4 posts tagged “beginning”

Okay, I have posted in quite awhile. This was meant to be a knitting blog, and I suppose I will keep that all in the same vein...

Since my last post, I have knit:
1 Donkey
1 Corncob
1 Hat
1 Elephant
... I feel like there is more, but that is all I am coming up with at the moment.  To be fair, though, those were all knit during classes, too.  And there's only so much knitting I can do while being in lecture. :)

The donkey was great - I knit it for a knit nativity scene from my last job in Wales.  It is huge.  I am looking forward to giving it to them this year, since I didn't send it off soon enough for the last season.  The yarn for the mane was fantastic - I used some Fun Fur that my friend had.  It really did make all the difference to the hair as it was all furry. :)

The corncob was a great inside joke.  I was impressed I could whip it up so quickly and that it looked so good.  Very fun quick present.  And I had all the yarn which meant it was a lot quicker to knit and I didn't have heaps of extra yarn about.

The hat was a holiday gift for one of my best friends.  She said I never knit her anything just for her, so I made her a hat this year.  :) Very cute, and totally fit her. A Plus. :)

And, the elephant was a wee little thing, but fit in the palm of my hand.  I knit it for my friend Stephanie as a 'Thank You' for letting me and my friend stay at her house for a conference in the area.  Although, I have been really wanting to knit her something for forever, and I was glad to find such a fitting gift for her. :)

I have recently joined a knitting group.  We meet just once a month on Fridays.  It seems as though no one wants to meet more often, but at least we get together at all... It is frustrating, though. I am trying to adjust to a new place, and it seems as though meeting friends is an up hill battle.  Though finding young knitters is definitely tough, too.  The group is made up of women in their mid-late thirties and beyond.  To quote my friend, 'maybe it is time for some intergenerational friendships'.  And yes, it is.  But, it would still be nice to have other young knitters about.

I am currently knitting a pair of socks using some fun yarn.  It's springy.  And I got the yarn (and needles) in Kalamazoo at a cute little knitting shop there.  I am now doing socks on 2 circs.  It's an interesting challenge.  I am also working on a second pair of socks, Monkey Bar Socks, from Wildhorse Farm Designs.  It is a pretty simple pattern.  I do like that it changes the texture of the design a bit.  That's always nice. I am knitting it in grey/black alpaca.  I'm hoping it will be cozy and warm and fantastic.  We'll see. :)

It is cold today and icey.  I heard it would be snowing, but we will just see about that.  I am skeptical.  However, it is so cold that being outdoors is not quite feasible.  And, being indoors gives me cabin fever.  However, I did have a rough week and am hoping to avoid people for a bit - which is easy when you don't know that many people to begin with...

More to come...

It has been a bit since my last post, but I have been busy workin' on my newest sock pair.

I sought out a new pattern, yarn, and needles the other day.  It was decided I would try a pattern with cables down the back of the sock - to be worn with open backed shoes (i.e. sandals!).  The yarn is cotton and has a lovely stripping pattern.

I cast on no less than 5 times.  **5**!!!  It was not good at all.  I fought the urge ever moment to just give up.  To simply toss the cotton aside and go back to the scarves of my knitting youth.  To shed the self-stripping chaos and go back to creating stripes on my own.

I persevered.  And I even knit during graduation last week.  :)  Having stuffed my knitting bag in my sleeve pocket (on a Master's gown it is a lot like a huge pocket hanging down on each sleeve), I had the whole ceremony to knit away at my cabled sock. :)

Having arrived safely in KY yesterday, I spent part of the 5 hour car trip working on the rest of my sock.  It helped move the whole project forward.

I am trying to not give up on this poor sock.  And I am learning to forgive myself when I am off a bit off in the pattern.  Ah, I am learning so much from these socks...

Here are some photos from my first ever pair of socks!  WHEE!  I first cast them on 1 April 2007, and finished them just yesterday, 22 April 2007.  Just 3 weeks!  So exciting!

My other fun activity today was to get a new sock pattern and some fun new yarn.  My LYS didn't have a good selection of sock yarn (so sad), at least, nothing that wasn't $25 for a skein to make one sock.  So, I settled on a ball that promises two socks, for $16.  I thought I would get creative and do a little bit of 2 circ Magic Loop to get the fun new Skillz started.

I found a wonderful looking guide on the net.  When asked by the LYS employee if I wanted the Magic Loop book, I said, "I have the Magic Internet!" so confident in my ability to follow written directions with pictures...

I followed this guide to try knitting on two circs.  When I finished the first round, and was all set to cry with joy, I kept going.  The first stitch fell off - no worries!  I picked it right back up.  And then all the 7 fell off after I was just getting started on round one.  :(  So, I frogged it and started over.

I followed the guide to knitting on  one circ.  Now, I should mention that I got 2 circs - 24" & 32".  Both Addi Turbos (the Cadillac of knitting needles), and both sexy new.  However, the directions both call for longer needles.  One circ is supposed to be about 24" + (she recommends 40").  Ah, how I kept truckin' with the 32".  I got through round 1 of cast on, then 1/2 through round 1 of pattern and just gave up.  It wasn't working. I can admit that...

*sigh*

So, back to the yarn store tomorow.  I feel like DPNs are the only way to go.  I just am not ready yet for the Magic Loop.  It just gave me a Magic Headache.

Meh.

At this moment, this will serve as a knitting blog - a way to connect with other knitters and have a space to be geeky about knitting.  Eventually, it will serve also as a way to connect with people while I am gone this summer - as a way to keep people up to date on what I am doing while I am gone.

The banner is a photo of a pair of mittens I knit. I had not yet fulled them, so you can still see the sitch definition. They turned out quite nicely, a little plain, but it was a good quick pattern. I will soon post a picture of the final mittnes. They are cozy, though I did manage to knit them so late in the season that they didn't get much winter wear (though they were quite nice during the chilly spring, and, in fact, are in my bag now).

Welcome to my blog. :)