Sunday, November 9, 2008

Another crafty project for the not-so-crafty wanna be Kanga-Mom

Oh my goodness, what was I thinking?










Every year around this time I get the idea to knit or sew or just make something from scratch. Usually, that's as far as it gets. The idea is enough to give me hives!

Last year, I went so far as to go to Michaels and purchase yarn and needles, but that was as far as it went.

This year, I went upstairs and dug the store bag out of my closet and sat it on the counter. There it sat for three days.

Today, I took the yarn out and asked Eeyore if she could show me how to cast on (that's knitting talk for "get started", see how much I've learned!) again because it had been so long since I had tried to knit that I had forgotten. Eeyore knits on a fairly regular basis and took an after school knitting class a couple of years ago. She rocks!

Anywho...

Attempt #1: After several attempts I finally got going. Only to discover that I had made it too tight... so I had to pull it all out.

Attempt #2: I actually got three rows done and was having trouble keeping it all on the needles because I had made it too long...and had to pull it all out.

Attempt #3: After getting another few rows done I decided that the yarn I had chosen was too advanced and that maybe I should start with a more basic yarn. I'm trying to use this really cute, fancy-pants, hairy blue yarn. For this beginner it's really difficult to see what I'm doing because the yarn is so irregular. So, I decided that perhaps I had better switch to a more straightforward yarn...even though it's not nearly as cute! ...so I had to pull it all out again.

That is where we're at right now. After over an hour of effort, I'm back to a ball of yarn!

3 comments:

Lainie said...

Don't be too hard on yourself. The "fuzzy" yarns are hard to knit for the experienced knitter. There is a little trick... you knit the fancy yarn together with a strand of "plain" sport weight yarn (like your other ball) so that you can see your stitches. Usually the you try to match the color.

The bonus of using two strands of yarn is bigger needles which means you get done faster.

If you have some plain white yarn or baby blue you could totally use the first ball of yarn and it would look fabulous.

Keep trying!!!

Kim said...

I will keep trying. Thanks for the suggestion of putting another plain yarn with it. I don't have any white or blue plain yarn though. I might just try to complete a small project with the other yarn so that I can get that sense of accomplishment. I'll keep you posted!

Lainie said...

Perhaps a little scarf for a doll or a hat. Hats are very easy and if you knit in the round (on circular needles, you only use a knit stitch and not purl). I have needles you can borrow and a ton of yarn too.