I am staying home, as we all should be, which gives me time to organize. As I was digging out things I hadn’t viewed since I moved, I came across the “Simple Simon” sweater. I’m not exactly sure of the image, but it looks like that nursery rhyme to me. It was knit long ago by my Nana who is not around to remind me.
The pattern also includes white “dots” all over, which is called a Lice pattern and originated in Sedestal, Norway (as best I can tell). Because my Nana grew up in Denmark, it stands to reason she would knit this type of pattern. As for the images, she must have followed a pattern.
My grandmother’s hand-knit sweater for a child with lice stitch and images of people and house.
The Simple Simon Verse
Just in case you are not familiar with this nursery rhyme, let me refresh your memory. The first part goes like this:
Simple Simon met a pie man, going to the fair. Said Simple Simon to the pie man, “Let me taste your ware”.
Truthfully that is all I know of the rhyme… but to read it in it’s entirety, view it here. The figure on the right, on the sweater front, looks like a man holding a pie. Because Simon, and the Pie Man are boys, I believe this sweater was made for my son. I only have one sister, so this boy-themed sweater was not made for us. It is “newer” and was knit in the late 70’s – is my best guess.
Digging Through Keepsakes
There is a container in my closet which holds some old baby clothes which were worn by my boys (who are now ages: 43, 37, and 21). When I moved, I left my daughter’s special baby clothes with her.
In that container, I came across two sweaters, this one and another that I wore as a kid – now that is old…..! Also, there were some mittens which were knit by my Nana, probably made for my oldest son as well (photo below). We moved to Florida where the rest of my kids grew up and there was not much need for sweaters and mittens. However I do have the coolest back-zipper sweater she made for my second son.
Nana’s mittens
My Nana had been knitting sweaters and mittens for kids, and adults, in the family since I was young. She may have begun knitting as a kid, for all I know. She came to New England from Denmark as a teenager. My father was her son.
Nana would knit mittens like mad for us kids, because we wore them out quickly. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s kids played outdoors all the time! We especially loved to play in the snow. I remember puppet type mittens – similar to the ones in this vintage pattern book sold on Etsy – which had buttons for eyes and long braids along the back of the hand. I loved those!
Of course I never appreciated all the work that went into those hand-knits.
Child’s cardigan with lice stitch on back and sleeves
In her nineties, Nana died of a heart attack, while knitting in her favorite chair. She had a little room off her kitchen which held a tiny Jotul woodstove and that is where she sat to knit. I remember visiting her and talking while she knit. I was never very interested in her hobby ….. not until now, when it’s too late to learn anything from her. Such is life. It’s pretty stupid.
I wonder today how many hand-knits are still around which were made by her. I also wonder what she was working on at the time of her death. Something wonderful, which was never finished? Or did one of her daughter’s finish the knitting?
Now that I do knit myself, I look at this handiwork with marvel. I love seeing all those carried stitches knowing that my Nana’s hands created them all! I wonder where her yarn came from and what her needles looked like. I always think of her when I knit and wonder what wise advice she would give me. She’d be able to teach me a lot.
I imagine us sitting together knitting away and comparing patterns and ideas. She would marvel at the internet and how easily patterns and yarn can be purchased these days.
Inside floats of stranded knitting on child’s sweater
I don’t have anything else that belonged to my Nana, except a hooked rug she made for our family when I was young. She was a crafter, with busy hands, who also grew beautiful flowers, canned vegetables and fruit from their huge garden, baked “monkey faces”, and did weaving on a big loom.
She was only 4’10” tall and she was one of my favorite people.
Vintage hooked rug (1950’s) with three ducks walking on a log in the water with cat o nine tails and one cloud.
If you are at home more these days thanks to the Coronavirus, you may need to find a hobby to stay busy. How about knitting? Knitting is not just for Grannies! There is much to learn, which means your brain can be challenged for years learning new knitting techniques.
Even if you don’t have someone to teach you, YouTube videos can be a huge help. Getting started is the first step, where practicing on easy projects leads to bigger and better knits.
I’ve written this page with the beginner knitter in mind, with advice for yarn, needles and free project links. The best projects to begin with when learning to knit are simple back and forth projects. You knit one row, turn the needles and knit the next row – or purl.
When I lived in New Hampshire I knit scarves. I would cast-on and just go, trying out various stitches along the way to see what happened. I would cast off when the scarf was long enough. But a better idea is to knit smaller projects that are useful, like cloths for the kitchen and bathroom.
Hand-knit cloths hold up well.
