*waves* Hello. I am new here. Not
entirely new to knitting, but close enough. My grandmother tried to teach me, but knitting was always a lot like chemistry for me- I could sit and absorb information for hours on end, but as soon as I got up? My brain always went 'INFO DUMP' and everything I learned dribbled out my left ear.
I've always gone back to knitting, but I've also always had problems with my wrists and never got very far. I've also go the attention span of a ferret on crack. You can see where this could be a problem. But over the last few months I've had my health issues sorted out (carpal tunnel surgery, and splints out the wazoo) and I'm able to knit again. YAY! I've been on a pretty hardcore kick lately, finishing up a few projects that had been languishing for a couple of years, and looking up simple baby things to knit for my three month old niece, or preemie type things I could knit for the hospital volunteer society. So I've been doing some research and learning LOTS of knew things. Youtube is a godsend. It's always easier for me to learn by watching someone DO the thing I want to learn, than just looking at pictures in a book.
All that said, I've got a problem with a pattern I've been eyeballing for a few months. You can find it
here. It looks like something I could do- an ambitious project, I'm thinking, but not entirely out of my reach, y'know? I have a friend whose baby is due in October, and I'd like to make the newborn version (and the other for my niece, eventually).
My problems:
1) the instructions for turning from the top down the back say 'like a Dutch heel'- which I came across in my research, and that's only done on multiple needles as far as I can tell. Problem being a) I don't know how to do that (but can learn), and b) it doesn't say anything about using dpns in the 'supplies' section, and when I went to check the other patterns to see if this was just something I should know about or if other patterns made specific mentions of using them, they did. And this one doesn't. I had assumed it was to be worked on straight needles because it didn't say otherwise, but what the hell do I know? Thoughts and/or advice? It won't really stand in my way except to confuse me/make me feel dumb/keep me from starting on it tonight.
2) In the same vein, the instructions about picking up stitches on the right needle confuses me. I'm trying to envision how this is going to be worked in my head, and I'm coming up blank at this part. Can someone help clarify this for me?
3) Since it's getting on toward winter, I'd like to make the tighter version, which is apparently done by twisting the YO stitches when purling on the next row. Except... I have no idea what the hell that means or how to do it. (This is what I mean when I say that I need to watch someone do it to know- or at least clearer instructions than were given there). I've tried googling it and all I get is how to do a yarn over (which I already know how to do).
Any help is very much appreciated. <3