New to patterns :(

[burningfirefly]

Hi everyone, like the title says I am new to patterns and have gotten stuck on one of the directions.

It says to SS 2 rows.

Now I know that means to do stocking stitch (knit one row, pearl one row) but do I do this once or twice? For example, do I knit, pearl and move on or knit, pearl, knit pearl and then move on to next step?

Thanks in advance

[salmonmac]

Only work 2 rows. so that means knit one row and purl the second row. Welcome to knitting patterns and to KH!

[burningfirefly]

Thank you sooo much! I have been googling and wracking my brain trying to work out what they actually meant and my mum isn't a knitter either so she was no help lol.

[suzeeq]

One row is just a single trip across the needles. In more complicated patterns which may have 8 or 12 rows to them, it may say to work 5 rows in pattern, but you only do 5 rows.

[burningfirefly]

Thanks for that tip too! Will help when I advance to more "difficult" patterns LOL. From someone who has only ever knitted scarves to knitting a baby beanie for my bub, I am really starting to enjoy knitting and it's a great pass time then just watching tv when I have a spare 5 mins lol.

[salmonmac]

Much more productive than tv and if you learn something new with every pattern, think how much you'll have accomplished.

[fatoldladyinpjs]

Most patterns have a glossary at the beginning of the pattern where they will explain what the abbreviations mean. Most patterns designers write in standard abbreviations. Every once in a while you'll come across something that's odd, the designer's own shorthand. That doesn't happen too often. Look first to the glossary, if any, for clarification or explanation of a stitch pattern.

Another thing that might help is to go into the free pattern sites of some of the yarn companies like Lion brand yarn or Red Heart. They rate their patterns according to ability: beginner, advanced beginner, intermediate, and advanced. They figure you should know certain techniques in each of those stages, and they gear their patterns toward that. If you don't know how to do something, check out KH's tutorial section at the top of the page, look for a tutorial on Youtube, or ask here. I learned how to be a better knitter by tackling something a little bit harder each time. Some patterns were too hard and I had to set them aside. Don't be afraid to do that. I tackled them again a year or so later only to find that I could do them easily. My skills had improved since then.