calliecritturs
Posted : 3/5/2006 10:40:19 PM
Getting it to be 'relaxing' takes PRACTICE, and time and getting 'good'. So that doesn't happen with your 'first' thing. It's also way easier with someone 'teaching' you than from a book -- if you guys are learning from BOOKS you have my heartfelt admiration!
For most folks ONE of knitting **or** crochet is easier -- all depends on what you pick up easier, what intrigues you (and for *me* how coordinated I am with both hands ... NOT so crochet has always been easier for me!)
The big trick .. well two, is to literally force yourself to relax. If you are tense you'll have too much tension on your yarn which will make stitches hard to get your needle in, and stitches will slip off. (Yarn is supposed to be stretchy so if you can't get a needle 'in' you're too 'tight') which is another reason bigger needles are easier.
Learning to read a 'pattern' is a major huge deal. For knit or crochet -- and yet that's where the fun lies (in making some THING specifically).
I also personally believe this stuff is easier for some folks than others -- simply because some of us were in families where doing stuff with your hands was not only encouraged, it was kinda how life was. I never saw my mother sit and do NOTHING in front of TV. Her hands were never idle.
Even in her old age neither were my grandmother's -- tho interestingly, my Gram would knit, Mom would crochet!! (and neither one liked the 'other'!!). I learned both but honestly I always have been way more at ease with crochet -- probably cos I was with Mom more!
But Gramma used to tat -- which is like a little crochet hook with a wheel of thread in the middle of the 'hook'. But dang the woman was SO FAST that even when I was a little twerp, Gram couldn't slow down enough to *show* me how!! This stuff becomes so automatic you don't think, you just 'do' it (what typists call 'muscle memory').
I tried a bunch of times to get Gram to show me how to tat (I always thot it was beautiful -- it's actually a form of lace-making) and never could get the hang of it.
Suggestion for those of you just starting -- just getting plain old cotton 'string' and knitting with it -- you can make dandy potholders and dishcloths. They make awesome gifts -- but most of all they give you practice on something that's not critical, and by the time you do umpteen of those you will have taught yourself TO relax and it will become somewhat automatic. And even if it's not gorgeous, it's useful and honestly something to be proud of.
One of my problems was when I'd start on something that wound up taking me forever. If I got frustrated by halfway done, oops -- project sidelined ... and heaven knows THOSE are easy to accumulate!