I found just the yarn I want to use for the swatches in my stash! It's Jojoland worsted wool. It has a nice twist, a smooth but not slick texture, and overall has a very nice hand to it. I have plenty to do some practice swatches and then do the "real" ones. I'll be using the greatest needles, too. They are the Hiya Hiya stainless steel interchangeables.
After a lot of research, I discovered that I'm not the first knitter to have trouble with the first swatch. That 2 x 2 ribbing is easy to do evenly at smaller gauges, not so easy with the larger gauges. I kept getting these big, loopy looking knit stitches just to the right of the purls. Frustrating! I tried all the tricks that were suggested, and finally hit on the method that works best for me. It will be a bit fiddly until my hands and my brain adapt, though!
The thing I'm learning is not to be in such a hurry all the time and just focus on the task at hand. For many years I worked in a very busy, high stress environment. Multi-tasking and rushing to keep up became sort of second nature. I see it in my everyday life, too. Trying to do too many things at once, and inevitably forgetting where I put something (usually my keys) because my head was miles ahead of what I was actually doing. I'm trying to lose those bad habits, and maybe this knitting challenge I've taken on will help.
Good luck on the first swatch :) What does it mean to be a Master Knitter?
ReplyDeleteHi Amy! Thanks for your visit! To answer your question, "Master Knitter" is a designation given by The Knitting Guild Association. Three series of comptencies are performed and evaluated by the TKGA, each one more difficult than the last. When you've passed all three levels, you are deemed a Master Knitter.
ReplyDeleteKnitting gives us such a gift when it teaches us to be present to what we are doing right now. I'm trying to practice it in the rest of my life - not so easy!
ReplyDeletePS - I learned to use combination knitting when doing my level 1 swatches and it helped a lot. I use it a lot in my knitting now. It gives a more consistent tension and in most stitch patterns is faster. I haven't mastered it for lace however.
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