A New Beginning

I started this little blog over 4 years ago. And then we got kind of busy…and we moved…and…and..and..you know how it goes. But I would love to talk about my knitting some more, and have made a commitment to myself that this year I am going to work on knitting through my stash as well as really developing my knitting skills. I am not going to be hard core and say I can not BUY any yarn this year, but I would love to knit more of what I have in my yarn stash.

 I am a fearless, intermediate knitter. But I have not mastered socks, I don’t do fair isle, or cables and intarsia kind of eludes me. Lace and sweaters and shawls have been my loves…but after knitting for over 16 years, I think it’s time to bump up my skill set.

I just purchased Vogue® Knitting The Ultimate Knitting Book: Completely Revised & Updated.

 

 

My plan is to learn a lot of new things by working through this book. Eventually, I would love to design a few items of my own. That’s my dream. I have this issue with math though…and spatial thinking…I almost flunked geometry in high school, I kid you not. I console myself with the fact that I have so many other highly developed superpowers that it crowded out spatial thinking and math. BUT…there’s got to be a place for me– the literature loving, poetry reading, math challenged girl–in the world of knitting and patterns..

I am hoping YOU will be inspired to pick up your two sticks and yarn to knit something beautiful. This doesn’t have to be complicated, yes? There is beauty in simplicity.

Literature is also one of my loves. I will be sharing what I am reading and knitting both!

Right now, for Well Read Mom, I just finished reading Strangers and Sojourners (Children of the Last Days) (v. 1) by Catholic author, Michael D. O’Brien. It is such a powerful book. So many images of faith and heartache, wondering and arriving, destruction and rebirth. I highly recommend it!

So, what are you reading and knitting? I’m going to share next time what I made with that beautiful Madelinetosh up there in that picture…a gorgeous yarn for a perfect shawl.  Also, Ginny Sheller over at Small Things, is hosting her monthly Yarn Along, which I plan on participating in this coming month.

After having moved to Georgia, I kind of lost my knitting gumption. It’s hard to knit with hot, swollen fingers. But, I am picking up my needles again, and pushing past the heat factor!

Here’s to learning some new things!
Diana

Oh my goodness, it’s been a year?

 It HAS been a year since I posted here!

I could have titled this, “Oh my goodness, it’s been a year!!” and it would have been just as applicable as an exclamation as a question. Yes, it has been quite the year, with four family members having surgery, some pretty darn serious, and with several hospital stays beyond the surgeries. Yikes.  All is ok now….and one of many blessings in all of that….knitting time. Knitting time runs neck in neck with reading time, and I’ll be sharing a bit of both. Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along:

http://www.gsheller.com/2015/03/yarn-along-218.html

I have also read so many books in the last year. Currently, I am reading through Pride and Prejudice again, as a group of us have joined the http://www.wellreadmom.com, and we are reading P&P for this month. That is off schedule for the year list they put out, but we joined half way through, and decided to start with P&P. I can’t recommend Well Read Mom enough. What a fun group to get motivated to read the good stuff. I couldn’t find my copy of Pride and Prejudice,  so I splurged and bought a very long annotated one. This is like a tome, but I love it! On the left side, there’s the text of the book and on the right there are notes with great insights into the story, the time period, and the dress etc. There are so many pictures of the styles, period furniture, and estates! I could see using this for school, there is such a wealth of historical knowledge in this version.

I love this sweater, and more importantly, Lily does as well. The pattern is “Tiny Tea Leaves” cardigan from Madelinetosh. The yarn is made right here in Michigan, “Shepherd’s Worsted Wool” If you saw the Winter Olympics, you saw the sorta overdone sweaters the athletes wore walking into the opening ceremony? The design was Ralph Lauren…yeah, whatever..but the YARN was Shepherd’s Wool.  I loved the pattern and really love the yarn. I was much happier with the final product of this cardigan than last year’s yarn disaster. The yarn has little specks of burgundy and orange, which sounds strange, but it adds a lot of depth and warmth to the yarn color. I was a little hesitant to knit such a bright pink sweater, but am so glad I listened to Lily. “Mama! I HAVE to have a sweater in this yarn!” The girl knows what she likes! She’s not complained once of it being scratchy, and I loved the feel of it as I knit. Here are my Ravelry notes if you want to take a peek…

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/malikestoknit/tiny-tea-leaves-cardi

Last Fall, I finished a really fun knit. I actually knit a cowl for myself out of the same Shepherd’s Wool. I rarely do that…knitting the same yarn twice…but I have a bit of an allegiance now with that particular one. Here’s the Gothic Lace Cowl…it’s free from Tin Can Knits, look under their patterns and then scarves and cowls. For some reason the link wasn’t working if I linked directly to the page.

http://tincanknits.com

I loved knitting this pattern, seriously loved it. I didn’t think I loved to knit lace until I knit this cowl.  I got the buttons at a little local yarn shop near me.

