The Ink-Pot and the Palette

when i first learned to knit, i remember that the teacher would have us all do stitch pattern swatches. i had a spiral notebook full of swatches. all tied to the spiral with the pattern written on the page next to it.

that really helped me, i think, to pay attention and learn really well what the knit and purl stitches look like (i know a new-ish knitter who still has trouble with that), how cables form and how different stitches affect the finished product. i can't find my damn notebook. i think it got left in mexico when i moved here and was lost at some point (even though i left it in the house my parents still owned at the time)

when i picked up knitting again, i came across a book: "magnificent mittens" and that one had a bunch of different castons and castoffs that i'd never seen and i tried 'em all out (still haven't made any mittens from that book!)

so basically. yes, practice makes perfect! :P