My first try : knitted bowl tutorial!!!

As you know, recently I've started to be addicted to a new craft : knitted bowls!!
They are so easy to knit (trust me when I say so : I'm a self taught knitter) and so colourful....And the result is simply amazing!!! So, why not sharing this knitting idea with you? Follow me!!!

What you'll need:

• 2 acrylic yarn balls in different colours
• a pair of straight knitting needles #7 (=7mm)
• a pair of scissors
• a tapestry needle

You also have to know the following knitting basics, like :

• cast on stitches on the needle
• knit stitch
• slip stitch
• turn and knit short rows
• cast off stitches from the needle
• weave in ends
• mattress stitch seam

The knitting pattern to follow (repeat it 7 times) is:
cast on 15 stitches
row 1 knit all stitches
row 2 slip first stitch, knit 13 stitches, turn
row 3 (5,7,9,11,13,15,17 and 19, that are all short rows) knit all stitches
row 4 slip first stitch, knit 12 stitches, turn
row 6 slip first stich, knit 11 stitches, turn
row 8 slip first stitch, knit 10 stitches, turn
row 10 slip first stitch, knit 9 stitches, turn
row 12 slip first stitch, knit 8 stitches, turn
row 14 slip first stitch, knit 7 stitches, turn
row 16 slip first stitch, knit 6 stitches, turn
row 18 slip first stitch, knit 5 stitches, turn
row 20 slip first stitch, knit 14 stitches

When you work the even rows, this means that you are knitting the external side, from the edge of the bowl to its centre.
When you work the odd rows, this means that you are knitting the inner side, from the centre to the edge of the bowl.

The pattern is completed after row 20, but remember : you have to repeat it other 6 times!!

Please note that you can have a bowl just after knitting 4 "wedges"! So, if you knit some bowls in different sizes (4, 5, 6 and 7 wedges) you will a set of nesting bowls! Nice idea for a gift, right? ;oD

To start the pattern, you have to put a slip knot (is your first stitch) on the needle :

while placing this loop on the needle, tighten it by pulling on both ends of the yarns to form the slip knot :

Now, you are ready to cast on the needle the other 14 stitches (total : 15). I usually follow the method that use the two needles togheter ( knit-stitch cast on method ), because it creates the neatest finish, as you can see:

From this point, follow the given pattern : row 1 knit all 15 stitches

row 2 slip first stitch (insert the tip of the right needle through the front of the loop on the left needle and slide the stitch onto the right needle without working it!), knit 13 stitches and leave the last stitch  on the left needle (without working it) :

Now, bring the yarns ( from back) between the needles to the front

Turn the work and the needles, so that the former left needle is now the right needle and the former right needle is now your left needle! The actual right needle has one stitch on ( the non-knitted one) and the actual left needle has, instead, the 14 knitted stitches (to be correct : 1 slip stitch and 13 knitted stitches!), as you can see in the next pic (note the yarns now are in the back of the work!):

Begin to knit your first short row (row 3) as you normally knit, inserting the tip of your right needle in the first loop of your left needle :

Knit it and you'll have 2 stitches on your right needle :

In the same way, finish to knit all the stitches you have on your 3rd row. Very easy, don't you think? As you can see from the pic below, the 2nd stitch from the right is bumpy (black arrow) because this is where you had to turn your work and to twist your stitch! Look even at the low edge of your work and how it starts to curve (red arrow):

row 4 slip first stitch

and knit the following 12 stitches. This time you will leave 2 stitches on the left needle (and 13 on the right one)

pass both the yarns in the front, between the two needles

Turn the work

You'll have 2 stitches on the right needle and 13 stitches on the left one ! Knit the 13 stitches and you will have :

The above pic shows you what you will have at the end of row 5 : 2 bumps and a more curved low edge.

Continue to follow this repetitive pattern, till you have completed the first 19 rows. From right to left (looking at the right side of the work, or the inside of your future bowl, as you prefer) you'll see:

•  1 stitch never knitted (the first one)
•   9 bumpy stitches (from  2nd to 10th)
•   5 stitches regularly knitted in all rows

On the other side (the outside of our bowl), the view will be the following one :

Knit row 20: slip first stitch,knit all the other 14 stitches. After the 5th stitch, you will encounter different gaps between the last stitches. No worries about that : this happens simply because of the stitches that have experienced the effect of the turn and wrap method! When row 20 is all knitted, you will have something like this:

"outside"

"inside"

OK??? If  "yes", start again to knit the given pattern. If  "no", please re-read the tutorial from the beginning again or contact me!
After knitting row 1 , you'll discover on the external side of the bowl, that the gaps created before with "steps" of stitches not knitted all the times, are now filled in :

And another interesting thing you surely will notice is that in correspondence of that strange filled "row", the work starts to arch and gives you an idea of the bowl curvy shape :

"outside"

Amazing, eh? So you can distinguish a convex side and a concave one!!

The two pictures above show you what happens after knitted the pattern twice. And after that?
Third repetition:

Fifth repetition :

Sixth repetition:

And, eventually(!!!), the end of the 7th repetition of the pattern:

Remember to bind off (knitwise) your work, just after row 20 completed and leave a long tail for the sewing seam ( to do later) :

....and add a nice knitted flower (or another cute embellishment your fantasy suggests you) at the bottom of your bowl...even a cute button...

This is it!!!!!!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and your lovely knitted bowl as your prize! Please let me know how easy/difficult or well/bad explained are the instructions given here! Thank you!!!

Notes :

• about weaving in the ends of the yarns and the mattress stitch seam to sew together the ends of the bowl: I warmly suggest you to refresh this basics on knitting books or You Tube or other sources on internet, thank you!
• about the knitted flower : if you like the one I'm using in this tutorial, please let me know! I have the pattern somewhere in my knitting note book....!!!
• FOUND !!!! You can find the 5 petals knitted flower with a simple click here !!!
• If you desire a stiffened bowl, please check here, here, here, here and here !!!

My Ravelry notes can be found HERE !!!!

Thank you and see you soon, xxxx