We covered a lot of ground, two fun projects and a great new endeavor in reading terrific literature. Hope to back into the blogging loop! I’m also blogging over at my other WordPress site with stories about our home education adventures at:

https://scenesofthisandthat.wordpress.com

Knit Fearlessly!!

Next up….

I started a new sweater for Miss Lily. She is so grateful for the things I’ve knitted her, it makes me so happy to see her grabbing for her sweater.

 

 

 

Cute…I know…but this sweater was not so much. The yarn was a difficult one, beautifully soft, but pilled up before I was even done knitting, Oh well, she has worn it so many times in the last months of winter. This was not a perfect knit, but oh my goodness, it’s a sweet one on my sweetheart. The pattern was “Cricket” and it had some nice details. My Ravelry notes are here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/malikestoknit/cricket-2

Now…on to her NEW sweater. I started a “Tiny Tea Leaves” for Lily a few weeks ago. I really like the pattern so far, but I made the painful decision to rip out what I had started and switch to another yarn. I started on some Wool Ease from Lion Brand, I wasn’t feeling the love. It was rough on my hands, irritating my skin..and so, so fuzzy looking.

This is what I mean by fearless knitting….I will use this for some doll sweaters for Lily, but not for her next sweater. I was looking through my containers of yarn, and I found a few skeins of this beautiful merino/acrylic yarn from Cascade. It’s called “Wood Violet.” Isn’t it lovely? I’m casting on tonight and will update. The Tea Leaves cardigan is a lot like my favorite, “In Three’s Cardigan” but with a bit more detail along the yoke and long sleeves.

 

 

How can I not knit for this girl? So fun!!

Knit Fearlessly!

Ok….it’s for real now.

Hi Friends! I’m for real now with my blog here. It took me a little bit to get used to WordPress, but I’m liking it! I have made a bit of progress on knitting my stash. I finished that sweet little pink “In Three’s” cardigan for a very special little baby girl. I seriously would be happy to have one of those precious cardigans on my needles all of the time.

I just love it. The Vanna Lion Brand yarn, acrylic, is a nice one to use for gifts like this because it washes easily and is a nice, soft, durable yarn.

Go to Ravelry and find “In Three’s,” you won’t be disappointed. This is definitely beginner friendly.

Knit Fearlessly, Friends!

A New Beginning With Some Old Friends

I have started a new blog here at WordPress with a single purpose…to document knitting through my stash. In an effort to be more frugal and organized, I’m endeavoring to use up a lot of my yarn this year. I’m encouraging you to knit along….and share what great stash buster patterns you love.

My first order of business was to see exactly what I have. I keep most of my yarn in my closet.  You can see it hasn’t been a very organized, accessible system. I had a lot of skeins in a LL Bean canvas bag, and some other things in their original bags. You might want to look through your fingers across your eyes…scary.

My husband has been quite accommodating of my yarn issue.

 I sorted through and loosely organized according to whether it was wool, baby acrylic, or just odds and ends that are being added to a blanket.

After spreading everything out on my bed, and regrouping, my closet is back to working order. No more yarn explosion. Clear plastic containers are the best!

I did find my next project…a little baby girl cardigan that I have knit a few times before and I LOVE! It’s called, “In Three’s” you can find it on Ravelry. I started this over a year ago, and plan on finishing it quickly. I believe the yarn is an acrylic worsted, something like Vanna from Joann’s? I’ll poke around and see if I can find the label.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/in-threes-a-baby-cardigan

I highly recommend this pattern, it doesn’t have any glitches and is so quick and easy! Here is a pic of the “In Three’s Cardigan”  (from a few years back) I made for Lily. Adorable!

She can still wear it! It has little sleeve caps, and is perfect for playing in but also dresses up nicely.

I hope to be posting weekly with updates, which I might link to Ginny Sheller’s weekly Wednesday Yarn Along.

Knit fearlessly, Friends!