Fair Isle Hat with a Snowflake Motif

Another hat....bored of churning out hat after hat. I'm moving on...will be trying crocheting afghans now, and also going back to socks.

But first, I need to get to the zillions of under-way projects that are almost done but not quite finished yet. I must admit, I'm lazy when it comes to 'finishing up' a garment. So there are unfinished sweaters waiting for their buttons, hats waiting for their ribbon embellishments, a sock waiting for its partner to take form, a pair of slippers waiting for its zipper to be attached.... And then many others that have given up hope of ever getting my attention, shelved into some corner of my closet. Poor ignored souls, they should be up on this blog and not in some dark corner of a closet. So...before I take up another afghan, I need to go back to these faithful friends and show them some loyalty. Then again, I've never tried crocheting before....

Dishcloth

Knit this with a cotton yarn. Great in-between project that finishes up quickly and leaves you with instant gratification. And you can never have enough dishcloths. This one was put to use in my kitchen as soon as it was finished.

It's a great pattern to create hand towels as well. I'll be making some of those. Except those will need to be rectangles, these are square.

Many of the patterns I knit are by Staci Perry, including this one.

And there's my little sweetheart on his first ever field trip - went to an apple orchard. I accompanied his class as a volunteer. He loves apples so naturally he had a great time! Plus, he got to ride in a 'lellow coolbus' for the first time :) (yellow schoolbus)

Knitting Has Saved My Life

And I mean it. I'm at a dark place in life, have been since I picked up the needles 3 years back. People ask me why I knit, how I can have the patience. Knitting helps me find myself. It helps me channel my creativity. It keeps me occupied, interested. It is something that is personal and fulfilling. It gives me purpose. Every 'project' is a goal. Every 'project completed' is a goal accomplished. Every stitch is a medium of my expression. On days when nothing else makes sense (and there have been so many such days), knitting is the only thing that does. It is my safe haven.  

Cabled Baby Afghan

Working on this baby afghan for my soon to be born niece/nephew. In fact, been busy knitting away for the littlest Gajria :) All other projects have been put on the back burner for now. There will be in-between projects I'll continue to work on while doing this afghan in parallel. But I did want to kick-start it as I don't see myself working exclusively on this blanket for a whole 36X36 inches, without getting distracted by other projects (even though I love the pattern... It's easy, and yet it makes you pay attention to what you're doing. )

Here are some pics of where I am right now...

(Psstt...notice that neat ball of yarn? I rolled that up myself, using my hands - no ball winder used. I'd love to get myself a ball winder someday..but they are a little pricey, and I don't think I've earned it yet. This yarn is rolled into a center pull ball, which keeps the yarn untangled and easy to pull out from the ball.)

 

 

3/13 - Done with about 7 inches. 29 inches more to go. Really enjoying knitting this.

 

 

 10/9 - And....I'm finally done...my first knitted blanket - for baby Sanaya. A knitted blanket is a lot of work though. Approximately 18,500 stitches went into making the baby sized blankie (36 inches long)! Next time I wanna make a blanket/throw, I think I'll go for crochet instead. Crocheting would go much faster.

 

 

 

And there's my little guy. He loves the camera, especially when Mommy's on the other side of it :)

 

 



I am seriously lagging behind on keeping my blog updated with my latest projects! I must be more regular. I have completed / am working on so so many projects since I last posted, I wouldn't even know where to start on the blog now. But I'm going to be back, probably with one single post containing pictures of all my finished projects, and the WIP ones.

I blame my procrastination in keeping the blog updated to the simple fact that when I get a few minutes in the day, it's way more tempting to knit, than update my blog about it! But...I realize now that they must go hand in hand, or I lose track of my finished projects.

Knitting 101

Interesting tutorial on how to knit...maybe from a man's point of view (I don't really mean that, there are a lot of successful men knitters).

I cringed when he used the glue on the 'scarf'... :) yeah seriously, just buy a scarf already!! hehe..

Maybe if I asked my two year old to knit mommy a yellow and red scarf, he would knit it this way :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4_XNKOuODU&feature=youtu.be

Fair Isle hat

 

 

I'm very proud of this project. It's my first experiment with the Fair Isle technique, and I love the way the colorwork has turned out. Fair Isle is a name given to a technique of knitting with two or more colors on the same row. I had so much fun working on this project, because I could play with the colorwork and see it take form into a pretty pattern. And I love love love the way the yellow contrasts with the green and the blue. I was actually sad when I was binding off the final stitches...I didn't want this project to end!

