A little less ‘think’ and a LOT more action...

Hello again! It has been a while since my last post, ok over a year, eek!! However in my defense I got engaged with in days of starting my last project. Needless to say the project, a baby blanket of my own design took a back seat to planning our wedding.

We planned the wedding in just under 7 months and now 2 ½ months after the wedding I am still trying to finish this project, that’s 9 ½ months later for anyone who might be counting. Working without a pattern leaves many decisions to be made along the way. Based on the picture in my head of what this project should end up looking like I think I am about 2/3 of the way done.
So now I just need to buckle down and commit to finishing this project. Where has the time gone? I most certainly could have finished it in the time it has taken me to worry about it. I picture it finished and I have a plan so where is the time? How do people juggle multiple knitting projects and actually complete them? Just like any hobby or passion or undertaking I need to find a way to commit enough time to get this done. So if I enjoy knitting so much why does finishing this feel like such a chore?

I bought some great “comfy sport” cotton blend yard from KnitPicks back in January in preparation for the arrival of a friend’s baby boy. I chose colors that matched the bedding she registered for and decided to come up with my own pattern idea. I’ve made a few baby blankets before, some with patterns some without, but none as ambitious as this one using 5 different colors of yarn.

This is a patchwork style blanket and I’ve made it in strips that will be sewn together eventually (two of three shown below). The one thing I am still uncertain of is exactly how to sew them together while hiding the yarn used to do so? Should I not bother trying to hide the seems and just commit to using a completely contrasting color? Maybe the key to time management, or at least in the case of this project, is to stop thinking so much and just start doing. I’ll focus on finishing the primary pieces of the blanket and the border then worry about how to assemble them when that is actually a task at hand.


A little less ‘think’ and a LOT more action should get this done. I'll worry less about finishing and commit at least 30 minutes a day to work on this project I hope to complete it this year. It is less pathetic when the project starts and finishes in the same year, maybe in 2012 I’ll get a handle on my knitting project time management.

Sweet Success!!!

At last I can post an update and proudly display my successful first attempt at intarsia knitting. Part of the reason it has been so long since my last post is because my latest project was a gift for a friend who sometimes stops by my blog. I'm not one to ruin a good surprise and more importantly wouldn't want to have built her anticipation if I couldn't actually complete the project the way I intended to. Thankfully it turned out pretty well. It may not be perfect but for my first shot at intarsia I'm just proud that it was good enough to be presented as a gift and the double hug thank you I received was well worth the frustration of teaching myself how to do this.

As far as the technique goes I will say that online instructions really do wonders, however NONE of the resources I have in books or found online discuss the art of "twisting" the two colors on the wrong side to prevent holes very well at all. This was definitely a trial and error situation but at some point after tearing it out and starting over for the third or fourth time I decided to go with it and see what happened. Frankly I didn't really know that you had to stockinette stitch to accomplish intarsia and since I made my own pattern I had little direction at the beginning. Once I completed the charted portion of the scarf I knew knitting in st st would be a breeze however I soon realized that this stitch (which I sort of knew previously) causes curling around the edges. So there I was with a great product that I didn't want to have to redo and a curled mess of scarf. This is where one knew technique parlayed into yet another: My first experience with blocking. At the point that I realized the scarf was going to curl quite badly I had no choice but to explore the world of blocking. Unfortunately the primary yarn I used for this scarf was a blend and everything I read about blocking with blended yarn was not promising. I gave it my best shot and after two attempts, it worked quite well.

Once I finished the scarf I really couldn't wait to give it to Sarah for her birthday. We went to the Cal game this weekend so it was the perfect place and time, especially given the recent change in weather. I knew she would appreciate the gift no matter how it turned out but she really loved it. One thing that is most rewarding about knitting gifts is someone who appreciates the work and art that goes into it. Since this was my first attempt at so many new techniques as well as my first original pattern it was quite rewarding when she put it on and turned around and said "and it's one of a kind".

That my friends is why I just love to knit gifts. Someday I will knit something to keep for myself but for now I'm just a knit-gift-giving junky, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Next on my radar are some gifts for my niece for Christmas and a few other holiday surprises that you'll just have to wait and see. I also came up with an idea for my own intarsia inspired pillow design, not sure when I will have the time to give that a shot though!

