Continental Knitting – Happy Sheep Creations

Process or Project Knitter

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Happy Sheep Creations

I love listening to VeryPink Knits podcast. The two ladies keep me smiling. Episode 2 they talked about Process vs. Project Knitters. A process knitter they said was a person who just loved the act of knitting. If they make a mistake they have no problems ripping back. A project knitter, on the other hand, is more interested in getting the project done so they can enjoy the finished item. If they make a mistake, they tend to just keep on knitting (unless of course it is a big mistake and affects how the project will look).

I keep thinking about what type of knitter I am. Sometimes I think I am a project knitter because I want to hurry up and get the item done. I usually have another project that I want to start working on. To me that sounds like a project knitter. But I also am a perfectionist and end up ripping back when I make a mistake (no matter how small the mistake is). Today I think I finally figured out which type of knitter I am. You can be the judge. I currently have 3 blankets going on at once (2 baby blankets and 1 pet blanket). The reason behind why I have 3 blankets going on will explain why I think I am a process knitter. I first started working on a baby blanket using cotton yarn. The blanket is made up of mitered squares. After I completed 3 rows, I decided I should probably block it. While the blanket was blocking, I wanted to knit. Of course the logical solution was to start knitting a pet blanket using up scrap yarn. What could be better! I needed to get rid of my left over yarn. Then a few weeks ago, I ran out of the white cotton yarn and had to stop the baby blanket in order to wait for my yarn to come in. At the same time the pet blanket was on my blocking table. Oh no! I didn’t want to wait until the blanket was finished blocking. I wanted to knit. Good thing I have a big enough yarn stash. 🙂

So would you agree that I am a process knitter?

process knitter

Perseverance or Just Being Stupid

Posted on June 30, 2017July 28, 2017 by Happy Sheep Creations

The very first thing I crocheted back when I was a mere teenager was a ripple afghan. It was easy for a beginner and I really enjoyed making them. Now as an adult knitter I really wanted to whip up a baby blanket for my niece (since her shower is in August). Instantly I thought of the ripple blanket. Perfect! I had seen a knitted version on Facebook. I could have that blanket done in no time, right? Oh how wrong I was.

Back in the day, I could easily watch TV or talk to a friend while crocheting this blanket. It was easy to count the stitches and see exactly where you needed to crochet 3 stitches in the chain to make the mountains and valleys that made the ripple. However, knitting is an entirely different story. With knitting, you keep those 120 stitches on your needle and even though there are only two rows that you repeat throughout, they are entirely different. Also until you have actually completed several rows, it’s hard to see what stitches make up the mountains and valleys (and to be totally honest, I still have trouble telling). And if you make one mistake (knit 8 stitches instead of 10) the whole design is off. Of course you don’t realize this until you reach the end of the row! So after countless hours of tinking back and only having completed 6 rows in 2 weeks, why didn’t I just give up and crochet the blanket instead? I did think about it (quite a lot). But I was going to conquer knitting this blanket even if said baby was now going off to college. 🙂 I also thought about adding stitch markers to remind me when the pattern changed. I could say again it was to conquer the pattern without any help but, to be honest, I was just too lazy to get up and search for that many markers. In the end and after countless hours of tinking back, I found enough stitch markers. I even went online and ordered more.

I am happy to report I am moving along nicely now; although, I still can’t chat with my daughter while working on this (yet). 🙂

Ripple

Here is a progress update on the blanket. I am actually moving along nicely now that the markers are in place. Maybe I will have it done for the baby shower after all! 🙂

ripple update

Practice makes Perfect

Posted on May 18, 2017May 18, 2017 by Happy Sheep Creations

You know that old saying “practice makes perfect”? I always hated that saying. Why would I want to take time just practicing when I could be actually completing something?

This was my approach to knitting. Crocheting just came naturally to me. Tension was never the issue. But knitting was something entirely different. Everything I knitted just never looked good. I would admire other knitter’s work and wonder what I am doing wrong. Then I took a class with Adrenda Holladay and she let me in on the secret. My tension was not consistent. She mentioned in the class that continental knitters seem to have a harder time keeping their tension while purling. I knit Continental rather than English. I tried to switch to English knitting but I just couldn’t get the feel for it. I spent years trying different techniques but nothing worked. I would knit a few rows, look at my tension, notice the tension was off and went on to the next technique. Finally I just gave up. I decided that I was never going to be great at knitting.

Then 2 years ago, I decided to start knitting for charity on a more full-time basis (not on and off like I was doing). I made a point to knit everyday for at least 2-3 hours. And guess what; my tension improved. I realized after 6 months that I actually loved what I made. I no longer felt ashamed to show other knitter’s my work. I may not love that saying, but I do respect it.

My “Before” and “After” pictures: