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Always Learning

Although yesterday was an incredibly busy day, I did find time to knit. If you saw me at 9:30pm, you would have sworn that I would have fallen asleep on the couch in minutes. However, after running around all day and working 12 hours, I did find time to knit from 9:30-11pm. I could hardly keep my eyes open, but it was worth it.  I'm about halfway done with the back of my bolero, which I hope to have finished by tomorrow. Since it's stockinette stitch (knit a row, purl a row), it's very easy to work on and to talk to other people or watch TV.

I learned how to do two things yesterday: purl through the front and back of a stitch and to purl through the back loop. I know that ptbl is a way of twisting the stitch and purling in the front and back is an increase; it's the same as knitting in the front and back, except on the purl side. With all these increases every row, my back piece looks a little funny, so I checked the drawing. Of course it didn't have a picture of just the back piece. I reviewed the pattern again and I can't find any mistakes, so let's hope the pieces fit together in a few weeks!

Happy knitting!

Yarnaholic Anonymous

My name is Lily and I have a problem: I buy WAY too much yarn. I already have a basket of yarn (okay, it's a big basket), but I bought more yarn this morning. I have enough yarn for projects to keep me busy until August at least. I must try to stay away from yarn websites. (I have included the one that tempted me).
Knit Picks

Last year I taught my students about limited resources and why we need to conserve them. To illustrate the fact, I had them write short stories. One of my students wrote about me knitting up all the yarn in the world until there was none left. Although that will never happen, today I feel that she really figured out my personality and knitting addiction.

Hopefully I won't have to write about buying more yarn until I finish what I have!

Irony

As you all know, I love to knit. However, I keep very few projects for myself. To date, I only have a hat and part of a scarf that I have yet to finish. And since I live in the desert, I never think to dress warmly because it's been 70 degrees in January. You can imagine my surprise when I left the house and it was 37 degrees! I also work at a private school, so I had to stand outside 15 minutes this morning as students arrived at school. Next project: shawls for me.

Mini Lessons

Well, the bolero is coming along fine. I wrote out the pattern in a detailed manner to ensure that I don't make a mistake. I have already knit a few inches and I'm hoping to have the back finished by the end of the week. Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but I'd like to finish the whole project in 3 weeks. Let's see what I can do!

So far I've learned one interesting knitting fact: if you slip a stitch at the beginning of the row, it makes a salvage, which makes that edge easier to connect to another piece of fabric. I have a feeling that I will be learning lots more on this project, which I love! I also learned to knit English method, with the yarn in my right hand. I am currently learning the Continental/German method with the yarn in my left hand. Supposedly this is the fastest way to knit and it's easier to switch between the knit and purl stitch. I still think that the Spanish method of putting the right needle under your armpit is the fastest method. However, the owner of a local knitting store told me that that method is harder on the wrists and that circular needles are the best. Do you have any opinions on that?

Happy knitting!

Start Take 2

Well, I thought this sweater thing would be easy--and it will be--but I did have to start over today after 17 rows of 80 stitches. It could have been worse.

See, I teach middle school. One of the first things I teach my students is how to follow directions. I start the year with a specific worksheet that tricks them so if they don't follow directions, they look silly. I always thought that I was amazing at following directions, but today I was humbled. After a month of glancing over this ONE sheet, and after reading it closely yesterday, I neglected to see the word "each." So I was simply increasing one side of the back part of the bolero instead of both parts. It would have also taken me twice as long to increase to 86 stitches, so the measurement would have been off. I had no choice but to start from the beginning and undo a few hours of work. It could have been worse.

This also caused me to reflect on knitting. If I ever had to do a science experiment again, I would see if students who knit perform better in math. Why? Knitting forces you to follow directions, for if you don't, you can't create anything without it looking funny. It also teaches you to work a little more slowly and to do every stitch perfectly; it basically slowly transforms you into a perfectionist. If you don't do everything perfectly, it could cost you HOURS, if not days, of redoing the work. Therefore, when applying knitting lessons to math, I would assume that students would read directions more carefully and to do the exercises to the best of their abilities without error at any step. Otherwise they would have to redo the exercises, which takes more time.

So I have started again, but this time with an important lesson: every single word in the directions counts.

Start!

Well, I FINALLY started my first sweater project. Okay, it's really a bolero because I didn't want to take 3 months to make a sweater and realize that the size is off or that sewing the parts together is really messy. That would upset me to no end.

Therefore, I've studied the pattern for probably an hour before even lifting a needle. I finished two scarfs since I've been back (basically this month), and though I still have two scarfs and a hat to knit, they are on the back burner right now.

Last night I made my first gauge. For those of you who don't knit, that's basically a small portion that you knit to see if your number of stitches will match the sizes of the pattern's stitches. If not, you could make a doll's sweater or a tub's...My gauge is almost perfect. It may be a millimeter shorter, but I think that's close enough. I still have a lot to learn about gauges and I will probably laugh at myself in the future, but oh well.



I also started working on the back of the sweater. I cast on my stitches and am finally working! It's all stockinette stitch and seed stitch, which are two very easy stitches to do. It's therefore relaxing and I think it will move faster than I thought.

That's all for now. I took pictures and I will post them later today :D

Happy knitting!

Knitting update

Well, I know I had big plans to start my sweater project in January. Unfortunately, I have to finish up a few other projects first. Like any other knitter (I imagine), I sometimes have multiple projects going at once. Here's what I have to finish:
--3 cable scarfs
--1 hat

With all of my work, that will probably take me through January. However, I'm going to finish the project with the needles I will need for the sweaters and I will hopefully do my gauge and start before the end of the month.

Happy knitting!

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