Monday, June 4, 2012

My Knitting Story




This year, I have rekindled a love of knitting. It started in the winter when I would watch big snowflakes float down through my third story window. I wanted something to keep my hands busy so I could just sit there, watching. Knitting was the perfect answer. Turns out, I'm still knitting even in this summer-like weather.

My neighbor taught me how to knit probably ten years ago. I made a lot of scarves, washcloths, rectangular-shaped whatevers. A few years in, a different friend taught me how to purl. This kept things interesting for a little while longer until I just got tired of knitting everything in 2D. This year, however, I got myself a pair of double-pointed needles and I felt like a whole new world had been opened up to me.

My first project was a pair of socks. With the help of youtube, my attempt was mostly successful. I even learned a lot about knitting patterns in the process, so when I see "kfb" or "k2tog" I'm no longer intimidated.

My next move was to check out the book More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts (highly recommended) from the library which is where I started making coffee-cup sleeves. Although I don't think they're the most practical project (in the "I'm saving the earth!" sense), they're pretty simple and fun to make. So once I got the hang of them, I got the idea to put my own little spin on the design and make a couple to enter the Martha Stewart knitting contest. I called my project, "To have and to hold coffee-cup sleeves," and had my photographer friend (and also husband to fellow lemondrop contributor), Karl, take pretty pictures of them. Which he did (as you can see). Unfortunately the contest closed a few months back and I'm still waiting to see who the winners are.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with yarn. Do you have a knitting story? Have you ever tried a class or watched youtube videos to help you out? I'm excited to see where my knitting story takes me next!

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