Expanding My Repertoire with Nimble Needles

I figured it was time I had taken my knitting skills and knowledge I have learned thus far and apply them to a project that pushes my comfort zone (only a little bit though) beyond the realm of knitted dishcloths. I came across a pattern that intrigued me for a knitted coaster. Also, since I am new to following patterns I appreciated the easy to follow language used in this particular pattern. In the article, Norman even explains that this coaster pattern is great for helping people practice their stitching technique and form.

Cotton Yarn

The pattern recommended using a cotton yarn since it is more “absorbent and durable” than other types of yarn which makes it ideal for coasters. So I went out and bought some cotton yarn to give it a try. I was interested in trying a different type of yarn since I have only used acrylic thus far. I decided to do a basic ‘Stocking Stitch’ with the cotton yarn to get myself used to it before attempting the pattern. Although, this didn’t go as well as I was hoping. In my previous weeks of learning I had read that the finer the yarn the harder it is to control . I found that to be very accurate! The cotton yarn was labeled as medium weight but was definitely thinner than the acrylic yarn. I also found that the cotton yarn, since it has less give to the material, it was harder to work with and easily showed the imperfections. I accepted there would be a learning curve and was up for the challenge but unfortunately the ultimate factor that swayed me to abandon the cotton yarn was the cramps it was causing my hands. I was only able to do a few rows at best before my hands would start aching. Taking this into consideration, I made the decision to switch back to my purple acrylic yarn that is medium weight and easier on my hands to work with. In the future I will definitely try working with cotton yarn again but will maybe try a bulky cotton yarn instead.

My Review

I found the pattern to be easy to follow and was mostly just a mixture of knit and purl stitches. I used knit stitches to create the border which is considered a ‘Garter Stitch’. I then used a combination of knit and purl stitches to create the ‘Stocking Stitch’ in the middle section. All my previous learning and practice from previous weeks came together and helped me tremendously while creating my coaster. Here are a few things I appreciated about learning from Nimble Needles:

• The blog post was broken up into small manageable sections of information which included quite a bit of bullet points
• Provided only the essential information you had to know and if he felt you might need more information on a certain topic he had links to other blog posts that were relevant to that piece. I felt this created a manageable amount of information presented and I didn’t get overwhelmed, which I have with other knitting blogs in previous weeks.
• A nice balance between pictures and text

The only thing this source was lacking was a video explanation, although considering the simplicity of the pattern and my previous experience with knit and purl stitch I didn’t find it detrimental to my learning at all.

Overall, this week’s learning was probably the smoothest I have experienced thus far in my knitting journey. My coaster definitely has some imperfections, as is expected from a beginner project, but I am really proud with how it turned out and I will only improve from here. I greatly enjoyed learning from Nimble Needles and will be using him as a source in the future again.

My Knitted Coaster