Learning to Knit and Crochet

This Fall I led a 6 week workshop at my church on learning to knit and crochet. There were a small number of "students" so there was lots of individual attention. The new knitters actually made a garment! That was quite an accomplishment. In one of the photos, you'll see a "hot off the press" pair of fingerless gloves crocheted and modeled by one of our "students". Another "student", learning to knit is knitting fingerless gloves. Another made a warm scarflette for her beloved pooch to keep him warm on his winter walks.

On our final class night, we each made a stitch counter. A stitch counter is a handy little gadget. This one can be attached right onto your knitting bag so you'll always know where it is.

For all you knitters out there who use post-it notes to keep track of which row you're on or how many stitches you've done - or worse yet - some of you mess up your beautiful pattern books with lots of tiny scribbles to track stitches and/or rows. This little stitch counter will solve all those messy situations.






The items you'll need on hand to create the stitch counter are:
1 - a 1" loose leaf binder ring
2 - 20 pony beads (I like to use 10 of one color and 10 of a complimenting color.
3 - 2 30" lengths of thin ribbon (thin enough to pass through the beads)
4 - optional - a charm or button to cover the knot on the end.

Method: Double each piece of ribbon and attach each one to the 1" ring with a hitch knot. You will then have 4 15" tails of ribbon hanging from the ring. Two from each piece of ribbon. Thread one color of beads to one of your sets of tails and thread the other color to the other 2 tails.

Thread each bead with a square knot (lay the bead down on the table with the opening on the sides - separate the 2 tails of one of your lengths of ribbon - put the tail on the right through the right side of the bead opening - put the left tail through the left side of the bead hole - pull tails all the way through. One bead is attached. Do the same with each bead of one color til all 10 are threaded down the length of ribbon. Always putting the ribbon length that is on the right, into the right side bead opening and the ribbon on the left into the left bead opening.

When all 10 beads are attached, do the other color the same way. When all 20 beads are strung onto the 2 lengths of doubled ribbon, leave a couple inches for slack so you can move the beads up and down the ribbon for counting purposes. You will tie a an overhand knot here but first thread on your charm or button if you're using one, then knot the 4 ends together under the charm. I leave a little of the tails, like a tassel. Cut off any excess. (see sample in the picture above)

And, voila !!! a handy little stitch counter. Happy knitting.

Our knitting class proved to be a lovely time getting to know each other and learning a new skill too.