Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Adventures in Knitting



I am a crocheter, I love it, I teach it, I am attempting to write a book about it. The thing is, most of the crochet patterns suck. They are totally granny-ish, and not in the cool way either.

My friend Liz is a knitter, she is actually a knit-o-holic. She makes the coolest things. Liz made the most beautiful shawl to wear at my wedding (she was one of our readers). This year for Christmas she made her entire family socks (no small feat when you have 4 sister). They aren't just your run of the mill socks, they are AWESOME! Liz and her sock making inspired me to learn how to knit.

I started off with some chopsticks, old yarn and my laptop. I Heart Google. I found a great site with lots of videos and tips (www.knittinghelp.com/ ). After much deliberation and a few phone calls (one to Liz and another to my grandmothers knitting friend Madeline) I decided to learn the continental style. Because I crochet, I am already accustom to holding the yarn in my left hand, and Liz says that it puts less stress on your right hand (my right wrist is killing me from all the wire wrapping I have been doing).

I have decided that since I am sure my inaugural project is not going to be as neat and mistake free as I would like, that I will take is opportunity to experiment with felting. My goal is to make a half way decent felted purse. I went out last night and bought some Limeade Lambs Pride and some Clover no. 11 circular needles. Here is my progress thus far.

2 comments:

Lizzardie said...

Hi Kristen!

One piece of advise I have for you about your circulars... you should unkink them, they are much easier to work with once you do!

The way I unkink mine is to put down a towel, pull the needles as straight as possible, and hold the needle parts down with heavy books. Then, take a blow dryer to the cord (pretty close, but obviously don't touch the cord!) until the cord begins to relax. Unkinked circulars! :-)

Unknown said...

Oh, you are so talented Liz!