My 2007

What a strange year.

A year ago, if you told me that I was about to take up knitting and it would completely take over my life, I really wouldn’t have believed you - not the knitting part and especially not the taking over life bit! I have no idea how or why I caught this bug, I had no idea that other people had it too, but I’m glad it found me. Even my boyfriend has accepted it and bowed to my taking over part of the living room to store books, needles, yarn, multiple projects etc. He also knows that I have lots more hidden upstairs and seems to understand that this is something which just shouldn’t be spoken of ;o)

As well as knitting, 2007 brought lots of emotions with a cancer scare for me; a settling of my arthritis and the medication used; my Dad having cancer, then not having cancer, then having cancer again (confirmed a few days before Christmas); and the death of a much loved pet, to name a few. It also brought some big personal decisions which will be played out over the coming year(s).

But to get back to the knitting…as a child, when I was first taught to knit by my Gran, I was rubbish – totally rubbish. I persevered for a while but eventually gave up and didn’t even think of trying again until March last year. All it took was my Mam to show me how to cast on, knit, purl, cast off and I was away! I experimented, taught myself new things by trial and error, and looked things up on the net when I got really stuck – but essentially, it just clicked. Who could believe that I’d be able to make identifiable things! Who’d have thought I’d be able to not just follow a knitting pattern, but understand it too (more or less)! …and I don’t even want to think about how much money I must have spent on all the kit I seem to have collected.

I’ve really enjoyed reading other people’s knitting blogs too. I am a lurker by nature and do read an awful lot blogs both from the UK and further a field. I should comment more but don’t always have anything to say. Ravelry has been a really great resource too. How did people cope before Ravelry?

Since March, I have made the following things:

• Mobile phone cover – the first thing I knit, completely made up (before I had attempted following a pattern). It’s getting tatty but I love it and use it every day!
  


• Long fuzzy scarf – a beginners must do kind of a thing


• Massive yarn store bag made from scraps – a really terrible looking thing which is hidden away upstairs


• Three sets of chunky hats and scarves, as well as various other hats
  


• Gilet for my Mam - she wears it when I'm around...wonder if she does when I'm not ;o)
  
• Massive chunky cardigan – given to my SIL
  


• Sleeveless top – waiting to be frogged and turned into something nice


• Girlie cable tassel hat and matching leg warmers – made up patterns in my excitement of having taught myself to cable
  


• Chunky cable throw – much appreciated by the recipient, and I hope loved...
  


• Cable hat and matching mits – I think the recipient liked them...
  


• Sweater bag – much loved by the recipient
  


• Two skull illusion scarves and matching hats – again much loved by the recipients even though the hats were a bit big...
  (they deliberately made them look worse for this photo!)
  


• Dog snood - went down very well with my brothers family, especially his dog :o)
  
  
• Camera sock – much loved by me, and made specifically for my camera to my own design
  

And that’s just the stuff I’ve finished! It’s not a bad list and I can really see an improvement with each finished project. Go me! I have one more gift on the needles (and then my PIF gifts) but then I focus on making stuff for **me**!!!

I think that’s about it for now.

Happy New Year!

Pay it forward gift(s)

I'm so excited! I've just had a spark of an idea which has led me to plan what I'm going to be making as my pay it forward gift(s). I'm itching to make a start on it/them but I've got Christmas knitting still to finish so will have to make myself wait for the new year.

I'm not giving any clues as to what I'm going to be making :o)

So far I only have one of my 3 PIF slots filled (thanks Crafty librarian!). That means there are two still open. Any takers??

Garter stitch, stripes, kitchener stitch, perseverance, but mainly stupidity

I did it! I finally managed to graft my garter stitch stripes! I tried to do this sooo many times! Each time failing miserably. I have a bruise on my forehead from where I just slapped myself when I realised what was wrong. It was all my own stupid fault! I had the technique right all along!!

Short answer:
I hadn't taken into account the cast on row. I'd basically cast on then knit two rows of black, two of red etc. Essentially, I had created three initial rows of black instead of two. No wonder it wasn't coming out right!! Curses!!

Long answer: (which will hopefully keep my stupidity at bay next time I need to do this)
This is what I had in front of me, two row high black and red garter stitch stripes. I cast on and started off with two rows of black, carried on red, black etc until the desired length and ended with one row of red - the graft making up the final red row (and I thought I was clever for having working that out!).



