double pointed needles.

Row 1:  Place last stitch onto left needle( using circulars) (double pointed: last stitch onto needle with first stitch) Place a marker onto right needle. Knit two together ensuring your cast on stitches have not twisted. Now, knit all of the stitches to the marker.

Row 2: Knit 2, Purl 2, repeat until end of row. (*K2, P2) Continue this pattern until approximately three inches of "2X2" Ribbing is on your needles. Remember that the last two stitches are Purl stitches before the marker. Simply pass the marker from the left needle to the right needle with every row to keep track of where the beginning is.

Row 3: Knit all stitches. Keep knitting until you have approximately 7 inches of knitting down, not including the ribbing.

Row 4: Knit six stitches, knit two together, repeat until end of row. ( *K6, K2TOG )

Row 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15: Knit all stitches.

Row 6: *K5, K2TOG

Row 8: *K4, K2TOG

Row 10: *K3, K2TOG

Row 12: *K2, K2TOG

Row 14: *K1, K2TOG

Row 16: *K2TOG until 1 stitch remains, tie off.

Around Row 10 I switch from circular to double pointed needles. As there are fewer and fewer stitches, it just becomes easier to work the yarn. The circulars are quicker and easier up until then though, at least for me.

I hope you guys enjoyed that, because in the future I will share my other projects and their patterns. It really has been more fun and relaxing than I ever imagined, and saved me alot of money when I couldn't afford all of the wood for my other projects that I want to get to eventually!

Take care everyone and hopefully I will see you around, yarn in tow!

So it began...

     I had hurt my back some time ago and was using a little time off to get to heal. It got boring quick! Lots of physical therapy, among other things, but other than that, not a whole lot to do with my time. One day, my Wife decided she wanted to go to a local craft store and browse. I thought to myself <sarcasm> yeah! </ end sarcasm>

     Browsing around the store, hoping for a large piece of the ceiling to fall on my head, I got to the book section. I then noticed a book that had to do with different sorts of men's clothing that were hand knit. I picked it up, decided tyhat it was pretty interesting, and started browsing on my phone for different male knitting sources.

     I was very surprised! There was even a YouTube video about it! I decided to give it a try, what could it hurt? I love other hobbies, but they are just too expensive to do while recovering from a back injury. I started learning to knit, first from a book, and then from a local yarn store. The first project was then aptly named...The Picaso...!



     What a masterpiece...but I loved making it! I had ripped it out a few times and started over, but, I later decided that I would never get the feeling of knitting unless I simply worked through it. I was right, and have been knitting since!