Me, me, me.
OK, my husband wants me to blog about knitting - my wicked new obsession - so here goes. I started knitting in November after taking a class with my mother and sister-in-law and I just 'get it' and love it. It's such a simple thing, using two sticks to pull loops of string through other loops and then hold them in place until you can do it again - and people have been doing this for how long?
I've already gotten completely carried away and have about 4 projects going with another four or so lined up behind those but it's so much fun picking out a yarn and then finding a pattern to try it out on, or finding a pattern and looking for some yarn to suite - and then the unexpected surprise of what actually appears on the needles as the rows start to grow.
I don't know if I'll dig blogging as much but I'll make a solid effort to post pictures of my stuff up here and maybe talk about what I learned on each peice, or what surprised me about the yarn or the pattern
or something completely unrelated like -
did you know Phil Collins is one of the largest collectors of artifacts from the Alamo in the World? That's just too cool for words.
OK, quick blog, I've been asked to post a wishlist of things for my new hobbie, I'm happy to do this for a variety of reasons, not th eleast of which is that I can knit more stuff for other people - 000hhhhh!. I'll revisit this periodically...well because I can.
Yarn - always, any kind, any weight, any color; depending on weight of yarn and lacyness of design 100+ yards can make a great scarf, one ball can often make a hat or fingerless gloves or other items (ask at the store they'll be happy to help);
Needles - straight, circular, anything, I've been using Clover needles but would be thrilled to try other brands just to see how they are, and the really decorative ones look really cool. From what I've read a good knittier can't have too many needles;
Books - I'll keep a list the books I have already here on the site, that's probably easier than listed everything I would be interested in (stitchionaries, pattern books, how-to's, books about knitters, you name it);
Accessories - stitch and row markers always helpful, ball winder and swifts (definitely bigger ticket items but if you bump into used ones anywhere...), although I haven't gotten into crochet or spinning (yet!) anything here not for those specifically would probably be more usefully than I can even imagine at this point;
PATTERNS! - I LOVE knitting, so if you happen to find a pattern for something you would like I would love to try knit it for you, and then one for me while I'm at it!! Lots of free patterns out there, plus lots of not-very-expensive patterns as well.
Good online sources KnitPicks , Ravelry (you'll need to join to get in but its totally worth it), Knitty (at the bottom of the page for a knitting pattern you'll find info on the pattern maker and often a link to their blog, and more patterns!), SweaterBabe , also yarn companies often have patterns on their sites as well - like Malabrigo for example.
OK, enough talk, need to knit...
So I think I'm going to combine posts for a bit, just to move things along. I'll talk about my most recent project and then talk about the very first things I knit. Not necessarily in that order but something like that.
Also I talked about the hat first and that actually wasn't the first project. Our very first thing was to start on a scarf, in a simple garter stich. Lots of simple knitting to start getting the feel of it into your finger tips. I ended up with a funny nubby pink yarn with bits of black in it, which is a bit unusual but I liked it enough to eventually try it in hat form (from Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Caron, I'll get the yarn info posted once I dig it up).
Since I am still learning gauge even now so the hat is a little too big so it doesn't have a lot of shape but at least it doesn't mash my hair flat.
This weekend was a great knitting weekend, we drove down to Durango, CO to ride the Durango-Silverton Train on Saturday http://www.durangotrain.com/, so a 7 hour drive each way with lots of knitting, plus knitting in the hotel room in the evening. On Sunday we got up early again and walked into town (about 4 blocks) and Mikey went back to the depot to take another 1000 pictures of the trains (hopefully some will get posted here http://www.macmann.org and I went back to the beautiful French Bakery Cafe of Jean-Pierre http://www.jeanpierrebakery.com/Cakes.html and had an Apricot Croisant and coffee, and knit for another hour or so before we hooked up with Mikey's folks for brunch - just the best vacation ever!
OK here's a lousy picture of the first hat I ever finished. I'll get a better one uploaded here soon.
We took the class in november some time from The Lamb Shoppe (awesome yarn store in Denver) and they started us on a scarf the first Sunday and started us on a hat the second, then on the third Sunday I think we kind of worked through stuff. And then there was a two week break for the holidays and we drove down to Los Alamos to spend some time with the folks and I knit, and knit, and knit and it was great! I got stuck at one point and we went down to Sante Fe and found a yarn store there The Needle's Eye and she helped get me straightened out and on my way.
Bottom line, I was able to finish my hat for my husband while we were down there! It was very totally wickedly inspiring to actually finish my first project and my darling husband wore it, no kidding, non-stop for about two months.
He's adorable.
Now I think I've finished about 5 hats, 2 scarves with 2 more nearly done and 1 more started, and a cowl, and I've started a small bag from http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTbrownbag.html
