I never have enough time!

Well I don't really have time to post a full post.  But I do have a picture of my last project I was working on. I just finished it!

So there it is!  I think the tie is crooked...I had a really hard time sewing it one...I'm more of a knit-it-right-in kinda person...But it's the first thing I've made with sleeves! =D

Is this really it?

I think this is it.
What I've been waiting for.

Now you may be wondering what that is...And I cannot really answer that, as I'm not entirely sure what the answer is either.

I just know that I'm nearing the part where I knit the neck on that shirt I'm working on. -see here- Then all I have to do is knit the tie, and sew it on!

And that's really all I have to say on knitting right now.  Well that and the fact that I can't stop thinking about what to knit next...Even though I should know.  I should be preparing for our craft sale booth this fall!



On a totally separate and unrelated note; I got my fitness magazine yesterday.
Now this is probably not a big deal to you.  But it is for me.  Not the actually magazine.  It's just that in the past, I would get the magazine, be motivated, exercise, and then quit two weeks after I started.  And a week to a week and a half before I got the next magazine.  Now of course that doesn't really benefit me at ALL.  The starting and stopping all of the time.  Because, face it, I'm out of shape.  Knitting just isn't exercise at all.  And knitting in ALL of my free time isn't such a good idea...As I've learned...But anyways, I'm getting off track.  I've been exercising this whole time! From when I received the magazine issue before last, and now this one!  Now granted, it's nothing particularly intense or demanding.  But it does get my butt moving.  And I haven't quit yet.  My plan is to slowly build up to more.  Ease into it.  I refuse to be and out of shape knitting nerd.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but, really, honestly, who WANTS deep down, to be out of shape?

I think I'm falling behind

Okay. So I haven't posted in a while.
Okay. So I haven't posted in forever.
Not that it probably matters to most.
But I feel as though I should either keep up this posting thing, or quit all together and delete it...
Anyways.  My life has been a little more than hectic lately, which is a lame excuse, I know.  But it really is true!  I've been researching what's going to be "in" this fall/winter season in preparation for a fall craft sale.  And then of course trying to actually get knitting on the stuff.  It's a work in progress. I've got a scarf going towards that right now.  I also have this Shirt going for my brother.
It was Sunday, and I totally didn't realize that his birthday was exactly a week away.
So I asked him what he wanted.
His answer?  A full set of sweatbands, to which I naively agreed.
Until I realized what that meant.
Do I really want to be around him when he wears those all of the time?  No.
So he still thinks I'm making those.  I told him that my current project -afore mentioned shirt- is for the sale.  Of course he wants me to be working on his thing now...But I've convinced him that sweatbands take nooo time to make. I'll just whip 'em up the night before his birthday!
Not that I could. Not a full set.
But he doesn't know that.  So all is well in Rachel World.

NOT.
But it's okay.  It could be way worse.


Trying to stay positive here...


Yep....there's that classic question: "Half full, or half empty?"

To which your answer is....?

Progress Report:

So I'm still knitting the body of it. My secret project.  I've knitted 10" now, which means I only have 7" left to knit! Then I can figure out the top...But before I get much further, I''ll have to unravel another portion of the sweater. My current ball is almost gone...I suppose I could just unravel the whole sweater at once, but since they're so big, it takes forever. And I just like to start actually knitting after I get the first ball done. So I end up unraveling as I go. It works for now.

I'm still trying to figure out what the heck a person knits that is actually USED in the summer months?! -This is where you blow my socks of and give me a whole list of perfect things to knit for the summer months.-
So far I've come up with nothing. So I guess I either knit winter things all summer, and just can't pawn of my creations until winter again, or you give me that magical list of yours...
You know I'll get it eventually!

But I have a lot of things to do today. It's Saturday, and the house is in dire need of a massive cleaning, so I guess I shall leave it at this. Although I'm so obsessed with this whole project I have going, I might end up blabbing on again later. Save yourself while you can!!!

Pattern Update

Not that I have much to update anyone on. Although I am about an inch further now than I was at the time of my last post!

