[Nfb-krafters-korner] How are the new knitters doing?

[Deidre Muccio]

I took the beginner's knitting class and it kept me motivated to learn
knitting. It's time intensive and has just about taken precedence over all
my other projects. I bound off the swatch I was working on with 13 wooden
needles and a 4 ply yarn, and if I hadn't ripped it out so many times, and
had just asked someone to correct it for me, I would have had a very nice
scarf out of it. Now I am using a set of old circular plastic 7 needles a
neighbor gave me and a thin acrylic yarn. The needles feel like even the
shaft of the needle bends and they are the nicest needles I've ever had my
hands on. They  make the work very easy; the Knit Picks set I bought are too
slippery for me at this point, even the metal ones.  Some days I can do a
row or two of 66 stitches (not changing hands) without dropping a stitch,
but invariably after awhile I do drop a stitch or two and need to have
someone repair it. The fabric is pastel and multi colored, very beautiful I
hear (even though I'm not a fan of acrylic fiber) so the errors aren't
easily visible.  Some days my fingers and hands work well and other days I
make many errors very quickly. That happens when my fingertips go num. You
can't knit when your thumb or other finger tips are numb. That luckily does
not always happen, and I need to just put the needles down when that does
happen. I'm hoping in time I will drop stitches less and less and that I
won't split stitches ever (hah!) or I won't accidentally pearl a stitch when
I mean to knit it. 
	Today I am going down to Webs to check out different close out
yarns, and yarn in general. For example, I want to feel what they mean when
they say linen fiber is stiff and hard to handle.  I'm going with a
experienced fiber art neighbor/teacher who says there are some less than
reputable tricks of the industry I need to be forewarned about and that
things aren't always as good as they sound on radio or in advertisements.
For example yardage might be skimpy and the needles called for are bigger
than they need to be so that the "product" winds up being bigger. I think
this might be a bit analogous to how the food industry over time has shrunk
the size of candy bars but you wind up being charged more anyway.
	Anyway I haven't been in  Web's for decades so this should be fun. 

	Deidre