Knitting is hard

I haven't done any knitting in a few years, so I'm quite out of practice. Especially when you consider what a noob I was when I was knitting.

So, after I finished crocheting the last two tentacles, I tried to knit the scallop scarf pattern that Mindi gave to me last Saturday.

This turned out to be an exercise in futility since I don't know how to cast on. I tried it a few times, but couldn't do whatever magic my mom uses to cast on. Then I watched some demonstrations on youtube.com and I managed to find a method that I could get to work for me.

However, once I had cast-on, I kept messing up the stitches and dropping them all over the place (even the standard knit and purl). I must have torn it out and cast it back on three or four times before my hands started to cramp and I gave up.

Aw, well. Hopefully I'll have time to call mom sometime this week and have her help me through casting-on. Sadly, I doubt I'll have time to work on it again before the weekend.

Mindi's Knitting Patterns

Last night I saw Mindi (an avid knitter) at a party. She gave me some knitting patterns to try to help me learn the knitting craft. I had emailed her describing how much I can do (knit and purl, baby) and had asked her to recommend some patterns or a book to get me going onto harder stuff. She gave me a pattern for a scarf that will teach me to knit multiple stitches together, a hat that will teach me to do "short rows", and a dishcloth.

I will need to call my mom and have her help me cast-on over the phone. She does it in this odd way that want to preserve. I say "odd" because I have yet to see her method on any of the tutorials I've found online.

She does some very simple thing to get loops on the needle while leaving a long tail. Then she uses the tail to knit into the loops on the needle. And that's her cast-on.

If it turns out I can't get that to work for me, I'll probably go with the "Italian Cast-On". I saw a tutorial on it and gave it a try. I almost managed it, but it will take a bit more practice.