Nahh, I just wanted to put up a picture of what it looks like so far! Because, well, admittedly, I'm really excited about this. It's taking forever. But, I'm really thinking it's going to turn out awesome. At least to me.
Maybe it'll be like people who have ugly babies. To them, they're beautiful, but then some people think they're ugly. That's just the way it is. SO. Feel free to lie about this if you totally hate it. Although I'm more for blunt honesty myself. The truth is the way to go, and I hate beating around the bush.

I've placed nine markers evenly throughout, because those are my decrease stitches, and I just find it easier to count it out and mark it before, rather than count as I'm knitting. So yeah. STRIPES!

This is hard!

Okay, so although I'm slightly addicted to my current adventure in pattern writing...It's hard! I keep changing things in my mind, before I even get to the point of needing to do it. Currently, I'm still working on the bottom part of the shirt-top-thing. What would you call it even? It's long. And starts out big around, and gets smaller as it goes. I'm making it all solid color. Dark blue. But I'm putting stripes into it by knitting every 9th round in purl rather than knit. So there are stockinette stripes made by knitting that purl row in. Also, on the purl round, I decrease 9 stitches throughout. It's slow going, I'm only about 6" in. But it's getting faster the longer I go, obviously since it gets smaller around. Of course this bottom part can't be changed at all as I go, because that would look like knitting barf or something stupid. But I keep changing how I'm going to do the top. I still haven't decided what I want  it to look like. Originally my plan had been to just try to follow what I started out copying basically exactly. Just so I could get a feel for this whole thing. But now I'm thinking, why would I do that? I already have that! I think I'd like it with criss-crossed straps better, or a tie around the neck. Or blah blah blah. And how to shape the top still eludes me. Thankfully I still have time for that, considering the fact that I still have 11" of bottom to knit.

This better work. And it better be worth it.

Maybe I'll just wear it ALL the time.

"Oh hey Rachel, that's a nice shirt...Didn't you wear that last Sunday? Oh, and Tuesday too...And maybe Monday?"

"Yes! I designed it myself, don't you like it?"

Please don't let me do that. That would be soooo annoying to me later on. And the worst person to annoy you, is yourself.

Writing your own knitting pattern?

This is it! I have decided to man up! I'm writing my own knitting pattern!
Now of course, I have absolutely no idea how to go about this. It's not something simple, it's a shirt-type-thing. I've been looking and looking at patterns, and just haven't found anything that I really like. So last night I said to myself; "Rachel. C'mon, how hard can writing your own pattern be? Man up! Try something new! It'll be a challenge!"
So here I am. I decided that since I have no idea what I'm doing at all, I'll base it on something that I already own. I actually bought it at a real store! And it's not knit. But it's kind of what I've been thinking I'd like. Only there aren't patterns for it...At least not free ones. And why would I PAY for a pattern?! So yes. So far, I've done a TON of math. I then knitted my 'swatch'. Which was followed by MORE MATH. Oh yes, and somewhere between the math and the swatch knitting I completed my very sad attempt at drawing it out. Now, I've not mentioned this before, but I really, really, REALLY can't draw. So this thing is horrible. Not at all even. But it's covered in numbers and lines now, so I guess it's not so bad...this whole process is turning out to be a bit overwhelming. One minute I feel as though I have it all figured out, and the next I have something else pop into my head that still needs to be figured out. And again, I have no idea what I'm doing. Are you supposed to have it all figured out before you start, or do you just go with the flow, and kinda just figure it all out as you come to it?
Not that I've really cared what the 'right' way to do things is up until now. But this just seems a bit more...hmm...official? Real? I don't know. I can't describe it. I suppose I'll just make my own 'right' way to do it. Unless I fail. haha So far, it's seeming like it'll work though...I'm just hoping I've gotten the math all right so it fits. And I'm also hoping I can get the top shaping right. Because that's seeming a little bit complicated.
But hey! I'm making it myself, so unlike most patterns, it's knit in the round! Hooray for no seams!!

Knitting stripes!

