Hi there!
I'm a 26 year old grad student who has fallen in love with knitting. Because of this, I've decided to start blogging about my adventures with yarn. I'm a complete beginner (as you can tell from the pictures), and I am joyfully making some headway on projects of interest. Every time I complete a new project, or even realize that I understand what is being asked of me in a project, I get so thrilled!
It all started when years ago I saw my old boss knitting this fantastic baby blanket for her sister's new addition. It had so many intricate designs all over it that I was wonderstruck. I never could get that image out of my head for the next few years, and finally, last year I decided to sign up for a introduction to knitting class. There I learned the basics of casting on, the knit & purl stitch, and binding off. From here, I spent about a year practicing knitting a scarf with the same ball of yarn. Every time I completed it, I unraveled the scarf, and tried again until I perfected my stitch. This was done while I was working as a call centre help-desk agent for Bank of America, and after doing this for a week - I found I could not really bear the calls without keeping my hands busy with the yarn. Once I left BOA, I sort of forgot about knitting until I received a lovely present from my mother one day. Heirloom rosewood needles with two color-infused balls of yarn. From there, I was more or less hooked, and I decided it was time to get past knitting a pattern-less scarf and learn some new stitches! I experimented with a variety of different stitch patterns like the basket-weave, or cable work, and was delighted when I discovered how easy it really is!
So then, it came time to picking a pattern to work with. I am slightly obsessed with 100% Alpaca wool, and so I included that as a must for the search of my pattern. The search lead me to discovering this wonderful (& free) pattern @ http://knitscapade.blogspot.com/2010/12/softly-cabled-cowl.html . Since knitting my first one in white for my sister, I've then had to make one for my mother, and of course for myself (pictured in blue below). I cannot say enough good things about this pattern and the wonderful feel of this wool! It introduced me to knitting in the round, an at-first troublesome concept, until I discovered a wonderful knitting guru @ verypink.com who has a series of instructional videos. Her videos are unlike any other in that you can actually see every aspect of her work!
This is my very full box of yarn....I am planning on visiting a second hand store to find a large wicker basket that I can store this overflowing yarn in.
My beautiful softly cabled cowl! Thank you Knitscapade for this pattern!
My first attempt with lace. It was only when I uploaded this picture that I realized it does not match the pattern I was following from Last Minute Gifts. I guess that's what happens when I get so excited about creating a new project! It was here I learned about Lace basics: how to do yarn-overs & decreases.
These are the books that I get great instructions from (the first one), as well as beautiful patterns (both).
Finally, this is my beautiful crafting room. My sister helped me set this up, (shanks shish!), she has such a great eye for creating beautiful space!
Happy knitting!!
