Homespun Yarn

So, I was reading up some knitting info, and no matter where I go, there seems to be some hate surrounding Lion Brand's homespun yarn. Now, I've used it before, specifically for my most recent hat, Lumpy the bear, and the scarf and earflap hat I made for my sister. Besides the fact that for the scarf I couldn't really see the pattern clearly, I didn't mind using it at all. The bear especially turned out great, and I thought the texture of the yarn made it appear more fuzzy and cuddly. The hats I made with it, and even the scarf were really warm and soft.


That being said, I do understand why people would be frustrated knitting with it as sometimes it likes to bunch up, but personally I didn't think it was a very big deal. I wonder if its because I don't know too much about yarn quality and what's bad and good. I don't want to hate it just because everybody else does though, but I do want to know why its so strongly disliked.

Hi Iceland!

I didn't think I'd update again so soon, but my sister recently came back from a vacation in Iceland, and guess what she brought back for me? ..... You guessed it! Yarn! Not just any yarn, yarn made in Iceland! It says so on the packaging! The ice-blue colour is so fitting, as my sister says it was snowing really hard over there.

It looks really pretty and I'm already trying to research what I should make with it. I never worked with this type of wool before. It's a little rough to the touch (even more so than the dishie yarn I recently bought), and I've only worked with soft yarn, so this will be a good experience for me. I don't think I'd make a scarf out of it though because I think it will make your neck feel itchy. Maybe thick socks? A hat? Either way, I want to make sure it will be something special since its not everyday I get yarn from Iceland!



Scrappy Hat

So if you don't recognize the yarn from my previous project posts, this wager hat is made from the Lionsbrand homespun yarn leftover from making Lumpy, the bear. (Ah, I'm wearing Lumpy's skin on my head!) It was really easy to make, but I messed up in that I thought I would have more yarn than I did. So nearing the end, I rushed the decrease rows, so the BO for this hat doesn't look that good, and also, the hat is supposed to be more slouchy looking. Wearable though, so I'm not complaining! I also learned how to properly M1 .. which I felt like I should have known how to do already, but didn't.

Now that I'm done this, I can't wait to dig into my new yarn stash!

My package arrived!

Who doesn't like getting mail? Well today, I got an amazing surprise! My package of yarn came! Okay, so its not really a surprise since I bought it for myself, but its still a surprise that I got it so soon. I'm so excited! Usually, I get my yarn from Michaels or Wal-Mart, but at least where I'm from, the selection there is usually not that large, and the colors I want always seem to conveniently have only one ball left or something. So, I wanted to try something different, and with a bit of online snooping, I found that lots of people buy their yarn from a website called 'Knitpicks'. It has supposedly reasonable prices, coupled with great customer service. So, I went crazy (was originally more excited because I thought it had free shipping, but then I learned it did, just not to countries outside of the USA .. boo!)


Above, starting from the left, you can see I have their Coal Swish DK, two Everglade Heather Stroll, Doe Swish DK, Ivory Comfy Fingering, Begonia Dishie, two Tranquil Dishie, and two  Honey Swish DK. At the very top there, I spoiled myself with 3 hanks of their Winter Night Gloss, a beautiful blue color, and will be my first time working with hanks (I read somewhere how you need to unravel them first or they'll get extremely tangled)! To be honest, at the time I had an idea of what to do exactly with each yarn, but now I forgot some, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. I definitely know (and am most excited for) that I will be knitting a really cool dish towel! I know I previously never mentioned even wanting to knit one of those, but that was before I learned they had yarn specifically for knitting dish towels! It'd be such a fun experience working with different yarn textures! The hanks are going to be a scarf for my boyfriend, and I think the Everglade Heather Strolls are going to be socks.

 

I really can't wait to start digging in, but actually, right now I've been knitting a hat with some scrap yarn (not the same scrap yarn I was practicing cables with, obviously, as that couldn't even complete a headband). It's the leftover yarn from making Lumpy, the bear. I think its got half a ball left, enough for a hat. I want to quickly finish that up and move onto learning new things!  

Cabling!

I've finally tried cabling! I had some scrap yarn laying around from when I made my first earflap hat and originally was going to make a headband... unfortunately I had less yarn than I thought, so I will have to take apart the whole thing. But my efforts won't be wasted! For one, I got to practice cabling, and another thing is I get to update my blog with something...

Unfortunately (again) the yarn is so dark that my cabling is hard to see. Take my word for it though, it was turning out pretty successful! Now I just got to figure out what to do with my scrap yarn! It has too much to justify throwing it out.. but too little where I can't even make a headband. What's smaller than a headband?? I'll have to think on this, if anybody has any ideas, I'd love to know!

Meet Lumpy!

Wow, I'm so proud of my latest project! It has lots of flaws, for example, its kind of lumpy looking... so like the creative person I am, I named it Lumpy! It's the most challenging project I've worked on to date and took me so long to finish, but I did it!

Its legs are also crooked, but you can't really tell when its sitting. Anyway, I think its really cute. I could go on about its flaws, but honestly, for my first time, I think I did great. I followed this teddy bear pattern. It was the first time I had to make pieces and stuff it, and then assemble everything together.

Anyway, I definitely have to improve on learning to seam and sew because you can totally see it. Youtube videos couldn't save me! Honestly while making the individual pieces, I was starting to doubt if I was doing it right, because I couldn't really see it coming together. There were some terms like 'foll' that I had to really search up what it means, but at the point where I started stuffing it, I knew I was definitely doing it right.