Yes! It is true! I knitted another bag!  I just finished it today. The 'finishing' I did today really only consisted of sewing in a few ends. But I really do hate that. So I put it off for a few days.
Anyways, it's cotton! So I can have it on my bare skin without any problems this summer. It's stripes. Stripes are cool. And fun to knit! When you're just knitting around and around in stockinette, it gets really old. Really fast. So stripes are a good way to break up the otherwise totally brainless knitting project.  They aren't hard to start in the middle of a project either, you just tie on the second color and go! Not to say that the very beginning knitter could just jump right into knitting stripes...But I'm confident it wouldn't take long. As long as said beginning knitter has confidence in themselves, and more so, in their knitting skills. I'm certain people can do more than they give themselves credit for.  And one of these days, I'll find a way to prove it! But for now, today, I'll leave you with a picture and a question:

Where do I find a model?

Knitting withdrawls

I haven't had much time to knit lately. I'm pretty busy during the day, and at night, I sit down and feel too lazy. Even to pick up my knitting. Which is horribly lazy, because since when do I not feel like knitting?! It's killing me! I've been working on this bag for like two weeks now, and I'm not done yet! Can't I just let the house fall apart, just for a few days? Just until I finish this project...It really wouldn't even be multiple days if I could stream all of my energies into the knitting!
But no.
Although I suppose I might get a little hungry eventually.
And the dog would want to go out.
And the laundry would need to be done.
And-and-and...!
Oh well. I'll finish it soon enough! And then the cycle shall start all over again.
Ahhh the joys of having a life other than KNITTING!


But alas! I must go make some popcorn for the youngsters!

Tatting sucks. Knitting wins!

I'm going to start up my knitting again today!!!!
I seriously can't handle not knitting for another day.
Tatting doesn't really suck, but I just can't handle tatting and watching something. Be it tv, or people.
So that'll have to take a little break.
Besides, I really miss my knitting. A lot. I'll work on tatting when I can focus more on only that. I'll get there, it'll just take me longer to learn to tat than it did to learn to knit or crochet. I guess that's what happens when you can't focus only on that one thing. Plus I really haven't found the kind of tatting pattern that I'm thinking of...
Don't' you hate it when you have a vision in your mind of what you want to make, and the pattern for it hasn't been written yet?!

Tatted wonder?

My bookmark failure is still there, sneering at me, screaming "HAHA! YOU FAILED!"
Well not really. But I am still extremely disappointed in that. I have started a new project this morning though! It's a medallion, and THIS is the pattern! So far I've had minimal mistakes, and been able to successfully take each of them out! I'm not sure I've got the lock join right, but I was sitting in church working on it so googling the proper way to complete that wasn't really an option. Oh well. My current technique is working well enough for this..And really this is more to work on my basics, and not so much to get everything exactly right. I'll work on that later on.

I do miss my knitting though. Like crazy. It's sitting here next to me right now. Calling my name. I must resist though! Not only will my finger get worse. Stupid...But I know that I'll not pick up this whole tatting adventure for a long time. And I'll basically be quitting then. And quitting is NOT an option. Not to me. Not now. So I guess I'm stuck with this lame tatting.

Okay so it's not lame. It is quite enjoyable. And amazing how you take a piece of string, tie a bunch of knots, and end up with something so wonderful! If you don't mess it up and finish it that is...

What are you working on?
What do you WISH you were working on?

Oh, and here's a picture of my current tatting adventure. I'm following this pattern so we'll see if I can get it completed....

One word: WOW.

WOW.
Tatting is proving to be a bit of a challenge! I found a simple bookmark pattern, and was SOOO close to being done with it, when I somehow had a massive brain fart, and forgot to flip the stitches!!! So now I took it out as far as I could...But got stuck...So I guess that is it. What do I do now?
Cry. Because I put so many hours into that stupid thing and I can't even finish it!
Start over. Possibly with that pattern. But most likely with a new pattern. The pattern wasn't my problem, my brain was.
Stick with it. Hey, a person can't give up every time they don't do as good as they would like! You won't get anywhere with an attitude like that! I'll get this, it'll just take me a little while.



