Last year I discovered the wonderful world and community of Knitting and Crochet Podcasts. I immediately fell down the most amazing rabbit hole as I discovered so many beautiful and talented makers, designers and dyers. All of a sudden I was exposed to beautiful hand dyed yarn, the colours and textures dazzling and surprising me. Here was this whole variety of yarn outside the realm of the commercial yarns I had been buying at my local big box craft store. I also discovered many amazing crochet & knitting designers and patterns and I rode the wave, collecting projects on my Making Wish List.
I can’t remember how old I was when Mumsie first taught me to crochet and knit, but I do remember it didn’t ‘stick’ with me the first go around. I had already discovered my passion for English Paper Piecing which was starting to take over my life! Like many mums-to-be, I first picked up a crochet hook again when I was pregnant with our daughter, Matilda. I wanted to make her a blanket, a cardigan and a toy (to start!). Instagram had shown me the wonderful world of Amigurumi and it was at this point that I fell in love with crochet. I hadn’t yet discovered podcasts at this point, so knitting still flew under the radar for me. I always considered crochet to be the easier of the two as dropped stitches seemed easier to fix and mistakes hid better!
One of the first podcast I watched was lovely Jooles of Sew Sweet Violet. Watching her talk about the projects she was sewing and knitting was very inspiring and she is such a delight to sit and chat with while I sew. Soon I also discovered Sandra of Cherry Heart Podcast, Dani of Little Bobbins Podcast, Sam of Betsy Makes Podcast and Molly of The Homespun House Podcast. I noticed a similar thread…they all knit or crocheted, and they were all knitting socks….beautiful patterns and designs from equally beautiful, stunning hand dyed yarn. I needed them, I wanted them. I had to have them. What an utterly indulgent item of clothing to have! So for the second time, I asked Mumsie to teach me to knit.
We started out with learning the basics, garter stitch and knit stitch using cheap acrylic yarn and bamboo needles. I have to say, not very thrilling or enjoyable. I found my tension to be really tight with the bamboo needles and the yarn a bore. Mumsie suggested my tension might loosen up with metal needles, so I gave that a go and it felt much better. I was still bored though. I thought I might enjoy the learning process better if I actually made an item from some nice hand dyed yarn. I decided to knit Matilda a simple garter stitch scarf with some 8 ply hand dyed merino yarn from Jazzy Makes. I cast on 30 stitches and used size 4.5 straight needles. After plodding along for some time I started to get a bit bored. My tension was going well and I hadn’t dropped any stitches, but I needed the project to be over and I was itching to learn more skills. I decided that the scarf was probably a bit too wide for Tilly but that if I was to join the ends together it would make the perfect size cowl for her, so that’s what I did.
I am proud of my first finished object, and the yarn is scrumptious. Tilly really likes it too and I’m sure it will get a lot of use this winter.
For my second knit project I thought it would be good to make something using circular needles, knitting in the round that included increases and decreases…to prepare me for knitting socks! So I found a simple beanie pattern on Ravelry called the Lollypop Hat by Elena Nodel. I picked a skein of The Australian Wool Store, Merino, Silk, Nylon 8ply, 100g, 180m, colour Mint Santelmann to use as mint green looks lovely on Tilly. Mumsie helped me to get started and then I used YouTube tutorials to learn how to transition from the circulars to DPN’s and how to close the top of the hat. I am super happy with how the beanie turned out, only there is one problem…it’s a bit too small for Matilda. I can get it on her head, but it doesn’t really go over her ears properly, which I think is necessary for a beanie.
So, with my new found knitting confidence I cast on another beanie, this time making a larger size. I chose to use a soft acrylic yarn as I thought it would be a safer choice for Tilly as she will be able to wear it outside playing or at school. The yarn is Sirdar Snuggly Cofter Baby Fair Isle Effect DK in colour 0159. It was quite nice to knit with being a soft baby acrylic yarn. I had a fairly easy time knitting the second beanie, given it was my second go at the pattern and I started to get in to the knitting groove, developing and practicing my own knitting rhythm and technique. I still find it a slow process, much slower than crochet. I watch my mum knit and her hands flick the yarn and move the needles so fast I feel like it’s going to be years before I get to her level of knitting! I know that practice makes perfect though. Tilly’s second beanie is a tad big for her, but I’m super pleased with it and a bit of growing room is always a good thing with a hand knit item for a child.
My two beanies done, it was time to try socks and so that is what I’m currently working on…and loving it! I bought some Fiber Lily yarn a little while ago with the intention of making socks with it. I chose her Aussie Sock, 80% Australian Merino SW 20% Nylon in colour Carousel. I love how it’s knitting up. I’m using Mumsie’s Vanilla Sock pattern. We have the same size feet which is super convenient. We did a long tail cast on of 54 stitches, followed by 14 rows of 1×1 rib and then 42 rows of knit to the heal. Today Mum started teaching me how to knit the heal. I’m using Addi Sockwonder circular needles size 25cm/2.5mm with Knit Pro Zing 2.5 DPN’s.
So far I’m super pleased with how they are turning out. My tension is really good…Mumsie is quite proud of how well my tension is going, particularly considering how tight it was when I first started learning!
I can’t wait to get my first pair of socks finished. There are so many beautiful sock patterns out there I would like to try and so many stunning yarns to knit them in! However, my next knit project I’m going to try is the Dirty Lace shawl by Truly Mrytle. Mum and I already have our yarns picked out as we are going to knit it together. So stay tuned for more adventures in knitting!
Miss Leela x
