Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Christmas Vacation continues

I hope everyone is continuing to enjoy the Christmas season!

I think I mentioned before that I just started knitting, thanks to the videos on youtube. It all started as a fluke, actually. I had bought some fun chunky yarn during the summer that I wanted to crochet into a hat or scarf. I soon found out that it was pretty much impossible to do with the needles I had. I was going to return the yarn, but a neighbor suggested that I try knitting with it instead. I had tried knitting once several years before, found it to be an extremely frustrating experience, and never tried again. However, she lent me some rather large knitting needles, and after watching a video or two on youtube, I was on my way. My first project was a prayer shawl. It was a "practice-only" one, and I found out how VERY easy it is to accidentally add stitches. Thanks to some helpful advice from my brother, however, I soon conquered that problem and was able to make a second prayer shawl, which was actually good enough to give as a gift. I made two more after that, and then a few scarves that I was able to give as Christmas presents.

As a stocking stuffer for myself this year, I bought a pair of circular needles, hoping to start with something simple, like a hat. So far, it looks OK...


(although if either Beth or Julie is looking at this, I can see that the ONE stitch I botched is visible in this picture. Shhhhh!)... but the color is HORRIBLE! I bought this skein of yarn for Christopher's scarecrow costume this year, and it was the only full one that I had in the house. Since it's just for practice anyway, I suppose I can deal with it... although I told my husband that if this really turns out to fit me, I'm going to knit one of those big flowers and put it on the side. Heck, if I have to wear a gold hat, I might as well go all the way, right?

I must say that even though I'm a complete newbie knitter, I'm having a lot of fun. I can knit, purl, and combine the two to do a basketweave pattern.

"Is that all you got, playa?"
Yeah, that's all I got.

As I've been poking around looking at various knitting videos and such, I've found fun things like Threadbangers (remember, I don't have any TV, so I don't have access to channels that people have been watching for years...), an amazing blog called Grosgrain, and more fun inspiring clothing-related blogs like Casey's Elegant Musings and New Dress a Day. Thanks to a wonderful present from my sister-in-law, I have also been introduced to the site Craft hope.

If you have any fun craft sites that you've come across recently, leave a comment and let me know!

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