Today I learned how to tink . Ali very kindly showed me how to do it, what with me being a visual learner in the sense that I need to see the motions in action. Tinking’s a very useful skill and it negates the worry of accidentally losing the loop of the stitch on the previous row. I’m currently making a sample of different stitches so that I can refer to them when I need to remember what certain patterns are supposed to look like when I’m actually working on a pattern. So far I have garter, stocking, moss, single rib and reverse stocking. Thankfully the yarn I’m using is sooooo much easier to work with than the snowflake.

Will post photos when I’m done with it.

I’d written most of this last night but then WordPress decided to play up so now I’m off to the Support Forums to work out what’s going on *le sigh*. While I do that, here’s part two of how I got back into knitting.

This current foray into the world of making pretty things can be traced back to a day spent with Ali walking down to Hobbycraft in Southampton. It was a beautiful day and the walk was lovely as we trundled past the Itchen river on our way to the shop. I’d never been to a Hobbycraft before and I was amazed to be confronted by a multitude of craft supplies. I went home a lot poorer that day having spent a small fortune on two large cross stitch patterns and a small one to get me into the swing of things (I completed the small one on the way to an archaeology fieldtrip to Avebury, the dreamcatcher one is still a WiP and the Buddha one hasn’t even been started ).

Last Christmas I also got my wish to be able to experiment with sewing fulfilled as my little brother bought me a sewing machine (what with him having a job and all, and thus money). Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to unpack it from its box since the start of the Spring Term because I haven’t had time or space to do so. Looks like my bag is just going to have to wait until I get my own place and then the sewing machine can stay out.

I guess it was inevitable, what with these crafting impulses I was getting, that I should once again turn my thoughts to knitting again. It’s all Ali’s fault *LOL*. Watching her crocheting at the big Geek Weekend in May left my fingers itching to gather up a pair of needles and try again. So, having knitted my first swatch and then moved on to practicing purl stitches, I finally embarked on my first WiP – a scarf for my great-aunt who lives in America (seeing as she sent me an embroidered handkerchief for my last birthday, I wanted to send her something that I had made for her next one in November). Admittedly, I chose some difficult yarn to work with (Sirdar Snowflake in cream) and it has a hole near the start of it which I couldn’t bear to rip back to when I noticed it. However, in its almost completed state I’m pretty happy with it, faults and all.

Once it’s finished, blocked and pressed then I’ll post up some pictures.

Say hello to my new blog that is exclusively here to chronicle my achievements (and mishaps) in my quest to knit many pretty things!

Before this blog begins in earnest with the chronicling of my knitting, I suppose I should explain how I got here. I’ve always loved to create things, whether it be a piece of creative writing, a made up tune while I’m walking along, yummy food for myself or for others; I get a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction from making things.

However, I have come to arts involving stitches rather later than some people (mostly due to the fact that my textiles teacher at school had very little time for me as I wasn’t already wonderful at it already). I was always envious that my mother had, before I was born, made her own clothes, was able to embroider and was able to knit (although the latter she admitted to hating for some reason). Unfortunately, she was unable to teach me such crafts due to a lack of time, but I always wanted to learn how to create things I could wear.

My first attempt at knitting came as my former next door neighbour used to childmind me and my brother when I was about eight years old. She was very good at knitting herself and I remember getting a red jumper from her one Christmas (unfortunately I couldn’t wear it without something underneath it because it brought me up in a rash). Over one of the school holidays she taught me how to do knit stitches, although I never quite learned how to cast on (it must have been one of the short holidays) and I remember becoming increasingly frustrated as the stitches on the needle became tighter and tighter until I couldn’t knit anymore. Needless to say, I gave up soon after.

The second attempt at knitting came when I was in my mid-teens. I had finally learned to cast on (from an old girls’ crafts book that the aforementioned neighbour gave me several years previously which had belonged to her daughter) and was pretty happy with knit stitches. The problem came when I asked my aunt how to purl stitch – my aunt, bless her, couldn’t explain, she could just ‘do’ so I tried to copy her movements but instead of purling I ended up casting on a multitude of stitches. That little project was very soon put to one side.