Get Your Knit On

Last night, I hosted knitting group once again. It was fabulous: we had homemade crackers, cider that I made myself (well, spiced up apple juice), wine, and loads of chatting and knitting. It was great fun, and I hope to continue it through the winter.

Today, on my internet browsing, I stumbled upon this: Popknits! The are like a vintage Knitty, and they have free patterns. Sorry fellas...not much for you. But maybe in the future! Check it out. I'm thinking about making the cowl, personally.

I'm also thinking about making a quick 'n' easy sweater. This one looks (Ravelry link) looks pretty nice--here is Amanda's lovely rendition. It looks so good! I think it would be a lovely sweater project.

The other one promises to be just as fun, knit on big needles with chunky yarn, the Chic Cowl Neck. It sounds fast and looks really cute. I'm a fan of the short sleeved one, personally.

But first, I must knit for Christmas. I feel a little sad because I would like to knit a sweater, but I think all I can do is plan to knit them and wait until I get my Christmas crafting done.

Are you all planning any Christmas knitting yet?

Thursday Knit-In

With four knitters in attendance, Kniterati met up last night. It was great: we had veggies and various dips, a late arrival of garden-fresh strawberries, and wine. And let us not forget knitting.

I'm working on balling up my yarn to start work on Clapotis. After doing one, I gave up and started working on my Lace Ribbon Scarf, which is a fun lace project for anyone interested in learning to read lace patterns. Depending on the length, it'll either be mine or become a Christmas gift for one of the many women in my circle. It's pretty fun.

Rory (the cat) decided to plop in the middle of our group and harass Kathy. She kept attacking her scarf and generally harassing everyone. I guess kitties like knitting too, hehe.

I don't know when the next meeting will be...but likely soon! It's become a really relaxing knitting time, since I live alone now, and also don't stress out about everyone coming over. I look forward to continuing to host it.

Kniterati--Going Virtual

The upcoming semester promises to keep me extremely busy. I have class on the night that we will ordinarily meet, and it appears that other nights are busy as well (I have class two nights a week, and other members have things on other nights that keep them busy).

So, Kniterati will be meeting virtually until the dust settles from the Fall. Please post! And recruit more friends to the knitting cause. I promise to finally finish that top that I've been working on--it's so close right now.

Happy Knitting!

Coffee and Knitting

As my participation in the Knitter's Coffee Swap proves, I love to knit while drinking coffee. And as several of the Kniterati also enjoy imbibing caffeine and knitting, we trekked over to our nearest local coffee shop to hold our meeting.

It was a lot of fun. We welcomed one new knitter (finally!), and she did very well with her first swatch. I also taught Kathy to crochet--the OTHER needle art--and she took to it rather quickly. (She wants to make her mom a yoga mat holder). I'm sure we'll be seeing it posted here soon.

I worked a little on my ISE scarf, which is coming along nicely. Soon--when my camera arrives from Mr. Postman--I'll post some pictures of it. I finally got over messing up on every repeat. I've only messed up twice in the last 10 or so repeats, so that was a relief. I need to get this scarf done so I can concentrate on my other projects (like socks!)

[Random interjection: I just went to the LYS, Hand Held, and bought some cool yarn. All of it will be destined for someone else, but it's still fun to buy yarn.]

I think we'll have to meet at the coffee shop again, when I'm not feeling like hosting the Kniterati at my apartment (it's dirty, etc). It was fun, we got to drink coffee, and we drove a girl from a table next to us so we could take it over (hahaha). I'm really enjoying this knitting group.

Field Trip!

The Kniterati took a little field trip last night. I discovered that our town does, in fact, have a LYS (Local Yarn Store). Hand Held is located just a short walk away from my current abode, and it is all one could ask for in a LYS. It's in a charming old house and is filled to the brim with varied yarns with knitted projects suggesting how you might like to use those yarns.

I'd actually only been in one other LYS--lately, I've been going online to find my quality yarns or relying on whatever Hobby Lobby might have on hand. This yarn store was stocked with all the yarns you could possibly desire--100% bamboo, organic wool and cotton, Malabrigo, Kaigu, Lorna's Laces, etc...the lists went on. It was a nice store, and a fun place to go into. The aisles were narrow in order to fit all of the yarn. And they offer classes, which is great. When we went there were a group of knitters all in a circle, chatting and clicking away.

Overall the field trip was successful, but perhaps a little overwhelming. I think someone said something about how it showed them all the possibilities of projects they could do. For me, it was a realization of how much cool stuff there is out there to knit with--and how I want to try it all. Any other LYS experiences out there?

Kniterati Meeting: April 9th

Knitting group is always so much fun. Everyone trails in, we eat some dinner, and we all sit and knit. Lance made us curry last night, which was delicious. Janie brought some salad, and Kathy made a yummy fruit, whipped cream, and granola dessert.

I'll have to let everyone post about their own projects (if I can pester them into it), but I'll give a brief overview: Janie is making good progress on her scarf--she'll probably have it done very soon. Sarah got the hang of the knitting thing and knitted several lovely rows--really, they looked beautiful and her tension was even. I was proud. Lance is debating on frogging his scarf to make something else (he doesn't want to buy more yarn). Kathy started her really awesome bag using recycled silk from The Wool Peddler (it's nifty!).