It's a challenge getting the colors conjured up in your mind come just right on the project, mainly because I order my yarn online. When you're ordering online you just get to see a tiny picture, which is mostly an approximation, of the actual color of the yarn. Moreover, the yarn can look very different on a hank, from when its actually knitted out (don't ask me why, but it's true). Hopefully some day I will be able to have the bandwidth to actually go to a yarn store and select out my yarn, so it matches exactly what I intend it to be.

Considering all the constraints, though, I must say..either miraculously or by my experience now in ordering yarn online...the hat has turned out to be exactly what I had in mind (in terms of the colorwork), or even better.

I used a 100% wool for this hat. Wool is such a charm to knit with! This hat will have to be handwashed and dried flat...which means more work for me than just tossing it in the washer-dryer, but even then, I'm not complaining. This is one of those pieces that have the potential to become an heir-loom for the family. Maybe Aarav's son/daughter will wear it someday too! 

 

(Couldn't get a good enough shot of Aarav with the hat, he just wouldn't stay still. Look at him playing with my knitting needles like they are his toy drumsticks! Grr...These days whenever he sees me knitting, he wants to knit too. So I give him his own pair of needles and some long string of yarn...he keeps busy for about 10 minutes...at the end of it the yarn is in a thousand knots and he has had just about enough to move on to something else :) )

How much cuter can a hat get?

 

Learning - 3 Needle Bind Off method, and that a hank of yarn needs to be rolled into a cake/ball of yarn before you begin working with it (learnt this the hard way :( )

 

I love the gentle waves of the blue shades on this hat.  

This is why we knit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reDRQMKdJEo

Striped hats

These are two hats I recently knitted. In fact, the brown one I finished just today. They both follow the same theme for the pattern, which is stripes in a main and contrasting color, with a pompon of the contrasting color. Both hats have a self folding rim, which is  basically the same stockinette stitch that flows through the rest of the hat. The yellow hat is for the soon to be born child to my brother and bhabhi. I chose the color yellow because it goes well with the mood in India - bright and sunny. The brown hat's for my son. He's wearing it to his daycare on Monday :)
Here  are some pics of the hats while they were in progress and the finished ones...
Notice how I have used double pointed needles when the number of stitches were too less to fit comfortably on circulars.
Those are red marker stains on Aarav's cheeks btw...he did that while I was busy making his hats pompon.


Finished Hat

In Progress - working on DPNs

The Hat Bearer

Work In Progress - Still on Circulars

Even his hands are full of red ink! aarrrgghh...

About Me

I'm a passionate self taught knitter. I started dabbling with knitting when I was pregnant with my son (now 2 years old). I made him a hat and  a pair of booties. None of them were functional (the hat was too big and the booties too small). I obviously hadn't started the right way. I had absolutely no idea about the basics...heck, I didn't even know there were different types of yarn! I had never heard about the terms yarn weightage or guage...I didn't know anything about yarn composition or the fundamentals of needle sizes. And I didn't know that I didn't know!
Just the fact that the hat turned out atleast to be a hat and not some mini version of a skewed sweater, gave me the confidence to dive right in. My next project was a cabled baby blanket. Needless to say I never finished it. Not because I couldn't master the cabling (which is considered an advanced skill for knitters), but because I was using baby sport weight yarn on size 3 needles! I might as well have been knitting that blanket for my grandchild! Thankfully I had the sense to realize I was wasting my time on something futile (although I did learn cabling in the process), and shelved it.
I have come a long way since that unfortunate baby blanket. And still I can only rate myself as somewhere between a beginner and intermediate knitter. I am so inspired by seasoned knitters who are able to create complex designs and well-fitted garments out of simple techniques and a creative imagination. I hope I can be as good some day.
Taking time out to knit is probably the most difficult part. But I try and squeeze in atleast 10 minutes each day to devote to it. Even one row completed is progress made. These days I even carry my knitting to work and use my lunch time to finish a few quick rows. Whatever it takes! On days I can't knit are days less fulfilled.
Knitting gives to my soul what meditation gives to one's mind.