The knitting saga, cont.
Or, the big pile of fuzzy stuff.
For a long time I wouldn't knit sweaters. I already have related how I made the old man a vest that was WAAYY too big. I made cardigans for other male relatives that also had the same problem. When I tried sweaters for myself, they came out WAAYY small. Go figure. So I avoided the whole issue and crocheted ripple afghans. (I have since given up all crochet with yarn. I just don't like it.) Just before we went to Germany in 1989, I got bit with the bug to try again. So my mom and I went to a REAL yarn store (NOT LeeWard's, this time) and had the yarn lady help me pick out yarn for two pullovers. This time, total success. One was cotton and one was wool. I love them both and still wear them. Sometime I'll get the camera maniac to take pictures with the fancy new camera. I learned a great lesson. Get the right yarn.
For a long time, though, after this, I didn't knit much at all. I got wound up in counted cross stitch and some quilting. Then, the little pumpkin was coming and I got the urge to knit again. Well, WalMart was the closest yarn supply, and the acrylic stuff worked out okay. But then, I got tempted beyond belief by the Bernat Boa, just down the aisle from the baby stuff.
I bought a couple balls and tried a simple garter stitch scarf. I know, I hate garter stitch, but the fuzzy yarn kind of precluded anything else. It was a disaster. I kept dropping and gaining stitches, and the tinking was a nightmare. Frogging was worse. I eventually was able to pick out the main thread in all the eyelash and then tinking got easier. But I started counting my stitches as I went across each row, because I could then catch my mistakes right away. And I'm not going to tell you which scarf it was, because it's a Christmas gift and I don't want anyone to know who's getting the knitting headache. But after finishing the first, I got more of the Boa to try again, and this one went fine. In fact, I ended up doing a total of four before I got bored with it.
About the same time frame I was looking at the Patternworks catalog and got grabbed by the Eros. I ordered one ball of that and just made up a simple pattern using dropped stitches and YOs. It turned out okay - I'm still not sure what to do with it now - and it was fun, but I doubt I'll ever use anything like that or the novelty yarns again. I've discovered alpaca, and I may never be the same.
The back-easters have all gone home. The kids are back in school. As I was telling Julie, now that I'm stuck with all the cleanup and no baby to play with, I'm in the doldrums. And probably only a couple are coming back for the real holidays, so I've had my big family gathering for the year. Which doesn't help the doldrums. But I'll enjoy reading all my blog friends' stories! So blog away!!
For a long time I wouldn't knit sweaters. I already have related how I made the old man a vest that was WAAYY too big. I made cardigans for other male relatives that also had the same problem. When I tried sweaters for myself, they came out WAAYY small. Go figure. So I avoided the whole issue and crocheted ripple afghans. (I have since given up all crochet with yarn. I just don't like it.) Just before we went to Germany in 1989, I got bit with the bug to try again. So my mom and I went to a REAL yarn store (NOT LeeWard's, this time) and had the yarn lady help me pick out yarn for two pullovers. This time, total success. One was cotton and one was wool. I love them both and still wear them. Sometime I'll get the camera maniac to take pictures with the fancy new camera. I learned a great lesson. Get the right yarn.
For a long time, though, after this, I didn't knit much at all. I got wound up in counted cross stitch and some quilting. Then, the little pumpkin was coming and I got the urge to knit again. Well, WalMart was the closest yarn supply, and the acrylic stuff worked out okay. But then, I got tempted beyond belief by the Bernat Boa, just down the aisle from the baby stuff.
I bought a couple balls and tried a simple garter stitch scarf. I know, I hate garter stitch, but the fuzzy yarn kind of precluded anything else. It was a disaster. I kept dropping and gaining stitches, and the tinking was a nightmare. Frogging was worse. I eventually was able to pick out the main thread in all the eyelash and then tinking got easier. But I started counting my stitches as I went across each row, because I could then catch my mistakes right away. And I'm not going to tell you which scarf it was, because it's a Christmas gift and I don't want anyone to know who's getting the knitting headache. But after finishing the first, I got more of the Boa to try again, and this one went fine. In fact, I ended up doing a total of four before I got bored with it. About the same time frame I was looking at the Patternworks catalog and got grabbed by the Eros. I ordered one ball of that and just made up a simple pattern using dropped stitches and YOs. It turned out okay - I'm still not sure what to do with it now - and it was fun, but I doubt I'll ever use anything like that or the novelty yarns again. I've discovered alpaca, and I may never be the same.The back-easters have all gone home. The kids are back in school. As I was telling Julie, now that I'm stuck with all the cleanup and no baby to play with, I'm in the doldrums. And probably only a couple are coming back for the real holidays, so I've had my big family gathering for the year. Which doesn't help the doldrums. But I'll enjoy reading all my blog friends' stories! So blog away!!
posted by Pat K | 7:16 AM
1 Comments:
Pat - Button - I just made what I wanted in PhotoShop and then made the image way smaller - like 100 pixels across. But I think there was someplace on the knitblog.com site where they made buttons.
Yes - real yarn does make a difference - I'm not a 'wool only' snob - but I've always called that other stuff 'Grandma yarn'....more crafty than anything. It really does make a difference.Although I too have made a few great scarves using WalMart yarn. (I hate that store and don't know why I go in there - they are building TWO super stores in my area this next year and a vow to boycott them both!!)
Post a Comment
<< Home