Wednesday, January 24, 2007

at least my mom is proud of me

All you bloggers out there who haven't switched to the new Blogger Beta version should. And do you know why? Because it will be easier for me to leave comments on your blog. If you're still on the old version I have to go to a separate page to log in with my Google account then go back to your blog to leave a comment. And if I've already typed a comment it gets erased during the transfer. So switch! Switch! Switch for me!

And now for some pictures.


This hat is special for many reasons.
1. I made it.
2. A friend/coworker gave me the yarn, ergo I didn't spend any money.
3. I made it for said friend/coworker (that's her head).
4. I knit it all while at work.
5. I unraveled the whole thing right before I finished so I could slightly alter it.
6. The most exciting: I semi-taught myself 4 new knitting related techniques.

Since this yarn was free I decided to use it to learn how to knit with the yarn in my left hand (Continental style, baby). I was taught how to knit with the yarn in my right hand (English style) but I can only knit for about an hour that way. After that my arm gets tired. Plus it always seems like Continental knitters can go much faster. To begin I made myself knit a four inch wide swatch for an hour everyday. It was very frustrating; I felt like I was learning to knit all over again and realized why beginning knitters hate it so. Then I would switch back to English style to release some tension and work on my legwarmers. I figured that by the time I finished my legwarmers I'd be ready to try a project Continental style. I then taught myself how to make cables in my knitting. Cable knits form that twisty band you see best in the first picture. I used to hate cables; I thought they looked ugly. But they are so fun to do that now I love them. I also and still do hate seams. My seams always suck. My sister Ida once showed me how to knit a seam but I only vaguely remembered what she did so I tried to recreate it when putting together this hat. I don't know if I did it the way she did but it turned out pretty well. Then the pom-pom. I was pretty satisfied with my trial hat until I made that damn pom-pom. It just did not turn out that great. Then sewing it on was a bitch too. It looks okay until you touch it and realize that it's pretty floppy. But I'm still happy about the other things I've learned.
Hopefully something else will happen to me today so more than two people will find my posts interesting.

2 comments:

laurenj said...

its beautiful!! I'm very happy that your promotion at work has yielded such crafty results. You should get on making a pair of ticket-pants, though. Someone has to keep the legacy alive.

Pregnant In Texas said...

I found the post interesting...I had no idea that you had such talent!

Any pictures of you wearing your knitted items? Please??