And me? I tried working on my scarf for the ISE and got through one pattern repeat. Starting on the next, I messed it up (somehow) and had to frog it back almost to the beginning of the repeat. I hate that, and I hate having to frog. And on this scarf, I've been doing a lot of it (at least one frogging per repeat). It's frustrating because I usually don't have a problem following a pattern and not messing up, but this lace pattern combined with the silk/mohair blend that I'm using is apparently a tricky combination. I'll keep working, though, because the parts I have done look beautiful.

So that was our meeting for this week. Stay tuned for more delights to come!

Kniterati Meeting: April 2nd

Our ranks swelled by two knitters: we welcomed Janie and Angie to our midst. After enjoying some deliciously spicy stir-fry (thanks, Lance), we sat down to knit. I worked on my tank-top and my scarf for the International Scarf Exchange--I'm knitting a lace scarf in red mohair/silk blend. It's turning out lovely, but it's been a pain to manage the yarn and all of the complicated lace knitting techniques. I'll post a pic when it gets more along. I think my pal will like it!

Kathy learned how to make an I-cord (which is so incredibly easy and awesome), and is assembling her leg warmers. She'll have to post some pictures soon and tell us about them--but they are looking fantastic!

Janie has a knitting mom. She knew the basics, so all I had to do was teach her how to cast on and remind her how to do the knit stitch, and she was off making a wonderful fuzzy black scarf. She too will have to share about her progress.

Angie is a brand new knitter. I had Lance teach her some of the basics, then I had to intervene--but she's quickly picking up the skills. She will be working on her practice piece, and then starting a scarf in a wonderful mocha chenille.

And Lance started his scarf that he plans to felt. He was prevented from knitting very much from a hammer injury to his left hand, but his project is coming along wonderfully--he's a consistent knitter so his stitches are even and great.

I think next week we may pick up another knitter--I certainly hope so. It's been a lot of fun so far, and everyone seems to enjoy having a place to knit and chat and eat good food.

In Lieu of Knitting Group..

I was very, very ill last night. So knitting group was cancelled. Thus, I decided to post some helpful tips for beginners.

Choosing a project
You've mastered the garter stitch, so now what? It's not enough to launch into knitting with a set of needles and a ball of thread--you've got to have a project in mind. It should be what you want. And as Donna commented in a previous post, it doesn't have to be the "first scarf" that everyone deems you must do. Kathryn chose to make leg warmers because those sounded fun to her, and she's well on her way to being finished. My first project was a scarf--but only because I wanted to give a friend a scarf for Christmas.

In other words, choose a project that you desperately want. It should still be fairly simple, but it can be a scarf, a bag, a set of leg warmers--just because you're learning doesn't mean you have to be stuck on never-ending rows of the garter stitch. Again, Donna's post (as referred to above) offers some helpful insight. Choose something you actually want to make!

Of course, that being said, you should still find something manageable. Don't jump in for that massive afghan--you'll lose interest before you've finished. (That's why a scarf is usually a good choice because it is a fairly quick project). I recently advised one of this group's fledgling knitters to attempt a purse. Simple, small, easily made, and it incorporates all sorts of useful skills without being too boring (or taking too long) or being too complicated. Even I, as a more experienced knitter, get bored on projects that take too long--I had a rug that took me a while to finally accomplish (sheer desire carried me through that one--that rug is so freaking cool), and I have yet to finish a knitting needle holder because I was bored to tears of doing straight stockinette stitch for thirty inches. I think I'm at about twenty-six, so I really should just finish it...

Choosing a yarn
Pick a color you'll like. Pick something that feels nice. But DO NOT pick anything that looks like it'll separate or snag. You'll regret it. You may want to avoid "novelty yarns" at this juncture, unless it's ribbon yarn. That stuff is pretty nifty (I've never knitted with it, but it looks really cool). Until you have some experience wielding a set of needles, snaggy yarn only causes tears. In fact, my current project is with a fine cotton (nice feel, nice color) that drove me nuts at first because the strands like to separate. If you're not cautious, you'll end up piercing the strands and knitting extra stitches or knitting stitches that do not look very neat.

Once you get a feel for types of yarns (I will do a more detailed post on this later), you can find all sorts of nifty yarn peddlers online--just click on any in the sidebar! (I really should get a cut for advertising for them, right? right??) I like Knit Picks for their value and quality--they offer some nice yarn for an inexpensive price.

For the veteran knitters among us, what was your first project?

Kniterati Kick-Off Meeting

Last night was our first meeting and a successful one at that! It was only four (six if you count the two cats who were trying hard to get at the yarn), but everyone had a good time and learned some knitting.

I had to quickly learn to knit continental style (i.e. left-handed) in order to teach the two lefties. Both of them picked it up quickly, though, and they were off! It was a great feeling to see them knitting so quickly.

Look at them go! Sarah is practicing casting on and knitting her swatch (she doesn't have a first project yet) and Kathryn is making these legwarmers. She's pretty far in on the first one!







There's Lance and I. Lance's yarn order hadn't come in yet, so he spent the evening learning increases and decreases.

And I'm working on this project. My very first wearable thing! (i.e. not a scarf or hat). It should be exciting.




And here's some other pictures:

Tiny cat wants to learn to knit!

Awww.