CSM - Lesson #3

In this lesson you learn how to make a set up bonnet for the CSM. What exactly is a set up bonnet? And why do you need one? A set up bonnet is like casting on (or making a foundation chain) for the CSM. It gives the needles a foundation upon which to build. Just like casting on does for knitting......or building a foundation chain does for crochet. Makes sense. While you can start a project without a foundation upon which to build it just makes things easier.....and that is always nice.    :)

With learning how to make a set up bonnet comes the acquisition of some new skills. You get to learn how to make picots and how to do a hang hem.  My first attempt at this was last night (the smaller one with the cylinder size on it). I did pretty good although I found it a bit challenging to move a stitch from one needle to the next. Felt like I was all thumbs! It went much easier the second time though. A light bulb went off and I finally caught on to what I was doing. Sometimes the simplest things stump me at times.    :) 

  Once I accomplished that then I had to find my beginning tail for my working yarn and bring it up. The idea behind this is that it brings up the first row of your working yarn making it easy to pick up stitches and place them on the needles. Okay, for some reason it didn't sink in that I needed to pick up the purl bumps of my working yarn from the first row. For some reason I picked them up from the second row instead. Duh!!!! I discovered this when I went to finish the hem and wondered why my knitting was unraveling. If I had picked up the first row it would have essentially locked all those stitches in place giving you a smooth transition from the hang hem to the rest of the piece. Something I learned with my second attempt. You can see the difference in the photo below. 

The second bonnet turned out longer because I wanted to use up the rest of my yarn. I like the tension on the first one a bit better. It's not as loose as the tension on the second one. Overall I'm real pleased with how I did on both. I even used my first set up bonnet to make the second one ( reason you can see some of the stitches sticking up on it). Worked beautifully! Now I'm ready to move onto lesson #4.......learning how to make an advanced set up bonnet and learning even more new skills in the process. Sounds like I should buy some more practice yarn!   :)