For centuries, knitting has been a cherished skill passed down through generations. It’s not only a practical craft but also a creative endeavor, an exercise in patience, and even a form of therapy. If you are interested in picking up this rewarding hobby, here is a step-by-step guide to help you learn to knit.

An Introduction to Knitting

Knitting is a method used to create fabric from yarn or thread. It involves creating loops, known as stitches, and securing them in a row. Two basic stitches, the knit and the purl, are the foundation for every knitting pattern. If you can master these two stitches, you can knit just about anything.

Essential Tools for Knitting

Your knitting adventure begins with gathering the required tools. The essential knitting tools include a pair of knitting needles, a crochet hook, a tapestry needle, a pair of scissors, and of course, the knitting yarn. Of all knitting resources, the most important is your yarn. It determines the look and feel of your final product. It’s essential to find high-quality, resilient yarn. A fantastic place to explore diverse and quality yarn is knitting yarn Australia. With its wide range of wools and fibers, it is an Aussie knitter’s haven.

Choose Your Knitting Yarn and Needles

Different projects require different types of yarn and needles. For beginners, it’s advised to start with thicker yarn and larger needles, as they’re easier to manage. As for the needles, you can choose between straight, circular, or double-pointed ones depending on your project. Consider the material too – bamboo or wooden needles make it harder for stitches to slip off compared to metal needles.

How to Start: Make a Slipknot

The first step in any knitting project is making a slipknot on the needle. To do this, make a circle with the yarn, then pull the end of the yarn through the circle, forming a loop with a knot. Insert your knitting needle into this loop, and you’re ready to start knitting!

Your First Stitch: The Knit Stitch

Hold the needle with the slipknot in your left hand, and your other needle in your right hand. Insert the right-hand needle into the loop on the left-hand needle, from left to right. Wrap the yarn around the right needle, then pull it through the loop to form your first knit stitch.

Your Second Stitch: The Purl Stitch

After mastering knitting stitch, the next technique is the purl stitch. Hold the needle with the knit stitches in your left hand. With your right hand, bring the yarn in front of the left-hand needle. Insert the right-hand needle from the right into the first loop on the left-hand needle. Wrap yarn around the right-hand needle and draw it through the loop. Slide the old loop off the left-hand needle, and you have a purl stitch!

Practice and Progress

As with any new skill, practice is key to becoming proficient. Start with small projects like a scarf or dishcloth and gradually attend to more complex things like a sweater or blanket. With consistent practice, you’ll soon be able to interpret and execute complex designs and patterns.

Conclusion

Knitting is not just about creating objects; it’s about making something useful with your own two hands, stitch by stitch. The joy coming from each completed project with a personal touch, and the therapeutic rhythm of your knitting needles clicking together, makes learning to knit a rewarding experience.

By Stan Goldberg

A client who was dying once said to me, Every day I feel as if Im on one of those exercise boards that rest on a ball. Just when I steady the damn thing, it starts moving and Im struggling again to balance myself. Why dont people realize thats what my life has become?

Ive heard similar descriptions for thirty years from clients and patients living with chronic and terminal illnesses. Many believed that not only did they have to deal with the effects of their illness, but also the unskillful acts of friends and loved ones who didnt understand what they were experiencing. And thats the purpose of this article: to explain it.

Theres a constant interaction of elements that contributes to mood unpredictability in people with chronic and terminal illnesses. From my experience, the most critical ones appear to be a lack of control, loss, physical effects of the illness or medication, and uncertainty.

THE ELEMENTS

LACK OF CONTROL

Imagine for a moment that your attitude about living is heavily shaped by people, objects, and activities. It could be an abusive boss, a landlord intent on evicting you, or a car that constantly breaks down. While oppressive, you could act. You could move on to another job, find a new apartment, or use public transportation.

But what if none of these choices resulted in acceptable consequences? If you quit work, you might not find another job in this economy. If you gave up your apartment, you might become homeless. If you couldnt afford to repair or replace your car and there was no public transportation available, youd be stuck in your neighborhood. A lack of control would, at the very least, make you disagreeable.

People who live with chronic or terminal illnesses constantly experience a lack of control. If I have an advanced case of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), I know that without proper medication and the constant use of oxygen Ill die. On one side of the scale is death. On the other, the side effects of the medication, minimal movement, and oxygen. No contest. Ill choose the medical protocolnot because its something I desirebut rather because its something more acceptable than the alternative.

LOSS

The feeling of losing something that gave your life meaning is profoundly upsetting. And it happens often with chronic and terminal illnesses. Unfortunately, the magnitude of loss is often thought of in terms of someone elses sense of whats important. An active person might think that no longer being able to walk is tragic, but the inability to knit is inconsequential. Yet for someone with rheumatoid arthritis whose entire life centered around knitting, the loss is devastating. Many chronic and most terminal illnesses result in life-changing losses. The ability to knit may disappear, but its memory is constantly present.

PHYSICAL EFFECTS

We think with our minds, not our bodies. But we know the relationship between mind and body is strong. In my hospice work, Ive watched how the physical effects of a tumor changed a calm, peaceful man into a paranoid, aggressive person. While he sometimes understood that the cancer was changing him, during those lucid moments he realized that he had no control over what was happening to him. The ability to think and act rationally can be effected by changes in metabolism and the occurrence of pain. Ive never had a client or patient who chose to be moody or act irrationally. There always appeared to be a cause. And often it was a physical change.

