Knitting!

I am trying my hand at this "knitting" thing, after getting a whole bunch of helpful suggestions from friends. My stepmother tried to teach me how to do it when I was a teenager, but I still much preferred crocheting at that time so didn't pay much attention. Some of it is coming back, albeit slowly....

With the Joann's 50% coupon (I love those things), I got a set of 10 / 10.5 needles -- about the size of the pens I use. I have a bunch of yarn, and since I was only planning on making samplers (i.e. keep to the basic stitches until I get a feel), I didn't feel like buying more yarn. I had some worseted weight wool blend, so I opted for that.

After learning how to do the long tail cast-on (relatively simple), I frogged my first two attempts.
1) I cast on too many stitches for the length of the needle. Hah! I'm not used to having to do that.
2) Somehow I was increasing my stitches without realizing it (so then I practiced decreasing which is similar to crocheting, then unraveled the whole thing)

The 3rd attempt actually is looking half-decent. I'm managing to keep the stitch count within +2 of my original stitch count, and I think I've figured out how I'm increasing the stitches without meaning to do so. But, decreasing is relatively easy, so I just do that if I find that I've accidently increased again.

Also, I'm finding the Continental form of knitting is a lot easier for me to cycle through, since I can hold the working yarn in my left, much like crocheting, and it seems more efficient overall. But, my tension is better using the English/American method.

So, I'll keep at this one, until it's about scarf length -- a combination of a regular knit stitch, elongated stitch, and purls. I just want the practice of actually doing said stitches. Since I'm going to have to learn how to read knitting patterns, I figured this would be easier than trying to learn multiple things at the same time.