The Dumaguete Knitting School for Donna ... What We Learned

Those three weeks of Knitting School Donna and I shared were beneficial to us both. Donna gained confidence in where she was in her learning experience and is on her way to becoming an expert knitter - far better than I! As I prepared to provide her with a detailed explanation of a knitting technique, she grasped it after my first few words. The speed of her learning created a strong breeze that blew me away. Everyone should have such a "student"!

After I returned home, Donna continued her learning. Here's an excerpt from an e-mail she sent me:

Well, I am addicted to knitting! I want to knit all the time now. How fun! Since you've left, though, I've learned some things.

1) One should not watch intense parts of CSI while knitting on dpns because one might pull the wrong needle to knit with and pull out one's stitches.

2) One should not try to watch CSI, direct one's three children and settle their disputes while knitting as one will most likely make stitches that are not really stitches and are better classified as knotting than knitting.

3) One should probably not knit small projects while watching CSI, as one will probably forget what row one is knitting and end up knitting the same row several times. This will invariably throw off the pattern and needless to say the finished look of the project.

4) One should pick a project to knit and just do it instead of frogging and then changing to another project. Very unproductive.

GLOSSARY - One: Donna, mother of 4 children, two of which are extremely talkative; wife of busy husband who is gone 3 to 4 nights a week after working full time in the day time at the Bible college; a homemaker who likes to maintain a decently, though not perfectly, organized house with home-made meals; and who is quickly becoming addicted to both knitting and CSI.

But Donna is not the only one who learned things. I had previously bought her Knitting for Dummies when she asked me to get her some knitting materials last year. (The bag I took to her in 2007 is about mid-way down the page in the link.) That book is a serious rival to my Vogue Knitting book (1989 version)! And it's much more portable. I leafed through the pages so much that the book now appears two-times more used than it did when I first picked it up at Donna's house this year.

I found some wonderful techniques, with excellent explanations and tutorials, and I became fascinated with slip-stitch knitting. My interest at first was to use slip-stitch knitting as a way to use two colors without stranding them; but as I worked, I became totally engrossed in the pattern the stitches made.

Thus, this:

Starting just to the right of 12:00, a knitted tam using Bernat Satin Sport. This is the standard tam pattern I used from Anne Budd's book of knitting recipes.

Moving right, a bonnet using the same yarn. The pattern is an Elizabeth Zimmerman makeover by Jacqueline Fee, published in her Sweater Workshop book.

Below that, on the right side of the mat, the same bonnet in two colors using a slip-stitch pattern from Knitting for Dummies , using Bernat Satin Sport.

At about 7:00, the bottom part of a baby sweater in one color using Paton's Kroy. The sleeves are just above it. Enlarge the picture to see the neat design made by the slip stitch. The 7-stitch, 7-row slip stitch pattern is my own.

Here's my pattern, knitting two rows of each 7-stitch pattern:
- Round 1 & 2: S1, K5, S1
- Round 3 & 4: K1, S1, K3, S1, K1
- Round 5 & 6: K2, S1, K1, S1, K2
- Round 7 & 8: K3, S1, K3
- Round 9 & 10: Repeat rounds 5 & 6
- Round 11 & 12: Repeat rounds 3 & 4
- Round 13 and 14: Repeat Rounds 1 & 2
This creates a diamond. Because I'm knitting a raglan sleeve sweater from the bottom up, I didn't want to run into problems when I join the sleeves, so the pattern changes here.
- Round 1 & 2: K2, S1, K1, S1, K2
- Round 3 & 4: S1, K5, S1
Repeat these rounds until you reach the desired length. They should work out OK when the sleeves are joined together by making sure you stop at the same round on both sleeve and body.

At about 11:00, you see a pair of the fingerless gloves from the pattern I used a month or so ago in preparation for helping Donna knit in the round. These are made from Cotton-Ease.

In the center, there's another slip-stitch baby bonnet, made from a baby yarn by Caron. I'm not crazy about the yarn, but maybe I'm just biased toward something with natural fibers in it.

The fabric resulting from slip stitch is thicker than the same yarn worked in stockinette on the same size needles, and it feels luxurious.

Boy, I sure learned a bunch at The Dumaguete Knitting School for Donna! I'm glad she asked me to help her with her knitting!