Screeing Like a Velociraptor Over Learning to Crochet

ah yes, skyknit! there's a crochet version as well but apparently crochet patterns tend to have features that make the neural net think they should go on l i t e r a l l y f o r e v e r

I have skyknit in my ravelry library I should actually look at it. But i'm not honestly very good at the mathematical bit of knitting and crochet. I tend to just let other people do that bit for me and then follow their patterns.

 

I need to figure out my web cam so that I can inflict the horror that is my first pot holder. (second is coming a little more easily though the edges are still lumpy and weird. Next: how do I stripes?

 

basic procedure:
-stick hoop through stitch, wrap and pull through like normal
-get the new colour of yarn and use THAT to complete the last step of the stitch
-continue with new colour of yarn

 

I was inspired to try kittening again.



I think it’s supposed to be the nose, but looks more like some ungodly cross between a rat’s nest and a hat for my middle finger.

 

looks pretty good to me
all early crochet (and knitting) looks like that quite frankly
or at least mine does

 

Do I need to knot the new bit of yarn to the old one?

 

you don't have to, and generally speaking knots will show up and look weird in the finished piece unless you're working in the round and can put them on the inside, but if you don't you might find it difficult to keep tension as the last bit of old colour and first bit of new colour will be looser. you might want to loosely knot in a way you can unknot and weave in later until you get the hang of it? or try twisting them together.
I wouldn't carry the unused colour over more than a couple of stitches either or it'll look weird, you unfortunately generally do need to cut and leave an end to weave in later. ask me about the piano keyboard scarf i crocheted for a christmas present and how many ends i had to weave in. a s k m e

 

Behold the first potholder! How do I tell rows. And do I count stitches by the little v marks?

 

Something somewhere has gone terribly wrong.

 

OKAY i managed to get the example photos done!

Spoiler: under spoiler for pics

This is the top row of working stitches! There are ten, with the extra one on the right end being a chain stitch i threw on to keep the hook out of the way. Each red line delineates the start and end of a stitch; each green line is supposed at least to be showing the loop that the stitch is made up of.


This is one side of the work! I think this is the right side, since you have more of the attractive loopy sides of the stitches showing, BUT don't quote me on that because I am notoriously bad at telling the right and wrong sides of crochet. As far as I'm concerned, if you're doing a one-sided work like a stuffie, the right side (i.e. the side that's going to be showing) is whichever side you think looks best. Anyway. There are three rows here, delineated by the red lines; the green lines are indicating stitches.


The other side! Again, three rows, delineated by red lines. I left the green lines off this time but I can add them if you like.

I hope they're at least a little bit useful.
@OtherCat that looks pretty good for a first effort! The stitches are pretty nice and even!

@vegacoyote
Oops. Are you working in the round? Looks like you maaaybe joined across the circle rather than working in a spiral...?

 

Yeah, I’m working in the round, and suspect I must have either skipped or repeated a bunch of steps while I was flipping back and forth in the book between the pattern instructions, the glossary that translated all the abbreviations used by the instructions, and the instructions on performing the stitches the abbreviations stand for, which were all at opposite ends of the book. It is not an ideal arrangement IMO.

... I have made crochet critters before, but never used any kind of pattern to do it. Just intuitively made little knot-lions and bison and chickens, didn’t bother with any of this language for communicating with past or future crocheters. I’m thinking I might just go intuitive with what I’ve got now, and start over the rest with some new yarn. Maybe go back to the instructions and do all the stitches in the order they’re given until I remember the damn things, then try the kitty again.

What do you guys think about bright yellow and electric blue for that Birman pattern?

 

i love it so much

 

Here’s what all the stitches in the book looks like so far:



Had to get creative with increases and decreases, otherwise I’d’ve either run on or run out. This is an attempt at a pattern of two increases, then two decreases, but who knows what my ADHD ass ended up actually making.

BTW, I figured out what I was doing wrong on the kitty face. It was telling me to do increases, and I didn’t know wtf it was talking about, so the whole thing just went screwy.

 

I went ahead and laced together that stitch practice piece at the ends.



I’m thinking maybe it’ll make a nice lacy collar for the toy dog I made my niece for Christmas.

I started the Birman kitten pattern over again. It went like so:



Note that the hat no longer fits my middle finger. But all in all, I thought, it didn’t look too bad.

That came later.



Defs something going screwy here. (Not too much mystery what this time. I got increases figured out; it’s just that I can’t fukkin count.)

Thinking on it, I probably should also have finished reading the directions for crocheting in the round.



Behold: A cat!

 

I missed the crochet video due to Unforeseen Lack of Connection so I ended up making another potholder with crooked edges. However, I do think I figured out stripes, though the beginning involved me doing something stupid where I would knot and start over with the new string because I couldn'tfigure out how to switch to the new string neatly without there being some huge mega stitch. (I will show later.)

 

I finished a lumpy kitty!



I am now out of the white and rust yarn that came with the kit. As you can see, I ran out of rust before I ran out of white, and had to swap out a couple of feet with bright orange.

Speaking of bright, here is the new yarn I got:



It pretty.

Oh also, I realized yesterday, I could totally use the skills I picked up making this kitty to make lumpy new gloves, and I was like, whoa.

 

i lov lumpy kitty