I MISS MY KNITTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A lot.
It's killing me. I'm so tempted to pick it back up and set this tatting down! My finger really needs to heal though.
And I shouldn't-nay, can't, give up on this tatting!
I WILL GET THIS!


So I shall leave it at that! I am over flowing with determination! And I'll definitely have to put up a picture or two of my extreme tatting skills!

Can YOU tat?

---I cannot knit. That causes sadness. I get this really thick callous on my left pointer finger...Occasionally it splits where the callous ends and the normal skins starts. Which is what happened this time. Although I have yet to figure out why. In the past it has always been, I thought, because my skin was really dry. But for once it's not! Oh well. I'll learn to tat instead.---


YES! Today is the day. I have begun the process. I AM LEARNING TO TAT! And man are those "double stitches" hard to get. I now understand why they say to start out with a thick crochet cotton. The tatting thread is so thin, it's really hard to see what's happening when you're tying your knots. The 'flip' just wasn't happening for me. I didn't even understand how that worked at first. But never fear! I at last discovered how that is supposed to work. And I should have gotten it from the start...I've moved on to the picot stitch now. I can totally get it to work. That's not my problem. My problem is, I cannot seem to figure out how much space to leave between the two ds's -double stitches- to make the loop a good size. They're either too big, or too small! I'll get it though.

And tatting patterns are NOTHING like knitting, or crocheting patterns! I do not understand how to read them. At all. I feel like I'm just floating in a stationary position with this learning part. I have yet to actually DO something. So, I looked up some patterns. My abilities aren't at that point yet. Which is just MORE motivation for me to get this whole thing figured out! I need to go go go! MAKE something!




I forgot what it was like to start at the very beginning of something.
Not knowing anything about it.
It's hard.
But maybe it's good for me...now when someone wants me to show them how to do something, be it knitting, or crocheting, I'll have a better understanding of where they're coming from.

There's my shuttle! A very ever so kind friend gave it to me! She also gave my some tatting string. -Or is it thread?- Wow, I have some proper terms to learn still!

And yeah, I've had these for almost a week now. But I totally LOVE them! They're Gingher. And I found them on clearance!! Very exciting. So I have these super awesome scissors to snip all of my tatting mistakes off.



All in all, this is going to be great! Tatting looks very intricate. Reading and following patterns here I come!

What do you want from me?

This is it. I need some input. Someone, somewhere, should tell me what to do. I have a bag on my needles right now. But...I like to have more than one thing...There is also that sweater I started...But that baby is a sore subject for me due to the lack of enough yarn. I will finish it, I just need to get a black sweater at the thrift store. The bag is just so simple! Mindless really. Knit. Around, and around...and around....and around......and around.........
This is why I like it when people pay me to knit. They just tell me what they want. I get the satisfaction of knitting something, without having to decide what to make.  It's hard to make something, when I have nothing to do with it when it's done...
What would YOU make if you were me?

Decisions decisions!

Okay. I really don't like deciding things sometimes. It would be so much easier if there was just some magical voice that shouted out at you what you should do whenever you're unsure. Wouldn't that make life so much easier?! I was really missing that voice yesterday, when I was looking for something to knit. I was on Ravelry last night for HOURS, and I just had no luck finding a pattern that I liked. I refuse to pay for a pattern...And although I'm very appreciative of the people that share their designs with the world for free...I will admit that occasionally, the better patterns aren't free. But that wasn't my problem last night. I like Ravelry for that because you can sort the patterns, so I just show ONLY the free ones!
But when you have no idea what you want to make, selecting a pattern is slightly difficult. I finally did decide on something though, and I have the yarn for it already. It's even cotton! Needless to say, I would enjoy another site like Ravelry...Or just more patterns on there. I feel as thought I've seen them all a million times already!

Vest-ish-ness!

