Fall and Winter Knitting

We have (very slowly) been converting a spare bedroom into my sewing room, which unfortunately means that all my fabric and sewing stuff is spread between two rooms and very little sewing has been done in the last couple months. Hopefully, the room will be complete this weekend (yay!) and I can work on the several projects that have been pushed to the back burner lately.

What all this does mean is that I have had a lot of time to knit and cross stitch. But still not as much time as I would like. 

I've been slowly plugging away at my Once Upon a Time Sampler, however I am still several months behind.

I finished my Germinate Shawl and my Color Affection shawl, however CA still needs blocked. I also knit a sweater! It is done but still needs the ends wove in and blocked. I will try and get good pictures once that is done.

I am also working on a pair of socks that I am hoping to finish by the end of the month, as well as a beaded scarf. 

Now that the weather is starting to cool off I have a list of things I want to knit.

In no particular order 

1. Seed Stitch Wrap from the Purl Bee with Madelinetosh yarns 

2. Cape Cod sweater with The Plucky Knitter Trusty in I feel Pretty

3. Harvest Cardigan with Trusty in Sticky Toffee

4. Nutkin socks with MadTosh Sock in Holli Festival

5. Ashburn Shawl- colors yet to be determined.

I also have a few projects that need finished like my simple ribbed socks and Rayures Cowl. Not to mention I ordered two new cross stitch patterns from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery too. 

There just aren't enough hours in the day!

I Can't Believe It's Been So Long!

I really can't believe it has been MONTHS since I've written a post! Time goes by so fast anymore and we have been so busy with medical things and work that I've barely had time to sew, never mind take pictures and write about it. I've been doing more handwork than actual sewing at my machine. Mostly knitting and some cross stitch. I'm hoping now that things in my personal life are getting settled I will be able to sew a lot more and shar a lot more here! I do have two quilt tops to share and several knitting projects and WIPs as well. 

With the weather changing soon we will be spending a lot more time indoors so that means a lot more time for making things!

I've been doing A LOT of canning this summer and have a lot more to do as summer wraps up. I will dedicate one post to my canning in a week or two and share what I've been making this summer. I will leave you with just a few peeks of what I've been up to the last few months!

Instagram Update

Things have been very busy around here lately, so I'm sorry for the lapse in posting. Hopefully, once the weather warms up it will be easier to get good pictures. For now, here is a little glimpse of what has been going on from my Instagram feed.

Sock blockers my boyfriend bought me

                                

New fabrics and Fiestaware bowls from a weekend trip.

          

Work on my Fruit of the Month Sampler

          

New fabrics I ordered from Fat Quarter Shop

           

Duck embroidery in progress

           

Orange Creamsicle Marmalade

I have really enjoyed learning about canning lately. I had a good time making berry jam last weekend, and decided to try some marmalade this weekend. My boyfriend loves oranges, so I went with a pretty traditional orange marmalade recipe, except I added some vanilla extract at the end to give it an almost creamsicle taste without any cream.

I started by scrubbing the oranges really well, and halving them then slicing them really thin and combining them with lemon juice and zest, and water. Cooked it down for over an hour until the peels broke down into smaller pieces, and added the sugar. Then cooked it more until it reached the gel point.

Then I put it in the jars and processed it for 10 minutes and voila! Delicious, bright tasting orange marmalade, with a hint of vanilla. I think it really could have used more vanilla to really get the creamsicle taste, but it still tastes really good. It set up perfectly, I had just a little extra that I was able to taste test. All my jars sealed too, which is encouraging in itself. I really can't wait until summer when I can put up things from my own garden. We usually do mostly tomatoes, but I have a blackberry bush, that hopefully will put out enough this year to make some more jam, and maybe I can convince my boyfriend to take me to some pick your own farms nearby :)

Mixed Berry Jam

Just a quick update post, we've had a crazy amount of snow and bad weather and I took a tumble a week or so ago and busted my rump so I haven't been nearly as productive on the sewing front as I would like to be, but I did make some jam! 

