My history with knitting

My grandmother taught me to knit when I was a child, on a car trip, but I was impatient with anything I wasn't instantly good at. Both my mother and my other grandmother were/are cham-peen knitters of the cables/bobbles, fancy edging, duplicate stitch, etc. school, and there was no competing with that, either.

In the early 90s, my MIL was visiting and working a sweater for a friend's grandson, and I got the hankering, but with no other needles save the ones she was using, I was stuck. I realized I did have some yarn that my daughters had been using for crafts and "finger weaving," so I pulled a pair of lacquered chopsticks out of the buffet and put them to better use as knitting needles, at least for that first night. I made a few dolly blankets for the girls (Rachel used to call things like this "softs") and then signed up to take a knitting class at a LYS now closed. The ladies were all business about teaching, and some were pretty impatient actually, but I learned Continental and started to get pretty good. After making the girls some small dolls and animals, and one very rudimentary vest for the baby, I drifted away.

Cut to two years ago, and I don't know what bit me, but I was knitting again, and BIGTIME. This time I didn't take a class but I have been learning steadily, all sorts of techniques, and while I am not an advanced knitter, I can see real progress since I got back into it. I love visiting my newest LYS, Purlescence, because when the yarn is so inspiring it pushes me to try new things.

Here are the latest things I've done
successfully: pick up stitches and knit them from the edge; a simple "cable" pattern that just involves knitting two stitches in reverse order and then slipping them off together; I-cord that looks right and works for various purposes; increasing and decreasing (still somewhat rudimentary on the increases but great oaks . . .); and felting various projects. Things that seemed impossibly beyond me just stop seeming so after a while, and I go at again and find that I can do it.

So that's me and knitting, a match made in heaven. Now I'm about to proclaim my love in traffic:

♥KNITNG! ~Stacie

Yarn can fly!!!

Did you know yarn can fly? Right NOW, 10 balls of Elann Sonata (thanks to Karen) and eight balls of several types from Melissa (not to mention the doodads and needles she included with her ab fab stitch markers) are flying to Pennsylvania so that people can continue their knitting projects. With this many skeins, people could knit a sweater! Now that would be a feeling of success for someone who probably needs a chance to see her capabilities. Speaking of many skeins of a certain type, I have some pink tweed that looks perfect for a sweater or felted slippers, and that is going this week to Interim House. If you wonder why I am waxing eloquent about yarn mailings, you have missed my CONTEST! Scroll down, and check it out!

Feb. 28 it all ends and some lucky person gets the Jordana Paige knitting bag FILLED with knitting goodies.

I gotta few notions to add to the JP bag!

Did I mention go-alongs with the Jordana Paige knitting bag someone will win in my contest Feb. 28? Yeah! They arrove today (finally) and are quite interesting. How about a yarn end weaver? Looks like it does a much better job than Stacie with her tapestry needle.

And some needle point protectors that look like little socks! So cute.

A cable needle and some stitch holders, all big--for big projects.

A nice black wooden handle for a felted purse project.

Some excellent and scentiferous Knit Wash with its own cool scooper.

. . . and a partridge in a pear tree!

OK, not that last part. That would be hard to ship. ;^)

How come you haven't sent me an email yet to tell me about sending a package of yarn to Interim House???

Oh! You haven't sent the yarn donation yet??? Well, no time like the present. And remember to tell me you have done it, so I can add your name to the hat. (Thanks, Karen!)

[in other news]
. . . From my StitchNBitch tear off calendar, I have gotten ideas for (read, hankerings for) some yarns I've never seen. Enter eBay, and voila! I have some Classic Elite Lush, an angora/wool blend that is so soft that it could make anything lovely for a child. And I have a child in mind, who is five and likes soft sweaters. Wish me luck!

I felted my purse and have gotten some magnetic closures that I'll figure out how to "install" soon. I am still working on a soft baby blanket for Pat's as-yet unborn Angelina. It's Elann Peruvian Highalnd Wool in a dusty rose. I'm thinking of sewing this knitted side to a flannet side and edging it with satin, but since the wool is not washable (I know, I know, and I've even had small babies in the house, (not to mention washed all their laundry) but somehow I keep picking regular wools for these projects!).

Ah well. Back to the English teacher life. Prep, grade, write comments for this grading period. I am sighing BIGTIME now. I haven't knitted since Saturday, and that only a little bit [hyperventilating now]. Hope you are getting to the kneedles and the projects more than I am!