(no subject)

[tanaise]

My brain doesn't seem to be wired correctly for watching other people's hands and doing something. Because, see, I *know* how to make a slip knot. I've made hundreds, if not thousands of them--it's how I tie things that I want to be able to untie smoothly, like produce bags and my cross-stitch threads and such. But yesterday, when my mother said, "it's a slip knot, here, like this" my brain locked up completely and I actually forgot how to make them. seriously, I was sitting on the couch, repeatedly rolling the yarn off my thumb and having the knot just dissolve away. I had to shut my eyes and pretend my mom had never existed and try it again the way my body knew it was supposed to work, before it finally worked properly for me.

Don't even get me started on the "here, let me show you a simple way to cast on stitches" that involved most of her hand and something like a cat's cradle. And she called *my* method confusing? My method, for the record, is what was shown on the side of the box for the knitting kit she gave me--I think technically it's knitting on the stitches, so it's the same as the steps for knitting, but instead of dropping the old stitch when you make a new one, you just add new ones. So once I got that figured out, the next step--knitting--was very easy. And I even did a few rows of purling. And my mother screamed in horror over how I was holding my hands, and then looked at what I'd done and admitted that it was just fine, so I win on the hand holding. And also on the never ever ever letting my mother teach me anything.

I may need to look at books and find something with nice clear pictures for the rest of the stuff I need to learn about. Luckily I have lots of book gift certificates! (and some really nice coupons from Borders. Go Borders Rewards!)

Comments

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

*giggle* glad you're managing it, whatever the method. The knitted cast-on is common but there are lots of ways of starting off, including various "cats cradle" ones, my personal favourite involves loops and fingers and is one mum's schoolfriend taught her back in the mists of time... :)

Have you watched the vids at knittinghelp.com? You can slow them down in windows media player to go step by step (though if your brain prefers diagrams this might not help...)

[tikimama.livejournal.com]

Knitting on is a perfectly reasonable way to cast on, though I like the long tailed cast on method myself. Are you knitting English (yarn in the right hand) or Continental (left hand)?

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

well, right now it's english knitting because I can't figure out what the pictures of continental knitting translate to so far as my hands are concerned, but my mom thinks it would be easier for me to do continental since I'm lefthanded (apparently part of what makes my mother scream is that I actually *use* my left hand to do things even while knitting english.)

[crowyhead.livejournal.com]

Heh, I've learned not to try to alter how people knit things if the finished product looks fine. At least, so long as they don't look like they're about to hurt themselves. :)