I've been wanting to try canning for a while now, as I mentioned before, and last weekend I have it a shot. The jam came out perfect! It set perfectly, all my jars sealed and it tastes amazing! I hope to make some orange marmalade this weekend and finish the other dress for my boyfriend's niece!

Hope you're all staying warm!

Sewing Machine Review: Brother SQ9050

I've only been sewing for a few years now. I guess I started sewing about 3 almost 4 years ago, and after sewing mostly by hand for more than a year I decided to get a sewing machine. I couldn't and didn't want to spend a lot of money, mostly because at the time I wasn't sure that sewing was going to turn into this huge hobby for me. I wanted something easy to use, because my previous experience with sewing machine was fraught with curse words and frustration. I read some review online, looked at a few different brands and decided that the $200 machine at my local Walmart was the way to go, at least at the time.

My mom had an old Singer, one of those huge heavy all metal deals, and it was a great sewing machine for longer than I have been alive, but not long before she passed away she had a few problems with it and the ancient Singer was banished to the storage shed in our backyard. Unfortunately now it is rusted inside and several of the parts need replaced, I am sure it is repairable but I am not in a position right now to have that done.

Regardless, I was at Walmart one day after I had done all my research and decided to bite the bullet. The machine was in stock and I bought it. The main reason I decided on that one was the included quilting feet. A walking foot for straight line quilting and a free motion foot, and also the ability to drop the feed dogs to allow for free motion quilting. Plus it was in my price range.

I was worried that it would be as good as the much pricier machines that all of the blog authors used but there was no way I could shell out a thousand bucks for a sewing machine. I would have had to save for a year before I could afford a Janome or Bernina.

Now that we have a little history on why I decided on this machine let me tell you what I think of it. I have had this machine for about a year and a half now and I LOVE it. It is the perfect machine for someone who is wanting to learn to sew. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it has been. I have gotten my money back on this three fold, at least. I have made so many quilts on it I can't even count. And from start to finish, I piece and quilt my own quilts on it. The only thing I don't like about it is the harp space. I wish it had more room to allow me to quilt larger quilts a little easier. It is still doable with some practice, it's just awkward. That is the only con. Let me touch a little more on the pros.

1) As I said earlier, the quilting feet and the ability to lower my feed dogs is a big deal. I wanted to be able to free motion quilt and I can with this machine.

2) Error messages- when you do something wrong, and as a new sewer or quilter you will (you will forget to lower your presser foot, or you will forget to move your bobbin winder back after winding bobbins) it gives you an error code that tells you what you did in case it takes you more than a split second to realize it on your own.

3) Decorative stitches and alphabet- this wasn't a deal breaker for me, but it does come in handy. I have used the decorative stitches and even the alphabet stitches before. Now, don't take this to mean it does embroidery, it most certainly doesn't. The letters are one font, one size but they are handing for making labels, or sewing a name on a tote bag or something along those lines.

4) It's TOUGH. For a $200 machine it is beyond what I could have imagined. If you sew a lot, or read a lot of sewing blogs, you have probably heard the tale of the Weekender bag, and broken needles. Lot's of people had trouble getting their Weekender bag together, saying their machines had trouble sewing through the several layers of batting, canvas, piping and patchwork. Mine was a champ. Not a single broken needle, and although it did struggle at times, it was not nearly as frustrating as I had read on other blogs. I also made my sister a Kitchen Aid mixer cover for Christmas, using the same method and the only problems I had was topstitching along the bottom edge where there were 3 layers.

If you are just starting sewing and are looking for a good machine but don't want to invest a lot of money then this is the perfect machine for you. I am looking to upgrade to another Brother machine with larger harp space to allow me to quilt a little more freely, but I plan on keeping my machine to sew clothing and for the decorative stitches.

