I am back

July 10, 2008 at 6:11 am | In Baby, Finished Object, Hobby, Knitting | 2 Comments
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Yes, I am back after a long hiatus. I haven’t been knitting much in the past few months. In fact, I haven’t been doing much of anything. The last couple of weeks have been hectic, with moving to a new house and a few health issues. Now that we have settled down in our new house, I thought I will finally get to the long pending post.

Aren’t these booties adorable? I think they look cuter because of the yarn. I had bought this 2-ply yarn from Raja Market. The yarn has ‘baby’ written all over it. The pom-poms were my own addition, not part of the pattern. The credit for the ’shoestring’ and the pom-poms goes to my husband. He is now an expert in making pom-poms using Pony’s pom-pom maker.

I wanted to make a baby hat to go with these booties and found a pattern I liked. I goofed up big time while joining the ear flaps, so the flaps are inside out. I think it looks ok, I can always get away with it by saying, I wanted it that way! The string again is husband’s contribution.

I almost decided to make a matching sweater, but decided against it. The yarn is quite thin and I don’t think I have the patience to knit an entire sweater (albeit a baby one) with it. I might eventually make a baby sweater, but not with this yarn.

And this pair of booties is for my husband’s boss’s son. Though it doesn’t look as cute as the first pair, it is ok. After adding the ’shoestring’ and pom-poms (thanks to dear husband), I realized I should have used some colorwork. It looks kind of boring now.

So, that’s all is there in the ‘finished knitting’ bag. My mom’s sweater and hubby’s scarf are still WIPs and don’t seem to make any progress at all. I also plan to make a baby blanket (mostly tetris), so let’s see how it goes. Our new house has a huge balcony, facing the forest and it is ideal to knit or to read a book, so I actually might get some knitting done in the coming days.

Bamboozled headband

April 9, 2008 at 9:14 am | In Finished Object, Flat knitting, Hobby, Knitting, cable projects, headband | 3 Comments
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After thoroughly enjoying Calorimetry, I decided to knit another headband. I wanted to knit something for my nieces-in-law and headband was the best - knits fast and it is useful for girls. I chose Bamboozled because it has cables and I wanted to try knitting cables.

Bamboozled comes with a chart and instructions. I wanted to learn a new skill (reading charts) so I tried that first. For every stitch, I would see the symbol, then see the glossary to see what the symbol means, then figure out whether I am on RS or WS and then knit that stitch. Phew! I tried knitting a few rows using the chart, but I was taking ages to knit a single row. When I realized I am going to be knitting this headband for the rest of the year if I use the chart, I switched to instructions.

Knitting cables is stressful. I would knit a few rows and then realize I goofed up somewhere and start all over again. That’s when I realized the importance of lifelines. They are exactly that - lifelines!  After I started using lifelines, I hardly made any mistake. Isn’t there a Murphy law that says: it doesn’t rain when you take the umbrella with you, but always does when you don’t take it.

In the knitting world, cable and lace projects have high regards. To be considered a real knitter, one has to attempt cables and laces at least once. This headband was my first step into the cable world. If you ask me, I don’t know what is the big deal about cables. Yeah, they are fun to knit, but stressful too. It needs my complete concentration, so I can’t knit cables while watching TV or when I am multitasking. I knit to relieve my stress, but this project actually aggravated it. Also, I didn’t especially like the end product either. When I look at a cable sweater, I don’t go weak in my knees like some knitters do. I don’t mind knitting a cable project again, but I don’t think I like wearing it. I think I am weird!

Continental vs. English

April 2, 2008 at 11:24 am | In Hobby, Knitting | 3 Comments

This is probably the most frequently asked question in the knitting world. Which is better: Continental knitting or English knitting? Continental knitting is where you hold the yarn in your left hand. In English knitting, you hold the yarn in your right hand, so you are a “thrower” because you need to throw the yarn over the needle while knitting.

My first knitting teacher was an English style knitter, so she taught me her style. I struggled with it for a few days and after that it was a piece of cake. I have read many threads about Continental vs. English on knitting forums, but never bothered to think over it even for a second. Until I started the seed stitch scarf. I consider myself a moderately fast knitter, and when I saw I have knitted just 4 inches of scarf over the past 2 days, I was shocked.

