And So It Begins

There were only two ladies in my “Learn to Knit” class at Interquilten in February. So it was an intimate environment for starting down the yellow brick road of knitting adventures.

Judy and Laura were complete novices. Neither had ever held knitting needles before. Oh, I do love to see the beginning! Even though I learned the knit stitch and purl stitch when I was a kid, I still remember the challenge of that most wonderful puzzle of changing string into fabric. So, I can still relate to the very beginning of someone else’s knitting life.

We covered the obvious basics: cast on, knit, purl, bind off; garter stitch, stockinette stitch, ribbing, seed stitch; increases, decreases.

In our third, and last, session, Judy and Laura started knitting a dishrag. Two days later, Laura sent me a picture of her completed dishrag. Her very first knitting project. Here it is:

My hope is that I’ve created a monster….of knitting!

Here’s the pattern I use. Pretty standard:

CO 4 sts.
K one row.
Sl 1 purlwise wyif, move yarn to back between needles, K1, YO, K to end of row.
Repeat that row until there are 48 sts on needle.
Sl 1 purlwise wyif, move yarn to back between needles, K2TOG, YO, K2TOG, K to end of row.
Repeat that row until there are 5 sts on needle.
BO. Sew in ends.

Abbreviations:
BO = bind off (i.e., cast off)
CO = cast on
K = knit
Purlwise = insert needle as if to purl (i.e., from right to left)
Sl = slip stitch
St = stitch
Sts = stitches
Wyif = with yarn in front of work (as occurs naturally when purling)
YO = yarn over
K2Tog = knit two stitches together