Knitting! - The Very Very Beginning

So, due to my new-found Pinterest obsession, I have decided to go another direction with my blog... There are so many things I want to share! On Pinterest there are so many ideas for things I want to do, and it's easy to just look at more and sit there not DOING any of them, but I decided the motivation was strong enough that i must absolutely dive in and start my long verbalized desire to sew, and to knit. I am all about making things yourself instead of buying expensive things, so the ideas on my mind are so many baby things that would save money (When the time comes - don't get TOO excited people!) But I have a dear friend who is pregnant right now and Id love to bless her with some cool homemade things. So I better get going!!!!

This photo is what motivated me to want to learn:

The other day I called up a serious knitter of a friend (Esther), who i'd really like to spend more time with anyway, and she agreed to get together for knitting lessons!! :):):)
So today was the date so I got out my stuff last night and struggled through attempting to continue a dishcloth began at least 3 years ago, and I had no clue what I was doing! Joel chuckled at me and said I was cute trying...
It turns out we couldn't get together today, but the desire and motivation was there so I sat down to try again. I got frustrated with that dishcloth and got out some yarn to practice with... I found a paper my grandmother gave me on how to knit and began practicing:

 I didn't actually cast-on this way as I learned an easier way for me before... But I wanted to include it in case someone was just starting out and didn't know how at all :)  Click to Enlarge

 So, what I did to figure out what I was doing was just started with 7-8 practice stitches or so and did knit-stitch over and over, and then purl over and over.. and then realized they are pretty much the same result. Then I tried to look at which was which.

When you do purl, it makes little bumps on the side you see and little vs on the back.
When you knit it is the opposite, so if you keep turning the work over and doing the same thing (all purl, or all knit) it will be the same alternating Vs and bumps on both sides...

SO, I learned that the trick is to decide what you want to do next... If you want all Vs on one side you will have to knit a full row and then purl when you flip the work over, and repeat. I did this with my practice yarn and it was fun.. Building confidence. Seeing all Vs on one side and bumps on the other was exciting!! ( I just learned this is called stockinette:

Then I stopped for a bit and picked it back up not knowing if i should do purl or knit to keep things smooth. I knew I wanted to make bumps on the front - so I purled the next row and didn't mess up the pattern! :)

I also figured out that if I had to stop in the middle of a row I could still figure out which stitch to continue it, because for purl your yarn to use is always kept in front of your work, and for knit it stays in the back.

I was then able to pick up my years old dishcloth and knew exactly what to do, I needed a row of purl next to continue my nice ripple look (called garter-stitch I guess) and get good scrubbing action on both sides of the cloth.
I'm so proud of myself. :)

So, I just wanted to share while it was fresh -  Someday once I get good at this and try to show someone else, I'll remember what made sense in the beginning :):)

I still have so much to learn!! So I'm all ready for more lessons now! It sure helps when you feel you can do at least something. I still don;t know how to cast off, or increase or decrease, and example patterns make me want to forget knitting, but Esther can help me.. I'm gonna finish this dishcloth and decide what to try next :) Maybe a diagonal row dishcloth to conquer increasing and decreasing... Then one with a border... we'll see!

These videos are also amazing:
http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_5274_knit-beginners.html

This website is awesome too:
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/how-to-knit4.htm/printable 


Thanks for reading! I'll get back to knitting now!!
God Bless!
~ Cheryl

Oh, notice that these magazine pages are from 1987! cool eh? Thanks Nannie!