I’ll admit.  I’v been in a slump lately, on blogging, knitting and sewing.  The past few posts were short, in fact they were my fast “post a pic and use some words via email from work” so that I don’t appear to be lacking on the blogging side, but as we all know, the first step is always Denial…

Anyways, so I’m back – I hope.  I started a baby wash cloth today at work while doing my “motherly duty”.  And I saw WifeMomKnitter and NutmegKnitter posting this and thought it would be a great way to get me back into a rhythm on blogging.

Starting Out

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?

I taught myself how to knit back in 2004…  I think it was right before when there is a huge knitting movement going on.  I had saw a beautiful scarf at Neiman Marcus.  It was knitted with woven ribbons, it was Gorgeous!  And so was the price tag – a whopping $250.  Yes, you read that correctly, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS!!!  So I decided that there’s gotta be something that I can do to recreate that!

I picked up one of those “teach yourself how to knit kit” things from one of the big box store, but I wasn’t successful at first.  This lady at work saw I struggle, so she gave me a few tips, next thing you know, I was knitting a 16 stitch wide, garter stitch, fun fur skinny scarf!  It was pastel pink, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend using fun fur to anyone who truly wants to learn how to knit!!!

I googled on how to cast off as well, and next thing you know, I was onto my next project.  I googled patterns and came up with this really interesting rib pattern.  I still remember it –  multiple of 6, on one side, it’s knit 3, purl 3, and on the other side, it’s knit 1 purl 1.   I remember working on it while home for Christmas.  My grandmother is a huge knitter, so I got quite a few tips from her that Christmas.  This is when I learned long tail cast on and also a way to make nice edging.

My grandmother is so good she makes up her own pattern!  I don’t recall ever seeing her following a pattern at all! I still remember a sweater she made me.  It was a fuzzy warm peachy sweater with this pearly threads in it.  It was the fanciest thing I’ve ever owned, or so I felt at the time.  I loved wearing it – sometimes I wish I still have it.

I haven’t put down the needles since.  But I really advanced my skills when I found my local SnB group.  I was googling something about knitting, and the SnB yahoo group showed up.  I’ve been living in CT for a year by then, but I didn’t really know anyone around here but work people, so I decided to venture out and try out this group.  I figured if I hated it, then I don’t have to go back.  Well, needless to say, I didn’t hate it.  I made some really good friends while going to the Wednesdays group, and about two years ago, I decided to switch to the Thursday group due to numerous reasons, and I’m glad I did, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have met my BBF – Best Bitches Forever.

As for crochet…  Well, I saw a beautiful sweater pattern in Interweave Crochet Spring 2006 called Pink Frosting.  I was in love, and determined to make it.  I remember working on it on my Forth of July vacation.  If you see closely, you can tell that the shoulder straps and the ruffles on the bottom were all crochet.  I studied the charts, I googled the terms, and I youtube’d the crocheting techniques so I can follow along.  I think I ripped out the first shoulder strap 5 times before finished the first one, and the second one was a breeze.  I learned how to do single crochet, double crochet, slip stitch, making a shell and reading a crochet chart all from this project.  It was tough, but I didn’t give up, and now I have a beautiful sweater that I wear whenever I could.

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Just as a side note, I know I’m way passed Little Lady’s 5 month birthday, but I got a video clip about it.  Now if I can only figure out how to edit the clip on my new iMac and post it…