So. I've moved onto my next knitting project. It's called the Summer Vest. Not that the name really matters to me. haha Anyways, the front is supposed to look like this, and the back should end up about like this! I'm excited about it. I'm using Red Heart Eco-Cotton Blend. Apparently it's made out of the end rolls of t-shirt fabric, with a little acrylic added. Anywho, I really like the feel of it, and can't wait to finish this vest! I've already finished the top, and just need to knit the bottom. Basically just knit back and forth.
On an even more excited note: I GOT SCISSORS!! =D  Not just any scissors...Gingher scissors. Yay for clearance at Michaels! They were only like 13 dollars. Which is half off. They're sooo gonna be perfect for my sweater dis-assembling that I'm starting to really do a lot. Eeeeh, yesss!!!!!!!
Hahaha I'm excited. I also discovered that I can, in fact walk and knit at the same time! Store-knitting here I come!

How much is enough?

What is the line between too much, and not enough? Is it possible to spend too much time knitting?
I've almost finished my third Shawl/Scarf/Neckerchief! I have two more rows and then the bind off.  It's orange. And lacy. I like it...I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it yet though? I'm beginning to worry that I'm going to end up with a stock pile of knitted items and nothing to do with them.  I mean, sure there's giving things away...But I really would like to sell some things at some point. I don't know. I don't know what I'll knit when I'm done with this either. I mean, sure, I have my sweater to work on. And I really should pick that baby back up one of these days...It's just that there are sooo many balls of yarn attached to it that it's so complicated to just knit one row! I'll get there though! I WILL FINISH IT!! I just need to come up with my second smaller project that is one of those pick-up-on-a-whim-and-go-with-it projects. Something smaller...like these..neck...THINGS that I've made. haha What would you make? And almost more importantly, What would you do with it when you were done??

On a brighter note:

I finished my shawl/scarf/neckerchief. Yes, I call it all three. Why? Because, quite honestly, I have no idea which out of the three is the proper name? Different people call them different things. Anyways, I think I'll share a picture!

There it is all pinned out!

And there it is all blocked out! -And yes, that is not me...I refuse to model my makings. hahaha-

Selling my knitting?!

How do you go about selling your knitting? Have you ever sold anything? If so, how do you price things? What if someone won't pay you....or refuses to follow your business rules??
SOME PEOPLE ARE HORRIBLE CUSTOMERS!!!

Shawls, lace, and stabbing myself.

So. I finished my 'shawlette' that I was knitting! You didn't even know I was knitting it did you?! It's lacy. Kind of a creamy color. And COTTON! The best stuff for your skin! I'm hoping to 'market' it...AKA sell it...As long as I can guilt someone into purchasing such a fine piece of worksmanship. haha It took me a few days, which equals a lot of solid hours. But they're actually fun to knit! I even have it all pinned out and blocked. Or would it be blocking right now since it's not dry yet? Whatever. It all comes out to mean, it's already done! I have my next yarn and pattern picked out, and I'm about to cast on for that one. It shall be orange, and quite lacy-ish!
My only worry is that I'll knit up a stash, and no one will want them. haha Ah well, time will tell, time will tell...

YARN!!

Okay. Maybe using yarn that I take from thrift store sweaters isn't such a great idea...I mean, sure it's cheaper. By a lot. And it's nice yarn too! But you run the risk of not having enough yarn to finish your project. For example, this sweater I'm working on knitting. There is NO way I'm going to have enough yarn to finish it. I have to make the sleeves longer now, and the body is no where near being even a third of the way done. And there's definitely not enough yarn. So now I have to ask myself, What do I do to fix this? There's no way on earth I'm taking it all out. And there's also no way to buy more of the same color. Another one of those thrift store sweater deals.
So here's what I'm thinking:
I'll extend the arms so that they'll for sure be long enough with the orange and gray now, to be sure I have enough for that. And then for the body, I'll try to get like a black color, and finish off the top of the body and the hood with that. I don't think that would look too bad, and then I would at least be able to finish my sweater.
And this for sure means, next time I try to knit myself a sweater out of thrift store sweater yarn, I'll use more than just two sweaters worth of yarn...

Baby it's...cold outside?

