Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Sticks Matter


In my attempts at knitting I have learned a very important lesson. Using the right needles is important! So important, that using the wrong needles will make the whole knitting process intensely more difficult. When you're crocheting, as long as you have the same size hook, really, you can use any hook. Some people swear by wooden or bamboo hooks, but really if it's the same size, it'll work. With knitting...not so much. (Or at least, not for me.)

For me, bamboo hooks (which I started with) stick to the yarn. A lot. My knitting was really really tight (so much that my friend commented that my needles were squeaking) and it was pretty much a painful miserable experience.

Then, I tried a friend's nickel plated needles and the loops wouldn't stay on the needle it was so slick.

So, the other day I went to an LYS (Local Yarn Store) called Yarning For You. It's nice and everyone was so helpful and nice. I picked up some Knit Picks Interchangeable Circular Needles. And I looove them. They're wood, but it's super polished wood, so it's really smooth, but not so slick the loops fall off. They're also really pretty because of the different colors.

They inspired me to start another project. When I get to a point that I'm happy, I'll share it on here. So far, (fingers crossed) it looks really good. :)

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

2012 Resolutions


I'm officially behind on a couple of my resolutions this year, but, so far I haven't broken any completely. So that's better than 2011. One of my resolutions is to expand my horizons by learning to KNIT. I'm finding there are A LOT of differences between knitting and crocheting, but I'm also finding that there are a lot of similarities.

People frequently comment on how even and tight my crochet stitches are. This is because I am a yarn control freak. Seriously, I have what is basically akin to a death grip on my working yarn. I loop it around my pinky, then weave between each of my fingers. Most people that I've seen barely hold the yarn at all. (I'm sure it's something I should change, especially because I have tendinitis and it's painful.)



So, I'm finding that my yarn control issues are making learning to knit a little on the difficult side. My loops (no clue if that's the right term) are so tight on the needles it's hard to get the other needle inside them.

Another thing I'm finding, is that there's no indication that you've done something wrong until it's too late to do anything about it. In crochet, it's really obvious when something isn't right...or at least it is to me now that I've been doing it a while. The following photo shows the piece I discovered a big hole in.


But, on the bright side, what I currently have going looks pretty good...I think.


Monday, February 06, 2012

2012 Pay It Forward


The Pay it Forwards are complete! Now I just have to finish making my cards to attach to them and get them mailed/delivered.

To give some size perspective, they fit pretty perfectly in a gallon-sized storage bag.