UNCERTAINTY

Most of us want predictability in our lives. If I buy an apple tomorrow I expect that it will taste similar to the one I ate yesterday. When the traffic light turns green for me, I expect cars to my left and right to stop so I can go through the intersection without being hit. But what if that apple I had yesterday tastes like an onion today or it became optional for anyone facing a red light to wait until it turned green? I could stop eating apples and wait until no cars were present before going through a green light. But what if the unpredictability spread into other areas of my life? My anxiety would become palpable. We may want some uncertainty and a bit of spontaneity to spice up our lives, but its predictability that allows us to function sanely on a daily basis.

For many people with chronic or terminal illnesses, predictability may be an illusive state of being. One day, the illness is controlled either by medication or who knows what, the next day it comes on with the power of a sledgehammer. On good days, although theres jubilation, theres also the fear that the reprieve will end. On bad days, theres the fear that it will persist and never relent. Wondering if the pain will ever stop might make it difficult for someone to be supportive when a friend complains how his wife never lets him choose the movie theyre going to.

For someone with a terminal illness, there is certainty, but its not desirable: theres the knowledge that the illness will continually progress. The uncertainty involves the course it will take. People with terminal illnesses often wonder how much pain they will have to endure or the extent of reduced abilities until the body just gives up.

THE INTERACTION

It is difficult to prevent the effects of any one of the above elements from having a negative impact on relationships. Living with all of the elements, and quite often having to deal with them simultaneously, is mind-boggling. Experiencing chronic and terminal illnesses is not a static event. Its constantly changing as each of the elements takes its turn effecting ones mind and personality.

Some very wise people maintain that illness doesnt necessarily have to control the mind. By understanding that pain and suffering arent internal, but rather our reaction to events, the effects of chronic and terminal illnesses can be reduced or eliminated. As a Buddhist for most of my adult life, I would like to believe that. But as someone who has been involved in the lives of people who have chronic and terminal illnesses, I know the difficulty in believing in a concept when all you can think about is the loss of something that was critical to your happiness, unrelenting pain, or a future envisioned, but unobtainable.

What I have found thats comforting to people I serve, is the expression of acceptance and compassion for what they are experiencing. The anger and sarcasm vented in my presence is rarely about something I have done (I certainly hope not!). But rather, its the effects of trying to balance that board on top of the ball. As a monk once said to me, We do the best we can, given the circumstances of our lives. So when someone you know who has a chronic or terminal illness appears to be cranky, unappreciative, aggressive, or distant, its not about you. The balance is probably out-of-wack.

About the Author:

Stan Goldberg, Ph.D.

. author of 6 books,100’s articles on end-of-life, grieving, and the recovery of joy. His book,

Lessons for the Living

was awarded the 2009 Best New International Book at the London Book Festival and an excerpt was the lead chapter in McClead’s Best Buddhist Writings of 2010.

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=629071&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet

When you are doing a longer projects circular crochet hooks are widely used when compared to smaller ones. However, it also uses two or more colors of yarn or thread.

Generally , no matter what type of project you are doing there will be different ways for you to figure out your gauge for the hook size and exactlly what type of yarn style that you would like to use. Another type of hooks is called the double point needles ,they are available in a variety of beutiful different types of woods such as Rosewood, Ebony, Bamboo, other woods.

These hooks were producted in Germany from scrap wood salvaged from a piano manufacturer, these crochet hooks are just gorgeous. They are wonderful to work with. There is another style of crochet hooks which made for the middle-class market. The needles were made of steel and the handles were made of iron wire and then they were painted black to prevent rust.

There is still another type of hooks that come with a hook on both the top as well as the bottom.! Yes they are for what’s called “cro-hooking”, “cro-knit” or more recently “crochet-on-the-double”. These double ended crochet hooks are just perfect for picking up stitches. You have quite a bit of size to work with here with he double ends The middle sections of the double hooked crochet hooks are turned on a lathe. They are done in different shapes. The tip portion is made of horn.

Typical materials for crochet hooks wood, plastic, casein , or aluminum. Historical examples also include bone, steel, porcupine quill, celluloid, agate, ivory, and fossilized mammoth ivory.

There are steel, plastic, aluminum, wood and even bone hooks. For different types there are different pluses and minuses, but the real reason you should choose a type is because it feels good to you. Another common style is to hold the hooks like a pencil. Again, the large diameter of the handle lets her hold the hook loosely with less bending of the fingers.

Crochet hooks range in size from 2-16 mm and have different sizing systems, not only between the US and Britain, but also between various manufacturers. Extra care is needed when choosing crochet hooks because some systems have the lowest sizes corresponding to the largest diameter, while other systems have the lowest sizes corresponding to the smallest diameter.. These are colorful clear, glass-like, plastic hooks.

The hook portion is finely sculpted to a form designed. The deep rounded gullet and gentle curves are designed for smooth operation. Some people use the wooden single crochet hooks only as a collectors item now. They come in a wide variety of designs and craftsmanship and some can be actually quite decorative.

An inline hook is designed so the hook end is exactly in line with the shaft, and the hook on the end of the shaft is more flat. If you’re new to crocheting, experiment with all the hooks available to see which is most comfortable for you. There is a factory that is specialized in producing series of pins included crochet hook.

Article Source: sooperarticles.com/hobbies-articles/craft-articles/what-different-types-crochet-hooks-12183.html

About Author:

We plan to post more articles about crocheting. We want to help the newbie in this craft to get started. Check our site for more information howtocrochetguide.comAuthor: Doris Canova

Choose the right little black dress with an open back halter top

by

regina848leich

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Choose the right little black dress with an open back halter top