Well! My sweater body has been casted on. And I'm already 28 rows into the knitting of it too! The button area's turned out to be a lot easier to knit solid orange than I had anticipated. Making the actual button HOLES is a bit of a challenge. But only because you use two extra small balls of yarn. So on the gray stripes, I have about a million balls of yarn floating around. Which means knots. Lot's of knots. It'll be worth it though! As long as you don't get too lazy, and you just suck it up and untangle the yarn every other row, the knots are manageable. Ahhhh!

What dreams are made of.

What are dreams made of?  What is a dream?

On a separate note, my second sweater sleeve is almost done!! 5 more rounds, and I'll be there! I'm so excited. Then I can start the body! I'm trying to figure out how to work it so that the strips up the middle, with button holes on one side, and the buttons on the other, will be solid orange all the way up, where as the body will be orange and gray stripes, just like the sleeves. At times I wonder if all of the work put into the thought process is really worth it? I have decided that it must be. When you compare figuring out how to do that, to, say, PRICING something that you have knitted, or will knit, it's a no brainer!  Pricing things is by FAR the hardest thing. At one end, you rip yourself off, and at the other end you rip the buyer off! Or you rip no one off because you have it priced so high no one will buy it...Or it's always possible that it's just ugly, and there's no demand for it too. Anyways, there's so much thought that you have to put into it that at times, it just gives me a headache. I end up giving up for the day. Or couple of days...maybe even the week...Of course I always come back to it. Isn't it everyones dream to just find that one thing that they really succeed at?

Thrift Store Finds

Okay. Went to the thrift store today. They had sweaters!! It was all half off too, so they were only like a dollar each. All cotton. Just waiting to be taken apart for more yarn! Now I can't decide. Do I take those out, or do I knit more on my sweater? I'm onto sleeve number two...I'm finding that knitting sweater sleeves is a lot like knitting socks. The first one is nothing. Quite enjoyable. But the second one is boring. It's hard to keep at it. I haven't knitted at all yet today. Every time I go to grab it, I find something else to do so I can put off that dreaded second sleeve...I'm not a repetitive knitter...I just want to get right to the body of the sweater now! I want it to be done! I can't wait! Ahhhh the suspense/pressure/excitement/everything of knitting!

Thrift Store Finds

Okay. Went to the thrift store today. They had sweaters!! It was all half off too, so they were only like a dollar each. All cotton. Just waiting to be taken apart for more yarn! Now I can't decide. Do I take those out, or do I knit more on my sweater? I'm onto sleeve number two...I'm finding that knitting sweater sleeves is a lot like knitting socks. The first one is nothing. Quite enjoyable. But the second one is boring. It's hard to keep at it. I haven't knitted at all yet today. Every time I go to grab it, I find something else to do so I can put off that dreaded second sleeve...I'm not a repetitive knitter...I just want to get right to the body of the sweater now! I want it to be done! I can't wait! Ahhhh the suspense/pressure/excitement/everything of knitting!

Can I scream now?

Okay. My first attempt at a sweater could be going better than it is now.
Even using double strands of the yarn from the sweaters, it's still not quite enough, so I had to bump the needle size down one. I had assumed that I then just had to make a size bigger of the pattern and it would be right.
I was wrong.
I need a small. The sleeve size medium was inches too short. So I made the large sleeve. IT IS STILL AN INCH TOO SHORT! So. What am I doing? Just knitting for an extra inch...Now I worry that the body will be too short too. So. I shall knit that in the size large, and add a couple of rows between each button hole. I've never done button holes.
With all of these modifications, I'm beginning to worry that they will really show, and this sweater will look stupid. Or that I'll run out of yarn...which would be a problem, considering I don't have more of those same sweaters for more yarn. Oh well. It shall all work it's self out I'm sure...

Hippos and Sweaters!

This is late.
But...
I FINISHED MY HIPPO!!!!!!!!!!
You wanna see him?!

So there he is. Isn't he just amazing!? I felt so accomplished! 

Sweaters. 

