Thursday, March 28, 2024
Crafts

Knitting

Casting On
Basic Stitches - Knit Stitch, Purl Stitch | Working on and Finishing Knitting

Knitting is an all time favourite craft as it fulfills a basic need for warm clothes. It is simply the interlocking of lines of loops (yarns mainly of wool) made by two needles- an art that can be easily and quickly mastered. If you use your imagination, you can make sweaters, booties, rugs, shawls etc in an endless variety of patterns and designs with a combination of Knit, Purl and other stitches. The earliest known samples of knitting date from 7th century Arabia.

Materials

Knitting needles are made of plastic, aluminium and wood. They come in a wide range of sizes, types and lengths . Single pointed straight needles are used when you work back and forth in rows, Double pointed needles are used in sets of four for working tubular knitting such as socks and mittens. Circular needles are usually used for knitting skirts or other tubular garments when you work in rounds. Small needles are used for thin yarn and larger needles for heavy yarn. 

Yarns are available in a variety of materials like wool (light, medium and heavy), cotton , synthetic, jute and so on. They differ as to twist, size, texture and weight. 

Gauge

Gauge means the number of stitches and rows per inch. Gauge will be specified in the directions given for a particular design. It is important to maintain the gauge specified in the design to get the correct size of the article you are making.

To check the Gauge, make a  practice swatch 3 or 4 inches square patch of the stitch given. Stitch using the specified needle and yarn. Then place the patch flat on the table and with a ruler measure the number of stitches and rows per inch.  For eg. Gauge= 4 stitches per inch. 
If your stitch number doesn't correspond to the Gauge given for the design, try out different size needles i.e a larger needle if you have more stitches per inch or a smaller needle for less stitches per inch until the Gauge specified is obtained.