One of my first “Long Distance” gifts. I sent this hat and scarf set to my long time sister in all but parentage and friend Aurnia Star.
I based the colors on what I knew would be her favorites. Pinks, soft blues, and generally chicky colors. It’s not my thing personally, but I <3 her anywho. All told, it took me a condensed span of one week to make. This was during my “struggling to learn” days of knitting.
Honestly, when does the “struggle” ever stop? It’s a good thing to constantly have a challenge before oneself. Something, a barrier, standing in the way to overcome. Not so much to be completely unsurmountable but to build skill and strength in craft. I hope the struggle never stops in me. Learning is a drive I never hope to lose.
The scarf itself took, ironically, the longer time out of the two items to knit. I’d gotten a pair of 29″ circular needles not too long before and I used my laziness as an excuse to try knitting the “short way”. Instead of casting 30 stitches onto a pair of straights or small circulars, I just cast 220 onto a pair of longer circulars.
I’m still up in the air as to which was a bigger challenge. True, I had a much less challenging time of having to deal with the work slipping off of the needles and it’s also true that I didn’t have to constantly turn my work. The negative of this for me was that I lost interest in the monotony of the task to the point where I’d walk away for days at a time and not pick up what was, honestly, a two to three day job at most for someone of my skill level at the time.
The hat on the other hand, was quite easy to manage. Once I’d gotten the whole “circular knitting” bit right, it was a simple matter of going around and around in circles until it was time to decrease and, eventually, bind off. I took that hat with me everywhere too. As many who saw me on various parts of the Maryland MTA can attest to, I spent a good portion of the longer traveling distances with my hands on my needles.
If only Baltimore could be known to have more of a rabid fascination with this type of needle rather than the other.
Anyway, I can attest to the fact that she did indeed like the gift. I’m glad she liked it too, because I made it out of deep love and respect for our nearly nine year friendship.
3 April 2008 at 17:49 pm
Wow. This is beautiful. You can do that NOW and you say that you still strugge and are still learning ? It’s just a superb kit. And yes, “learning is a drive that you never hope to lose”. It reminds me of a definition of boredom that i have read somewhere:
“Boredom is your soul telling you that you haven’t anything else to learn from a situation”.
My wish for you then is to continue to struggle (just a little bit) and never cease to learn to overcome it.
4 April 2008 at 0:12 am
Hi Sylzouk!
Thanks for your compliments. I’m still a bit shy in showing it as I learned how to properly do ribbing about a month and a half later. It is my first fully circular hat though. There’s no seam in it beyond the one in the top and the one that attaches the bottom rip in the folding part.
Eeek! I’ve been bored with quite a few things in life. I still like doing them though. Does that make me someone who can’t let go over old ideas and habits? I have been told that I’m too sentimental at times…*sigh*
I will endeavor to fulfill your wish to the best of my ability and, hopefully, beyond since it’s a wish I share with you.
19 June 2008 at 22:25 pm
I’m over visiting from Blogshares due to your text ad. We knitters have to stick together.
Actually, I’ve been quilting more than knitting lately.
Your knitting is wonderful. Love the colors. I’ll be wandering around your archives. My website is so out of date, but I put a link in the sign-in to my old knitting pages. There’s a technique page that might help you out sometime.
Your sets look so nice and warm.
Take care and I hope to “see” you on B$.
Liquid Sunshine
Maui, Hawaii
B$ ID#40985
20 June 2008 at 4:41 am
Hi Liquid Sunshine! Thanks very much for your visit and especially for commenting. I really appreciate getting comments from fellow knitters.
Thanks also for your compliments and for the link. I’m working on learning as much as I can and, actually, today (20 June) is my second anniversary since I first learned how to knit. It’s weird thinking of it being such a long time. It only seems like yesterday and I’ve still got so much to learn. I’ll be using your site quite a lot to pick up on tips, believe me.
I was looking into getting into quilting myself with knitted squares but, for right now, my patience is more in tune with something more solid and less repetitive. Plus, I’m making stuff for friends. Lots of things for friends. @_@
Have you ever tried making a bunch of “scarves” the long way and then stitched them together to make a quilt? I had an idea of doing that because…I’m lazy and I tend to knit while sitting in mobile places like Mass Transit and could do that more easily than switch colors a lot.
Those sets are boiling hot. I put them on and I don’t feel the cold where the items are on my body. I just wish I had a better camera to show the detail of the color of the yarn.
Again, thanks for commenting. I’m #39771 on B$.
21 June 2008 at 18:05 pm
Hi KTC:
Actually, I did make strips like scarves and sew them together for an afghan. I found it sort of painful. Not only do you have to make sure that the strips are the same length, but I didn’t enjoy sewing them together. It also gets kind of heavy when you get most of the strips together and you’re still sewing the last strips on.
As always, we each enjoy different things. That’s always been one of the most wonderful thing to be about the arts. We could all start with the same yarn or the same fabric and each and every one of us would come up with a unique creation.
All the best to you. I’ll be back to visit.
D.
11 July 2008 at 20:48 pm
Thanks D!