skills a scholar and a gentleman should have

[rushthatspeaks]

Irrelevant to rest of post: three days till the movers, five till Thrud and weirdquark go. It's gonna be a very strange year.

Real post topic: It appears that Thrud has been successful in teaching me to knit. No casualties as of yet.

(Still not tempting Fate by attempting to crochet or anything, though. Those scars, literal and figurative, have not faded.)

At any rate, Thrud has taught me to knit and to purl, which is what she knows how to do. I have taught myself via the internet a reasonable method of casting on, k2tog and p2tog, and think I can do a yarn over unless I have the concept wrong, which is possible. I get slip stitch wrong, which seems as though it should not be possible, and yet.

So this is the post where I would like people to recommend me knitting books, and suggest things that one can knit that are not violently stupid and will teach one skills. My eventual goals are in the directions of lace, cabling, and intarsia, because I am fond of needless complexity. I am also hoping to learn to make things I can wear and/or give away without causing wincing, blushing, or dread in anyone involved, and I must say many of the knitting pattern books at the local bookstore, well, do not share my aesthetics. I mean, I want to learn intarsia so I can knit the futhark into a pair of fingerless gloves, you know?

All suggestions welcome.

Comments

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I taught myself several of the tougher stitches via Youtube clips. YO was one of those I couldn't envision, seeing descriptions on the page, but a video and I got it instantly.

I also got my best simple patterns off Ravelry, or invented them. I can transcribe a few later if you want.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that I am totally a jazz-knitter, i.e. I tend to abstract an original pattern and then adapt it to my needs. So the following directions are not as specific as you may desire.

Basic Roll-edge hat
make your gauge square and discover how many stitches make an inch. Measure the desired head in inches. Multiply, and that's your target number. (I have a 18" diameter head, and usually work in light worsted for this pattern, so I end up in the 150 range.)

Cast onto double-point needles in multiples of 8 until you've hit or just exceeded your target number. A tight hat is nobody's friend, so err on the side of too many. Join ends and knit in the round for about 8 vertical inches, or more, if you have a really big head.

Now begin decreasing like so:
(K2tog, K 7) -- do this as many times as you had multiples of 8.
K around
(K2tog, K 6)
K around
(K2tog, K 5)
K around
(K2tog, K 4)
K around
(K2tog, K 3)
K around
(K2tog, K 2)
K around
(K2tog, K 1)
K around

Now you have exactly as many stitches as you had multiples of 8. Begin to (K2tog, K1) until you have nearly completed the row; then adjust as necessary so that you're ending on a K1. (At this point, the pattern is nigh-invisible, so if you K2tog twice, nobody will notice.) You may need to go all the way twice, depending on how many multiples you're working with, but the idea is to reduce stitches. Eventually, you will be left with 6-10 stitches on your needles.

If you want a nubbin at the top of the hat, K around 5 rows and then cast off. Otherwise, just cast off right there and secure the end, and you'll have a flat top to your hat.

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

www.knitty.com (Click on "archive" for lots more patterns.) There you will find such things as a knitted wigs (http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/PATThallowig.html), wombs (http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTwomb.html) and a variety of less-Woman's-Day-ish garments including this long lace-up vest (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/PATTcorset.html).

Joining ravelry.com is a good way to find patterns you'd like to knit; you can browse pictures of other people's finished projects, and click through to citations for the patterns.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

I mean, I want to learn intarsia so I can knit the futhark into a pair of fingerless gloves, you know?

This sentence makes me insanely happy.

Nine

[eredien]

Wait, you can knit now? Can you teach me? Two previous roommates and a friend have all tried, without success.

[ryenna.livejournal.com]

I find myself knitting a lot of scarves to practice stitch patterns. It helps that my mother and I both love scarves, so if what I knit doesn't work for me, it usually works for her. Boring, maybe, but it is good practice.

Even books full of patterns that aren't that great often have ideas that lend themselves to other things. I highly recommend making use of your local library and their photocopier so you're not wasting money on books you won't use the actual patterns from just to have a record of some neat ideas that could be incorporated into things that suit you.

