For me

I was at the library about a month ago, and I had wandered into the adult section for just a few minutes of quiet time after attending Toddler Time with Astrin.  After wrestling her back into her winter clothes, where we alternated between her doing it herself and her stopping to watch what the other toddlers were doing, I needed just a wee break before attempting to wrench Jaelyn away from the computer screen in the kids' area.  And somehow, I stumbled upon Fresh Fashion Knits, a book with knitting projects that somehow looked accessible (no double-pointed needles), and at first glance looked like it had a promising selection of knitting eye candy (if a thick wooly sweater is your idea of eye candy).

A few days after that, I was rummaging through my stash of yarn, and I noticed that a few of the balls I had purchased in the fall from our local yarn store were the same as was called for in the patterns.  Suddenly, I realized that I would have considerably less trouble figuring out what yarn to purchase, because I could simply choose the stuff that was called for in the patterns.  I grabbed the book again and started going through it a little more thoroughly.  Would I actually wear any of these items?  Would they take me forever?  Could I actually knit something for myself?

That weekend, I practically skipped to the store, I was so giddy to find out if they had enough of what I needed for a few of the patterns that I picked as my favorites.  And they did!  I cast on that very day, and then I cast on again after Astrin ripped out the little I had done, and then a third time and a fourth for various other reasons.  I took a break for the rest of that night.

It's been pretty smooth sailing since, with little bursts of knitting happening here and there.  There was a nice hour stretch when the children were playing with clay.  There was ten minutes this morning when I sat beside Nicholas while he did his bookwork.  There have been a few evenings when I stayed up a bit too late just to get another row or two done.

And while I don't think it will be done for this winter, I'm pretty confident it will be ready for next winter.  Which is fine.  I'm loving the process, and I'm loving learning new little bits of this and that as I work through the pattern.  Most of all, I'm loving how these hands are creating something useful, beautiful, and special, just for me.

Adventures in knitting

Ooh, this post has been a long time coming.  I'm even embarrassed that it is so late in the evening that I write this.  But, I'm happy to say that one more item will be under the Christmas tree tomorrow morning (bringing the grand total up to three).  I'm pretty sure the receiver of this gift won't be poking his nose around here, so I feel safe to share.

A while back, Nicholas and I were flipping through Taproot - Issue 3 :: Retreat together and we stumbled across the pattern for some mittens.  He mentioned that he liked them and would like to try making them sometime.  So, seeing as I would likely be the one teaching him, and suspecting that other things will likely distract him from making them, I set out to make them for him.

Feeling a little cocky from my elevated knitting status (I think I promoted myself from beginner to novice a couple of months ago), I decided to make an attempt at using double pointed needles to knit in the round.  The YouTube tutorial made it look easy enough, so I tried to dive right in.  And I found a wonderful tutorial to help me with making the thumbhole.

Well, I now know that I am firmly entrenched in "novice" mode.  As I was knitting the first mitten, I remember comparing the extra needles as mosquitoes buzzing around my hands as I tried to work.  As I worked the thumb, those extra needles became gossipy women getting in the way of my work, as they clanged together and simply felt like a nuisance.  I made mistakes that I haven't made since I knit Nicholas' baby boots ten years ago, and was authentically wondering how in the world those mistakes happened.  But now the mittens are done and ready to be wrapped and placed lovingly under the tree.

The mitts are by no means perfect.  In fact, it is quite easy to tell which mitten was knit first, as I was learning the ways of knitting in the round, and which came after I'd dealt with all the learning curve aches and pains.  But I intend to keep them as they are for now.  I would like Nicholas to see what can happen with practice - how one can learn and grow by leaps and bounds by being okay with mistakes, and practicing until it feels (almost) as natural as breathing.  Having a real, tangible, touchable example of learning through practice is actually quite a significant gift in itself.

Weekend crafting

My free time has been spent with my hands busy, given that Christmas will be here soon.  I've been machine sewing, hand sewing, stuffing, crocheting, and felting. 

Here's the latest to come off the crochet hook - a chainmail hood inspired by a little knight in my life.  The free pattern can be found here.

I am very new to crochet - so new that I found out while watching YouTube tutorials that the few attempts I had made earlier were wrong!  Well, not wrong, just not what I had intended.  The main challenge I faced with this pattern was working in the round - knowing where to stop, where the slip stitch to join was to go.  I also struggled with adjusting the sizing to work for the little one I had in mind.  For while the picture looked like it would fit the child I had in mind, in reality what I had created would be on the large side for my husband.  After a couple of attempts, I found the right size, and then it was a cinch to finish.

Today, as I finished off the hood, I smiled at the progress I made.  Sure, I grumbled about having to pull out some of my work.  Sure, I wondered aloud what to do to alter the pattern, because I didn't know how altering it early in the pattern would impact other alternations later on - I've never altered a pattern before.  But then I took a breath and everything just worked.  First, I experimented to find the right size for the top of the hood - I had lots of volunteers to help me.  Then, I put my brain to work to think through the future adjustments, which required just a smidge of effort.  And while it isn't perfect, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  And I'm delighted that our pace of life allowed me the space to take a few dances with failure without getting to stressed out about it.