It’s super cold. Well… not super cold but WINTER IS COMING! I can feel it. It’s a little chilly in the cabin. This brings to mind my chilly fingers. Sometimes my hands get so cold that it’s hard to type… and such has been the case for the last few days. I haven’t been able to locate my fingerless gloves. So I thought… how hard could it be to knit a pair.
I would guess for a knitter this would be an easy prospect. A very simple pattern and a skein or two of yarn and lickety split… some stylish gloves are born. For someone like me… who had to re-learn to knit every summer at Grammy’s house from the time I was about 6 until maybe 14… it’s not that easy.
I know… I will start with a simple scarf… oil up the finger joints… remind my shrinking brain the difference between a knit stitch and a purl stitch… and in no time I will be an expert knitter. Don’t laugh… this is actually how my brain works. I am completely convinced that I can do anything when I put my mind to it. So I set out looking for those chunky knitting needles I bought 10 years ago when I made that scarf that time. Sadly, I could only find one. So I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to get something I could use.
Three packs of knitting needles, 7 skeins of yarn and $65 later I emerged from Hobby Lobby with a renewed determination to learn. I arrived home, ripped the paper tape from around the first skein, read the recommended needle size and set out to get to work. Problem #2… I forgot how to cast on. This is troubling. I also completely forgot how to knit and purl. So… I went to the first place I knew to learn because I just received a SALE email in my inbox.
$19 later I purchased a class called Knit Lab from Craftsy by this lovely woman Stephanie Japel… bless her heart. I watched from the very beginning because I wanted to make sure I learned everything Stephanie deemed important. I was once again reacquainted with the cast on and the knit and purl stitch and how to tell what you are doing when. Here is the beginning of my simple garter stitch project.
Some soft, chunky yarn with the color “Tiger Eyes”. Of course I immediately got bored with this and began working on a SUPER CHUNKY garter stitch scarf from some super chunky Chinchilla yarn that I also purchased in a beautiful jewel tone called “Casanova”. I can’t show you that scarf… because I pulled it out and restarted 4 times and then finished it… and then promptly gave it to a friend. So… you will have to trust me that it was gorgeous and warm… and my friend really liked it.
After completing that scarf I immediately started on this one… 
I think Robin’s Egg blue is my new “signature color” and I love this yarn. It’s 82% Bamboo and although it has a wicked twist to it… which means I will ultimately make 322 mistakes while making it… I don’t care. I can’t wait to wear this around my neck. I want to go back and buy 10 more skeins and make myself a hat and some gloves (although I have been cautioned by a glove making friend that this yarn won’t work but I never do anything the easy way).
All the photos were taken from under a homespun quilt this morning with wool batting because my toes are cold… so… next I would like to learn how to knit socks. Once I have conquered these tasks I will probably bag all these items back up and put them back in the closet because I really don’t think of myself as a knitter.
Neither do my children I think. Middle son came into the room and proclaimed that he expected me to be a knitter much later in life when I grew old. (Hubs was quick to remind him that I am old). Baby son (who is also a teenager) came into the room and said, “whatcha doing… ya knitting… uh… it’s that gray thing for me… cause I could really use a scarf.” That’s the baby of the family for you. BTW… he came back in the next day and asked if I was done yet with the scarf cause he wanted to wear it outside. I really need to do something about this superwoman reputation I have around here. My husband even got in on the suggestions by returning from running errands with this book that he found on the shelf of a discount store.
So here I sit over coffee this morning forcing myself to get to the point on my test project to continue with the next movie in my Craftsy class… cause I am not a quitter. I fully intend to learn something new this year… and perhaps make a few Christmas presents in the process. Since Craftsy was nice enough to have a big sale on classes this weekend I purchased two more classes… “Knit Lab in the Round” which is a class that makes several projects including an ear warmer (always a good thing) and some fingerless gloves (exactly what I want)… and “Knit Sock Workshop” which is really self explanatory and I am hoping will eventually warm my toes.
If you haven’t yet taken advantage of classes on Craftsy… I highly encourage you to do so. They have some really great instructors, you can take the classes at your leisure and can wind them back when you need to hear something again and they are running a tremendous sale this weekend on everything from Gardening, Cooking, Knitting, Crocheting, Quilting, Sewing and various others. Take a look, check it out and learn something new.
Happy Quilting and Knitting!
~Penni
