I taught myself how to knit. I love it!! Why? Why not!
I quit smoking cigarettes in February. YAY ME!! But I needed some sort of hobby to keep my hands busy and my mind off the cravings. So what's a fairly easy, *cheap and non-offensive habit to replace cigarettes with? Knitting!!
*knitting is only cheap if you don't go all Derpy and buy ALL OF THE YARNS!!
I put an open request out on my Facebook asking if anybody was a knitter, or knew one, who would be willing to donate a pair of needles to my cause (who wants to buy needles before they even know how to knit? Not this gal). Turns out, I had completely forgotten this, my own Gma can knit! She happily gave me a few pairs of straight needles, the ones she was using but hadn't picked up in over a decade.
"I can give you the tools, but I can't help with the skills, I've completely forgotten how to do it." she said. "That's okay, Gma, Google can help me." And help me it did.
It took me over a week to learn how to purl, the whole "you just knit backwards" way of describing it did nothing for me. I finally found a very clear video tutorial and finally figured it out.
So my first project..... I'm a little crazy, a little ballsy, probably a good mixture of both, and my first project (aside from the "scarf" of learning stitches) ended up being a Breakfast at Tiffany's Audrey Hepburn doll. Pattern found HERE.
Much to my chagrin, that pattern actually suggests you buy felt, and sew Audrey's dress.... Are you kidding me? It's a KNIT doll.. She should be wearing a knitted dress. So not only am I NOT knitting a scarf for my first project, but I'm actually (in essence) creating a pattern. Brave, I know.
My friend Megan is a major Ms.Hepburn fan and I wanted to gift her with something from my heart to hers. Here's how she turned out:
I know. She doesn't look EXACTLY like the doll from the pattern. But it's close enough, darnit. I couldn't find the specific wool they suggest you use for the body, so I just bought something close to "flesh toned" yarn (it was actually baby yarn) from Walmart. She photographed paler than she is in person, I promise, I didn't knit her out of cream yarn.
The pattern also suggests you knit gloves and put them on the doll, but that made no sense to me, so I just knit the gloves as her arms, and added shoes.
The hardest part for me was actually making her little necklace and tiara, and embroidering her face on there and not having her be too "hit with a hammer" looking. I over stuffed her a little so she's got a bit of a barrel chest, but what can ya do. Most importantly, my friend Megan loves and appreciates her.
I've since knit boxes upon boxes of cat-nip whales for the Humane Society (and my own cats) and I recently knit a pink with white polka dot scarf for a friend doing a breast cancer charity run - Shown here on my handsome fur-fella Moo :)
Currently on my needles, is my first project made for myself, a pair of slippers since it's October in Canada and my parquet floors are cold. Queued up is a 1940s pullover, recently featured in a knit-along on ByGumByGolly. On my "to learn" list is crochet and needlepoint. If I was so lucky to win the InterweaveStore.com contest, I'd love to receive -
1) Knit Your Own Zombie
2) Learn to Read Knitting Charts on Demand Web Seminar
3) Fixing Knitting Mistakes with Kate Atherley
4) The Crocheter's Toolbox: Lily Chin's Techniques and Tricks for Savvy Crocheters
5) Beastly Crochet
Can you knit? Would you like to learn? Comments are encouraged and always welcome :)
If you'd like to enter the InterweaveStore.com contest, find out more HERE.
Binding off,
C
