Sunday, June 28, 2009

knit a ruana and pattern

The process of knitting has three basic tasks: (1) the active (unsecured) stitches must be held so they don't drop; (2) these stitches must be released sometime after they are secured; and (3) new bights of yarn must be passed through the fabric, usually through active stitches, thus securing them. As we know, all knitted fabrics are made using two basic stitches, knit and purl.

Since the craft is quite simple, it caught on and spread to other cultures rather quickly. All knitting instructions use basically two stitches, the knit stitch and the purl stitch. It is a very simple stitch and usually worked over a multiple of four stitches with two extra.

All you need to start knitting are knitting needles, yarn and good patterns or instructions. You can opt to learn from an individual locally, but this can cost quite a bit of time and money. Such needles are usually 10-16 inches long but, due to the compressibility of knitted fabrics, may be used to knit pieces significantly wider.

Good luck with your knitting. So, if you want to slow down, and find meaning in your life again, try knitting.

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