So what machine do you use?

Canning Goals and Dress Sewing

Ever since my last post about my non-sewing related goals for this year I have been doing a lot of research on canning. I have been following the blog Food In Jars for several months now and I picked out a few more recipes I thought would be good to try this summer. I also bought a couple books that came highly recommended. 

The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving is called the Canning Bible. I have another Ball book, The Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving. It's a smaller book with fewer recipes, but lots of good tips so I feel pretty confident that this bigger book will have a lot more good recipes. Hopefully, if all things go well I will be able to give out some jams, jellies and pickles for Christmas this year!

The other book I got also had great reviews and is Southern Living's newer canning book. What was the deciding factor on this one was the fact that it is geared to small batches of canned products. Most recipes are geared to huge outputs, like 7-9 quarts or pints. I'd much rather make a few half pints of jelly, especially if it is a recipe I haven't done before. I would hate to be stuck with 8 half pints of a Blueberry Lemon Jam that no one likes.

I also managed to get some sewing done this weekend. Have I mentioned before that my boyfriend and I have the most adorable nieces and nephew? The two youngest girls are the perfect age and size for adorable homemade dresses. I bought some Pam Kitty Picnic fabric around the holidays when Fat Quarter Shop had a huge sale going on and knew it was perfect for the Oliver and S Ice Cream Dress. I still have to find a cute button for the back closure, but how adorable is this? I mean really, the fabrics were PERFECT for this dress. I simply adore Pam Kitty Morning and I am hoping to snag some more of the flowered fabric for an apron for myself!

                           

Non Sewing Goals for 2014

As a girl growing up in West Virginia we always had a garden. My mother was raised by her great grandparents, and I can remember their large garden and sitting on the front porch string green beans to be canned. A couple summers before my mother passed away we had a really good haul from our garden at the end of the year and we canned several quarts of tomato sauce and vegetable soup along with some banana peppers. I remember my mom making grape jelly as well. I helped her do the canning, but haven't tried doing it myself. Sometimes if we have lots of green tomatoes at summer end I will make refrigerator pickled green tomatoes, they never last long enough to be canned anyway. One of my goals this year is to learn more about canning. I have several of my mom's books and her boiling water canner. I think I am going to start with something simple, some jelly, jam or marmalade and try out some sort of pickles too. 

My sister and I plan on doing it together, as well as getting together for some sister sewing time every so often as well. I also want to have Sunday dinner every so often at my dad's house like we used to do at my grandparents every Sunday. At Christmas my brother in law mentioned he really missed my pork chops and homemade gravy, and at Thanksgiving my sister mentioned hopefully that I had made a buttermilk pie. Unfortunately I hadn't, I made a cheesecake pumpkin tart (which was also good)

I have a little notebook my mother got me for Christmas one year, specifically for writing down my favorite recipes. I was looking through it tonight (I made ham and spinach quiche, which has quickly become my boyfriend's favorite meal) and was thinking about all the amazing recipes that I haven't made in a long time. My mother and I loved to cook and bake together, and we were always trying new recipes, or making up or own. I have a cheesecake recipe that is AMAZING. We had been looking everywhere for just the right cheesecake recipe, and tried several different ones. There were two in particular that were ok, but both were missing something, so we took our favorite parts of both and tweaked them to come up with our own recipe.

I love my country heritage. My mother and father both grew up in families that raised their own food, made their own clothes, etc. I want to embrace that more, get back to my roots so to speak, and I think canning is one way to do just that. I have picked out a few different recipes I plan on trying this year.

Garlic Dill Pickles

Pear Cranberry Jam

Orange Marmalade

These are pretty basic canning recipes, with few ingredients, and just the basic techniques that I have used before with my mom. It's been a long time since I have canned anything, and never without my mom around to do most of the work (I usually ended up blanching and peeling the tomatoes, boiling the jars, etc)

If all goes well I would also like to invest in a pressure canner so that I could can lots of other vegetables and some meat.

