{Frustration}

What you see here is the beginning of my Haruni, only with a stockinette body instead of a lace one.  I saw a project like this on Ravelry and really liked it, so decided I would do it this way.  But, after hours of knitting I've got about 100 stitches on the needles and it's still MINISCULE.  How many stitches is this going to be by the time it gets to be the right size???

Should I frog it and try with bigger yarn?  The pattern calls for fingering and technically this Malabrigo is Light Fingers, but still.  Maybe use larger needles? I'm on 4's and I like how it looks.  I have no idea.  What do you guys think?

{Post 200 - How Far I've Come}

This is my 200th post.  I just want to take a moment to bask in how incredible that seems to me.... .... .... okay I'm done.   Moving on.

I'm so excited to be featured on Molto Di Moda Designs Helpful Hints! Welcome to her readers!  

So.. I present to you...

How To Learn To Knit

 

Step 1 - Ask Someone!

If you know someone who knits, this is the easiest and probably most preferable method of learning - being shown in person. Even if you just know them casually, like at work, or you know someone whose Aunt knits, don't be shy!  We knitters love the proliferation of our craft and I'm sure they'd be plenty happy to show you the basics, step you through and answer questions.

Or Learn Online

The second best way, and the way I taught myself the majority of knitting, is through online tutorials.  Knittinghelp.com is one of the best resources that the web has to offer to beginning knitters.  It's totally free and she's got tons of videos showing most of the basic skills.  It takes patience and you may have to stop and start the videos 10 times to understand what you're seeing, but hang in there! It's worth it!

 www.knittinghelp.com

If you go this route, you'll get to choose how you want to knit: English style or Continental style.   Try them both and see if one of them feels more comfy for you!  I'm an English knitter myself. 

Step 2 - Buying Materials

Either way, you'll need to purchase a few materials: a set of knitting needles and some yarn.  For starter needles the size isn't important, but a medium sized 8 or 9 may be best, and about 10" will be fine.  The material you choose for your first needles may take some thought. Metal is the most common and come in a lot of fun colours, but for beginners they may tend to be more slippery than you would like.  My suggestion is to go with wood. 

Ooooo... purdy...

 Wood knitting needles are going to keep a little big of drag on your stitches so they are less likely just to slip out by accident. These are from KnitPicks.com (one of my favorite online sites for buying all knitting related goodies).


For yarn, pick something inexpensive that you won't feel too bad about butchering! A pretty colour that inspires you is a must.  Knit Picks has a ton of fun stuff to choose from so if you follow my advice and get size 8 wooden needles, pick up some worsted (medium) weight yarn while you're there.

Step 3 - Picking a First Pattern

Get ready to try a pattern! My suggestion for a first pattern would be a dishcloth.  It's the same shape as a scarf, but a ton shorter and in the end you have something functional!   Just cast on however many stitches you want, knit every row back and forth until it's a square (or rectangle, or whatever) and then cast off.   When you feel like a challenge try this cloth:

 Groovy Mom's Website - free pattern

This one is knit from corner to corner and you'll use a few more basic skills like increasing and decreasing.  Look to knittinghelp.com for videos.    Oh and make sure you buy 100% cotton  so you can wash and dry your clothes. Lily's Sugar N' Cream is a tried tested and true yarn that can be found at Micheals, or Walmart for around $1.50 and you should be able to get two dishclothes from it.  There are tons of colours to choose from too! This one looks cute with my blog, doesn't it? ;)

Step 4- Enjoy!

That's about it! Once you know how to cast on, knit, purl, increase, decrease, and cast off, you're pretty much ready to go!  Just about every knitting pattern out there is a combination of those skills.  Have fun!!

Come check me out at www.Ravelry.com ! It's an online knitting and crochet community where you can keep track of your Yarn Stash, there are tons of free (or not) patterns, participate in the community forums and tons tons more!  My name there is Nalamienea - search for me and add me as a friend! I'll be happy to try to answer any questions you may have, or I can find an answer for you.

In the end, you may just have a found a new   relaxing wonderful hobby   Stress Reliever!  :P

{An Update}

My Modern Log Cabin Blanket is coming along well.  I got to spend a couple hours in the car yetserday working on it.  I hate how you can't really see the colours, but it's a white, light purple, dark purple and a taupe colour.  Next will be a big band of white along the long edge at the top of the photo.

In other news, the next post I make will be my 200th post, and I'm wondering if I need to be doing something special for it.  I really would love to thank everyone for reading my blog!  I love that I've made some friends (both local and afar) and I love being a part of the knitting community online.  I learn something new every day!    It's not even my 1 year bloggoversary yet though, so maybe I'll save any celebration for then?

