My Birthday Gift To Myself. I can finally....

KNIT!!!

Hi, my internet friends!

If you didn't know (why should you) my 42 (gasp) birthday was yesterday. As I have told you before I had always wanted to learn to crochet. I am not very creative. That meaning, I can't come up with an idea but I can make it my own once I see it. I have always admired a nice scarf, a beautiful blanket and I knew that somewhere inside me, if I had a good teacher, I could learn to put yarn on a hook. Well, it took me darn near 30+ yrs to finally get settled down and old enough to WANT to learn but I did. 

In my last post I mentioned my never ending (literally, it feels like) Granny blanket is my New Year Resolution but my birthday gift to myself was learning the basics of knitting. 

Soooo, last night I sat myself down. Got out the ONLY set of knitting needles I had and found me a YouTube tutorial.

Yes, I did find one and once I watched it a few times and then a few more in slow motion (go to the settings in the box, click on speed, it's on normal, put it on 0.5) that slows it down enough to see whats going on. You are going to need to. I need to say that I already knew how to finger and arm knit so the long tail cast on was easy for me. Once I figured out that my fingers were used EXACTLY like the knitting needles should be then I got it. This was after about 15 tries. I usually pick up really quick but this was a little confusing for me. Not because of the instructors teaching method, just because I didn't have any clue about how to knit. 

Here is the link I used. Its a basic knitting tutorial.

HOW TO KNIT~ABSOLUTE BEGINNER

Here is my progress...

  

Here is a little video that my bf shot of my progress. I have never uploaded one like this so I dont know it it will play, or whatnot. It might be slow and blurred. Heck if I know. If it does, I will delete it after I view the page. Its just the slip knot, long tail cast on, and a simple knit stitch. You can see by the work on my only set of needles that I have about 15 rows on them already. This work wont turn into a project but its my learning work and I will keep practicing on it until the stitches are neat and all complete.

I dont do videos. I didnt get all dolled up. I just wanted to show you how easy it is and how quick I picked it up. (it took hr last night, and a slow motion play on youtube this morning) The teacher does say that she thinks if you know how to crochet first (because you know how to hold your yarn) you may do better at knitting. This was half true for me. I didnt have trouble with the stitches, it was holding the yarn thats hard for me. Still is. I havent even gotten confident enough to say I know how to hold it but practice makes perfect. When I learned to arm and finger knit a few months back again I watched youtube tutorials to learn it, although I knew the basics of finger knitting from childhood. I didnt know until last year that I actually knew a craft that could help me learn to crochet and mark a line off my bucket list. 

Well, thats a video and a few pictures of my progress. Mind you, I didn't take pictures of every step but I wanted you to see my wonky awkward knitting technique. I don't think it turned out half bad. Its very easy once you get the hang of how to hold your yarn (hardest part for me) and how to adjust your tension. 

I have no clue what in the world I am going to knit and technically I am not supposed to be knitting or crocheting anything but my blanket and my moms birthday scarf at the end of Jan.  

I am still not sure what or how I am going to make it. I have a gorgeous celery and silk brown that I am dying to use that is going to be gorgeous together. I put both strands on the hook and just DC a swatch to see how it looked and I loved it. Now, I just need to find a warm but lovely pattern for my mom. I don't think she will wear a cowl, so I am going to have to learn something pretty for her. I love the Alpaca Wrap but I dont know if I can attempt that or not. It is a gorgeous piece of work. 

I have a month to complete it. 

She asked me for it special.

I want to impress her.

Any ideas?

So, there you have it.

My adventures in knitting....some wonky adventure, at that.

Part of a dream fulfilled.

If you have a comment please leave one. If your one of those "professional" knitters thats going to jump on me for my wrong technique please remember I have been knitting less than 24 hrs. I dont think thats too bad. Everyone has to start somewhere. 

I listen to all suggestions, advice, & critiques with pleasure. Just to know I reach someone lights up my day.

Thats because sometimes I crochet in the dark, and that doesn't mean electricity.

Crochet is a healer.

Keeps my fingers and my mind busy and healthy.

GIVE IT A TRY!

but....I think I will stick to my crochet hook with the occasional knit here and there. ;-)