Welcome to Knitilby

This is the inaugural post for Knitilby! While I've been knitting for a number of years, I still consider myself a novice. I've made lots of scarves, blankets, hats, socks, and shawls, but the sweater has eluded me. And as with everything, the more you know, the more you know you don't know!

I hope this site will help me finish two sweaters and also provide inspiration to my fabulous Open students who start class tomorrow. I want them to discover the meditative and creative joy of knitting. They will learn the basics of how to knit while creating at least one finished, wearable piece. Tomorrow we will discuss how to select and use the appropriate needles and yarn for a project. Casting on, binding off, the knit stitch,
and the purl stitch will provide the fundamental skills for any project. I'll provide links which may help students make sense of creating knots from needles and yarn.

Those with some knitting experience are expected to develop their skills by working with circular or double-pointed needles and a specific pattern.

For students to earn credit in this elective course, they must:

1) be attentive during demonstrations
2) participate in class discussions
3) practice stitches outside of class
4) knit in and out of class to finish at least one final, well-crafted piece
5) write a final reflective essay on experience


THE BASICS

Needles: There are various kinds of needles for knitting (single, circular, and double pointed) with various sizes and lengths. I recommend starting with a needle sized 8-11. An acrylic, worsted weight yarn (see below) works well with these sizes.

Yarn:
• Wool comes from sheep
• Mohair comes from goats
• Cashmere comes from the bellies of cashmere goats
• Alpaca comes from alpaca—a llama-like animal
• Angora comes from bunnies
• Silk comes from silk-worm cocoons
• Cotton comes from the cotton plant
• Linen comes from the flax plant
• Acrylic is a man-made, synthetic fiber

Yarn Weights:
• Fingering (or baby or 4-ply) weight
• Sport (or double knitting or DK) weight
• Worsted (or Aran) weight
• Chunky (or bulky) weight
• Extra-bulky (or super-bulky) weight

Purchasing needles and yarn:
Ben Franklin and Michaels both carry cheap yarns and needles. If you see a yarn you love, look for the needle size on the package label. This is a recommended needle size only. (Generally the heavier the yarn, the large the needle size.) Also, packages often have projects right on the label, so look for simple scarf patterns to get you started. Each roll of yarn is called a skein and you may need to purchase a number of skeins to complete your project.