Tuesday Morning discounted yarns

Tuesday Morning's September sale included these discounted yarns. After seeing them in the flyer I decided to get there first thing on sale day to check out the available selections. I raced over there at 9 am, but the yarns were already somewhat picked over when I got there, so pickings were somewhat slim. I had decided I wanted to make a scarf for my sister-in-law Mary's birthday which is in November, and I figured Autumn colors might be nice. They had one ball of the Gedifra Arica and two of the Gedifra Chapello in the orangey-brown fall colors show above. I figured with the Arica in the middle and Chapello on each end sorta like fringe, it might work. I've been known to be wrong on occasion....

More 'Sinsation' yarn

Bought 10 balls of this aqua 'Sinsation' online, so I could make a wider felted chenille scarf with it. (Can you tell that I gravitate towards blues, aquas and turquoises?) This scarf will be for me, which means it won't be finished before next year because it's now October 2nd and I've decided to make scarves for my Christmas gifts, which means I won't be knitting anything for myself until after December 26th!

Plymouth 'Sinsation' felted chenille skinny scarf

I went to the beach this August with my brother & his family, (thanks, Pat & Jenny!), and found this yarn at the local yarn store down there called "Knitting Addiction". It knits up like any chenille, I guess, in that the stitches tend to swim across the item rather than line up nicely, an attribute called "worming" according to the pattern written by the LYS owner for this scarf. HOWEVER, because this yarn is 70% rayon with a 30% wool core, it is great for "felting", and so, according to the pattern instructions, I machine-washed and machine-dried it, and it shrunk up a bit and straightened out the stitches and made this lovely, silky fabric. I used size 11 needles (the ones I pulled out of the turquoise Lion brand chenille scarf) and cast on 15 stitches, knitting all rows. It took three balls of this yarn, which only comes with about 35 yards to the ball. After washing/drying, the scarf is about 3 inches wide and 4 feet long, which is fine for a skinny scarf, but now I want to make another one, but bigger!

Linie Spot turquoise skinny scarf

Skinny scarf made with the Linie Spot. 12 stitches cast on to size 10 needles. I think it needs fringe, which I may (or may not) add today. This was taken on my front porch steps, which as you can plainly tell, are quite filthy. More pictures of said filthy steps (and knitting projects) to follow.

Me likes the novelty yarns!

Like a novice wine drinker who starts out liking sweeter wines, or the novice gardener who is attracted to all the multi-colored but short-lived annuals, this novice knitter gravitates to the novelty yarns. I bought this On Line Linie 73 Spot (color 05 - turquoise) during my very first foray into a yarn (candy) store, a lovely shop called "Lettuce Knit". I bought two balls of this yarn but was able to knit a twelve-stitch-wide, four-foot long skinny scarf using just one ball of it on size 10 bamboo needles.

First attempt at chenille

Once I felt confident with knitting and purling with the practice yarn, I moved on to this Lion brand chenille yarn for a scarf in stockinette stitch. The book didn't tell me this, and I have since learned -- stockinette stitch causes the fabric to curl up at the sides -- me no likey! Also, if you look closely -- what is that? A few holes? Shocking, I know, in a beginner's first work! And are those active stitches on the other end, not being held by anything except thin air??? Yup. I pulled out the size 11 aluminum needles because I wanted to use them for something else. I will most likely rip this thing completely out. I have since found some much nicer chenilles, so I may never do anything with this yarn, of which I have four skeins! Maybe Ben Franklin Crafts will take it back and give me a refund? Maybe I'll sell the other three, unused skeins of yarn on ebay?

Beginner Knitting book - for kids and the young-at-heart

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It took my sister-in-law and a children's knitting book to teach me how. Don't knock it, though - it's very well written and very basic -- just what I needed. It came with two size 8 wooden knitting needles and three hanks of that blue acrylic worsted weight yarn, which is very splitty. After Jenny taught me how to knit my first row, I knitted up many more rows to practice. Then I taught myself the purl stitch from the book, and knitted some rows of stockinette. When I was almost out of that first ball of practice yarn, I decided to rip it out, and start again, using it as a practice swatch. So you can now see several rows of garter stitch, several of stockinette, and my very first attempt at k2p2 ribbing. My next practice attempt will be some cabling, I think. Anyway, it's a great little beginner book.

Thanks again, Jenny!

Grandma Orr was quite the crafty lady!

(...in the best sense of the word, of course!)

Thanks, Grandma! We all miss you!

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Welcome!

Welcome to the very first post on my newest blog, dedicated to my newest hobby (obsession) - knitting. I just learned to knit in July of this year, when I received a "how to knit" kit from my sister-in-law (Jenny) for my 40th birthday. She also gave me my very first knitting lesson as an adult, and that was all she wrote. I've hit the ground running, no looking back -- Jenny has created a monster! I've started this blog in an attempt to keep track of my little projects and my (little) progress. So far I've only knitted scarves, but hope to progress to more complicated works as time allows. But I must say I'm totally hooked.

My grandmother was heavy into needlecrafts - crocheting, tatting, quilting, etc., and she may have even knitted, but I'm not sure. I do remember her trying to teach me to crochet time and time again and the most I could ever do was one long chain. She must have also tried to teach me knitting, because it just came so naturally after my first lesson as an adult, like I'd seen it or done it before. Perhaps it's just in the genes. If so, then, thanks Grandma!

Anyway, I'm still a novice, but an obsessed one, and have been reading and watching and trying to learn as much as I can. Not sure if/when I'll feel confident enough to knit an actual garment, but I'm happy just knitting scarves if that's all I ever amount to! I do see myself advancing, at some point to other small, portable types of projects like hats, felted purses and socks. I'll need a class for those, I think, so in the meantime, it's scarves, scarves, scarves! Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?

Stay tuned for pictures of my recent projects!