Month: January 2016

Multitasking Galore…

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There’s no question that I cannot do the same things for a period of time without getting a bit bored, or at the very least without it feeling like a chore. I especially have noticed this with knitting projects.

I joined a Mystery Knit-A-Long run by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting (NNK MKAL). I knew going in that it was going to be challenging. Alana herself rated the pattern, a shawl, to be for intermediate knitters. After a lot of frustration, ripping out and starting over (multiple times), I managed to complete the first of 4 clues. The clues were released weekly, and it took me more than a week to finish that first clue. After that it took me even longer to complete the second clue.

On a positive note, I’ve learned so much – especially when it comes to reading your stitches and understanding how the pattern ‘grows’ row by row. The pattern itself is lovely and I’m looking forward to the finished product.

But it’s taking f o r e v e r….

Or at least it feels like it is; and the pattern can start to feel a little boring when you repeat charts several times. I’m notorious for starting a crochet or knitting project, getting bored with it and setting it down – only to come across it some time later and frog the whole thing.

For that reason I started to limit myself to the project I was working on before moving to the next one. Instead of helping the situation, it made the whole thing feel like work. I was trying to fix a perceived problem and really only made it unpleasant.

A few nights ago I finally had enough. I was, at that point, still pushing through to finish the second clue, and I was starting to hate what I was doing. After all the effort it took to learn how to do increase-3’s, make 1’s, and cabled twists I did not want to give up on it. Coincidentally, another Mystery Knit-A-Long I signed up for was starting. That one was the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit-A-Long (RCYC MKAL). I set aside the NNK MKAL project, and cast on for this new one.

While all of this was going on, we had some cold spells, and I had been thinking about knitting myself a pair of gloves. Came across a great pattern, Maize, on Tin Can Knits. After completing 15 or so rows of the RCYC MKAL, I set that one aside and cast on for the mittens.

Over the next couple days I worked a few rows of the NNK MKAL, a few on the RCYC MKAL and, of course, the mittens. What a difference! I felt I was progressing in the projects, but they weren’t becoming tedious. I completed one mitten this morning, and will be casting on for the second later tonight.

Another Year, Another Attempt at Blogging…

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It doesn’t cease to amaze how much can change in a year, or in this case, less than a year. Instead of one rascal running around the house, there are now two (though he still hasn’t quite made it to the running stage). After being fully convinced that knitting was not only overly complicated, but also not quite as interesting as crocheting, I took the plunge to teach myself. I was terribly wrong, not only have I found it to be a lot of fun, but I quickly came to the conclusion that I prefer it over crocheting – especially for colorwork.

When I originally taught myself to crochet, I was able to find quite an abundance of resources, both in video and books, on how to do it left-handed. After a short-time I was also able to watch videos featuring a right-handed person, and reverse it mentally on the fly. I was quite surprised at how difficult it was to find the same kind of resources for left-handed knitting. Most books I came across simply suggested that both hands were equally used and thus no benefit was to be had learning a left-handed style. Pure nonsense.

It took a lot of searching, a ton of trial and error, and so many unraveled stitches (or how it’s known in knitting – tinking), but I’ve been at it now about 4 months. I am able to watch/read patterns and flip them around for the most part; but I usually have to take it very slow to make sure I am doing it correctly. There have been some bumps in the road – It took me a few weeks in the beginning before I realized I had been wrapping the yarn the wrong way around the needle!

That being said, all the trial and error has been really beneficial. With crocheting I haven’t gotten comfortable enough to look at something I am working on and figure out where I am in the pattern. I have to keep track of it, and if I missed counting a row or messed up in some other way, I typically have to unravel the entire piece and start over. With knitting, I’ve gotten pretty good at recognizing my stitches and any mistakes – as a result picking up where I left off or correcting a mistake is that much easier.

I found two local yarn shops that are within a few miles of where I live and have participated in ‘knitting circle’ -type sessions in one of them. I can’t say that I ever thought I would enjoy sitting with a bunch of other people and simply knitting; not a formal class, just each doing our own project.

I discovered some great designers online, and just this week one of them has announced a mystery knit-a-long. Though I am still quite new at this, I decided to join. The designer, Alana Dakos from Never Not Knitting, is releasing the pattern in 4 weekly parts. No pictures will be provided and at the end the finished item is a shawl with a length of 60″ and width of 28″ at the center. It’s intended to be an intermediate project, full of textured cables, knitted leaves and lace. At the very least it will be a challenging project for me, maybe too advanced to complete now, but I am excited to try.

Discovering that particular mystery knit-a-long only prompted me to search for others. Another intriguing one is part of the Rose City Yarn Crawl. The Yarn Crawl itself looks like a treat, but it is taking place in Portland, Oregon. The mystery-a-longs (there is one for crocheting and for knitting) for this annual event are themed, with this year being  “Oregon Grows Great Things.” Its first clue is set to be release later this month, so I have some time to decide if I will join that one as well.

One last thing – when I originally created this blog, it was to record my journey learning to crochet. Now that I have picked up knitting, I have to decide if I will keep the same name or come up with something new – decisions, decisions.