Saturday, July 30, 2011

Day 3:



Yesterday’s knitting was so successful that I can’t wait to get to my project!  I continue on my path, knitting a row, increasing stitches on alternate rows.  I have found that writing down what I’ve done after each row helps me to keep my place of where I’m at in the pattern. At first it’s a bit hard to see my stitches with the mohair yarn – it’s so fuzzy that the stitches all blend together.   My sweater is probably 1 ½” long at this point, and I’ve discovered that my hands are turning black from the yarn!

Day 2:

Today is the day I’m going to get started with my sweater.  I’ve decided to forego the suggested “gauge” thing and go straight to knitting my sweater.  Worse case scenario the sweater will be too big & I’ll give it to someone for Christmas, right?  I cast on 106 stitches.  Easy.  My pattern says to proceed with stocking stitch.  Ut-oh – what is that???  Back to You Tube.  Again I find an excellent video of how to do the stocking stitch.  My pattern tells me to increase a stitch every other row.  Back to You Tube.  I’m feeling pretty good about this!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Day 1:

I’m having a hard time figuring out this whole “Cast On” thing.  I purchased “Knitting For Dummies” and downloaded it onto my iPad.  It is NOT helping.  The pictures are confusing, and even though I’m REALLY GOOD at following instructions, I cannot seem to figure this thing out.  I go to my computer, and Google “How To Cast On Knitting”.  Voila!  A You Tube video appears and shows me a relatively simple method to get me started.  Easy to follow, easy to understand.  I practice a bit, and then set my knitting down for the night.

Monday, July 18, 2011


Have I mentioned that I don’t knit?  I mean, not really.  I have knitted….a little.  My last attempt was almost 25 years ago.  But I’m REALLY GOOD at following directions, and I’m detail oriented.  I honestly believe that I can do anything I put my mind to.  It’s going to cost me less than $100.00 to find out if that’s true, and who knows – I may just learn a few other lessons along the way!



MY TRIP TO THE YARN STORE
I really was walking in here blindly.  All I knew was that I wanted something fuzzy – angora, mohair – whatever.  I was willing to shell out big bucks for quality materials, because after all – you can’t make a fabulous sweater out of crappy materials.  The sales lady was very nice, and very helpful. 

I narrowed the yarn selection down to a few choices, and she looked at my pattern and was able to tell me how many skeins I would need.  The prices of the materials ranged from $10/skein to $39/skein.  I opted for black mohair that was on the lower end of the price scale, priced at 10.95.  The product is called Katia Ingenua, and is made in Spain.  78% mohair, 13% nylon & 9% wool.    She also helped me select my needles.  Apparently there is a big difference between different kinds of needles and which ones are easier to knit with.  She looked at the number of stitches I would have on the needles and suggested that I use a circular needle made of stainless steel.  The product she selected for me was ChiaoGoo needles in size 10. 

As excited as I was after my trip to the yarn store, the pretty pink bag of knitting goodies from The Yarn Company of Palm Desert sat neglected on my desk for 3 weeks.  I was TERRIFIED of starting this project! 

Here’s my project:

I love this sweater.  I found the pattern on E-Bay, and it’s still available there for $7.95 with free shipping anywhere in the USA.  It’s the perfect sweater for over a little black dress…
Vintage 1950’s Angora Shrug Pattern – Like Kate Middleton’s!
Vintage 1950's Angora Shurg