The Practice Piece and the First Project

Hello Everyone! Thank you for inviting me to be another long distance member of your group. I'm excited about transitioning from Fangirl to full fledged Knitter.

I started knitting last Wednesday as a treat to myself for finishing all of my finals papers midweek. I'd like to say I taught myself, but it just isn't true. Amy Finlay taught me and she has been wonderful. With the patience of a saint she has been willing to show me all of the basics over and over and over again. Here is my practice piece. The yarn is Real Teal and from bottom to top it goes: Knitting, Purling, K2P2 Ribbing, Stockinette, and practice for Project #1.

I picked the teal color thinking that working with something pretty would help keep me from getting frustrated. What I didn't think about was how much easier a light color would be for seeing what I was doing and seeing my mistakes. If I had to make a practice color suggestion knowing what I now do, I would suggest one of the multicolor skeins in a variety of bright colors. That is what I'm using for my first project and having the yarn I'm pulling through a different color from the yarn currently on the needle has been a lot of help for seeing where I am pulling at the yarn and getting the needles stuck.

I don't know what the knitting culture norm is for saving the practice piece, but I had every intention of throwing it away. It was a plan inspired by my anti frustration mood. You see, if I plan on throwing it away, I don't have to worry about making mistakes. Despite my intentions, it is still around. Mike, my husband, is so in awe of the fact that I created it, that he can't imagine it not being something. He doesn't seem to care what it is. He calls it a wash cloth one minute and a pot holder the next; he is even ok with it being a Barbie quilt though neither of us have Barbies. So, now it is his. He can do whatever he'd like with it, and he can call it what ever he wants. He's proud of me for making it, and that's cute so it has become too hard to throw it away.

I've moved on from my practice piece, and I've started my first project. Picking a first project was hard for me. I felt almost an ominous expectation to make a scarf. However, in this muggy, unbearable, Arkansas weather I don't even want to think about scarves. Fortunately, I have some friends who are expecting so I've decided to start with a baby blanket. When I went to pick out the yarn I was still thinking about the fact that it is spring and I don't want a wintery scarf so I picked out the most spring-esque yarn I could find. Since I didn't get the pastels, it looks a bit more like Easter and less like baby, but it is brighting my mood so I don't mind. I'm already about half way done with it. If you have compared my picture to the picture on the link, you may be able to tell that the bottom five inches aren't quite right. I was doing something fundamentally wrong with my knit stiches, but I think I've fixed it now. My new plan is to 'mess up' the top five inches too, because if it is symmetrical, it can't be wrong. Hopefully Iona (the baby) won't mind. If she complains, I suppose I'll just have to make her another one.