Sunday 11 September 2011

Yarn Along



It's lovely to be joining Ginny and the gang over at Small Things for this week's Yarn Along. 
At last I've finished my small boy's jumper : ) It sat abandoned in my knitting basket all summer. And finally, to the query 'Is my jumper finished yet Mommy?' and 'can I wear it to school tomorrow..?' I can say 'YES!'

I wrote about this project before, here. Can I tell you that knitting totally lost its charm for me when I was struggling to make this V-neckband. It drove me around the twist! In other words I'd no idea what 'pick up and knit 100 stitches' meant on a pattern that assumed greater knowledge of such things. A mere rookie, I knit it, ripped out and re-knit improvising the number of stitches, then it worked although not perfectly. I'm delighted that I more or less understand how this part works now and next time I'd know what to do.

I was two stitches short on my tension initially and far too casual about the fact (ha!) and that seems to have resulted in a boxy shape. Duly noted ; ) But in the main, I am thrilled to have completed my first jumper and smallie is leapin about in it, very excited with his 'Autumn rainbow' cosy layer. Small victory!
If there's one thing the practise of knitting is teaching me (actually there are many things, but I want to talk about that in an upcoming post) it is patience, and to : : WAIT : : something I find very hard to do when I'm ready to embark on a new project and have a precious window of time to get stuck in. Waiting 'til you've got the tension exactly right, or waiting til you've got the right yarn for the pattern is a very.good.idea.indeed.
Gladly, knitting is once again restored to me as a happy thing and I'm well on my way with a second jumper : )

On the reading front, dare I say that Debbie Bliss's 'Tips for knitters' is the only book I'm dipping into these days. It covers the basics, and I have learned a thing or two from it but I have to say the content and diagrams do leave me wanting. Smallie's read of the moment is far less dull. Elsa Beskow's 'The Sun Egg' is delightful from the first page to the last...both in terms of concept and the enthralling illustrations. When your child's bedtime story captivates you both equally, that's magic : )

9 comments:

  1. BEAUTIFUL jumper! And so lovely that you stuck with it and in the end he was excited to wear it. I made such a bad job of the first cardigan that I knitted for my little girl, but it took me a year to get round to ripping it all out because I'd tried so hard I couldn't bear it! And now I have 5 balls of blue yarn with a bad feeling about them. As soon as I discovered YouTube's multitudinous knitting tutorials, all began to go more smoothly!

    Sun Egg looks lovely, and you're so right about magical bedtime stories, The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson does that for us.

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  2. It looks great :) And the neck band looks really good to me!

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  3. Aw, it looks fabulous, neck band and all!

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  4. gorgeous vest! what a wonderful artist you are - i've been having a look around. that dress is amazing and those little hedgehogs!

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  5. Congrats on your first jumper; it looks awesome! I am not big on gauges either but oh well. Isn't it fun to know what you are doing the second time around. That happens to me too-sometimes.:)We love The Sun Egg too!
    xo, Angela (Peach Coglo)

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  6. what an adorable photo! and vest too! well done on your first, it is a treasure.

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  7. Oh, I love those warm colors, perfect for fall! You did a great job!

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  8. Hey thanks for reading, and for all your lovely feedback : )I've never really checked out the knitting tutorials on You Tube but I'll give it a whirl next time something's baffling me ; ) x M

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