My other goal this year is to work in my garden a lot more. My dad always has a little vegetable garden with tomatoes and lettuce, sometimes cucumbers as well. I'd really like to convince him to build some raised beds this year and try planting a few other seasonal things like radishes or cabbage. I neglected my flower garden a lot last summer too and hope to work on it a lot more. I have a blackberry bush too, the last several years it has put out a few blackberries the last several year but birds always seem to get them, hopefully this year I can keep the scavengers out of it and have enough to make some blackberry jam or at least a cobbler.

What non sewing goals have you set for yourself this year?

Progress

My main goal this year was to really work on my WIP pile from last year. I really wanted to finish up my UFO before starting to work on anything new. My first goal was to quilt my St Louis 16 Patch quilt. The top has been  done for months and just sitting in a corner folded up. I found a great backing fabric at Joann Fabrics that was just right, and happened to have the perfect yellow binding fabrics in my stash. I had picked up a few fabrics to audition for the binding, you can see them with it below, and was leaning toward the gray dot (that I love!) but my dad told me he thought yellow would be great, and he was right! I just happened to have just the right yellow.

                         

                       

The weather here has been horrible for the last couple days, and I haven't had a chance to take a decent picture, but here is the quilt before I put the binding on. I quilted it with an all over stipple. I had originally wanted to do orange peel quilting, but couldn't get it to look right no matter what I did, I think I just need some practice on a smaller project first.

                              

My next goal is to finish the Log Cabin Barn Panel quilt. The top is basically done, but just needs an outer border, then I just have to finish setting my Farmer's Wife quilt blocks and finish my Modern Maples quilt. I hope I am able to finish things ups soon because I have a lot of new things I can't wait to work on!

Learning to Knit in 2013

I technically learned to knit in 2012, but even though I learned the 'motions' and the stitches, I didn't really comprehend how a pattern was written, or how it all came together, or how it worked. I learned that this year. I had a pretty good year as far as knitting goes, I feel like I've learned a lot. I finished 2 pairs of socks and several shawls, while learning to knit lace and learning how things are shaped. There are lots of things I want to learn next year, like how to do colorwork so I can do mittens and socks with patterns, and a Color Affection shawl. I know a lot of people who have made goals to make a pair of socks each month, and while I would love to do that, I am going to be realistic though, and make a goal of 6 pairs of socks for 2014. One every other month. I have already started my first pair. This works with the Plucky Classics club too, I will be getting a new skein of Plucky Feet every other month, and if am able to make more than 6 pairs, then that is great! 

These are the Lace and Cable socks from Socks From The Toe Up by Wendy Johnson, just minus the cables on the side. Cables are another thing I would like to learn in 2014. 

                              

Here is a collage of some of my knitting projects this year. I think my favorite pattern was the Holden Shawl, I knit it twice and loved it both times! 

I am hoping for lots of awesome knitting and quilting projects to share here next year!

2013 In Review, Looking Forward to 2014

It has been a busy year, both personally and on a quilting level. It hasn't been the best year, but it certainly wasn't the worst either. There were good and bad things. Boring things and exciting things. But I am hopeful for what 2014 will bring.

Here is a list of some of my finishes (I know I am forgetting a lot of the smaller projects!)

1) Butterscotch Cake throw

2) Weekender Bag

3) Starburst Quilt

4) Flower Girl quilt 

5) Dream On quilt

6) Scrappy Trip Along Quilt

7) Sidebraid quilt

8) Super Tote

I made a collage of a few of the different projects I finished or worked on this year.

I have a lot of projects I want to finish (and start!) in 2014. I talked a little about my goals for my unfinished projects a few posts ago, but that is only the tip of iceberg for next year. I have lots more quilting and sewing goals, and knitting goals too! I've challenged myself a lot this year with the projects I've done. My piecing has gotten a lot better and also my confidence in choosing fabrics has gone up too.

