As I mentioned, I've gotten into some new things in my absence, and the one that I've fallen the hardest for is knitting! I'm a beginner knitter that is learning all of the wonderful different stitches and options out there and I'm so excited to start working on even more! I wanted to share with you what got me into knitting, some bumps I hit in the road, and some plans for what I want to do.
Learning To Knit
My mom volunteers at a thrift shop a couple weekends a month and kept telling me about this woman who would come in, looking for yarn, and wearing and/or carrying all sorts of different knitted things that she made herself. My mom complimented her one day and the woman said she taught knitting classes. When my mom expressed interest, she said her class was already full but would keep her updated so we could join.
We ended up joining a class in January. The class was advertised as a beginner's class, but apparently this teacher had gained a bit of a student following so more advanced knitters would come to her beginner class because that night worked best for them. This turned out to be a substantial issue throughout the duration of the class as the teacher was far more interested in helping the more advanced students with their projects than helping the beginners learn how to do anything. She would tell us to watch her YouTube videos to learn things or to resolve our issues. Upon signing up, we received a kit that had needles, yarn and all necessary equipment needed to make a hat, which we were told we would have done by the end of the class. I didn't necessarily love the yarn I got but I made it work.
I believe the class was 12 weeks long and took place from January-April. I work in an accounting firm so the timing of this class wasn't perfect as I didn't have enough time to work on my project throughout the week since I usually wasn't getting home until around 8:00 most nights. I would maybe have time enough to sit down for 30 minutes to get a row or two done, but would get criticized for not making enough progress. There were also many people in the class who didn't get any attention at all. She had no problem shaming people in front of the whole class for mistakes they made, instead of just simply helping them because they were obviously having trouble. Needless to say, this put a bitter taste in many mouths.
Toward the end of the class, I decided to abandon my hat and start working on an afghan. This seemed like a good idea because I had to make all sorts of different squares that would then get sewn together, but each square was made with a different stitch so that I was able to learn many different stitches. The teacher approved of this project as she recommended the book that the project is outlined in to us. I went out and bought myself the yarn I needed and some new needles that were the size the book recommends. The teacher attempted to embarrass me in front of the whole class for not getting 100% wool yarn (which is incredibly difficult to find in most stores), and told me I should take all of the yarn I bought back and go to the boutique store in one of the towns by us to get at least a 50/50 blend, which would have been much more expensive. Because I needed 20+ skeins of yarn I didn't want to spend a million dollars on yarn and since I was probably going to be making a lot of mistakes since this was my first big project, I didn't want to go all out with nice yarn. And honestly, I like the feeling of acrylic yarn more than 100% wool, unless it's Alpaca because that is SO SOFT-- but SO expensive. She also had something to say about the fact that I got straight needles.
Once the class was done, I would try to work on the afghan, but as silly as it sounds, I would get so angry about it because I would just think about her. She made me so angry when I would go to the classes and this project would bring me back to the class and to her. So I needed to start something different.
What I'm Working On
One day at lunch, my two work BFF's and I went to Michaels and I, of course, had to go look at yarn. I fell in love with a yarn from Red Heart Boutique in their Unforgettable line called Stained Glass but I didn't buy it. It haunted me the rest of the day (quite the appropriate name, eh?) and I ended up going back after work to buy pretty much all of it. I really wanted to make a blanket and I happened upon a free pattern which is what I've been using to make my blanket. I'm probably about 3/4 the way done with it and I'm loving it. It's so far from perfect but I don't care. I'm just happy to be working on something that I'm proud of and something that I truly enjoy without having someone embarrassing me every time I make a mistake.
Future Projects
I have a lot of Christmas presents to make... like, way too many. I always feel like I do this to myself with all of the projects I want to make for Christmas and then I get myself backed into a corner and never get them all done. BUT I'm going to try to get them all done. I have another blanket to make but I need to finish the one I'm working on so I can use the needles. I have a scarf I want to make where I'm going to experiment with cables. I have a hat I want to do but it's on the back burner... if I don't get to it then it's okay. I can make it when I get around to it and gift it when I'm done. I have a couple baby blankets to make as well, which will probably be pushed to the front as those shouldn't take too long anyway and I might be able to get those done in a weekend.
Yarn Addiction Is Real
So now that I'm into knitting, I can't help but look at yarn whenever I go into a craft store and I'm following way too many yarn Etsy shops on Instagram. One weekend I went into AC Moore for something completely unrelated and ended up wandering back into the yarn section, only to find that they had a Downton Abbey collection of yarn on clearance. Being that I'm obsessed with that show and not over it being over, I had to buy some of it. It's absolutely beautiful and handsome and soft and perfect. I only know what I'm going to do with one of the skeins, but I'm excited to figure out projects for the other ones that I bought!
Are you a knitter? What project(s) are you working on? Are you thinking about the holidays already, too? I feel like that's always the life of a crafter! Also let me know if you crochet! I want to try to tackle that, too.
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