{I Am Obsessed.}

So I've got all this BEAUTIFUL new yarn, and I've been absolutely paralyzed trying to pick a project to start.  And surprisingly, my problem is not that I have so many things I want to start on that I can't decide, it's that I can't find ONE single pattern that just calls to me to knit it right this second.

Here's my deal:  The yarn is just soooooo beautiful that I'm scared if I cast on the wrong project that I'll ruin it and my life as a knitter will be over. (yes, it sounds that dramatic in my head, too. lol)  The yarns are mostly merino wool, some alpaca and silk blended in, and all fairly light weight compared what I normally buy.  I've got some lace, some fingering and a little bit of sport weight.  So what does one knit with these? Well.. sweaters, socks, hats, gloves, shawls ... these all sound lovely, right? Except it's freaking 90 degrees outside right now!  I'm definitely not wearing hats, gloves, sweater, or even socks, and for some reason the shawls haven't called to me.  I really need to find a lace pattern that draws me in to want to knit it, I guess.  I still haven't knit one row lace, either, just two row (with the purl row in between.  the other kind scares me.)

I've been inspired to knit pretty lacy summery tops that almost all call for cotton or hemp or bamboo and are almost entirely dk weight or above.  What's up with this?  Please, by no stretch of the imagination am I complaining!  I value this stuff so much that I went and bought a brand new tupperware to keep it safe and cozy!  It's just... what's a girl to do? 

So I guess what I'm hoping is that my more experienced knitting friends will assure me that knitting a tank top in merino wool, even when it calls for cotton, will not mean that I'm going to sweat my myself out of it.  Do you think that would work? will it drape right?  Am I missing something all together?

{A Little Alora Sweater}

Kids' Seamless Sweater

My first top down sweater!  I love using my niece as a guinea pig! hehehe  It's made out of Plymouth Encore yarn, which is quite soft and warm but my sister can still toss it in to the washer and dryer.  A definite must!

I learned quite a bit with this project - doing a sweater with a yoke, picking up and knitting arm stitches, I learned I'm doing the M1 increase wrong...  (knit in to the back, not the front of the new stitch if you don't want holes like mine, for instance!). :)

Pretty cute, right?  I need to get it in the mail so I can get a picture of Alora in the sweater before she grows out of it and it's a doll sweater. lol

{So overwhelmed and Thankful...}

I just can't begin to search for the words that are enough to say Thank You to my friend Hope for this package I found on my front porch this afternoon.  We were meant to visit today while she's in town, but I forgot my cell phone for few minutes on my dining room table while I was at the next door neighbor's and I missed her -  thankfully, I'll see her tomorrow instead, which actually works out better.

Upon emptying those bags, this is what I found....

6 Skeins of laceweight Malabrigo Amoroso in colour 157 (red and pink blend)
7 balls of Karabella Aurora in colour 2 (the pink)
1 Skein of PageWood Farms Yukon in colour Leaf (the green)
4 Skeins of Berroco Ultra Fine Alpaca in colour 1285 (dark navy)
5 Skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Sand (warm grey)
9 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in 340202 (Lt. Blue)

I'm just... floored.  And speechless.  Thank you, Hope.  These yarns are ones that I have only dreamed about owning 1 single skein of and instead I'll actually be able to knit entire projects with these beautiful yarns.  I've got tears in my eyes....  thank you so so much.

I hope everyone is having a lovely Easter.  Please excuse me while I enter all these in to my Ravelry stash. :)

{Choices... Choices}

I really have been pretty bored with what's on my needles right now. I've been knitting on the Gehry hat for a while, but ran out of yarn so I need more to continue that project. I suppose I COULD finish the Hey Teach (and probably will before I start something summery) But instead of thinking of those things, I have been surfing Ravelry looking for the next project!  These are what I'm considering for myself  - all Free Patterns!

Askew

Bliss Blue  

(requires login)

Lelah Top (but with straps probably)

Egret

(hey mom, would you like this one for X-mas this year? lol)

What do you guys think? any Favorites? Keep in mine I'm a pretty curvy girl... I need something that will hug my waist a least a little or else I'll probably wind up looking preggers. lol  You guys are all my trusted girlfriends to help me pick clothes! hehehe

Any of these patterns are going to require a new yarn buy, I think.  I'm all stocked up on wintery fibers like wool and bulky acrylic.  What a shame, right? ;)