Getting Back to Business

I'm BACK! So sorry I have been MIA for a while. Life has been a little crazy but I've refocused my efforts and time on my knitting projects. I am happy to display the finished product of my most recent project, as promised a pink and brown two-tone "playtime top" with flower embellishment. I must say, I kind of love the finished product! Here are pictures of the front and back of the piece. It is intended to be worn as a top not a dress, with leggings or even a long sleeved top underneath. I am considering making a coordinating headband with flower to complete the out fit.




In the time I've been away from blogging so many things have changed in life, my schedule is far more hectic and sadly knitting took a back seat to just about everything else for a while. I've realized in the last few weeks though that knitting is more than a pass time for me, more than a hobby. Knitting is one of the few things I do that takes a lot of work and patience (which I generally have little of) and makes me feel productive and creative and accomplished. You may know someone who just loves their job and gushes about how amazing it is to love what they do, well knitting is that for me. I haven't found my ultimate career path yet and what I would really love to do is just knit. This sounds silly and half the time when I talk about it I am being silly but in the last few weeks I've thought, what if it isn't that silly after all? People have done it, hell people have done sillier things and made millions. So who is to say I can't making knitting my job? That is my new goal: figure out a way to knit for a living. Step one is actually attempting to sell something. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

In the mean time I have a few other projects to get started on. That CAL scarf I mentioned previously is project numero uno followed by some Christmas ornaments, possibly a full size throw blanket (until now I've only made baby blankets) and of course there is always that sweater I technically started about 4 years ago and want to finish for myself at some point. Building time in to my newly hectic schedule to knit is really going to be important in order to accomplish these projects and get cooking on my entrepreneurial efforts. Any fellow entrepreneurs out there who have words of wisdom, comments are welcome. Thank you for reading, stay tuned for many new and exciting projects.

Blind Ambition

Finally making some progress on the playtime top. I've decided to knit an applique flower in brown and pink to add to the lower left side of the top for some flair! I've never knit a flower before...we'll see how that goes once I finish the top. One side is done (minus the flower), as seen here....

It was brought to my attention that I am a bad blogger, seeing as how I rarely blog. OK, I know I haven't been "with the words" lately. However there is no motivation like a boutique knitting shop, chock full of old ladies knitting and ridiculously over-priced yarns to get my ambitious knitting blood pump'n and words flow'n. So yesterday that is exactly where I went. Did I need yarn? No not necessarily, especially since I still have half a playtime top to finish, but there is nothing like access and convenience to convince me I need something. So I bought the yarn for a project I had promised to a friend last year. Two skeins of navy blue and one skein of medium gold/yellow.

Did I mention I constantly bite of more than I can chew? Sure scarfs are easy, I've done a ton of them - BUT this scarf is a figment of my imagination (ie: no pattern) and involves an Intarsia technique which I can't even pronounce much less do well enough to create something worthy of a gift. Yeah, that is a mouthful in more ways than one.

In any case here is a synopsis of the scarf since I can't provide a pattern or a picture. The friend that it is for went to UC Berkeley, commonly known as Cal. Cal has many logos but one is that of script letters that spell out Cal (seen here).
This friend is a die hard fan and we attend all the Cal football games together, so I essentially promised her a blue scarf with the yellow script "Cal" at one end of the scarf. I have since decided that the other end of the scarf would look nice with a yellow bear paw print (Cal mascot is of course the California Bear). I know I said I was going to finish this playtime top project then work on something for myself but I clearly lied. This scarf is so beyond my ability, if I don't start it now I will have no hope of finishing in time for the colder weather and start of football season.

For the sake of a visual here is an example, though this one only has something at one end and is for an entirely different school, but you get the idea. Instead of a "T" I will knit "Cal" and so forth. (p.s. I obviously didn't make the scarf pictured here, I found it in a google image search).

So here I am researching Intarsia and trying to find examples of the right font online and figure out how to make the letters in the right proportion. Once I do that I just need to figure out how to incorporate the second color of yarn and I'll be good to go. The ladies at the knitting shop as well as many online resources emphasize the importance of "twisting" the yarn to avoid holes between colors. That's all I got folks, any suggestions??

Happy!!

I met an amazing person last weekend. I was in awe a bit, listening to this 86 year old Jewish woman reminisce about her amazing life, being kicked out of Poland and banished to Siberia for years simply for being who she was born to be. She skipped past the obviously painful memories and talked so positively about coming to America despite her initial living conditions and about her hobbies and interests. She did speak of how she survived the tumultuous years during WWII being shuttled around as a "displaced" Jew. She spoke specifically about spending weeks in a boxcar (cattle car) when being transported to Siberia. She said "I don't know how people survive things like that, some don't. I guess its either a love of life or fear of death that keeps you alive through that". Then she whispered to me, "I've always favored a love of life."

