Friday, March 28, 2014

Provisional Cast-on, Cables

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The Fundamentals II class has begun for the March-April session, and what a good group it is! An enthusiastic and perfect blend of students from prior classes.

We're starting with this hat, designed by Alexandra Virgiel and appropriately called "Coronet." You can get the pattern yourself from Ravelry by clicking here.

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With this one hat, we will have the opportunity to learn all this:

1. How to read pattern stitches in a pattern
2. Provisional cast-on (and, with the method I use, we first need to learn to crochet a chain stitch)
3. Picking up stitches along the edge
4. Joining and knitting in the round
5. Using the "magic loop" technique for knitting in the round
6. Regularly spaced decreases
7. Kitchener stitch
8. Pompoms

We got started with my favorite version of provisional cast-on. It involves using a crochet hook to make some chains, then chaining across the needle. There are so many ways to make provisional cast-ons, and each knitter has a favorite. Frankly, I found some of the ones that do it with two needles (rather than a crochet chain) to result in a loose mess.  Then, the method where you first crochet a chain and then insert the knitting needle into some of the loops is tantrum-throwing difficult.

Here are a few of the provisional cast-on methods, ending with my fave:

Two-needle ziggy-zaggy
Crochet a chain and dig in
Chain stitch around the needle (my fave)



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