I think my favorite project for the year was my Anna Maria Horner Starburst quilt. It may be my favorite quilt ever. I'm also still i love with my Modern Maples quilt, and can't wait to finish it in 2014.

What did you finish this year?

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a special day and gets to spend it with the people they love. Cherish the time you have with them now!

The Post Where I Talk About Goals

(I apologize for the lack of pictures in advance!)

I can't believe its almost Christmas already, and that means it's almost NEXT YEAR! And that means it's time to figure out everything I want to get done, and all my goals. I have a LOT it seems (mainly because I slacked on them this year) Here is the post where I wrote out my goals for 2013. I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked to. I did make my Weekender bag, and finished my my Butterscotch Cake throw quilt, and nearly finished my Scrappy Log Cabin quilt top. I also finished my Sidebraid quilt too,a long with several other projects. But I will save a recap post for later. This post I am going to dedicate to FINISHES in 2014. I have a lot of them.

1.) My Farmer's Wife quilt- it is currently my longest work in progress, and I haven't touched it in months. I started on the background for the blocks and squaring them up, and that is right where I left of. IF I just sit down and dedicate some time to this, I could have the top finished pretty quickly.

2.) Scrappy Log cabin- This is another quilt that is very close to completion. I have to basically put the border on it and quilt it, and that is seriously it. The top is done except the borders.

3.) Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt- in all honesty, this may not even be finished in 2014. Since I am doing it totally by hand (including the quilting) it is going to be a very long work in progress. Especially since I am caught up in knitting right now, and spend all my time working on that. 

4.) St Louis 16 Patch- The top is already finished. It has been sitting around waiting for quilting for months. I just need to get the backing, I already have the binding. 

5.) Modern Maples quilt- I have several more blocks to do, and then figure out how I want to put the top together, if I want to follow the pattern or do my own thing. I am still undecided. 

My biggest undertaking is my sewing room. We are in the process of cleaning of one of our spare bedrooms and converting it into a sewing and craft room for me. I was hoping that this would be done before the end of the year as well but it doesn't look like it will. Hopefully we will be able to paint it after the holidays and get my things moved in and situated soon after. Once I have more room and have things organized I am hoping it will be a lot easier to finish projects instead of them languishing around. At least that is the goal

Christmas Dresden Plate Tabletopper

I actually sewed some this week. I had picked up some new Christmas fabric and was itching to get in the Christmas spirit. We have been running a bit behind here on our decorating and I felt the need to do something. and I love LOVE Dresden plates, so I decided I needed to put the two together. I had some cute white on white dots in my stash that reminded me of snow and made the perfect background! I went with "vintage" looking fabrics from my Dresden blades.

                      

I like the look of Dresden's when the center is the same color as the background fabric, that is just a personal preference. I am extremely happy with the way this came out. I machine stitched the blades down instead of hand appliqueing. Hand applique is just not something I have ever been able to get the hang of, I know I just need more practice, but this wasn't the time for it!

                     

I also bought some new fabrics during a nice Black Friday sale from the Fat Quarter Shop. I LOVE Pam Kitty fabrics, Unfortunately they seem to be sold out of her Designer Bundle that I purchased, and a lot of her fabrics, after the big sale. I'm not quite sure what I want to make with these yet, so they are going in the stash.

                                 

Did you get any Black Friday deals???

Black Friday and a Long Weekend

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was exhausting. And unfortunately we didn't get to take our trip to Gatlinburg. I was pretty disappointed, but I we will make plans to try it again soon.

I don't do Black Friday shopping, in fact I didn't even leave the house on Friday. I stayed in my Pj's all day, ate leftovers, and worked on my new shawl. I did stop by my local Joann Fabrics this evening the check out their sales and Christmas fabric and picked out a few half yard cuts that I wanted needed for pillows.

