Not Everything Turns Out

Several months ago I bought 3 hanks of Berroco Seduce yarn in Lagoon (4419).

I bought this beautiful rich colored yarn with the intent of knitting a beautiful stay put shawl for my mother.  I knew that she would love the color and was very excited to get started.  I started knitting it and just did not like the way it looked so I unraveled it and put the yarn in my stash.  This past weekend while organizing my yarn I looked in my stash and decided I would knit a fast scarf with the yarn and wanted it very light and easy.  So I decided to knit with 13US needles and just do a garter stitch for the whole scarf.  Once I got the scarf to about the right length I cast off my stitches and took a serious look at the scarf.  I loved the open stitch but HATED the way the edges looked.  To put it bluntly they were just UGLY.  I even tried to crochet (I hate to crochet) the edges but did not like that either.  Needless to say...I unraveled the whole scarf and pitched the yarn back into my stash.

Today I went into my favorite yarn shop and told Pearl about my experience and that I just did not like the yarn since I could not seem to knit anything with it that I was happy with.  Just about then a lady came into the shop who designs patterns and has a beautiful scarf hanging in Loopville knitted out of Seduce yarn.  I told her my dilemma and of course the first thing she asked me is...did you wet block the scarf?  I felt like such an idiot...of course I hadn't even tried to block the scarf!

The moral of this story is...sometimes things just do not turn out right and sometimes you just give up without doing the most obvious thing...blocking your work!

Little Sock Class

I attended my first sock class (yes I think I will have to take more than one class) and had a great time.  I was in a class with such a great group of ladies and it was held Loopville which is my favorite yarn shop here in Knoxville.  I have been wanting to learn to knit socks for a few months now and have been completely overwhelmed by the task.  As a beginner the patterns for socks alone are daunting...so many double points not to mention picking up stitches.  Here is a picture of the ladies and I...

My Knitting Philosophy

I have a few things I think I should share right up front:

• I hate swatching!  I know that every good knitter should swatch, but I would rather just jump right into the project.
• My daughter Caitlin calls me a yarn snob!  I started out buying yarn from my local craft store but once I started knitting with beautiful yarns I just can't go back.
• I hate yarn snobs, especially the ones who work at yarn shops!  Not everyone know the yarn lingo (DK, worsted, finger...blah blah) and you just need to be patient and work with us!
• I love knitting and my biggest fear is that I will gift a project to someone who does not love it as much as I did while I was knitting it for them.

Lets Get Started

I have tried this whole blog thing once before felt like I was just all over the place with my posts.  I decided to give it another try and just focus on my passion for knitting.  I first learned to knit over 25 years ago and completed a couple of really simple projects for my daughters Meghan and Caitlin.  At the time I worked full time and just did not develop a real passion.

Skip ahead to December of 2010 and my husband asking me what I would like for Christmas.  I told him that I wanted to learn to knit and would like to take a class.  Being the great husband that he is he signed me up for a class and bought me my first set of needles and a skein of yarn and my passion was born!

I have knitted everyday since I took the class and still consider myself a beginning knitter. I started this blog in the hopes that someone out there will read this and realize that anyone can knit and it is a very relaxing hobby.  Don't be overwhelmed by patterns and yarns...just take the plunge and don't look back!