I have to throw the yarn for every stitch and I also have to switch the yarn back and front for every stitch. Thanks to all this throwing and switching, my right wrist hurt. That is when it dawned upon me that Continental knitters must be fast in 1×1 ribbing because they don’t have to switch yarn and they don’t have to throw.

So, I started learning Continental knitting. I learnt knit and purl stitches from Knitting Help. Knit was fairly easy. I fumbled for a few stitches, but purl was the rebel. After purling for a few rows, now I think I get the hang of it. The movements are still not smooth, but I know I will get there one day.

I need to practice this style till my knits and purls are consistent. The day is far away when I can continue my 4-inch seed stitch scarf in Continental style. Even then, it feels good to know I can knit in Continental if I want to. Who doesn’t want to learn a new skill?

I am in no way answering the question of which style is better. I think when I am doing alternate knit and purl stitches, Continental knitting will come handy. It will speed up my knitting and give some relief to my wrists.

Peter Easy Vest

March 2, 2008 at 12:26 pm | In Finished Object, Hobby, Knitting | 5 Comments

This vest follows the Berroco Peter Easy vest pattern. I used Vardhman yarn in gray. The yarn was not good - one of the skeins was really bad. Needle size - US 8 and 9. I should have used 9 and 10. I made it for medium size (Chest 44). I used up 2 and a half skeins of 50 gms. each.

This is my first project at this scale - both size and complexity. I was hesitant initially whether it will come out well. It has turned out better than I expected. It is not perfect - it looks like a vest made by an amateur knitter. The ribbing on the v-neck is not sharp enough. The front portion and back portion ended up at different length and width - so seaming was a challenge. Knitting was consistent and it shows in the different shapes and sizes of ‘V’ on the right side.

Nevertheless, I learnt a lot from this project. Ribbing, circular knitting, picking up stitches, armhole shaping, neck shaping, knitting a v-neck - the lessons are endless. Looking back at this project, I am happy and proud of myself. I think for a beginner, I did pretty well.

iPod cover knit in round

February 27, 2008 at 6:13 am | In Finished Object, Hobby, Knitting, circular knitting | 2 Comments

This was my first project on double pointed needles. I got the basic pattern idea on the net (Can’t find the site now). It was a simple rectangle in a single color.

I learnt knitting on dpns from Knitting Help.  Amy’s video on dpns is very very helpful. It’s clear and easy enough to understand for a newbie like me.

After knitting a few rows, I got a hang of it. I thought a rectangle in the same color would be boring, so added two rows of a contrast color to spice it up a bit.  Result: a warm, cosy cover for my shining iPod.

I used this for a few days. I used to keep the iPod and the earphones together and my iPod was getting scratches because of this. So, I added a pouch to the rectangle. What you see is this version.

I want to add a flap with a button or Velcro.  This will make the cover complete.

My first hat!

May 5, 2007 at 9:05 am | In Finished Object, Hobby, Knitting | No Comments

This was extremely easy to make. I haven’t used a double pointed needle or a circular needle before, so this was perfect for me. Flat needles, no advanced skills necessary, knits fast - it will be over before you know it. The patter can be found here. I left out the VW because I am not a big fan and I wanted to keep the hat simple. I followed the pattern word to word and ended up with a very small hat. Not a problem, at least I have a finished hat.

Let the knitting begin…

April 18, 2007 at 6:42 am | In Hobby, Knitting | No Comments

I have started on another journey: knitting. I learnt the basics from my previous landlady. She was kind enough to bear with me and teach me knits, purls, yo’s and tog’s and

Baby socks

 

what not. After struggling with it for almost a fortnight, I was the proud owner of a pair of baby socks. They looked cute, but not as cute as I wanted them to be.

 

My first baby bib

I knit two more pairs of socks, one for my nephew and one for my colleague’s son. I got bored of socks and wanted to try something different. What better place to look for but internet? That’s when I landed on knittinghelp.com, such a lovely site for knitters. I got a free pattern for a baby bib from this site and knit one. It is a nice baby blue bib and is so easy to knit. I am so proud of it.

I am on to more exciting things now. Plan to knit a dish cloth listen on Knitting Help.

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