Perhaps never again…

So… this knitting pattern. It may be true that I did not actually READ the pattern before I started, I did the first few rows of K1 P1 rib before I read on, and this is where the problem started. It’s all my own fault! I am not an experienced knitter, and my knitting has always been tight. When I first learnt at school I drove my friends nuts with it – it was so tight it squeaked! Things have progressed somewhat since then I will admit, it’s gotten MUCH better, but this new pattern is really testing me!

It involves this little charm, K1, (P3 together, but do not drop from needle, YO, P same 3 stitches together again and drop from left needle, K1) to end. :’(


Not only is my knitting rather tight, which makes knitting or purling 3 stitches at a time almost impossible! But I have chosen to knit this hat with yarn which can only be described as FLUFFY. I looked at the picture and thought moss stitch! I can do that! This is not moss stitch. Or easy. I’m not sure that I’m enjoying it, but it does seem to knit up quite quickly – as you would expect working with 3 stitches at a time! I am determined to have a slouchy hat and as I can’t knit in the round yet there are limited options.
It does look lovely though! The wool is beautiful, and the pattern looks really interesting, though not quite as impressive as it looks in the picture on the pattern leaflet (mostly due I think to the fact that all the FLUF is obscuring all my hard work!). I think I have made a few mistakes, and I’ve had to deal with random extra stitches a few times, but I think it will be ok – I intend to knit a pair of fingerless gloves in the same wool to go with it next – finding a pattern for these that doesn’t involve knitting in the round has proven an exercise in itself, but I’ve finally got one and its free on The Pink Sewing Machine!
How hard can it be to convert a pattern for knitting in the round to a flat pattern and then sew it up the back?!?! If I wasn’t such a slow knitter I would just have a go, but to contemplate spending a week knitting something that I ended up having to frog makes me want to weep! Does anyone know how to do this?

Right, I’m off for now, pic’s of lovely and terrible hat to follow… assuming it doesn’t all go wrong, in which case no one will ever see it again : (

knitting chicken

As promised here is the link to the free knitting pattern that I used for my scarf - it's a fantastic website with hundreds of free patterns, you have to have an account to access the patterns but they don't charge you any money and they don't fill your inbox with junk - so well worth it!

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/81054AD.html?noImages=

I was however, a bit of a chicken with this pattern...

I had never knit a cable before, and it seemed a bit simple to be true so I wasn't up for spending quite so much on the wool as suggested.

For my variation of this scarf I used:
* 2.5 100g balls of a chunky weight fluffy wool that I bought at a charity store

I knit the pattern as directed with size 10mm needles and 2 strands held together (I don't want to scare anyone but the pattern was wanting 8 strands held together and there was just no WAY i was carrying 8 balls of wool + unfinished scarf on the bus to work every day!) I had a few problems with the instructions for the cable because it has the instruction the opposite way round from the pattern - just watch out!

this scarf knitted up VERY quickly - or rather it would have done if i hadn't hidden it in the cupboard for about 2 months.

Good luck to anyone who is going to try it out - i cant wait to get started on my next project which is a big floppy hat!

New post? First post!!!

generally speaking i am very bad at this... I always keep a detailed diary up until about January 12Th, I have about 3 weeks of the year when i remember to write to people and I flit about from one project to another at breakneck speed. So this is sort of a new-years resolution. I will write things here. I will post lovely photographs and talk about things and post completed craft projects (that's another new years resolution - actually finish things...). I have finished my first project for this year. I think I started it around September last year. You should not imagine that this reflects the difficulty involved or indeed the volume of work - its just that i wasn't sure who i was making it for and then i got put off finishing it and then i got distracted by something else, and then there were Christmas presents to make and it got forgotten about. anyway - now i have a new project that i want to get started on and I needed the needles back! So here are my first photos for 2010 - new year's weekend snaps from the North Irish coast (it's God's own country to me!) and my newly finished object!

here is my lovely other half modeling my first ever cable knit scarf. i found a free pattern online and thought i would have a go but it was going to end up too expensive for me so i modified some of the pattern. I'll post a link to the pattern and also the changes that i made at some point shortly. He's a little shy!


and here are a few of the pictures i took this weekend! Ireland is gorgeous!