Helygen Celli

Some swatches

After months of consideration I signed up for the program Master Hand Knitting (MHK) of The Knitting Guild of America (TKGA) I was in doubt if I should do the Basics first …? After some reading and asking around I jumped right into Level 1. For me this program with knitting samples, researching techniques, answering questions, is a personal challenge to find out and improve my level of knitting.

I started with knitting some swatches, and already did some discoveries. I noticed things I never cared about before, things that can and must be improved. That odd sloppy loop after binding off, the slightly larger stitches at the end of a row, a slightly longer left selfedge. But also that I hardly ever knit flat pieces, or knit with these thick needles and never knit the first stitch. As an avid sock knitting junkie it took me some time to get used to this. Knitting with to small or to large needled made it even more difficult to keep my tension even, my knitting wasn’t relaxing anymore, my arms even started to hurt.

Yarn: Cascade Yarn 220 wool
Cast on: Long tail cast on
Bind off: Traditional bind off
Needles: KnitPro Interchangeable Circular Symphony Wood

What gauge looks best?
Long tail cast 20 stitches, 4 different needle sizes.
I love the way the fabric knitted with US7 looks the most.
I would use US8 if I want a more drapy fabric.

… the knit side

… the purl side

Problem with tension creates loose stitches.
Next job; let’s find out how to fix this problem.

Problem with tension creates ridges on purl side

Problem with bind off … a sloppy loop
Another task to find out; how to prevent or correct this?

Even before I started knitting one of the samples for the program, I would like to do some research to find a solution. Reading on Ravelry on the TKGA forum, browsing my reference books, searching the internet, looking at video’s at YouTube.

Knitting 16 samples, answering 17 questions in correct English knitting a hat as a project. Collect all of them in a binder and send them off to America to get my work judged. Well that take in a few months. The fun is just getting started!

Note to self: install english spellcheck on computer!