Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Bootcamp: Team Thoughts on Knitting Lessons Month Two

Can you believe that we’ve completed more than two full months of Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Bootcamp: Knitting Lessons for Crocheters? On one hand, we can’t believe it at all. It seems like we just started and didn’t even know what types of knitting needles were out there. On the other hand, we can see so much progress and growth that it definitely makes sense that two months have passed. We have learned so much since our Month One Update. So here’s our Month Two Marly Bird Team Update.

Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Bootcamp Month Two Summary

This second month of Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Bootcamp has been all about knitting a sampler stitch cowl in the round. Therefore, we started off learning how to work in the round. We discussed different types of circular needles. Here on the Marly Bird team, we worked with sponsor Prym’s 24″ circular knitting needles. Read our Prym knitting needles review here.

Here were our lessons:

• How to Knit 1×1 Ribbing in the Round
• How to Knit Seed Stitch in the Round
• Double Moss Stitch Plus Extra Credit: Sl1pyb
• Seersucker Stitch and Long Slip Texture Stitch
• Completing our First Knit Cowl with Knitwise Bind Off

Kathryn’s Progress and Thoughts

Kathryn has had a lot of highs and lows throughout Month Two of Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Boot Camp. She started off finding it challenging to begin working with circular needles again. She really likes those straights! Her first attempts at starting the cowl ribbing were a big mess because she kept twisting her needles while she worked. However, she eventually figured it out. The more she’s worked with the circulars, the easier it’s gotten.

That said, she’s WAYYYYY behind on the sampler stitch cowl. She had to start over about two weeks in because that first part was just such a mess. In Week Two of this month (which was Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Bootcamp Lesson 7, she made some adjustments. She shared in that week’s newsletter: “I took Marly’s advice from last week’s live and re-cast on and started with quite a few rounds of knit stitch first. Of course, working knit stitch in the round means the first part of my cowl is stockinette stitch. (The video from our lesson on working in the round explains why repeating knit stitch in rows is garter stitch but in rounds is stockinette.) In any case, once I got enough rounds of stockinette going, I started back on the K1, P1 ribbing. It’s easier now and I’m getting the hang of it. I’m still making some mistakes. I can’t always read my knits and purls on the ribbing so I think sometimes I’m accidentally making seed stitch when I mean to make ribbing, but I’m getting there.

At that point, Kathryn had also decided to cast on to larger knitting needles. The group is work with size 8 but she went all the way up to size 10. She said, “I know from crochet that when something is hard for me it helps to go up a few hook sizes so I can see the stitches better (they aren’t as tight). I figured it would work for knitting as well, and it has.” So, she expected to get caught up with the group.

Switching Gears

However, a series of things (travel, family stuff, a personal loss) happened that made life hard. As a result, she reverted back to soothing stitching rather than working on learning something new. She really believes in the power of yarn to heal. She was happy to discover that she’s at least comfortable enough with the basic knit stitch that she can now practice that in a soothing, meditative healing way.

Therefore, she cast on a wide merino wool scarf. She used big Prym needles (size 10). Then she just knit garter stitch. She knit on the on the plane, in airports and lines and waiting rooms and long car rides. She knit with others and alone. So, she’s loving that she’s able to do that and didn’t have to revery back to crochet for that comfort.

That said, she’s loved seeing everyone’s completed cowls. (Remember to share on Facebook and Instagram with #marlybird #bicraftybootcamp.) This isn’t a race and she’s not too jelly of everyone’s advancing skills. She’s definitely going to get back to this cowl at some point to learn these stitch patterns. However, she’s eager to rejoin the group where we’re all at this month as we begin to make our first knit hat in the round starting this week.

Cryssi’s Progress and Thoughts

Cryssi also found that it took a little bit of adjusting to learn how to work in the round after our first month of knitting in rows. In the first week of this cowl pattern, she had to frog and re-start three times. She, too, found it challenging to keep her work from twisting. However, she said, “once I was really diligent about it and make sure to double check that I could see my purl bumps, things went smoothly!”

By Week Two of this new month, she was really in the swing of things. That was Lesson 7 of Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Bootcamp. In that week’s BiCrafty newsletter, Cryssi shared: “I am so tickled with this week’s homework! I mean, for the first time, I feel like I can do anything! No, seriously! For some reason as I was sitting working on this week’s homework, I literally thought to myself, “I feel like I could make anything I wanted now.” And really, isn’t that the confidence we deserve in life?! In all sincerity, we know both of the stitches in knitting now, we can knit flat, we can knit in the round, everything else is just some combination of all that. As Marly always says, it’s just sticks and yarn. I hope you left this week feeling as confident as I have!

One of the things that Cryssi was really happy about was her decision to work each new stitch pattern in a different color. The result is beautiful. She enjoyed staying caught up with the group. Of course, she incorporated the extra credit. After all, we want to learn as many of these knit stitch patterns as we can! She did fall behind one week due to life events. That’s going to happen to all of us at some point during Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Bootcamp. And that’s totally okay!

Cryssi’s Summary of Thoughts on Month Two

She loved having a multi-week project. At first, it felt intimidating. After all, it’s a bigger task than the quick mug rugs we learned in Month One. However, when it was all said and done, she ended up feeling so accomplished. Cryssi loves that she was able to learn so much. She’s excited to have a finished knit accessory that she can wear this fall and winter. Plus, she’s looking forward to incorporating all of these skills into our future projects.

Month Three Goals for Marly Bird’s BiCrafty Bootcamp

Here we are in June. We’re about to begin Month Three. In this section, we’re going to continue working in the round. However, this time, we’ll be making a hat to complement our first knit cowl. You know what that means – by the end of the month we’ll learn how to knit with DPNs! We are thrilled to start a new project, build upon our new knitting knowledge, and advance in our skills.