I have a soft spot for anything vintage Christmas and they had a few good selections. I like shopping their holiday fabrics, because they usually do carry a lot of good choices, especially vintage looking ones. And sometimes I can find some hard to find Alexander Henry holiday fabrics. (like the backing for my Halloween quilt!)

The candy cane and the green deer with the angels I knew I wanted and was lucky to find some left, I saw it there about a week or so ago when I got the flannel for my tunic. The others were just a bonus, but I adore the gray fabric with the little train and village on it, its even metallic gold!

                 

Speaking of my tunic, it was a partial success. It came out great, but doesn't fit quite right, its a little too baggy in a few places and I am giving it a rest to see the best way to do some adjusting on it. I will definitely be making myself clothes in the future though.

I am hoping to get a lot of sewing done tomorrow afternoon, at least several pillow covers finished. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post soon. I also have some Christmas gifts to get working on too.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, I am planning on making some zipper pouches for my boyfriend's sisters and mother and filling them with some little gifts. We have decided not to spend a lot of Christmas presents and I was looking for something useful and pretty. I made myself some zipper pouches ages ago and I use them in my purse to carry all my little things (hand sanitizer, chap stick, pens, etc) so they don't get lost at the bottom of my purse. So i thought I would buy some of the mini sanitizers and lotions from Bath and Body works but then I was stumped as to what else to put in them. Any suggestions? What would you enjoy getting? What do you use a lot or carry in your purse that would be handy???

Cottonwood Shawl

I have been learning A LOT about knitting lately, and I find it so relaxing and easy to transport. Its so much easier to take with you than hand sewing. I've been working on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt again the last week or so but I miss knitting. Especially with the cold weather lately. I just finished my latest shawl and once again I'm in love. I used the Elder Tree Shawl pattern on Ravelry but used sport weight yarn instead of worsted. I went with Madelinetosh Pashmina in Candlewick and it is SO SO soft. I can't go on enough about how soft the yarn is. I love anything Madelinetosh basically. The color is a little out of my comfort zone but it is so versatile. I've worn it with a teal cardigan and a navy blue sweater and it looks great with both. It also looks amazing with anything gray! I will try and get some better pictures of it in the next couple days.

I ordered some more yarn Friday and can't wait for it to get here. I have planned a couple more shawls. I ordered Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Robin's Egg and Natural.

The Natural I plan on using for a modified Haruni shawl and the Robin's Egg I plan on using for this pattern.

We are planning a trip to Gatlinburg coming up and I want to take some knitting with me to work on in the car and in the hotel room. I want something that will be easy to put down and pick back up without any confusion about the pattern. I think the Sunlight Shawl will be perfect for that. The Haruni I think will take a little more concentration on my part, and definitely isn't a "traveling" shawl.

Garment Sewing?

I've been spending so much time knitting lately, I haven't had much time to sew, and I've been in kind of a sewing "funk" you might say. I've been looking for something to get me motivated, and so I decided to try sewing myself a top. I had read on Amanda's blog about her wanting to do an Esme top in flannel from Joann fabrics. I had seen the same wonderfully soft flannel, and thought at the time, what a wonderful idea! That was weeks ago, and then I promptly forgot all about it. Until last night. I'm not sure what prompted my brain to somehow suddenly remember it, but it did. I had a few problems though, the first being my size. I am VERY top heavy, and most patterns (including the Esme top it seemed) were not made to fit my top. So I went to my local Joann fabrics today and braved the crazy huge crowd of people (there weren't even any shopping carts when I first got there!) and browsed through their patterns. I wanted something similar to the Esme top that would look good in flannel and be semi long enough to wear with leggings or skinny jeans and boots, but also something fairly EASY. Considering I have not had a lot of practice garment sewing before. I came up with this pattern. Its a See & Sew pattern, # B5874. I like the fact that it has ties at the sides so I can make it to fit my breasts and not have to worry to much about it being to large at my waist because I can cinch it in!

