Skip to main content

Knit Crochet Blog Week Day Six

Skill set
     I've been knitting as an adult for about two years now.  I've come a long way since those first few projects.  I've learned many techniques, but I still have a long way to go.  I find that I work myself up too much before I try something new.  I always find the new technique easier than I think its going to be.  Knitting in the round made no sense to me.  Then I got the correct length needles.  I couldn't even spell Kitchener Stitch, now I've got it memorized.  I waited forever before I tried cables.  Cables rock!  I "don't" crochet.  I just finished a project that was a third crochet.  (More on that later)  The only thing I've tried and miserably failed at was double knitting.  When I say failed, I mean my finished project looks like crap.  I did, however, finish, and I now know what I'm doing.  So I guess that's not a failure.  So, to make things easier for all of us here's a list of the things I want to learn/master.
-Double Knitting
-Socks!  (There is a deadline on this one 12/21/12, its a long story and it involves the Zombie Apocalypse)
-Felting
-Color work, stranded knitting and I think its called Swiss Darning, where you follow over existing stitches with a different color.
-Real lace knitting, shawls or wraps with small needles (I have a small needle phobia)
-Knitted Ami, not sure if my little Red Blood Cell counts.
-Sweaters, I tend to do smaller projects so I want to do some more time consuming ones.
-Crochet, I was intending to keep focusing on knitting but I found out I do enjoy crochet.
-Finishing, its what makes an item look handmade not homemade, as they say.
-Traveling cables, the Celtic ones

     The list could go on, and of course it does.  My queue on Ravlery is getting longer and longer.  I have given up on keeping it short.  I have many years ahead of me to make everything I want to twice.  So more on the crochet.  I learned Half Double Crochet (HDC) and the Puff stitch.  I think my puff stitches were too small.  I was using a two ply baby llama (you know the one if you've read my blog before), its very splitty for crochet.  I kept grabbing only one of the plys with my hook, or bringing parts of another stitch with me.  So when I do this pattern again, I'll use a four ply.  The pattern was Elf Clobber (link at bottom).  The pattern was a bit vague for my liking but with the help of YouTube I muddled through.  The second cuff looks better because I had figured out what I was supposed to be doing in the crochet part.  It still isn't correct, since I crocheted through all the back loops (yarn splitty problem).  But, I really like them.  I used Queensland Collection Soft Mohair for the purple knitted section.  I checked today.  I got that yarn more than a year ago, April 11 2011.  I love it!  I'm really glad I used it for these.  I was going to use both skeins for a scarf, but these cuffs used up really close to half of one skein.  They are much smaller than I thought they were.

     I got some really good pictures today.  Who would have thought that natural day light makes that big of a difference.  This is a bit off topic but I posted three challenges for Nerd Wars today.  The RBC and the IgG Antibodies were for the Noob challenge.  I've showed you those.  I also posted these Elf Cobbler cuffs for the Follow the Leader challenge. I also posted Bella's Mittens.

The cable on Bella's Mittens was a new one for me.  It really stands out, its why I made them in the first place.  These were super fun to do.  I think they'll be pretty warm too.  I used them for the Battle of the Bards challenge.
  That one shows the cable off a little better.  There is very little time left here in April, so I'm not going to be melting the cube.  I'm really hoping to get one more project done before Monday.  Wish me luck. 
I also got kind of an artsy pic today, I think its really cool.  Happy crafting!
-Q


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Year of Projects: Week 45

    No post last week as we were all down with a nasty stomach bug.  I finally started feeling better on Friday.  I didn't get very much done because of it.  I didn't even get out of bed last Sunday.  I was able to finish the  Sunset Hat .   I think it turned out nicely.  I was worried the Glitter and the Sunset colorways would be too similar, which is why I put the English Rose in between them, but I think the combo works pretty well.  I finished up one more dish cloth; another Star Fish type so I won't post another identical picture.  I've made one more dishcloth since the Nerdopolis tournament ended on the 30th.  We're in a break month now.  I had hoped to get a few rows done on my Holden shawl, but that didn't happen.  I'm going to try to get it done this month.     There is a fiber festival in June, the CNY Fiber Fest, so I'm starting to plan for that.  I went last year and it was very fun....

Knit Crochet Blog Week Day One

Day One (Monday 11th May): If You Were Yarn. If you were a type or brand of yarn, which would you be? Are you a classic pure wool? Is there extra tension but a bit of bounce in you because of your high twist? Would you be more like a high-maintenance, strictly hand-wash fluffy angora or a ‘bring it on’ acrylic, bravely heading into the world of possible baby-sick laundering disasters knowing that you will always come out bright and unharmed?      If I had been asked this question back in January of 2014 I think my answer would be very different from the one I'm about to give today.  Since that time I have started my second new job and have moved my entire household to a smaller city.  Granted the move was what I wanted, but there has been a transition period for me after leaving everything I'd known and become accustomed to behind after 12 years.  I've made new friends twice, gotten used to different policie...

Year of Projects: Week 33

     I started a pair of socks for myself.  I'm not good about checking gauge for anything.  So very quickly I realized the sock was looking very small.  I decided to keep going and make them for Liara instead.  I had her try it on after I turned the heel and it fit her perfectly.   I finished the first sock already.  The yarn is ONline Supersocke 100.  (This yarn and several other skeins were given to me by my Aunt Linda a few years before she passed away.)  I'm using a pattern from one of my physical pattern books.  One of my goals last year was to use more of my books.  I started out strong then tapered off through the year.  So I'm renewing that goal for this year.  It's the Handpaint Highlight Socks by Leah Oakley from the One Skein Wonders book.  I'm going to needle up a bit and still make a pair for myself.  I'm going to make them shortie socks though.  I think I'll have enough yarn for...