Monday, July 29, 2013

Picking up Stitches

I used this video to learn about
picking up stitches.
*
However,
upon watching it,
I began without looking at other videos
and thought I understood how it was done.
*
I made a few mistakes.
*
First,
I did not knit as I went along,
which this video suggests.
*
I gathered the stitches,
got the added thread through the stitches and
thought this is what I needed to do.


I remembered
them saying to pick a stitch two or three
in from the top...
So I did this and, once I knit past the picked up stitches,
 it created a ridge instead of a
smooth transition:


The ridge is from top to bottom on that side.

So that is now the bottom side of the blanket.
I am not expecting perfection from myself
yet as I am still new to knitting.
And I find that while I do frog things back,
sometimes I would rather just have the finished result
show where I am in the process and be part of what
becomes the uniqueness of it.

So then I decided to try again for the other side,
as this blanket is blue with a yellow boarder.
 
I got it much better and there is very little seam
left at the end.
However I found that the fabric is a bit stretched.
*
I am going to be doing more research on
how to get better at picking up stitches as
it is a very important knitting technique!
I feel like with this blanket
I am turning a corner in my knitting!
*
I still hope to do a yellow duck in the centre!
Any and all suggestions on how to do this welcome!
Also any suggestions or things I can look at
regarding picking up stitches,
do let me know!
I am so excited to learn!
And to show you the finished baby blanket!

2 comments:

Kassianni said...

I love knitting. but not doing it ;) I've never had the patience. sewing is so much more instantly gratifying.

kudos to you for your efforts!

Anonymous said...

It is easier to pick up stitches if you slip the first stitch of every row when you are knitting. It makes a 'chain' along each edge and makes for easy pick up. I do this on the heel flap of socks all the time.