Clothing
Knit
In the category of clothing, the first self-sustaining skill listed is knitting.
I learned how to knit while taking a long distance car trip with my family. My mother taught me how to knit using red yarn. I was supposed to be making a pot holder. As I kept dropping stitches and knitting more and more tightly, its shape changed from a square to a trapezoid. I made many such trapezoids until I learned to control the tension of the yarn.
I learned both English style “throwing the yarn” and German, or Continental style. I can still knit both ways, although I prefer Continental.
As I explore knitting with you, I have been thinking of easy ways to make clothing. Although I can follow some patterns, I have been looking for easier ways which do not depend upon that bit of specialized knowledge.
I designed and knitted and lined and now wear, a coat based on ten-stitch strips, knitted on size 13 needles with a double strand of yarn for extra warmth. I published the article describing what to do on Ravelry, (“My First 10-Stitch Coat”)a website for knitters and crocheters, and also on my blog.
I am currently working on a ribbed sweater to replace a very worn one. I have been “messing around” with it for a couple of years. I am almost finished, maybe. It is a twelve-stitch ribbed knit, two knit, two pearl design. I am still adding to the sleeves.
By looking at the simplest elements in clothing, the overall shapes can be reduced to rectangles of different sizes. That is how I begin.
© 2018 Kathryn Hardage
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