Day 6 = January 13, 2014
A funny thing occurred to me the other day when I was thinking about knitting. We knitters are all excited about having bo (no, not body odor :)) but BIND OFF. BO, as it is abbreviated in patterns, is the final row in a pattern where you complete and secure the stitches. Funny huh!
One of the charities that the Flowertown Knitting Guild knit for last year was the local SPCA. We knit pet blankets, which tend to make dogs calmer, look more adoptable and make the transition to a new home easier. Who would have thought a small square of yarn could do all that. The guidelines were about 20 x 20 inches in any color, yarn or pattern.
When you have yarn that you don't know what to do with, you end up with a hodge-podge, bed-sized blanket like this. This project all came about because I had excess of the multi-color border yarn that I wanted to use in a project for my niece. In this case, my math skills failed me. As you can see on either side of the bottom horizontal pink row, it looks like the fabric is puckering. Your eyes aren't deceiving you...it is indeed puckering. I miscalculated the number of stitches needed to pick up on the sides. Oh well, my 8-year-old niece never knew the difference.
Patchwork Sunset (Original Design)
I think I have a reason for why I have 13 WiPs (Works in Progress). [See last week's blogs to see what WiPs I have (Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 6 and Day 7).] This Honeycomb pattern helped me see the reason behind my knitting madness. It's an easy pattern that's changed up by a simple slipped stitch, meaning you just slip the stitch to the other needle instead of knitting it. Doing this elongates the stitch and pulls the stitches below it up. Well this was supposed to be a scarf that was about 5 feet long. I got bored with the pattern after about 2 feet and turned it into a cowl by knitting the 2 ends together. Did you catch that, bored was the key word. Projects are repetitive and I get bored easily. That's my ADD at work.
When I was done with the cowl, I wanted to challenge myself and find out if I could turn the pattern into a shawl. This kept my attention longer because every few rows I had to increase the width of the shawl.
Strawberry Shawl (Original Design)
Half, if not more of the joy of knitting is seeing the reaction on the face of the person receiving your knitted gift. Joanna's gym teacher, Rachel, was so kind and attentive that I wanted to make her something. Now if you're making a gift on the sly, observation skills are important. Rachel has a small multi-colored tattoo of elephants on the inside of her wrist. Let the light bulbs go off and a design is created! Here are a total of 7 elephants marching across this scarf, each one done with a different colored yarn, plus I put the fringy orange yarn as a border. Needless to say, she loved it and was floored by my seemingly superhero-like powers of observation.
Elephant Stampede (Original Design)
Sock, Sock, my kingdom for a sock... I was and still am flabbergasted by the thought of knitting socks and the fact that they are actually comfy. I took a class from KnitOasis last year and loved it. I am now obsessed with learning how to do toe up socks, 2 at a time socks, 2-in-1 socks and so on. To think just 6 months ago I thought a sock was a sock. Not any more.
Pizzazz Socks Pattern by Knitoasis
When you have a Secret Santa for your knitting group, do you knit something that you already know or just make something up as you go along? If you've learned anything about me, you will say MAKE SOMETHING UP!!! I loved piecing this Christmas tree together. Searching for the little decorations that were just the right color also gave me a thrill. So far I've made 3 of these and plan to make at least 2 more.
Christmas Trees (Original Design)
My brother-in-law, Andrew, left a comment several months ago on my blog basically stating the following. "I do not know much about knitting, I do not want to know about knitting, but remember I like earth tones." So brown is about as earthy as you can get...love you bro. Simple ribbed cuff and garter hat.
Simple Earth Tone (Original Design)
I'll have 1 special announcement tomorrow and guests. It is ..................
Dreaming of Knitting,
Victoria
I REALLY love the Christmas trees made with the knitted cording! I'll be adding this to my 'ToDo' list for next year. Mom/Carol
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