Let’s begin with an easy project, such as one of the dishcloths or facecloths below, which are knit with one color – or a variegated color. Whenever you knit something that will be used to wash with, choose a washable cotton yarn. Cotton yarn will be absorbent and easy to care for, going into the washer and dryer.
Here are some ideas for beginner projects with FREE patterns you can download at Ravelry. Join Ravelry (it’s free) if you plan to do more knitting because it can be a wonderful resource for patterns and help. You don’t have to be a member to get these patterns.
They use little yarn, so are inexpensive to make and in the end, you have a useful item. If it has some mistakes, who cares? This is a great way to practice without worrying about boo-boos.
Seed Stitch Washcloth – knits and purls create a nubby fabric. personally, I love this stitch and it’s great practice for doing both of the most basic stitches in knitting.
Your Own Design: Knit a few rows and purl a row – or knit all rows. Make something up until it becomes the size you want. I have links below for help with CASTING ON and BINDING OFF.
Buying Cotton Yarn
Lily’s Sugar ‘n Cream Cotton Yarn – comes as single, affordable skeins, in sets, or on cones. They offer a huge selection of solid and variegated colors. Search Amazon (they have all types) and order online, or go to a local craft store such as Michaels, Joannes, or Walmart. This yarn is easy to find.
Key West Karribean Kotten Yarn – The blue and orange striped dish cloth in my photo below is made with this yarn. The colors are super bright and don’t seem to fade as quickly as the other cotton yarn. It does cost more, but I love the quality. This cotton yarn is perfect for making kitchen towel gifts!
Karribean Kotten – comes in tropical colors
Needles, Types and Sizes
Straight needles are fine to use for little knitting projects. I had some of my grandmothers old straight needles and I used them when I began. But then I discovered the versatility of circular needles, which is what I mostly use these days.
Circular needles can be used like straight ones. Just pretend they are not connected! Turn the work each time you begin a new row. Once you begin to knit projects in the round, circular needles are needed and you will already have them. So my advice (if you have NO needles) is to buy a 16 inch (length), needle size 5 to 7 US to use to knit your washcloths. Chiaogoo Red are favorites of mine. Later on you can use that same needle to knit hats – most hats (unless they are for babies) are made using 16 inch needles.
Knitting needles come in various lengths as well as needle sizes. Tiny needles such as 0 – 3 or 4 US are used to knit tightly, such as for socks and mittens and / or when using lace and fingering weight yarn. Larger sizes will be used for heavier yarn weights and for knitting sweaters, hats, and bulky items.
Beginning the Dewdrops shawl pattern
The Dewdrops shawl above is knit on a long, circular needle. I began knitting at the very bottom point, with only a few stitches. As I went on, more stitches were added and I needed that longer needle. Straight needles are too short to hold that many stitches.
How to Cast-On and Bind-Off
Once you have found or purchased your needles and cotton yarn, this is how you get started.
A simple cast on begins with a slip knot on the left hand needle. Then you will begin adding stitches – as many as the pattern calls for. That is your cast-on number and everything you make requires some type of cast-on. You will “cast on” as many stitches as are needed to begin knitting. The project will always become bigger than your cast on looks!
The video links below are some good ones I found. If you want to search for other cast-ons at YouTube, be my guest. There are many.
There are many ways to cast-on, but all you need is the basics when beginning. I now use the Long-tail cast on, or the Norwegian Cast-on (aka German Twisted cast-on) because it’s faster, but for a long time I did this simple, basic cast-on. The others are more complicated, but you may like them.
From there, you begin knitting the pattern, or your rows of knitting as you choose if you are not following a pattern. When you finish all your rows, you must bind-off to finish the project.
I like Purl Soho’s videos because they get right to the point. Also the teacher generally uses larger yarn and needles that make it easier to see what’s going on. Purl Soho also has many FREE patterns on their site, where they also sell pretty yarn – including cotton.
Once you know how to begin a knitting project, you either make up your own pattern / stitches as you go, or follow a pattern. Below I list links to videos showing the two basic stitches needed to create many patterns, the knit and purl stitches. You can do a lot with just these two stitches.
Anytime a pattern calls for knitting, this is the stitch you do. It’s the base for all knitting projects. These show English forms of knitting where the working yarn is held in the right hand.
Many knitters dislike doing the purl stitch, but it’s not difficult and you will need to do it a lot if you choose to create anything with the “seed stitch” pattern. Purl stitches add texture as well. You can knit one row and purl the next to make the stockinette stitch. Doing this will create a smooth fabric.
Fun With the Knit and Purl
It is easiest to knit a few rows right after the cast on. From there, try some purls. If you alternate a row of knits and a row of purls, you will end up with stockinette.
