Teaching knitting 101 for Penguicon!

Types of needles:  Straight, circular, double pointed

Needle materials: Plastic, metal, wood (usually bamboo, but there are others)

Fiber types: cotton, acrylic, wool, silk, other animal fibers (alpaca, goat, etc)

Terminology: knit, purl, cast on, bind off, frog, 

any lefties?

how to hold needles

Single cast on (page 16 knitting book)

long tail cast on

How to do a Knit stitch

How to do a Purl stitch

How to tell them apart  (K is yarn in back, bump in back.  P is yarn in front, bump in front)

Practice both for a bit (15 min?) 

Frogging

How to read a pattern
(Patterns will have the letter (k/p) and then a number.  You do the letter that many times then do a number.)

Basic patterns
Rib: k2p2 // k3p1  // k1p1 // 
Seed: (multiple of 2) k1p1 // p1k1 // k1p1
basketweave: (multiple of 8  + 4) 1. k4 *p4 k4* 2. p4 *k4 p4* 3 (1). 4 (2). 5 (2) 6. (1) 7. (2) 8. (1).  repeat
diamond stitch
    1. *p1 k7*
    2 and 8 *k1 p5 k1 p1*
    3 and 7 *k2 p1 k3 p1 k1*
    4 and 6 *p2 k1 p1 k1 p3*
    5 *k4 p1 k3*

If time
slipping stitches
k2tog
k1fb

advanced-er patterns:
embossed chevron: 
    1.  *k3 p5 k3 p1*
    2 (all even numbered rows: knit knits, purl purls)
    3. p1 *k3 p3* to last 5, k3 p2
    5. p2 *k3 p1 K3 p5* to last 10 k3 p1 k3 p3
    7. *p3 k5 p3 k1*
    9. k1 *p3 k3* to last 5, p3 k2
    11. k2 *p3 k1 p3 k5* last rep is k3 (not k5)
Repeat