I have also started my next knitting project. It is a sweater. I'm using yarn from two other sweaters that I got at the thrift store to take out for yarn! They were both cotton, which is good, because my poor skin cannot handle acrylic. Dries it right out and causes an allergic breakout. I'm over two thirds of the way done with my first sleeve. This is getting exciting. 

Creative block!

What do you do when you have a creative brain fart? How do you inspire yourself?
I can look at knitting patterns for HOURS and never find anything that I like. At times, I wish someone would just TELL me what to make. Occasionally they do. When they order something from me. That hasn't happened in a while though, so this brain fart is really starting to bother me.
The socks I'm working on got a little too thoughtless. It wasn't taking any brain power at all...When I make socks, I prefer to have another project going at the same time. So this time, I'm stuck with nothing.
Until now! I have decided to knit myself a Hippo. This'll be my first knitted animal so we'll see how it turns out. The size 2 needles make it seem like one is knitting with toothpicks! Hopefully I don't have carpal tunnel by the end of this. Is that possible?

Blocking?

Well. Today. I had to block. I hate blocking! It's such a time consuming process. I know it's usually worth it in the end...But, wetting it, sticking in all of those MILLIONS of pins...And then you have to wait for it to dry! The finished project does grow to be a tremendously lot bigger than it was before. It really brings out the pattern. Now, the eyelet cast off thingy takes FOREVER to do. Literally. It was amazing though! It ends up looking a lot like a crocheted border. I cannot wait for my shawl/scarf-ish thing to be done so I can use it! Due to this blocking process, it shall be a few days. Is blocking really worth it?

Why do I knit?

I've been contemplating the reason behind my love for knitting. The conclusion I've come up with is; mostly, it's because I can control it. It is mine. No one can make me change it, or expect it to be something else. It's also very rewarding. You can't beat the satisfaction you get from totally completing something that YOU made. YOURSELF. It is all yours. Like a pair of socks. Your feet are warm, because you made SOCKS.
Life is full of uncontrollable things. It's  nice at times to have that one thing that is fully in your hands. It's your fault if it fails, and it's your accomplishment if you succeed. And the relaxation factor is just an added bonus!

Provisional cast-on, and chart reading!?

Sometimes, when I choose a pattern, I choose it based ONLY on the pictures. Sometimes, that's not so smart. Because then, when you go to start knitting it, you realize it's full of things you've never done before...for example, provisional cast-on and a lace chart. haha Most times, I would not choose a pattern like that, unless I knew how to do those things. But...Well, I really wanted to knit this thing. And so I decided it was time to man up! Learn some new things already!
.....
It turns out those things were amazingly easy compared to what I had originally anticipated. The cast-on was only messed up twice before it was right, and following the chart has only caused two very minor mistakes, which were caught and fixed before the row was even complete.
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I'm not going to lie. I am pretty much amazing. haha

Example of this mystery item?

And there it is in all of it's glory! It's knitting up a lot faster than I had thought, and I'm getting exciting about trying another thing like this!

And so it begins!

Well. That's it. I have already found something to say.
NEVER KNIT SHORTS!!!
Trust me on this. That pattern, well, to be quite blunt, sucks. Unless maybe you're a bit...larger...than I am. I am nowhere near fat enough for those things though! AND THEY'RE SMALLER THAN THEY SHOULD BE! So that just goes to show you, you get what you pay for with those free patterns. I would offer up a picture, but that's just not gonna happen today. Maybe once the crotch is sewn up. That won't be tomorrow though! I have already decided on my next project, which I'm planning to start tomorrow. I have some cotton yarn -recycled from a thrift store sweater- so I can even keep this project for myself!! Unless I find it ugly of course. My policy is, if it's ugly, give away. Most people won't tell you how truly hideous it is.

Ooops, here I go again...

Well, this is now my second blog. My previous attempt fell to the side. I just don't feel the desire to blog about things. But knitting, this is something different. I knit all of the time! How can I NOT talk about this?! So here it goes again. This shall be the ever so exciting records of my ups and downs of knitting. My accomplishments and my failures. My ideas, and my realities.