While cleaning my room/organizing my living space this weekday-weekend (my days off rarely fall on a Saturday-Sunday), I realized I have a lot of space-hogs. One is my VHS movie collection. Another major culprit is YARN.
Apparently I have lots of yarn… 2 big Rubbermaid plastic storage bins full. And then I got ANOTHER huge plastic bin full from my Grandmother. Yarn may seem like a random thing to “collect,” but for a crafter, it’s hard to buy just one skein. There are SO MANY different colors and textures and weights and brands… you think “I can make something out of this… someday.”
Two of the obvious things to do with yarn: knit and crochet. I learned how crochet my sophomore year of college, and after a few swatches I went nuts and bought all the yarn necessary for a blue stripped ripple afghan. It’s a really beautiful afghan, or at least the 3 or so feet of it I have done so far. Lesson learned: big pieces take a LONG time… which should seem obvious seeing as you are doing them one little stitch at a time. In the mean time I’ve made some smaller/more manageable items like baby hats, baby blankets, baby booties, and several scarves.
Though not an expert, I feel like I have a handle on crochet… but for some reason never picked up knitting. What was I afraid of? Two needles at once and confusing patterns? I asked my mom why she’d really only introduced me to crochet… turns out she used to do both, but like the way her crochet turned out better, so she just stuck with that. I feel like I should at least try knitting for a little bit, and see which one I like better. And it’s a project I already own all the supplies for, woo hoo!
I’m teaching myself how to knit the way I teach myself how to do a lot of things: reading and watching things on the internet. YouTube isnt just for random funny videos… it is chock-full of on how-to videos on how to do just about anything… which is perfect for visual learners like me 😀
Here is the Best Video I came across for “Casting On” your stitches (English Method):
Here is a Good one to watch to learn how to do the “Knit” stitch or “Garter” Stitch:
Here is a Good one to watch to learn how to do the “Purl” stitch:
That’s it. Those are the only 2 stitches there are in Knitting. It makes knitting sound so easy… I can knit anything.. right?! Technically, I probably could eventually, but there are so many “additional techniques” to create beautiful things out of yarn, that I may need more than YouTube videos to get the hang of them. So for now, I think I am going to start on the knit/purl scarf route 🙂 (i.e. big long rectangles) Unfortunately, in TX, scarf season doesn’t last too awful long 😐
Here is on of the cool projects I want to try once I get the swing of things: A Binary Scarf 😀 Centuries old craft meets modern technology. Nice.
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