There's only 8 balls, which makes me nervous, but I can always make the sleeves a bit shorter if necessary.The lady in the hospice shop asked me if I was a dealer today. Oh dear. I certainly never leave without buying something! All in a good cause, of course!
http://www.kcgtrading.com/index.php Today I joined the Knitting and Crotchet Guild - members get a 10% discount, and I'm going to be spending a lot on DVDs. I buy more and more from them because they always have what I want in stock - so why ring anywhere else?
I've ordered a DVD on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Ribwarmer - I hour and 45 minutes instruction - surely by the end of that I can make a ribwarmer? I had a go at one last year - the construction made my head ache and it turned out far too big. It was a pretty colour though, so I gave it to my mum, who wears it in winter.
I can't remember where I saw this comment now, but it's been depressing me all week - somebody on a blog or on Ravelry said that they had tried out Continental knitting and it had taken them a few hours to get the hang of it. A few HOURS? It took me months! It was like learning to knit all over again. Me hunched muttering over messy little swatches. Needles clattering to the floor. Knitting hurled across the room. The first thing I made was a monkey from Tracey Chapman's stuffed toys book. There was a typo in the pattern which didn't help! But I finally got him finished and the next small person to come to the house fell for 'Practice Monkey' in a big way. We chose buttons for his eyes and away he went.
It also took me several months to get used to knitting at the tips of the needles as Lucy Neatby suggests. Tangerine Alef didn't turn out too badly, other than uneven sleeves, but I ruined my first Turbulence U-necked sweater because I knitted too close to the tips. Oh well. As long as I get there in the end. I want to be faster and neater so changes have to be made. I wish I could make them in a few hours, though. It's like there's a knitting world where people pick up new skills and achieve effortlessly, and there's my world which is all damn and blast it!
1 comment:
I thought a newbie to knit a month ago. I didn't tell her to knit a scarf but rather just play with stitches and observe what each knit and each purl stitch looks like, how it behaves, which side of the tail of the yarn connected to the ball located...she did a swatch, size of a mini dishrag. She played with some rib and moss stitch out of a pattern book. In two days, she was ready for a triangular shawl/scarf in Manos Silk Blend. She finished it in a week. She had another ready on deck once the first one was completed. She now loves knitting and calls herself an addict.
Louisa, with acquiring new skills, if you let yourself loose and just enjoy the process and observe, let go of all deadline, expectation, and judgement. When it becomes stressful, take a break. Speed will come...Knitting is very therapeutic and zen if you set your mind to it. My friend finished her ribwarmer recently. She didn't get the DVD but it turned out very well. I look forward to seeing your progress. Enjoy the beautiful winter day!
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