Knitting

Hello there!

I've had a computer aversion for a few weeks now so no blogging and little of anything else technological. But my TYSIC to learn new skills has been going spiffingly.

After the disappointment of not being able to do the woodwork course I turned to knitting. I learnt how to do a basic knit (which I now know is Garter Stitch) a few years ago but did very little with it. A few weeks ago a took a big book out from the library and set about learning some new knitting skills.

First up was purling, which meant I could do stocking stitch, ribbed stitch and seed stitch. I was eager to actually make something with my new skills so I found the quickest project in another knitting book and created these:
They're baby socks in case you can't tell. A very simple pattern but I felt a little bit proud when they were finished. Although the book's "These can be made in an evening" was a little out, unless an evening lasts 7 hours.

So, I'd done some decreasing and I was feeling confident. Then came my first mistake. I decided to knit myself a hat for the winter but as I couldn't see a pattern I liked that I could do on 2 normal needles (as opposed to a circular needle) I made up my own pattern. I guessed the width correctly but when it came to how tall the hat should be, I consulted another pattern and evidently read the instructions wrong, as I ended up with a hat about an inch too short.
The wool, by the way, was just £1.40 for a 100g ball from the charity shop for the pink and purple, and the white was also a charity shop find at 60p for a bag of oddments. I've barely dented the balls of wool so it's not much of a loss financially but a great one temporally. I have had a cunning plan though. If I knit some more double ribbed stitch and make it longer than the ribbed stitch that's already there, I can darn it on the bottom and turn it up, covering the join. I'm not a huge fan of hats that are turned up at the bottom but it would save the hat from sitting in a cupboard for the rest of its life.

So, feeling slightly disappointed in my own foolishness, I turned back to the book to learn some new skills. First up was slipped stitch. I made a sample of a few different types:

You can't see the whole thing but the top ends up with an elongated stocking stitch and the bit at the bottom is a honeycomb. The bit you can't see is a more exaggerated honeycomb.

Next up was tubular knitting. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to work out the instructions for a new Cast On, and couldn't work it out, so went for a normal one. The result is a tube, although with a closed bottom because I used the normal cast on. Mine reminded me of a little handbag so I put a strap on it. :-)
I put a row counter inside.

And finally, after my little successes, I decided to christen my set of double knitting needles, usually used for sock making. I had watched a video about how to do it and it looked hard so I expected little. It was very difficult but not a disaster.

I made the mistake of purling, which you don't have to do with circular knitting and at first I kept inadvertently adding stitches, but I'm quite looking forward to having another go in the future.

So a very positive week for my learning new things TYSIC.

In other news, I went to the dentist and everything was fine despite 7 years of neglect, the insurance is sorted for the crashed car and last night my boyfriend and I spent some time really looking at properties and deciding what we want. He will be getting his first paycheck at the end of October so in November we will be badgering the bank for a mortgage and then I'll have a look at what there is to offer. It's really weird to think that if things go according to plan, we could own a house by January.