Quick question about Right side

[pixi stix]

Ok, so I just recently taught myself to knit using the wonderful demos on this site. I hurried out and found a book with some great patterns to try... the problem I am having (don't laugh) is that the patterns start with "work on right side"
*sigh* I am so lost.
Can anyone explain this to me?
Thanks for reading.

Best regards,
Pixi

[AnreeAce]

Welcome to the forum! And congrats on teaching yourself to knit. I never would have learned as much as I have without the videos here.

So, right side and wrong side...

Right side is the public side of your knitting, the outside of your sweater or hat. If you're knitting in stockinette, it's the side with the "v" s on it.

Wrong side is the non-for-public view side, the purl side in stockinette, with the bumps on it.

So, what are you knitting? What book did you get? What yarn are you using?

[pixi stix]

Thanks so much for the information! That is what I thought but just needed a seasoned knitter to reassure me. Most of all thank you for the warm welcome!

Currently I have 3 projects I keep switching between. The first is a hat for my youngest daughter (to match the hat I made for her toy doggy), a handbag worked in a very simple stockinette check, and I am trying to make little swatches of all the stitches in the book I bought.

I got the '365 knitting stitches in a year' book and I LOVE IT!!!! I have a few other books collecting dust because I am so into this little book.
The book is perfect for me because it has enough easy stitches that I am feeling more accomplished in a very short time. A lot of the stitches are just knit purl stitch patterns. However, there are enough intermediate stitches to keep this book active and alive in the knitting basket for a while. The very best part is it stands up on it's own!!

So far I really enjoy the feel and look of plain old cotton yarn best. I sometimes go in and drool over the amazing selections of yarns at this great little yarn shop here but I cannot bring myself to invest the project time and money into nice yarns until my skills progress. But I must confess I do have a tiny stash (8 skeins) of this multi thread mocha colored yarn I intend to make something out of. Mmmmmmm-mocha *sigh* I just had to get it.

I work the 'stitch' swatches in acrylic yarns so they will hold up over time and the springy nature of the yarn seems to be good for hiding my mistakes LOL! Not to mention it is cheap enough that my swatches can be many different colors.

~pixi

[suzeeq]

Ahhh, since this is mainly a stitch pattern book, and not so much an object pattern book, it's telling you that the stitch patterns all begin on the `outside' side of whatever you're making. Naturally, since you want to show off the wonderful pattern.

I taught myself to knit at 14 from a pamphlet my mom had `How to Crochet, Knit, Tat' or whatever the 1950s version was called. You can learn a lot through plain old trial and error.

sue

[knitasha]

Sue--
That's the booklet I learned from, back in the 50's! Published by Coats & Clark, I think. I bought it with my allowance -- it was about fifty cents then. You can still find it on eBay (for considerably more.) I taught myself to knit and crochet from it, but never found tatting particularly compelling.

Pixi Stix --
A couple of suggestions. It's good to learn a variety of stitches, but knitting is about a lot more. You'll learn better and faster if you have a good general reference book at hand. If you want to stay with the small, spiral-bound format, look at "A Knitter's Companion" by Vickie Square. It's got all the basics of shaping, increasing, decreasing, finishing, etc. Great little book. If you want to go for the best and most complete, invest in A Knitter's Handbook by Montse Stanley or Vogue Knitting.

Nothing wrong with cotton; you can do great things with it, but do try wool. You don't have to spend a bundle for good quality: ask your LYS about Cascade 220, Lamb's Pride or Plymouth Galway. Or check the KnitPicks.com catalogue, where we're talking $1.99 a skein for Wool of the Andes. The thing about wool is that it's elastic, so it's more forgiving and your knitting looks much more professional. It's also a pleasure to knit with. You're investing time and effort in learning to knit -- might as well enjoy it!

[suzeeq]

Sue--
That's the booklet I learned from, back in the 50's! Published by Coats & Clark, I think. I bought it with my allowance -- it was about fifty cents then. You can still find it on eBay (for considerably more.) I taught myself to knit and crochet from it, but never found tatting particularly compelling.

Same here. I learned to crochet from it too with my mom's tiny steel hooks. She made doilies and things, was never interested in yarn. Since we didn't have knitting needles around, I swiped a coupla my brother's sticks from his Tinkertoys, sharpened them in the pencil sharpener and practiced with string. Mom saw I was determed and bought some needles (size 5) and some yarn for me.

sue

[pixi stix]

Thank you so much for the information about the yarns and books! I actually eyeballed the vogue knitting and will be looking for the knitters companion book tomorrow when I pick up some wool yarn. I am so excited to finally get some great feedback on what works best. I LOVE this forum!
Thanks again !!
~pixi