I thought the head was the hardest part to attach to the body though because you don't close the cast-on seams, so its just open while you try to sew it onto the body, which also doesn't have a very obvious placement of where the head is supposed to go.

I wanted to use felt for the eyes - you know, just cut out circles for the eyes, but my sister insisted on using buttons to give it a more classic look. Personally, I think buttons made it look a little creepy (did anyone watch Coraline?), but she was right about it being classic. Anyway I already have a new idea for my next project! I'm hoping to

knit Lumpy some clothes! I figured maybe he'd appreciate something better than a bow. Also, I figured it'd be easier to knit him a sweater or something rather than jumping to humans right away. Although.. I do really want to knit a sweater for people because I have those 2 giant balls of yarn I for Valentine's day... Hmm... well regardless, I will be happy knitting!

 

Slow Knitter

I think the reason I enjoy knitting so much is because it just gives me something to do in my spare time. Something that isn't high intensity, or requires much brain power. It's relaxing how you can just keep knitting stitches, then the next stitch, and the next and the next ...

That being said, I really take my time - actually, I think I can only knit at one speed. I tried different techniques in an attempt to knit faster, but nothing really worked, and I felt the most comfortable knitting the way I originally learned. Why I'm making a post about this is because I've been knitting my latest project for a while now, and I haven't updated my precious blog! Not that I think I have any constant readers (yet), but if I do, its because I'm slow, not because I forgot about my blog!

Anyway stay tuned, I swear I'm almost done my project!

Valentine's/ Anniversary Gift

A couple days late posting this, but my boyfriend knew just what to get me for our Valentine's day/ Anniversary celebration (the days are close together so we usually just merge them) - mostly because I told him 'Hey get me lots of yarn'. And here it is! Two large balls of red yarn! He got me an orange rose too, but by the time I got around to taking pics, they wilted already .. but anyway, I am very happy with this, and I already have an idea what to make!

Have You Reddit?

Hey everyone! While I've been working on my new project (hint: it is something on my checklist), I got stuck on this instruction in the pattern. I had no idea what it wanted me to do. I tried googling it, and figuring it out, even my faithful Youtube tutorials failed me. But, it all  just didn't make sense. Finally, after months of lurking on /r/knitting, (I mentioned it in a previous post before), I made an account and a first post asking for help. Seriously, within minutes someone answered me with exactly what I was looking for!! The community was so nice and helpful :) Soo... if anybody ever needs help, I totally recommend the website!

Anyway, keep posted for my upcoming project!! It might take a while because I consider it pretty hard. I hope it works out!

Beginner's mistakes

Who better to write about mistakes than a newbie knitter like me who has made so many? Here are a list of beginner's mistakes that I've made, and if you're new too, you should watch out for:

1. Accidental YO: In My First Circle Scarf there were many holes because as it was a ribbing pattern, I had no idea about moving the yarn to the front if its a purl, and to the back if its a knit. I searched up why I kept ending up with holes and extra stitches, and after starting over a couple times (or just kept soldiering on because at the time I didn't know how to fix mistakes), I finally realized this mistake.
2. Not pulling off old stitch: This was mentioned already in My First Project EVER where I didn't really understand knitting, and just had a vague idea of just going through the motions. Its another way where you end up with more stitches than you should.
3. Right sizes: A lot of projects were a lot tighter or looser than they should've been or smaller because I used the wrong knitting needles or yarn type. It's actually very important.  
4. Twisted stitches: This is for knitting in the round. When you connect the stitches together, make sure they're not twisted, and they all line up properly ... because if you don't you'll realize too late, its not a fixable mistake. The only thing you'll be able to do is rip the stitches out and start over.
5. Pay attention: I like to knit while attempting to watch TV or talk (key word: attempt because knitting takes a lot of focus for me. I'm pretty jealous of those people I see on the bus whose fingers are working away while they're doing something else and don't even need to glance down at what they're doing.) However, sometimes when I'm supposed to purl my knits or knit my purls or whatever, I do the opposite accidentally and have to go back and fix it (I almost feel like I spend more time undoing stitches than actually making them). On a related note, learn how to read you work! It saves a lot of headache. A noose means it was a knit stitch and a horizontal dash means it was a purl stitch.. and an unintended hole means wanting to cry.
6. Slipped stitches: This is can also be related to point 5, but sometimes it happens where a stitch fell off your needle without you even noticing even when you could swear your blood sweat and tears were all focused on the act of knitting. Anyway, learning to pick up slipped stitches so that its less of a big oh shit moment is a must.
7. Leaving a tail: For long-tail cast-on, for God's sake, leave a long tail. I mean, its not that bad having to start over since its at the cast-on, but it is annoying. Especially when you're casting on a ton of stitches.
8. Count stitches: Not sure if pros do this, but if the pattern calls for CO 140 stitches, after you cast on, count the damn stitches before you just jump into knitting. Because after the first row, and you realize something is not quite right because you only CO 139 stitches you're going to have to start over. I'm pretty paranoid and count twice because I really hate starting over.

I'm pretty sure I made way more mistakes than this, but this is all I can think of right now in the early early morning. Feel free to add to this list as I'm sure I will be doing as I continue to learn new things. Remember, mistakes are a good learning experience. Just make sure not to repeat them .. which should be point 9 for me as I am guilty of not learning from them the first time.