Briefly

Hello, neglected readers, I am making the most of my time between terms.  I am caught up on photo albums up to Christmas and have been knitting up a storm, and I have questions for the knitters out there.  I am finishing up a child's V-neck cardigan, and I need to add the front band.  If I do one long strip of K1P1 (up from the bottom left, around the neck, and back down the right side), will it work?  Will it have the elasticity to go up the V?  It's a pretty gentle V but I'd hate to make a hash of it in the finishing stage. 

Second, do you have a favorite top-down sock pattern, sized for a child?  I am astonished at the variety of online sock patterns, not a one of which says, "Here! Knit me! I am straightforward and pretty."  I am using fingering weight yarn on size 2 dpns, and yes I do know it's a little unusual to start knitting your sock and then find a pattern.

Third, what's a beginning knitter?  I was in my neighborhood yarn store talking to the owner about buying a little gift for a friend.  She said, "Is your friend a beginner too?" at which I opened and closed my mouth in a fetching fish-like fashion.  I don't have a truckload of knitting experience, but I didn't think I was exactly a beginner.  I taught myself to knit in 1985, so if I'm still a beginner that's a little discouraging.  What say you?  Years of experience?  Fearlessness in the face of funky patterns?  Quality of the finished product? Size of the yarn stash?  What earns a knitter her "no-longer-a-newbie" label?