Is this lace I'm knitting ????




Yay ! Finally managed to knit lace. My very first lace knitting .....I'm so thrilled. This was a project which was a through and through learning experience for me. Now ofcourse for those of you who are accomplished and pro at knitting his would seem like a joke. But this one had me frogging constantly at the lace part. No matter how hard I tried I messed it up. Something, somewhere always went wrong and mostly it was the counting. I've never had such a complex before.
Anyways, persistence pays and I kept trying, hoping , frogging on and on. Finally , I think even God felt bad for me ..lol! I was at this Book shop and I came across a little packet with a row counter. I had never seen one but I thought maybe it would help. And believe me it did. Once I slid it on my knitting needle and started working on my lace it was a breeze! Not once did I have to frog it out and I didn't even use a lifeline.
Most important of all , I lost the fear of knitting lace- I'm on my next lace knit project.
I learnt how to use circular needles- even though the pattern calls for straight needles , I had to use circs because thats the one that worked best for the yarn.
I learned to seam the knitted sleeves- which I was not very good at .
I learn't that persistence pays off.

So here it is my first lace knit project : Elizabeth Zimmerman's February baby sweater.

My first ever knit baby sweater ( part 2)
Remember a while back I was talking about my first knit baby sweater in this post? Well and then in this other post I showed pictures from the book ? Well, for those who have not yet lost their patience with me , I finally have the picture of the sweater I knit.




The rolling edges was a problem with the stockinette stitch and yes the crocheted edge solved the problem. So the finshed version is here.


This sweater was esy and fast enough to make but the part that got me stumped was seaming the different pieces together and the rolling did not help! But well, I'm glad I have my knit sweater done and out of the way. Now to tackle other projets on my list. Did I mention that I'm leaning toward lace knitting? I know it's crazy but I love the look of it and who knows how long a knit lace projects will take. I'll take me forever to get it done .....But I'll brave it anyways.

The promised pictures

They are late in coming and this time round I'll totally blame the virus that is so loyal and kind of sticking with us indefinately. Its like a crazy circle .... Anyways, luckily all of us finally over the fever, cold , cough round ! I've been waiting for days to post these pictures.
The sweater I'm making :



My pieces all done and being blocked- note to self: Acrylic yarn does not block : confirmed and praying that the crochet edging will change the look!



See the rolling - proof that blocking does not work for acrylic yarn. I have been reading about this but this is my personal experience.



This book has been one of mentors and I've been working my beginners projects from here


It's a great book , a very nice size to carry along and has projects which ate simple with good and clear instructions and illustration.
These are my projects done from this book . I'm sorry that I cannot show the pictures of the ones I knit as they were grabbed almost as soon I finished them. A baby overload presently in our family and freinds circle.







This has been my knitting venture so far...okay I know I'm not showing some of other stuff but thats just because I'm trying to protect my friends so that they are not put off with knitting for life!
I'll put up the pictures of my finished baby sweater real soon and also show you my latest knittting project - This time I'm being very brave! You'll see ...what I mean , soon enough! But I really appreciate all the encouragement and cheers from my frinds in blogland. It's what makes me keep trying.

My first ever 'KNIT' baby sweater- An advenure !
I've been dreaming about this for long enough and so finally decided to take the plunge. Since natural fibres are not available out here I went ahead with the acrylic yarn that I had in my stash.
Did I tell you that I'm fairly new to knitting? I picked up a simple beginner pattern from my current 'mentor' book. It's called vogue knitting beginner basic. Great book and this is my fourth project from this book.I've tackled two hats and a pair of booties so far from this book.
Okay, so I'm in the learner stage and learning a lot. Some of it I love and some I totally hate. I loved the new techniques, the different textures in knitting and that so far I've noted that knitting takes up lesser yarn than crochet- ( is this true???) What I hate is my lastest lesson: when you work stockinette stitch in acrylic you are stuck big time with a rolling mess!!!
I have knitted the back , the left frpont, right front and the sleeves and I have ended up with five peices that are all rolling in!!! I'm trying to figure out how to block it. I pinned it and sprayed it liberally with water until it is almost drenched. Lets hope it is blocked when it dries up ...or else ....I'm thinking I'm going to kill it!! I'm lost .
I was reading up on blocking and everywhere it says acrylic doesn't block. If it doesn't block how will I stitch the peices together? Any suggestions??Please? I try and post pictures of my effort :( .

Instant gratification

Thats the charm of these little projects.I just love them because they are so fast, help use up the scraps and usually very useful in destashing. Not that I have a great yarn stash! But still it's nice to use up leftover yarn. My next few projects are all based on the same motto. I'm going to make a number of little projects and reduce my leftover yarn / thread.
This a flower and hand tawashi pattern by Mimi.As usual a very nice and easy to follow pattern. I love Mimi's patterns - they are very creative and well written too. I made these tawashis with brush yarn as I did not have the required rug yarn. And I am happy to find out that they work good with brush yarn as well. I'm using these to clean the glass ware. They clean well and no scrathes either !




And then on the knitting front too, there has been progress. This is a dishcloth from a free pattern called Circle Cloth by Hakucho that I came across at Ravelry. I fell in love with the lovely cloth and the beautiful yarn used in the pattern . Ofcourse, I just used my scrap yarn left over from previuos projects as I was afraid to use my good stuff- I'm not at all confident about my knitting abilities.

