KNIT, KNITTING, KNITTED and CROCHET

Due to the excitement over my Chickie Bags, I have since made about 35 since I last posted here.  I had to test my Chickie Bags with a group of girls to see if they would actually sell.  They will, they have and they are.

I have an order for 20 that will be used in a raffle in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  That was my first "real" order and it is an honor to have been asked.  I donated two Chickie Bags to a local auction to help raise money for two babies who have some serious medical issues and their parents need the assistance for those pesky bills and continuing treatment.  

Now I need to get going on my "inventory" so that we can do the craft fairs this fall.  I have two co-workers who are just as brilliant (if not more so) than I am and the three of us are going to share a table.  I am excited and nervous at the same time.

KNITTING!  My maternal grandma taught me the basic knit when I was a kidlet and that is pretty much all I knew about knitting until recently.  A co-worker asked me to teach her how so I taught her exactly what I knew...very easy since that was it for me.  This spurred me to learn more about knitting in general.  I read some interesting pieces about knitting, checked out the "for dummies" website, watched some YouTube videos and felt it was time to learn more than just knit.  

I found out that the way I knit is called "Continental".  When I learned how to do the Garter Stitch I laughed because it's so easy.  Then I took on the horrifying Seed Stitch.  That took some time to figure out.  You see, I am ambidextrous and cannot always do things the right handed way.  My brain isn't hardwired to even "think" the way I'm being shown so trying to figure out how to hold the needles and the yarn to make things work was more difficult than knitting the Seed Stitch itself.  Once I had it down though, I had a great time making a scarf for my pseudo-son Ryan.  He had spotted a yarn he really liked and asked if I would make him a scarf.  The best part of the Seed Stitch is that it is two sided!

This brings me to my next urge to learn another stitch....the Moss Stitch.  So pretty in the pictures I was googling I really felt I had to give it a try.  Turns out the Moss Stitch is just a Seed Stitch in disguise which thrilled me to no end.  To add to the fun, I am currently using a 70% wool worsted yarn that works beautifully with the Moss Stitch.

Once I am finished with this I should feel confident enough with this stitch to make a baby blanket for a friend of mine who just had a pretty baby girl.  The blanket will match the booties.  The booties will be crochet and only because I found a pattern for the cutest booties on Knit Picks using Chroma Fingering yarn.  It's fingering yarn for the booties but a worsted for the blanket so it will be sturdy enough for the trials of a struggling infant.

I have spent the last two years getting my collection of Harmony Knitting Needles together.  Due to the expense it has taken so long to get some here and there, but I feel better about how much it costs now that I am doing so much knitting and learning new stitches.  One day I will have an entire set complete with rounds, straights, double pointed sock needles and so on.  Again, it's a trip to the Knit Picks website but so worth it!  I did find the set of three in the round needles kit on Ebay for a mere $15.00 so that wasn't so bad, but Knit Picks does have sales and there are coupons once in awhile as well. 

The final word on knitting is this: don't NOT knit because you are worried you will do it incorrectly or because it looks difficult.  Fear is not a good reason to not take up crafts of any kind.  Just do your research, check out some videos...or ask someone who knows how!  Next thing you know you will find yourself creating gifts for friends and family and wonderful things to wear and use with no worry that anyone else will that same item!

Want something that is your own? GIVE IT A KNIT!