An expensive mistake

                                                                    

See that? That my friends is a 30 dollar skein of beautiful hand dyed wool yarn that was supposed to be a honey cowl. What is it now? A horrific, giant, ugly 30 dollar knot that took about 2 weeks to make. I could cry.

Ugh.

It started off simple enough, I was going to make the short version of the honey cowl and simply make it wider. The yarn has a lovely drape and I adore the color so I was super excited about it. After a few rows I realized that I had it twisted, but I thought "no biggie, it can just be a honey mobius". After finishing it and casting off, I realized that it was not only twisted once, but easily three times.  

Was it still wearable? Yes, I could have easily adjusted it and it would have been fine since I made it so wide. But, after spending the money on it (30 dollars can buy a lot of different things as far as I'm concerned), I thought I would just pull it out and start over, having learned , my lesson to be more careful (I'm still very much a novice when it comes to knitting). About 30 seconds in the whole plan went to hell quickly...apparently I do not know how to unravel a cowl. It ended up a giant mess, horrifically knotted and I'm fairly sure not salvageable. 

You live you learn. Since this debacle I did some more Googling about how to keep the rows from twisting in the round. Hopefully I will avoid this mistake again. Sometimes you have to laugh I suppose :) 

Fall already?

After one last hot week, it seems the weather here is starting to make way for fall. It's even been chilly enough in the mornings to necessitate a sweater on the way to work. 

Although I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer, I do love fall. The chilly mornings, the crunch of leaves under my feet and the musty smell of fire pits. I live having to wear a jacket in the morning, only to shed it in the afternoon warmth.

 I love curling up under a blanket on ths couch and working with yarn. So, as if by habit I found myself pulling out a knitting project I started much earlier this year. 

I only had started knitting last year,and it's still not as fluid for me as crocheting. It is however, just as relaxing. 

Honey cowl

Last month, I vowed that I WOULD learn how to knit, after many frustrating attempts. I successfully completed my first project, the seed stitch cowl and I was hooked.

I searched for a good second project and happened on the honey cowl. I saw various posts about the honey cowl, many from people who were new to knitting themselves so I thought is give it a shot.

It's so far from perfect, but I don't care, I love it!

I found the yarn at a little yarn shop, it's Everlating by Dream and it's a cozy superwash Australian Merino. The pictures do not do this yarn justice, the color is just absolutely gorgeous! .

I cannot wait to go back and find some new yarn for my next project: The Sophia Cowl but I better wait a bit before I tell hubby that I bought another 30.00 skein of yarn.

I'm really enjoying knitting so much more than I thought and I'm surprised that I am picking it up easier than I thought. It's still much slower than crochet and more akward but I love the final look. I still need to work on my cast off, as it's a bit wonky but I'm actually knitting!

I'm knitting...I think

I ran across this blog post last week, about her recent knitting projects and her process of learning to knit and was isnpired to give it another go. I went back and forth with this idea throughout the weekend and come Monday I had wrestled the "you can't do it" demons into submissions and decided to cast on again.

Angela at Fussy cut said she was a crocheter too, so that made me think that maybe I could learn too.
I learned to crochet about three years ago and was immediately hooked. I loved the versatility and the soothing nature of working with yarn. I made blankets, scarves, bags, sweaters, hats and anything else I could get a pattern for. This love of crocheting lead to my love of sewing in a round about way.

I still love to crochet, but I always found myself admiring the look of knit projects. Although there are some beautiful crochet stitches, for apparel especially, knitted items can be exquisite.



I have long admired the look of the heringbone stitch...I mean look at it

I longed to learn to knit but was repeatedly bombarded with the "if you learn to crochet first, you'll never learn to knit" and "knitting is much more difficult to learn that crochet". So I belived it, I would never be able to knit and that was that.

This winter I remember seeing a Pin for this gorgeous cowl, and being sad I couldn't do it.







So, I gave it a shot for a couple of days and although I did learn how to cast on, knit and purl it was tedious and it just felt awkward. I was able to complete the stitches but not in any comfortable fashion. It was tedious and ugly.  I tried for a couple of days and then let those "you can't do it" demons get to me and I crocheted something instead.


Then, I ran across Angela's post. She said she was a crocheter and learned to knit, her stuff was gorgeous AND she said she enjoyed it? WHAT?! I wanted it to be true but, was sure she was some crafty genius and it would just not apply to me. It simply couldn't be true.

So, I kept reading. Contential knitting? I was intrigued. I followed her links to http://www.knittinghelp.com/ and watched the tutorials contential knitting. Maybe I COULD do this. I spent Monday absorbing all that I could on the internet...Thank goodness for youtube. Tuesday I spent working on knitting and purling. Wednesday I figured out how to bind off and practiced the seed stitch. So, I was convinced I wanted to try and put this all together and start my first official project.


So, I set off for JoAnn's and purchased my very own circular needles and a skein of Bernat's Chunky roving yarn. Then I realized that I had no idea how to use them. So, another reference to http://www.knittinghelp.com/ and I cast on the circular needles.

So I've been rocking it off and on all day. It's far from perfect and doesn't even begin to look as polished as my inspiration but that 's ok. I'm still learning and I am feeling like maybe I CAN do this. It's amazing what you can learn from the internet. I do hope that I can keep improving and maybe really learn something I had written off as impossible :)

Happy New Year!

Wow, I cannot believe we are about to begin 2013 already! 2012 just flew by, and what a whirlwind it was. I got my first "real" sewing machine last Christmas and I was able to spend some quality time getting acquainted with it. It's been good to me so far, I can't wait to see what the new year brings.

Some of my favorite bags of the year:

Bubble bag using the it's a cinch tutorial by Sweet Verbena. Not only is it a fabulous bag (I have two others and I ♥ them!),  the tutorial is fantastic and even takes the scary out of adding a zippered lining!

Tulip Tote (pattern by Kay Whitt as in Sew Serendipity Bags) Love this bag! I even made one in orange that I carry all the time!

 Then I had a slight infatuation with Chevrons:

Modified from Simplicity 2396

Chevron Fold Over Tote, my own design

Chevron Tote #2 Another Simplicity 2396

Spring Bag Simplicity 1905

Flame Tote From Butterick 5622

Diaper Bag from Sew Serendipity Bags by Kay Whitt. First off I want to say that this was easily the most challenging bag I have ever done (zippers GALORE, but the pattern by Kay Whitt was fantastic and the bag is such an awesome design. However, although I loved the way the construction came together, I LOATHED this fabric from the get go. It was a bag for a friend, who picked it out for her sister and  I had little input there. Besides looking like Vera Bradley vomited this out, it made the list.

Some Crochet Projects:

An aqua cowl with some fabric buttons...I discovered that fabric covered buttons are pure MAGIC

Chunky Peacock infinity scarf

Fan stitched Coral Scarflette

 And I tried my hand at embroidery and discovered I really enjoyed it!

 Looking forward to 2013!!!!


Linking up to Craft Junkie too T.G.I.F. linky party