The art of knitting and a poncho

Knitting is the art of making garments and items by forming loops from yarn; hand-knitted clothes are as distinctive and beautiful as machine-made knitwear. There are two tools: the knitting needle and the crochet hook. Needles are circular, straight single-pointed or double-pointed, made of steel, aluminium, plastic or wood; the needle number gives its diameter in mm. A hook’s number also gives its diameter in mm; for wool and cotton yarn hooks numbered 2–6 are most often used, and a hook suited to each yarn is chosen. The basic crochet methods are single and double stitches (columns): in the double (ustamali) method the yarn is thrown over the hook as a yarn-over, so the fabric is looser and more delicate, while the single (ustamasiz) method is dense and firm. To widen the item loops are added, to narrow it they are reduced. Gauge is how many stitches and rows fit in a 10 × 10 cm sample: it is the basis for working out the item’s size. Needle and hook tips are sharp: when not working keep them capped or in a box and do not point them at each other.