(Re)Learning Knitting

Hello Everyone,

I’ve been wanting to do this blog series for quite some time now. Yes, I’m a hard core crocheter but often I find myself wanting to try other fiber arts and knitting has been at the top of my list for many years now. I can’t honestly say that I don’t know how to knit at all because I do. I can knit, purl, knit hats in the round and I can also knit cables but I’ve never truly explored the world of knitting. Now I’m on a journey to learn new techniques, patterns and just everything knitty…lol

I often browse Pinterest and see these beautiful shawls, sweaters and other garments and get envious because they’re all knitted. I look at them and tell myself “You can’t make that, it’s too complicated.” or ” It’ll take forever and you’ll lose interest in it.” Well this year I’m pushing all the self=doubt aside and doing things that I want to do whether I fail at it or not. At the end of the day we are the only one’s in our own way when it comes to trying new things right?

Around October of 2019 I picked up my knitting needles with the intention on reintroducing myself to knitting. I wanted to work on my tension, testing and trying different knitting needles and just getting into a groove. I knit 2 cowls that I absolutely hated. I had so many errors that I literally put them somewhere in my home and I haven’t seen them since finishing. Oh and I forgot that knitting equals more blocking than I’ll probably ever do when I crochet things.

Then there was the beast of learning to knit cables and using double pointed needles or dpn’s. I did what every maker and person out in the world would do when learning or in my case trying to learn something new… YouTube!! I saw a knitted cable beanie from iKnits and put on my big girl pants and went for it. It took me 5 hours of knitting but following her tutorial along with her written pattern because I am a pattern reading maker, helped me navigate the hard parts. Like I said in the beginning, I’m no new to knitting, I’ve knitted in the past but never stuck to it because I lacked the patience for it. Now that I’m a little older and a little more accomplished with fiber arts I felt that I could tackle this.

Well to my surprise I knit that whole beanie and realized the double pointed needles aren’t that bad if you pay attention to what you’re doing. It was an experience, my fingers were sore, back and neck ached because I didn’t take breaks but I was super proud of what I had done.

Then the holidays started and I got into a slump so I put my needles and hook down for a bit but I found myself quickly missing knitting. I was browsing through yarnspirations website and saw that they had a beginner friendly knitted fingerless glove pattern that had…. cables. So I purchased the yarn and the needles because the one’s that I had weren’t the size needed for the pattern. Well I knit those gloves on about 2 hours and I hated them…lol The cables came out great but they were too big and I realized something else about knitting… GAUGE. Gauge is everything to a knitted pattern. As a crocheter I sometimes live on the edge and won’t do a gausge swatch because I most make wearable that gauge isn’t important but for knitting it doesn’t matter what you’re making in my opinion you need to make a gauge swatch. So I had to make my swatch because I was determined to make these gloves as a Christmas present. Well they turned out great after I went down a needle size and the gift recipient loved them. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of them, I didn’t want to slip up and post them on my social media and the person would see them.

Next, because I was so confident I wanted to tackle another knitted project which was a hat that I had saved to my Knitting pinterest board for quite some time. It’s a design by Bromefields Knits Fireside knitted chevron hat pattern. This pattern was a test for me and my remembering what pattern repeat I left off on and also my double pointed needle skills as well.

I can honestly say that the hat turned out better than I expected and I’ve worn it quite a few times since winter is definitely here in Michigan. After I finished that I hat took a break to:

1. Actually enjoy that holidays.
2. Give my hands and wrist a much needed break
3. I really think about my maker goals for 2020.

So, with all of this being said this will be my first blog post of the year long blog series with me knitting something every month. I will do social media check-ins and then when I’m finished with the piece I will be back here and blog about, how difficult the pattern was, the new techniques I learned from the pattern and of course pictures of the finished item. I’ll be making many different things but if you follow me on Instagram you’ll see that I completed my January knitting challenge for myself and I can’t wait to share it with you all.

Have fun making!!

Until next time,

Tacia (Founder and Maker behind Joanna’s Crochet)

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