                                            

I am planning on leaving off the pockets for a couple reasons, the biggest reason being, once again, my top heaviness. Extra anything on my breasts is unnecessary, plus I don't want to worry about matching prints, etc with my plaid flannel. I also plan on using a few more buttons at closer intervals along the front. There is nothing I hate more than a button up shirt that gaps at the buttons around my breasts.

I went with this red flannel because it felt so festive! I think its going to be perfect to wear pretty much anywhere, either with some jeans or some nice warm leggings and black boots. I can even dress it up and wear my pretty sparkly black Holden shawl! I honestly can't convey to you how soft the flannel is. I absolutely can't wait to wear it! So hopefully I won't mess it up!

                  

Winter Is Knocking

I'm not a fan of cold weather. Fall, is my favorite time of the year, when that little chill is in the air, but it's still sunny and bright and the leaves are amazing colors. Here in West Virginia fall is amazing. One thing about the cold weather is how much I want to knit and make warm things! I've been knitting shawls like a crazy lady, I've made 5! A year ago I couldn't knit a scarf without a mistake, and now I'm knitting socks and lace shawls and all kinds of things!  

Here is my most recent knit, it's the Holden Shawl pattern available for free on Ravelry (I'm michyquilts there as well!) 

The yarn is Dream In Color Starry in Black Pearl and it is so beautiful!!!

I'm hoping to get my sewing mojo back soon and also hoping the weather will cooperate for some outdoor shots of some quilts!!!!

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Has it really been over a month since my last post?!?  

I've been so busy and tired lately that it has just slipped my mind. I feel like I'm being pulled in a hundred different directions. I've gotten almost no sewing done. It seems like I just can't get motivated to sit down at my sewing machine.

I have been learning to knit though, and doing pretty well. Just for the sake of pictures here are a few things I've been working on.

I turned this skein of yarn...

Into this Oaklet shawl! (I hadn't woven in the ends yet, that's why there is a tail)

And I made an Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief 

This yarn is seriously amazing. It's Madinetosh DK in Firewood and it's beautiful 

I am Loving knitting. Seriously loving it. I promise to be back with more quilt pictures soon though. I still have a couple finished quilts to show you!

The Impatient Knitter

                    

Last year around this time I got the itch to learn how to knit. I blame it on this blog. Her knitting is so inspiring! I'm a devoted blog follower of hers, and if you don't already follow her, then you should! Anyways, I am especially inspired by her socks (and envious of them!) and have wanted so badly to learn HOW to knit. Not sjut go through the motions, but really GET it. Last year I didn't have much luck and gave up and the knitting needles and yarn I had purchased were hidden away. But it seems like every year when we get a taste of fall I start getting that itch again. So I did some reading, and I knitted two Honey Cowls, and although the first one presented some problems the second was easy! I had been nervous about knitting in the round because I couldn't really knit at ALL. But knitting in the round makes more sense to me, I don't know why, but it does! It just CLICKS in my brain for some reason. So I did some more research, and coveted some more hand knit socks and started drooling over beautiful sock yarn, and then I decided to try it. And although there have been a few bumps (more like mountains!) I am pushing through, and it is actually making sense! I bought Socks From The Toe Up by Wendy Johnson and read it and read it, and read it some more, and watched some videos on Youtube, and tada! I cast on for a sock. I am going to try two at a time next, but I wanted to focus on getting one RIGHT before I attempt two. I just started the gusset last night. Its not perfect, FAR from it. I am still learning a lot about knitting in general, but I am getting MUCH better.

I ordered some yarn and some new needles and I'm hoping to try casting on for two at a time this weekend sometime. For curious minds, I used the Turkish cast on on a size 1 circular needle for this sock and I am doing a gusset heel. 

If anyone has any other good references for knitting then please let me know! I still have so much to learn! I want to try lace knitting next, I would LOVE to make a shawl for this fall/winter!