I'm *very* new to knitting and I'm finding it very hard to knit around the kids. They seem to constantly want to talk to me right in the middle of my counting! I end up getting so frustrated with losing track in the middle of counting that I just give up until they go to bed.

Does anyone else run into this or are my children the only ones who know just when to ask why a dog has a penis on the outside and the cats' are on the inside?:rolleyes:

Umm, what are you counting? :p Once you get just a little more experienced, you won't have to keep count of anything that I can think of. You'll just be able to look at what you've done and figure out what to do next. I'm thinking it's probably knits and purls... if so, and you're doing something like k2, p2 ribbing, I'd just go back to the beginning of the row and count off the stitches to figure out what to do next. Someday you'll be able to look at the stitch in the row below to figure it out but it does take a little experience to be able to recognize a k or a p and even after you know what you're doing, it is easier to see it after your third row or so. Good luck!

Jayne.

well I'm having to count the number of stitches on my needle to be certain I'm increasing properly. I go from 40 to 58 stitches in 9 rows so I want to make sure I'm doing it right, kwim? I tend to count each row to make sure I'm not forgetting to add my stitches. I'm also working with that "Fun Fur" yarn so that makes it all the more fun :rolleyes:

Thanks for your advice. I haven't ventured into purls yet but I've got the knit stitch down perfectly:)

D'oh! All different! I just count like you are doing. I'm sure that's no fun with the fun fur though. I've never tried it. I've pretty much only made soakers -- and they don't make fun fur out of wool, maybe they should. :D

Congrats on the knit stitch though!

Jayne.

eta: that's not really true about cats, is it? :eek:

I have seen these bracelets for counting that resemble Tibetan prayer beads...I can't remember where but it was an online knitting shop. Also our local yarn shop sells some kind of peg board thing that looked far more complicated than just counting them. :)

What are you making? I always ask that because it gives me a better idea of what you are doing!

Maybe a stitch marker on your needle every 10 stitches (or every 5 stitches or whatever is appropriate). Then you'd only need to re-count relatively little areas.

I tried making a Barbie coat out of Fun Fur once. If you goober up the stitch count it's almost impossible to rip out or figure out where you went wrong, so I totally sympathize. If you DO drop a stitch, though, it seems like you won't get a ladder from it.

My kids save the truly bizarre questions for when I'm trying to make a lefthand turn into heavy traffic.

:butterfly 4yo dd wanted that smiley

I'm making a cat bed. I got the pattern from the book Stitch n' ***** (thanks for telling me about that book, Tami!!!!) I love this book. It is straight forward and very easy going. I'm very pleased with the patterns as well.

I'll have to look into stitch markers. Are those available in B&M stores?

As far as cat's and their inner penis (LOL), I dunno! They just wanna know why they can see the dog's but they can't see the cats' penises. I'm just glad she didn't ask me this while we were out in public...UGH:)

Thanks for the tips ladies!

Hmmm...if I made my cat a bed out of Fun Fur she'd spend her time trying to eat all the little eyelash-stuff off of it...then she'd be throwing up FunFurballs all over.