Knitting ! I'm working on it
It sounds unbelievable but yes, I have been knitting. Actually trying out various stitches and making swatches. I've done cables and even a bit of lace knitting. It all seems pretty easy when I'm doing it in the swatch sizes. I wonder if I'll be able to follow through it on a bigger piece. I sometimes just mess up the stitches when I'm working on it long enough- funny though , I thought when you work at something longer it is supposed to get better not messed up. Hmmm......I have to figure this one out!
My latest projects is a baby hat called Tiny Topper From the Vogue Beginners knitting book.



It's my first ever knitted piece measuring exactly as the pattern says. I even worked a little swatch to check the gauge. I also learned to measure the stitches.

Now to pick up something a little more challenging. Maybe a simple baby sweater next - until I get the courage to do it! Knitting scares me a little : there I said it! Now that it is out in the open ,I have to get over my fears and move on with until it scares me no more.

Another tissue box cover



Okay , I know I tend to get obsessed with making stuff of the same kind sometimes. First it was doilies, baby stuff , bags , coasters and now it is tissue box covers! I hope this is the last one for now. This is also my own design based on a stitch pattern that looks like a mesh. I loved the stitch pattern and the look of it and had to apply it in something! So there you go - the cover had a solid dc base cover and this is just decorative over cover. I liked making this and have to hold myself back from making more. I'm also planning on using the spider web design on something ...can't decide yet !
It's been long since I have made doilies. I got one done yesterday. And now planning to start another one this evening. Hopefully, I'll post the pictures on Saturday.
I've been trying different knitting techniques too. Last night I learn't to make the i-cord on circular needles. It was easy and I loved making it.Then I tried working further on circular needles to make a basic cap and messed it up totally! I guess I need to check out more sources and get some help for this.

Kimberly's Weaved Hot pad

This looked very tempting from the moment I saw it in Kimberly's post. You can find her free pattern here. I wanted to make this hot pad but first had to finish off a couple of UFOs. Since I make it a point to keep at least one UFO working alongside a new project I usually have one UFO finished with every new project.
For this pattern, I looked around for some cotton yarn thick enough to be suitable for a hot pad but no luck.I have used 3 strands of size 10 crochet cotton thread instead. The problem with this is that even though it make the piece strong and sturdy , it also makes it very heavy. I got some dish cloths made in sugar n cream yarn (in some of the swaps ) and those yarns are so light ! I wish we got them here. Any hoo, I enjoyed working this project and thank you Kimberly for a lovely pattern and your generosity in sharing it.




The pictures are not very clear ...the colour is deep purple and here it looks almost black. That's my photography skills , I guess.
And on the knitting front , I'm still learning. I have now started knitting simple lace patterns. I've just finished a faggot lace swatch . I tried it many times until I finally got it right. Now to move on to more lace patterns. I haven't made any real projects in knitting as yet - just some dish cloths to practice the different stitch patterns . a couple of small bags in garter stitch and a sampler scarf. I'll show the pics , I promise , but let me have something worth showing first...lol!

Knit MaryJane booties
This is my second pair of knit booties. I must say, this pattern though classified as easy and beginners, gave me a little bit of a tough time. I couldn't figure out the instructions and had to leave it for while and picked it up again after a week and it made sense! I'm proud of this one because I managed to get this done with no help at all and didn't give up even after frogging it out 2 times. I'm glad I stuck on until I understood the instructions properly. Although I must admit that it can turn out much better ...my knitting isn't all that smooth yet. The pattern is HERE But this was a good project and I learn't a few things :
1.to 'make one ' - left slant as well as the right slant

2.to slip, slip , knit decrease

3.to join yarn yarn at a particular point and knit from there onwards - this is the first time I've done this

4.to make a botton hole.

5.to accept that frogging out ( I hate it ) is a learning process and I cannot avoid it atleast not while I'm still learning! Maybe later on when I know knitting well enough I can get adventurous and avoid frogging out my work.

6.to use a stitch holder

7. Knitting needs constant counting !

Has it already been a week since I posted? How does time fly?? Especially when you are having fun! The heat ofcourse is the non - fun part but otherwise it has been a productive time with a lot of projects getting done , mainly because they are all small projects:) . There has also been some creativity put into play after quite sometime. I've signed up for design contests in two different groups and one crochet blog. The first one is at Jd's blog . I've just submitted my entry . It's a fun contest. It was fun creating a pattern out of a given square. I had made two projects for this one . I'll be posting both of these once the contest result is out tomorrow.

With the deadline so close at my heels I'm still deciding what to make for the next two contests. It's going to be group vote thing. So that'll be fun too. Have I told you before ( several times ) that I love contests?

And now for the promised pictures:

This doily is from the CDS series. It's called Doily coaster. It's worked in size 10 Omaga thread. The colour is more mauve than grey as it seems in the picture.

I'm also still knitting along. My next finished project is a baby cap done with the ribbing stitch. I like the way it turned out. Since I cannot get worsted weight yarn out here , and the pattern calls for it, I worked with three strands of fine yarn held together. First time that I've knitted something with multiple strand held together. I'm still learning the different pattern stitches by making little squares.

And what little cap is complete without a pair of little booties? So I whipped up these Slip on style booties. I didn't follow any patterns just made it up as I went along. But this time I even wrote down the pattern as I working so maybe I'll have to get someone to test this pattern for me.

I've made two of these sets . One set is for the charity project - Knitting for the Homeless. I'm also planning on making a matching baby afghan to go with it. Thats one thing good aboput making these tiny baby stuff. You can two of the same , in such a short time and give one to charity.