6/29/07

Big Blue

Although I love my first (and only) scarf for myself that I have made, it is time to knit one that is a bit fancier. While on a trip to the store to find yarn for a scarf for my boyfriend, I also found some Alpaca yarn that was on sale in a beautiful bright blue (one of my favorite colors). I have been playing around with different ways to make patterns and finally decided to make this scarf with k1, yo, k2tog. I had seen a scarf done similar to this but I think there were more knit stitches involved. Anyway, here is the very beginning of my scarf:

6/27/07

knit t-shirts

I have seen patterns online and in magazines that use cut up t-shirts as yarn. The summer issue of Knit.1 has a pattern for a small clutch that I decided to try. Cutting the t-shirt to make a ball of 'yarn' took longer to do than actually knitting the purse. It turned out cute. Just cute enough in fact to give to my cousin Riley. I think I am going to see her this weekend and hopefully she likes it. (I am planning on putting gum, play-dough, and bubbles inside of it so at least she will like it for two minutes.)

6/23/07

Upcoming projects

A list of projects that I would like to start:

1. le slouch, a cute seed stitch beret that is a free pattern at Knit and Tonic
2. fingerless gloves for my boyfriend. I haven't really looked for a pattern yet.
3. fingerless gloves for me. I saw this pattern at Knitty and it seems challenging enough to get me excited but easy enough for me not to claw my eyes out.
4. baby socks, my good friend Darcie is due in a month and I want to make her boy some cute booties.
5. hat/mittens for my second cousin, Kody. The chubbiest, cutest baby that ever lived deserves a nice Christmas present. I will have to wait awhile on this one to make sure I knit something big enough.
6. I have various other Christmas gifts in mind but those people may read this so I will keep the rest of this list to myself for now.

6/20/07

Ripples

Everyone has already moved on to granny square blankets and I just started a ripple blanket. I inherited a bunch of old acrylic yarn from my grandma and since I have recently touched nice yarn, I really don't like the idea of using anything else. However, there is a lot of yarn that I have to use for something or just keep it laying around. I tapped into my crochet roots (I learned when I was a little girl) and decided to use it up on a ripple blanket. Here is the very first row, more pictures to come.

6/17/07

Jim's Scarf

Jim decided that he wanted a 'very plain' scarf for this coming fall. I am using malabrigo yarn in rich chocolate that I purchased from Knit1. Today I was browsing blogs and I came across a post on Knitty Gritty Thoughts and she is making the same scarf only a different color. Not that finding someone who is making a garter stich scarf is unusual. I was just excited because I don't really know anything about yarns yet and I picked the yarn I did because I liked the color and it was soft. Anyway, here is a link to the post. Here are pics of Jim's scarf in progress:

6/15/07

Finished projets to date

Before I get into things that I currently have going on, I'll let you in on what I have done so far.

My very first finished project was a garter stich scarf on size 11 needles with cheap red heart grey yarn. Looking at it now, I see about 20 mistakes and the stiches are all sloppy but, at the time I was very proud. I am sure when fall comes I will probably still wear that scarf because it was my first.

After the scarf, I attempted a hat. I love this hat, I found it on Treats & Treasures. It is a little bigger than it is supposed to be. After this project, I realized the importance of needle size and yarn type.

So... I made another one! This one fits much better but the yarn is a little stiff so the back of the hat doesn't fall like it is supposed to.

Up next was a pattern I found on Knitty. The Calorimetry taught me the value of getting the gauge correct before starting the project. Mine turned out huge! I will have to make another one that fits before fall comes. It was easy to knit and only took a few hours to finish.

The next project is the best one yet. I decided to make a baby blanket for my friend who is expecting. I decided on the Big Bad Baby Blanket pattern that is in Stich and Bitch. This project was the reason for my first trip to a yarn store. I had previously been using cheap yarns from Joann fabrics. I went to Nina and asked the woman there for advice in yarn. The pattern calls for merino wool and that would require handwashing and line drying. How exactly is that a nice gift to a single new mother? It would be too much work to wash and it would never be used. Not to mention little guy might be sensitive to animal fibers. The woman at Nina suggested a cotton yarn. I picked out a pale green blue Sky Cotton yarn. It took some getting used to knitting but I finally finished the blanket (that is, after a 6 hour trip to Kentucky and a total of 8 hours on a bus to visit my parents). The blanket turned out beautiful. There were a few mistakes but my friend isn't a knitter so I doubt she will notice. This project started was is sure to be a long standing debt with yarn stores around Chicago. I can't knit with itchy, squeaky, acrylic yarns anymore.
Ok, the last thing I have finished (well, half finished) was my sock. I have been practicing knitting with double pointed needles and still wasn't ready to start a big project with them. I found a really simple pattern online for a basic sock and tested it out. I took me a few hours to do one sock and it was actually very easy. I'm excited to start knitting socks that have some pattern to them.

6/13/07

hello!

Hi, my name is Amanda. I live in Chicago with my boyfriend and 5 cats. I recently decided I wanted to learn to knit and started to teach myself about 8 months ago (Nov of 2006). This is my blog to share current projects, finished projects, frustrations, patterns I want to try, and learning anything else knitting related.