Inspired

My first project: Eyelet Baby Blanket

In my precious spare time I love to knit.  I started while pregnant for Kate I taught my self using a booklet called 10*20*30 Minutes to Learn to Knit by Leisure Arts, a set of redheart circular needles, and two mega skeins of baby melting Bernat Softee Baby acrylic yarn in variegated baby pastels.  Then I gave it up, I couldn’t figure out tension, and I twisted my stitches all the time.  I knit so tightly I couldn’t slip the second needle into the loop to make a knit stitch.  Then one day while surfing around on the internet in Chicago, long after giving up knitting,I found Craftster. While there I saw a post about this bear.  I had to have it.  I had a friend teach me how to crochet and never made the bear, though I did make many other things.  Later I started a knit night to get some girlfriends together.  I wanted to teach how to make preemie hats to give as a donation, so I retaught myself how to knit, and did a not bad job.   After that I just kept on knitting.  Now I would say I could knit anything.

Stockinette

I’m a good technical knitter, I can drop stitches and fix mistakes that were made a few rows back, even in lace.  I’ve knit intarsia, stranded colourwork, cables, lace, and miles and miles of stockinette stitch (look at the sweater your wearing now, it’s probably stockinette)

Knitting is my art, I would say.  I’ve tried other things, I’ve acquired many residual supplies form various other art activities.  I own a lot of scrapbook stuff, but I don’t find the time to do it often enough.  I love it, but it quires a time commitment.  What I love about knitting is, I can pick it up knit a few rows if the baby cries I put it down.

If I have an hour I can knit, if I have five minutes I can knit.  It also is a repetitive activity for the most part,  as long as it’s not a complicated pattern, or stitch, I don’t have to think abut what I’m doing.  That kind of zone out is awesome.

I have knit all kinds of patterns.  Then I got a software package to help design patterns, and I wrote this pattern.

Lazy Bee's Baby Vest

Inspired by my friend Monica, who is an amazingly talented quilter and fiber artist, who does her own designs.  (Her blog is here: My Sweet Prairie.)  I figured I could write my own pattern from scratch, and get the perfect cardigan I have all made up in my head.  So I ordered a book ,that is well rated, on pattern design and I started the work.  And, oh my, is it work.  I’m being cautious and doing all of the math, and all of the measuring.  What I really want to do is knit the  cardigan.   I figure once I have all the raw data I’ll be able to change the measurements to a standard small, medium and large and might actually be able to publish a pattern.  How cool would that be?  I’ve seen some self published patterns where people have cut out the work, and snapped a picture with their camera phone, then sent out phishing posts with the information on were to buy the pattern for 6 bucks, yikes!  I want my pattern to be pretty, polished, test knit, and well photographed.  I don’t have anything difficult in mind.  A super simple stockinette tapered cardigan with a ruffle. I’ve got a clever name in mind, and I think it could be easy enough to be a persons first seemed project.  If I can pull this one off I have other, fiddlier, designs in mind.  Now to just knit the darn thing!

Prep work

Want to find me on Ravelry, the internet’s best site for knitters and crocheters?  Okay, here I am: Erron on Ravelry