ETA: I also have a collection of knitting magazines from the 50s and 60s. If you want some ideas to STAY WELL AWAY FROM OH MY GOD THE 'PON POM PANTS' HAUNT MY NIGHTMARES I'd be happy to scan and inflict send.

[jedibl.livejournal.com]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1580178340/yarnharlot-20

This book pretty much assumes you know the basics, and doesn't actually teach you anything too fancy, but it does provide several useful knitting "recipes" (designed to be embellished as you see fit).

Also, the author? Funny, funny, woman. With a blog: yarnharlot.ca/blog (One of my favorite entries is this one: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2005/08/09/there_is_the_downside.html)

She has written several books, but I think the one above is the one with the most actual knitting advice, as opposed to essays about knitting.

[cristalia.livejournal.com]

I learned about a year ago, a little more, and have been getting by fine with two major tools: Ravelry (https://www.ravelry.com/account/login), which is full of free patterns and more experienced knitters and yarn recommendations and all that excellent stuff, and KnittingHelp (http://www.knittinghelp.com/), which has videos of stitches I don't know how to do yet with instructions. Both free!

Yay knitting!

[oyceter]

I see people have already mentioned Ravelry, KnittingHelp, and Knitty! My other favorite online place is TechKnitting, although she doesn't update often anymore. But if you like knowing the mechanics and figuring out new ways of doing stuff, she's very good at explaining.

Pattern-wise, I like getting people started on dishcloths... practical, small, and cheap! There should be a lot of patterns on Ravelry, and you can just get a lot of Lily/Sugar and Cream cotton yarn from Michaels, which is about $1 a ball.

Stitch and Bitch is a pretty good beginning knitting book, although nowadays I pretty much just get all my patterns online. And if you are interested in socks down the line, I have lots of recs for those too!

[skadi.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I learned to knit in high school. How? Well, knitting suddenly became very popular during my senior year, and a lot of the girls would sit around knitting in the senior room during free periods. I was too shy to ask for help, so I'd put on my headphones and pretend to be doing homework. But really, I wouldn't be listening to music - I'd be listening to them. And I learned how to knit that way.

Which is probably why I can only knit squares/rectangles/scarves at this point. Knitting gloves is a personal goal for me. Good for you for grabbing the bull by the horns!

[gallian.livejournal.com]

I once knew how to knit and purl (probably could again.) I don't think I ever knew how to cast on or off.

Developing a wool allergy really put me off knitting, as the cotton synthetics are like fingernails on a blackboard to me. In fact this comment is making me twitch to type, so I'm stopping now.

[ephiphonora.livejournal.com]

I taught myself to knit just by getting three to four random begin-to-knit books out of the library. When I wanted to learn a stitch or technique, I put each book on the page that described the method, then read each description and looked at each image. The differences blended together to show me exactly what I wanted to know. I found that colored pencil drawings helped me to understand the best. If you want to learn stranded fair isle knitting, I recommend "Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting" which was just republished. Her book on Aran knitting is fantastic, out of print, and worth getting a look at. I do feel that what will be more useful to you than books of patterns is books about techniques. When you master the technique, you can easily make your own patterns and get what you want. Then pattern compilation books may be useful, as a personal reference library. For basic books I own and cross-reference "The Knitter's Handbook" from Knitter's Magazine and "The Knitter's Companion" by Vicki Square.

As for skill teaching things...socks! They're not a beginner thing but will be more engaging (I think) than scarves and you'll learn to use double pointed needles. You can do socks in lace, with cables, in ribs, in anything. To be perfectly honest, when I was learning, I just knit. No pattern, no project, no goal, nothing. I just worked the stitches. That way I felt no pressure. Then I tackled an afghan.

[cynthia1960.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the throng of knitters in thrall to fibery goodness.

[leaina.livejournal.com]

The only thing I can think of that nobody's mentioned so far is the Anticraft:

http://www.theanticraft.com/

[boojum.livejournal.com]

(I got here through random link-following. Sorry if this is overly intrusive.)

If you're interested in runic stuff w/r/t knitting, you should check out Elsebeth Lavold's book(s?). She has at least one cable pattern book that's explicitly inspired by Viking-era carving, and I think it shows up in some of her other stuff too.