knitting!

I have always loved 'useful' crafts.  Now, I understand that the term 'useful' has different meanings for different people.  For me, it means something that I can use on a daily or weekly basis.  Cooking is certainly a craft, but more often thought of as an art or science.  I think it is all three.  Sewing is a craft, but if you have little or no money to buy nice clothes that fit properly, it becomes a daily necessity ;-)   I learned to sew at a very young age, and as a child, most of my clothes were made by my mom or myself.  I also learned other useful crafts as a child: embroidery, macrame (which for me definitely falls into the not-so-useful category, as well as latch-hooking rugs) some crochet and knitting, and tatting.  But other than sewing, all of these other craft skills were at a very basic level.

While I was an avid seamstress, I did not have any interest in quilting for a long time.  I blame this on my mom.... she was not a quilter and while she did not ever criticize quilting, she had always taught me that "flat and smooth is beautiful, so press, press, press!"  Quilting is definitely NOT in the flat and smooth category.  To me, quilts looked messy and crumpled.  That is, until I saw one of the first video classes on quilting.  In this video series the instructor showed all kinds of patterns, colors and explained how the quilted decoration added dimension, shadowing and richness to the pieced designs.  Then I GOT IT!  And off I went - at first hand piecing and quilting from the instructions on the video, and eventually joining a class at the local quilt shop.  Because of my previous experience in a fabric shop, I was hired as a sales clerk at that same quilt shop, but eventually moved out of town, and after a subsequent move (and many quilts later) I was again hired to work in a quilt shop and even taught some basic quilting classes.

But as with so many things, our interests move on....  I still make an occasional quilt and have yet to disperse my "stash", but most of my casual free time now is spent knitting.

Who knows why my interest has swayed from quilting to knitting?  Maybe because I have always had an interest but never had anyone to teach me? There were no 'knit or yarn shops' where I have lived for the past 15 years.... None of my friends or close family were knitters - but I have since found that a couple of my cousins are knitters; however they both live quite a distance away.  After our last move, I decided to get on with this knitting thing.  I found that the church we were attending had a "Prayer Shawl" group - women who got together and crochet or knitted  shawls for those that had a need for God's love through some illness or misfortune.  Sounded like a good thing to do, and there should be someone to help me when I needed it.  Basically, I needed to learn how to read a pattern!  I knew the basic stitches that I had learned from one person or another over time, but I had no clue how to read a pattern!

Well, the Prayer Shawl group really got me started!  They showed me how to make a simple shawl, then another, and I was on my way.  Three winters ago I got the materials to make a couple of different crochet afghans.  I am really proud of how well they are coming along, but they got to the size where I am limited to just sitting in one place to work on them.  Needless to say, they have been laid aside....not quite finished ;-)

But I have decided that I like the motion of knitting a little more.  So I went along with one of the gals from church to a knitting group/class.  One thing that I really wanted to learn was how to knit socks.  At this class, the instructor got me started on an oversize sock - a Christmas stocking.  She said that this particular pattern would take me through all the parts of knitting a sock, and since it was on a larger scale, it would be easier to learn on that a regular size sock with tiny yarn and needles.  I made two.  Then I got stuck.  I bought regular sock yarn that had a simple pattern included, but it turned out too big for anyone to wear!  One of my new knitting friends looked at it and remarked that since it was straight knitting, with no rib to it, that it would be very hard to size.  She recommended that I find a pattern that was simple, but that had ribbing all down the leg and onto the instep of the sock.  This way, it would have more "give" and could be made smaller to stretch out.  So I did.

Here is the first sock, with the yarn for the second sock nicely rolled into a ball.

I found a simple pattern that was just what I needed.  I used the same skein of sock yarn that I had made the one 'dud' sock from, and made up another sock in the new pattern.  It fit me perfectly!  The problem was that I had intended to make it for my son.  Oh, well....  In the mean time, I had bought sock yarn to make a baby layette, and finished that project.

This baby layette was made with two different sock yarns twisted and knit together to get the correct weight yarn for the pattern (see, I really am learning about knitting!)  I ended up with a full skein of each of the different colors left over.  So I knit up a PAIR of socks for me out of the 'good' sock pattern.

Cute, huh!  And the FIT so nicely!  Well, by this time, we had finally found the first 'dud' sock, so I took it apart and re-knit the yarn to make a second sock of the 'good' pattern, so I had another pair.
  Believe me, the second sock is done and I have worn the pair of them several times!  I am now on my third pair, size extended to fit #1 son.  I hope to expand my horizons and make a different pattern for husband, #2 son, and daughter-in-law, all by Christmas!  Wish me luck!

In the mean time, I have not forgotten my Prayer Shawl group.  I give a certain amount of knitting time every week to working on a shawl to donate, and just this past week I also cast on a small baby shawl to give to the church, as well. Our Prayer Shawl group not only makes shawls for people in need, but also a white baby shawl for every baby that is christened in our church.  We are really low on baby shawls, so I thought I would give one a try - to learn a new stitch, anyway! I'll get a picture of it when I get into the pattern.  Just now, I am still just working on the edging....

A Prayer Shawl in progress.

This is not the baby shawl.  

Oh, and I forgot to mention my sweaters!  I have finished ( and almost worn out) a zip-front sweater, and have started a second one.  Same pattern, but I am using a different yarn (that I hope wears better) and I added cables to the straight stockinette stitch pattern.  It is coming along nicely.  As a matter of fact, I should quit typing and go work on it a bit.  It is getting cooler now, so I will need it SOON!

Blessings......