I thought to myself, this lady knows how to live. It's not always easy to be happy with what you have or where you are but she seems to have nailed it. Her attitude was all about being happy. Doing the things she loves and enjoying the art of doing them, simply because she can!

I mention this to you because it all comes back to inspiration and attitude. This little 86 year old woman was so inspired to live. She talked about her events at the local Y and how she swims every day and takes the bus from her home in the Bronx into the heart of Manhattan to go shopping. She loves to read, especially studying aspects of biology and anatomy and history. There is no doubt in my mind this woman would beat anyone in a game of Jeopardy. I've never known such an inspiring person who simply does what makes her happy. She inspired me to do things that make me happy and appreciate the simple things in life.

One thing that makes me very happy is knitting. As cheesy as that sounds its a great hobby that I'd love to do for a living at some point. I find that when I knit I get so excited for the finished product that I get a little impatient when progress on the project seems slow. But I realize now that I need to relish the process as a whole, creating the finished product not just the product itself.

Alas I have started the pink and brown dress I mentioned in my last post and though I haven't put much time into it yet it is coming along rather well. Slowly but surely.
This dress/jumper is based on a free pattern by Lion Brand called the "Child's Playtime Top" the example is seen here. As you can see it is knit in one color however I am going integrate brown as an accent. I'm thinking just the hem, a stripe at the empire waste then trim around the arm and neck holes. We'll see how it goes as I am not as experienced with multiple colors and accenting. I like this pattern because it comes in larger sizes starting at 12 mos and up to 24 mos, most baby patterns are teeny tiny and I just don't knit fast enough for things to fit the little ones in my life, so larger sizes give me more time to work on things!

As I mentioned before I am a bit impatient, with most things but especially knitting. So even though I've just started this project I am always looking for cool new patterns for my next project. I have a growing mound of yarn in my room that just needs to be used up. So I was pretty excited when I found a new website with great free patterns, www.Knitty.com is awesome! I just discovered it but already have bookmarked a number of free patterns I intend to try with some of the assorted yarns I have accumulated over time.

In the mean time though I am working on the jumper, wondering which of the little ladies in my life it will eventually be for. It will depend on the size when its all said and done and how long it takes me to finish. At that point I am sure it will be suitable for one of them. I won't say who I have in mind because I think her mother reads this blog and well I'd like it to be somewhat of a surprise. If all goes well I will have enough of the same yarn left to make another one possibly a little bit bigger for someone else. Here is what it looks like so far...

Welcome!

Welcome to Knits n' Grins! I have been wanting to start this blog for a while now and well there is no time like the present.

I have been knitting since 2003 though much more diligently in the last two years or so. Everything I have ever knit to completion was a gift for someone and though I absolutely love making hand knit gifts, my goal for 2010 is to complete a sweater for myself. I bought the yarn for this sweater about 4 years ago and never got very far. In retrospect that is a good thing as I have far better technique now than I did then and hopefully won't make as many mistakes now as I likely would have, had I started back then.

That said, I am of course working on a few gifts for others. There is a lot to be said for motivation. In September 2008 I found out that I was becoming an aunt for the first time, nothing motivates you like a timeline set by mother nature! A few months later we were delighted to find out it would be a girl. That is when my collection of pink yarn began. My first non-scarf project was a blanket for my niece. That blanket was also my first experience with seed stitch. After a few false starts I finally got it and though it was not perfect it was a great accomplishment. I have since made her a hooded sweater which was my greatest undertaking to date.

I have also made blankets for other special babies in my life. Babies are such great inspiration, much like a ball of yarn untouched, a baby is fresh and new and full of so much potential!

My next endeavor will be a pink and brown jumper dress. The pattern by Lion Brand is free online and is only worked in one color but I'm going to attempt to integrate the brown as an accent. I'll keep you all posted, suggestions are welcome! In the mean time please check out some of my previous work!

*Blanket seen above is the 'Big Bad Baby Blanket' from Stitch n' Bitch by Debbie Stoller published in 2003. Though I only used one strand not two.
*Hooded sweater is the 'Duffle Coat' from Essential Baby by Debbie Bliss published in 2007