First Post + A New Skill

I've been saying I'm going to start a blog for over a year now, so it really is time I got off my butt and did so. I originally thought my blog would be about professional and business issues, and there still may be some posts about that in the future, but the ideas in my head right now that want to come out are closer to home, so I'm starting with a brief post about a new skill I've acquired.


2009 was the year I learned to knit. I already knew how to crochet, but wanted to expand my abilities with yarn, so I had my mother show me the basics. Unfortunately, when i told my friends and family I had learned this new skill, they all responded with, "I thought you already knew how to knit." So, apparently, 2009 was the year I lived up to everyone's expectations.

Knitting has turned out to be much easier than I expected. I'm already on my second project and feel my work looks as good as any seasoned knitter. A few things I've learned about knitting:

• the basic stitches: knit and purl; as well as decreasing techniques (knitting and purling together); I can't wait to add increasing techniques, I'm assuming it involves knitting and purling more than once in a stitch.


• the basic needle types: straight, circular and double pointed; all with many different sizes.


• making a mistake is disastrous: in crochet, if you mess up, you take your needle out and rip the stitches out til you reach the mistake, then stick your needle back in and resume crocheting; in knitting, you have to unknit to the point you made the mistake.


• knitting in the round is tricksy. This is true of crochet as well, but my first attempt at a hat had me creating a moebius strip. Cool to look at, not easy to wear.


• I don't like bamboo needles. I knit and crochet very tightly, so the bamboo doesn't work for me as my stitches don't slide forward. When I mentioned my dislike of bamboo to my sister, I expected her to agree with me, but instead she told me that her stitches fall off the metal needles, so she likes the bamboo better. I never would have guessed needle material would be a talking point.

Those who know me would be proud to learn that for my first project, a scarf for my husband with a subtle striped look, I followed the instructions exactly as written. This resulted in a rather narrower scarf than I would have liked. For the follow up matching hat, I had to modify the pattern so it would fit him. It's still a little small.

For my current project I found a two color snowflake motif pattern on line and modified it to create a headband pattern. Technically it's not a real snowflake, since it is eight pointed, but I liked it best of all the patterns I found. This headband is for me and matches my new ski jacket. The jury's still out on whether I'll line it with fleece once I'm done knitting.