Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Learning to Knit Cardigan Bands - Deliberate Practice

If you want to develop your skills in any area psychologists suggest using deliberate practice techniques. In a recent class we discussed how to get good at knitting cardigan bands. I suggest a three step approach. Deliberate practice
suggests breaking down the skills required and focusing on improving those skills step by step. As each step is completed it is imperative to analyze what you were successful at and what areas to focus on improving in the future. If you focus on the successes, you build confidence that will keep you moving forward. At the same time you must continually practice your skills at more challenging levels to improve the final results and become an expert. 

Step One

Knit a cardigan with a band that is knit at the same time. Please read this post for details on the most common problem this construction creates.

Step Two

Knit a V neck cardigan with a long continuous band worked on a circular needle. Focus on: making the bottom corners lie at precise right angles, the band laying flat at the turn of the V neckline and the band hugging in the back neck section when worn.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lace-frock


Step Three

Knit a cardigan with a 3 part band. The neck band is worked in one section, the button and buttonhole band is worked after. Focus on: making the bottom and top corners lie at precise right angles, the band laying flat with no flaring or pulling in at each corner and the transition points being in alignment.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-emily-brent-cardigan

I'll be doing future posts about all my tips and tricks for getting cardigan bands right. The one thought I'd like to leave you with at this point, is to please remember, no project is a failure if you use it as a learning opportunity to make the next one better!

If you enjoy reading my blog, I'd really appreciate it if you would tell your knitting friends or share links to your favourite posts online with Twitter or Facebook. Word of mouth is really helping to grow my business as knitters respect the views of other members of our community. Thanks!



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