In my little cloth samples below, I played around with these two stitches. I suggest you search YouTube to find beginner videos. Many knitting sites have loads of advertisement clutter to wade through to get to real information.
My Own Beginner Samples
Here are a few of my knitting samples. They are not beautiful, but they gave me practice. To leave a center “flat” area, knit a few rows back and forth – this means to do all knit stitches, for a few rows (4 or 5). On the next row, knit 5 and purl until 5 stitches remain, then knit those five. This way you are making a textured border with center flat (stockinette) stitches.
Center stockinette
On the white cloth I did some alternating knits and purls along the bottom and top borders. In the center I did seed stitch, also called moss stitch. Seed stitch is simply K1, P1 – switch off continuously across each row, but alternate row by row. First center row: K1, P1 (you need an even amount of stitches.) Second row: P1, K1 – your purls will be over the knits and knits will be done over the purls. It creates a pretty little texture.
Seed stitch or moss stitch
On the gray cloth I made the same type of knit border and then for the center I knit 2 stitches, then purled 2 stitches (K2,P2). On the next row I did the same thing so the stitches lined up. On rows 3 & 4, I did the opposite (P2,K2). This is a double moss stitch.
Two knits and two purls
As I knit my little cloths, I used various types of yarn. I honestly don’t remember what they were! I still make little cloths because nighttime knitting for me needs to be simple.
Want Something Bigger to Knit?
If you are not interested in little facecloths or kitchen items, check out my page on free shawls. You may never feel the need to wear a shawl, but they are popular choices in the knitting world AND the easy ones are great practice for beginners.
Try your hand at adding new colors and using variegated yarn on the Scrappy Bias Shawl. Learn what to do to make lacy holes appear in rows when knitting the No Fuss Shade-Loving Shawl.
There is a lot more to knitting than picking up a pair of needles and choosing a pretty yarn. If you have done any amount of knitting yourself you will understand. I have learned a lot as I’ve knit various projects over the past year and a half.
One aspect of knitting you will undoubtedly come across if you knit mittens, socks or even sweaters, is the Kitchener stitch. It is usually done with a tapestry needle to either close up a mitten top (see below), sock toe, or stitch something together seamlessly. (See my Playdate Cardigan page also where I used this stitch on shoulder seams.)
Glissade mittens
Basics of the Kitchener: End your knitting with even number of stitches on each of 2 needles. Do a set up stitch, and then begin the Kitchener. It weaves both sides of the project together without making a seam. If you look at my mitten tops, it appears that my stitches flow over the very top of the mitten like magic!
I have not done the Kitchener stitch often, but there is a good YouTube video by Very Pink Knits which has helped me to understand it better. She has a little mantra she says while stitching. She shows it on a sock toe, in slow motion, which is very helpful!
My Glissade mitten tops look pretty good, if I do say so myself. When I first tried this stitch, I practiced on something that didn’t matter.
At first, this stitch drove me nuts. I really hated it, but after practicing, it’s really not that bad. I just have to go slow and pay attention. A lot of videos don’t tell you what to do with the last two stitches, but this video does.
Now, whenever I have a pattern that calls for this stitch, I write that little saying on the pattern itself so I don’t have to go look up the video when it’s time to do the Kitchener.
For the mitten knit-along I am doing, colorwork knitting is a requirement. The pattern must include more than one color for this KAL, and the mittens I am knitting have three. Once you know the basics of doing colorwork, also called stranded knitting, the project will end up looking good instead of a mess (like mine used to be).
Colorwork Basics
I have a little experience in knitting colorwork. Basically you are knitting with two or more colors and using them to create an image or pattern. Yarn is held in both hands, with left hand using the prominent yarn, and right hand holding the “background” yarn color.
However, if there is a long bunch of stitches in one color only, it means the other yarn must be carried along until ready to use. Because you can’t just let it droop and create a long “float”, or unattached length of yarn, you have to know how to “carry a float” for both the left and right hand yarns. This is knitting talk for catching the unused yarn with the used yarn to bring it along correctly. And it is done differently for each hand (color).
Moose motif
For instance, when I knit this moose motif I had to carry yarn colors over numerous stitches. When knitting the rows of brown for his body, I had to carry the blue yarn and catch it up while I knit the brown so as not to leave a long strand drooping along the back of the hat.
Catching the floats for the moose motif
Catching floats is not difficult and once you know how to do it, it becomes simple. I suggest you knit something where you can practice this over and over until it becomes second nature. I’m getting more practice now while I knit the Milet mittens.
