Starting over...

When my mother-in-law Margaret was visiting us a couple weeks ago, she helped me back up with my itty-bitty mistake (translation: she brilliantly knew where I'd made my mistake, unraveled to the row before the mistake, and picked up the pattern at exactly the right place!), and together we finished my project. We both concluded that the design, from a beginner's knitting book, was most definitely NOT a beginner's design! I bought two buttons to attach (hoping faux pearls on light green yarn will not look too girly for my baby boy), so once someone shows me how to do that (I do have a knitting cousin visiting in a few weeks!), I will finally post pictures! Other than the buttons, I'm done!

As soon as Margaret left, I started another dishcloth all by myself. I felt silly starting a dishcloth after these beautiful booties, but I do really need to practice my beginning skills. I'm almost done this cloth (not getting to it every day...I don't think it would take even ME 2 weeks to knit one dishcloth!), and maybe I'll make a couple more before trying something brave on my own...like a scarf. Kidding. Any suggestions for an easy project that would match newborn booties? I have a lot of yarn left over. OK! Maybe I'll be blogging a bit more often now! :)

Re-learning

Well, it's been so long since I've knitted that my blog is actually quite up to date. April?! Wow. I had brought my itty bitty project to Oregon to have Katrina have a look in May, and somehow it didn't happen. (Hmm--people have lives? You want to actually catch up with your friends when you're visiting? You have a doctoral degree to finish?) I brought the project to Oregon AGAIN when we went for graduation in June, and again, the opportunity never came up to have my mother-in-law help me. I brought it to Calgary in July, and the same thing happened. We were hardly home.

I pretty much decided to start over, since I can't fix it myself (and I'm pretty sure it's unfixable), but I've forgotten how to cast on, knit, purl, decrease and increase, and bind off. Luckily, Katrina sent me her first knitting book: Knitting for Dummies! I'm actually really looking forward to starting over.

And maybe I'll even make an itty bitty thing or two for my own itty bitty one arriving in November! :)

Itty bit backwards

I'm frustrated. I wish I could just do this knitting thing without help from knitting friends and family. Itty bitty #2 is on hold, as I finished the first part of it, and it does not look right. It's hard to blog about it, as it is a gift. I'll have to bring it to Eugene with me in May and see what miracles Katrina can come up with. ;) See?! I want to be the miracle worker! Or not need a miracle in the first place.

Woke up this morning to big fluffy cat scratching away at our bedroom carpet. Time to clip her nails. Perhaps little booties for kitty? I'm sure she'd love that.

Itty bitty!

I started making something teeny tiny and adorable, but I can't post a picture of it because the friend who is receiving this gift might look on this blog. I can't wait for it to be done though! Sooo cute! I'll take its picture and post it after I've given it away. :)

Margaret (my mother-in-law) is here this week, and she taught me how to increase, decrease, cast on more stitches and bind off neatly. Look out, world! Soon I'll be able to make that pot holder!

Silly Dave

It's amazing I got him to pose normally for at least one picture.

Nothing on my needles!

I finished Dave's scarf! I messed up the last row, kind of dropping a stitch (not as simple as that, but the same result), and I'm not very good at binding off. Another thing--how do you make a scarf without it curving into itself? This scarf would make a very nice sweater sleeve. I read the yarn label, and it said no ironing--that's what blocking is, right? Does that mean no blocking? Well, Dave likes it. I'll post a picture of him modelling it later tonight.

Using Katrina's shorthand translation, I'm going to try a pattern for a tea cozy. It's going to be yellow and blue and will require working with two colours at once. Eek! I may need some help along the way!

Acrylic

I have a question: is acrylic yarn really so bad? I was at our glamorous Walmart today, and that's all they have (and cotton). I've been warned against using acrylic yarn--why should we stay away?

I guess I'll have to find a knitting shop (there's one in Des Moines I have yet to visit--another newer shop has closed its doors) to buy a wool blend.

Next project: I'm bound and determined to make something with various colours, so I'm going to start with a pot holder for which I have a pattern (three colours). A simpler project might actually be these newborn booties in the same book. One colour. It's also 1 star (in difficulty) vs. the 2 or 3 the book goes up to. I have a friend to whom these are designated. :)

What next?

I like Katrina's suggestions for projects beyond-the-scarf. I'm going to stay away from blankets for now, as it feels like forever just to knit a scarf. Dave's scarf is still progressing; it's longer and wider than mine though, so it's taking a while. (I'm also back into a symphony set, and if you think reading while you don't play is rude...I can't imagine picking up a knitting project.)

The problem is that I don't know how to do anything but the regular stitches. I know there are great books out there, but I don't really have plans to buy any of them any time soon. ("Hello, Jillian! It's your lecture-document calling!") I like knitting in my down time though, and I'd like to try a fair isle design. I have some very simple patterns (or so they say) in my how-to-knit book (including a tea cozy I'm interested in trying), but I don't know how to read a pattern. A tutorial may be in order.

For now, the scarf is all I have. *Grumble*

Kitty blanket

Fanny is very patient with me posing her for knitting shots. She might like this as a blanket--Dave might have to wait for a scarf.

Working with colours

Things I'm not good at ("yet"):

1) Casting on
2) Binding off
3) Fixing mistakes
4) Working in loose ends

I started making a scarf for Dave today, and I'm working on adding a new skill. Dave's scarf will be dark olive green, and I thought I'd do the ends in blue--same weight/brand wool, different colour. I started with the blue. I thought the casting on went ok, but once I got a few rows down and started a row in green, I could see the cast-on row more clearly. It just doesn't look great. The weirdest thing is that both sides look like a purl side. How does that happen? Now that I'm on with the green, the knitting/purling is looking normal. It's just those first 5 rows. I actually don't mind the way it looks, but I doubt that I'll be able to replicate it on the other side of the scarf. So should I unravel the whole thing and start over, or ignore my mistakes and chalk it up to experience? Just in case the recommendation is to unravel, I haven't detached the first colour yet.

Ideas? Suggestions?

Photos:
1) "Knit" side--notice the blue that looks like the purl side.


2) Knit side close-up


3) Purl side--both colours look like purl


4) Purl side close-up

Finished scarf!

As this was truly my first project (the dishcloth was started a week later and finished a bit earlier, as expected), I am very excited that it looks so good! This is made with an alpaca/merino blend wool, a Christmas present (along with my first pair of needles--6.0mm) from Katrina. I'm not very good at binding off yet. I'll have to have someone watch over me for my next project. I ended up with a large loop at the end, which would probably be very appropriate for a pot holder, but not for a scarf.

All in all, I'm very happy!

Hurrah!

I feel so domestic! I baked banana bread today and finished my first knitting project. Not the scarf (work in progress), but a cotton dishcloth. Ooohhh...I know. Very exciting!