I forgot I had this blog! But I rediscovered it and enjoyed reading the items over my earliest projects. I have been successful in creating several "FOs" (finished objects) since 2013. I didn't really get much done until August 2015, when we moved from South Georgia to the metro Seattle area. My husband wanted a Dr. Who scarf and I obliged him. It is really long and he rarely wears it because it's not very practical and it's just not cold enough. He likes it and gets a lot of compliments on it though.
Prior to moving, I practiced knitting with some found acrylic that I've had for decades. I bought this yarn in the 1980s from a shop in Lenox Square in Atlanta. I was knitting a bit back then but was unaware of good yarn. I had made my 2 afghans that I've written about before. I'd made a couple of sweaters but both had fit problems. One was still pretty successful but a friend lost it so it's not around for posterity. Photography was not as easy as it is today, so no photos exist of this yellow bolero style little jacket. The knitting was very successful and I enjoyed all the stockinette and putting pleats in the sleeves and successfully piecing the whole thing together. I didn't like wearing it because the shoulders drooped--maybe they would have benefited from good old eighties style shoulder pads! The other sweater I just made out of my mind and the sleeves were waaaay too long. The yarn was kind of fuzzy and didn't frog easily. I'm sure that sweater went to a thrift store somewhere. The neck was too wide and the weight of the sleeves dragged the neck to my shoulder. The Flashdance bared shoulder hadn't quite caught on!
I became friendly with a few girls that knitted. I never knitted with them, but they exposed me to circular needles and the idea of using real wool versus acrylic. During those days, I was picky about what luxuries I allowed myself. Since I had a tendancy to have unfinished projects, I was reluctant (and still am) to invest heavily in fine yarn. I finally gathered up the courage to go into Phildar in Lenox to look at the yarn. The prices were much higher than I wanted to spend on my hobby at the time, but I finally fell in love with some mauvey'pink fuzzy yarn and bought several skeins and a pattern to make a cabled sweater. I also bought my first pair of bamboo needles which I thought were super fun to knit with as they were so light compared to my old aluminum number 10s. I think they were 8s and were straights. I didn't know about choosing yarn or gauge or how all yarns don't work for all projects. I knitted away on that sweater, not sure about the fit and well aware fairly soon into the project that the guage was very loose and the sweater would be extremely sheer. I determined that I could wear a camisole. I liked that the pattern instructed me to knit the two sleeves at the same time. I eventually lost my mojo on that project. I don't think I ever finished knitting the back and I was scared to put it all together. Plus I just wasn't excited about the sheer scratchy sweater I was creating with that fuzzy acrylic yarn.
I found that project and all the yarn last summer and frogged it and jused the yarn to practice knitting with. I made a cowl, but I'll never wear this scratch curly creation. I considered it process knitting, a meditation in knitting in an attempt to practice all the steps to achieve the status of "finished object." I still have this old yarn, the pattern, and the crummy cowl. I have a tough time letting go of things even when they are duds.
Since that time, I crocheted a few more afghans and participated in a group crochet project in which you create motifs and mail them to each participant in the project with an eye towards each of us having enough motifs to make an afghan. I was not impressed with everyone's work since we were supposed to be making flowers and some of the squares I got were definitely not flowers. Plus, what would I do with a mish mash of squares as an afghan? I ended up donating them to the Salvation Army. I went years without making anything. My creativity went into my work as a teacher and into cookng. I really wanted to knit, but felt guilty about unfinished projects and wasting money and space on futile attempts.
Another way I worked with yarn was crocheting with white cotton thread-like yarn called knit-cro-sheen. I got into lacy crocheting with this yarn because it was easy to obtain and I could use the same yarn and needles for a number of attempts. Although I did successfully finish crocheting a few pillow tops, to this day, they have never been made into pillows. I tried to make table cloths, curtains, and the like, but would lose interest before getting very far. I was never very impressed with the way the motifs were not flat. I had never attempted to block anything even though I had read about it. I would imagine what I would need to even be able to do it. I wish Ravlery was around back then so I could have learned about the foam interlocking blocks people use these days!
Now I'm in my 50s. I have decided to be a knitter. I made the Doctor Who scarf. I've made a few hats that turned out okay. I made a pair of wrist warmers that are okay (not great, but I kind of designed them myself and they do work for warming the arms and wrists. I worked long and hard on a vest that didn't work out last summer. I am ready to make really nice things, I think. I want to make a sweater and a cowl for myself. Keep reading for future details.
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