I found instructions for how to graft garter stitch and followed them. I got the right set of red double bumps but an extra set of black - I thought that the black bumps should have been on the wrong side, rather than the right side, so tried again. And again. And again... I lost count of the amount of times I tried.

Browsing through the Ravelry forums in despair, someone mentioned that there was a way of cheating at kitchener stitch! Trusty Google came to the rescue and I found these instructions:
http://pinklemontwist.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html (scroll down to Dec 22nd 05). Genius!! How to do kitchener without kitchener(ing).

It was through adding my extra contrasting coloured yarn rows that my mistake was detected. Things just weren't looking right, that extra row of black bobbles was still appearing. That was my d'oh moment. I unpicked the 'extra' cast on row and thing looked a LOT better!!

I still went ahead and tried this technique, even though, technically, following my initial kitchener instructions would now work...

This is how I started, two extra rows at each end of the graft in a contrasting colour.


Then just follow the lead of the contrasting yarn for the weave of the graft. For some reason it felt more comfortable to do this from the wrong side, not sure why as it would have been a similar experience from either side...(although probably better to have done it the other way round so that tention of the stitches was visible).


Completely zipped up.


The zip from the right side...


Unzipping the contrasting yarn all went very smoothly...


And there I have a finished graft...although those ends look a bit daunting...


How glad am I! And how cool is that technique! There was something very satisfying about unzipping that extra yarn and seeing the perfect graft appear. Although next time (next time!!?) I'll have my wits about me so I don't have any pesky extra rows getting in my way, and have a go at proper kitchener (not the cheat version).

...and relax.

I hate grafting

Grafting torments me. I can't do it. I hate not being able to do it. I'm pretty much a self taught knitter and have picked up techniques really well through books and the internet - I've actually been really impressed with myself. But grafting is HARD. It reminds me of pool...I'm a logical person, pool is basically geometry, so why do the balls do the complete opposite of what I thought/wanted them to do? Grafting works the same way...it's just a bunch of loops, so why won't they loop the right way?

I need to graft a small section of the hat I'm making for the boys. I've actually finished one. It took me about a week to do the grafting. Lots of swearing and unpicking and trying again. I tried soooo many times and went to bed with a headache on several evenings. I got to the point where I had a join that was pretty bad but, for sanity's sake, would do. I therefore carried on with the pattern for a few rounds. My boyfriend noticed that I'd given up and started looking at it, he convinced me to have another go (it did look quite bad). At one point he even picked it up and had a go himself! During the England match!! He didn't manage but I got a result in the end...it's not EXACTLY right, but only if you look REALLY closely. So this is the first hat - finished (except for the dreaded ends):


But now I have this in front me:


Two failed attempts so far this evening and a headache to boot.

Did I say I hated grafting?

Magic scarf!!

I'm so excited. I'm making a magic scarf. This technique is genius...

Now you see it:


Now you don't:


I cast on last night and couldn't put it down until I had finished a whole scull. I was mesmerised watching it taking shape. It probably took me twice as long as it should have done because I kept stopping to look at it!! Even my boyfriend thinks it's brilliant...and so he should as it's his kids who are going to be sporting the finished items (a hat and scarf for two boys - the hat won't be magic though).

I was scared that it was going to take me ages to make two scarves...

Finished: Cable Comfort Throw

...or at least my version of it. And when I say finished, I mean it's almost finished, just the ends to work in.

I'm soooo pleased with it, it looks great! Not too big, but not too small - hopefully the perfect size for an eighty year old to snuggle into. Did I say how much I like it?



I enjoyed making it, although it became a bit of a chore towards the end. The yarn has given my fingers a bit of a sheen, but I have had quite an intensive day of working on it.

Pleased to cross it off my list and get on with something else!
(note to self: don't relax until the ends are all finished)

Pressure

I'm starting to feel gift-knitting-pressure! I need to get the cable comfort throw finished before next weekend - preferably this weekend, so I can get on with other stuff. I've been picking at it, but not got that far with the last strip. I've been very focused this evening and have made some headway with it, only two repeat pattern sets to go!!



I've not picked up the sweater bag at all, and I'm desperate to make a start on the skull illusion scarves! Not decided on a pattern for the matching hats yet...but I do know that I'm not going to use dpns but try out the magic loop method. I had a bit of a play the other night and got on fine with it (at least for the few stitches, and few rows that I tried). It's got to be better than using dpns! I've even ordered an addi circular turbo needle for it (why don't Denise interchangeable have 7mm?). I have made half a Santa hat, so there has been some kind of progress...