1930s Three Hour Sweater Progress

I had been hesitant about my start with this sweater due to having a super busy week and being unsure of whether I should add on stitches to my sweater or not! The band was seeming kind of tight, and I ended up pulling it out and adding another four stitches for good measure. I think I tend to knit a little tight.

I'm about two hours in so, I don't see this being quite a three hour sweater - I think that's the consensus though anyway! I'm through the ribbing though and that took the longest.

Also, I already got oil paint on my knit cap! I get really messy when I'm painting, but I figure a little thinner will take it off?

Knitted Cap is Finished!

I finished my first knitted, wearable project! I'll be excited to try it out with a set in my hair as it doesn't cover too much of the head so it's more for style.

Anyway, I'm pile driving forward and onto my first sweater! I'm taking the worn path and going with the fan favorite of the Three Hour Sweater.

I'll be making it up in a green mistletoe colored yarn and I'm more than excited to start my first sweater! I could probably fill this post with SWEATER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and it'd get a little closer to my excitement.)

Oh yeah and if you're on Ravelry, add me! My user name is nancy-louise

Knitting Update!

So I've had about two knitting classes so far, and I have to say they've got me really excited! After the first class I practiced my stockinette stitch until I ran out of yarn and it all looked pretty uniform and, no numb fingers!!

There's my very first ribbing too! So many exclamations! I'm just very excited to be on the path to my first sweater :)

Right now I'm working on a grey wool hat that should be finished this Monday night. And then another project lurks around the corner...

It's really nice having handwork to do lately. I've been staring longingly at my sewing stuff, but I just don't seem to have the time. With knitting I can take it anywhere I go so it's inspired me to keep an eye out for portable sewing, etc. In fact, I have a 30s leather glove pattern I picked up just a while back and recently got the chamois to practice with (phew, it stinks and the box proudly proclaims it is tanned with 100% fish oil).

How is everyone's Winter going? I haven't even looked at blogs in what seems forever so I've got some catching up to do!

Back to School

Today will be the first day back to school for Winter term. I pretty much spent this break sleeping, counting patterns, being sick, and going to the gym.

I'll be taking more web development classes, painting, and a couple non-credit courses: KNITTING AND SWING DANCING!

I'm pretty excited for the painting and two aforementioned classes, but I hope I don't get lagged down by some of the web development courses, well, one in particular, Javascript.

I've been doing quite a bit of cardio lately, so I decided to make my phone useful and grab an app for working on running 10k. If that goes well I've got some half marathon training on my list. I've never been a runner, but I figure doesn't it just take training like anything else?

The only sewing I did over the break was sewing some patches on gi's (worn for Jiu Jitsu, looks similar to the karate gi for an idea of what I mean) for a friend's kids.

MIA Already!

It's been a long week away from my new blogging world! And, wow, five followers already, thanks you guys, I look forward to reading your posts!

Soon, my scattered posts should be a thing of the past. My own computer broke down earlier in the year and I've been without one since. Well, I got a new one! It's supposed to be here sometime mid to late next week and I'll be able to get rolling on posting and keeping my Etsy store more regularly updated. I'm very excited!

I'm starting to get into the swing of things with school. I'm taking web development classes mostly. I used to create a lot of web sites in my spare time and so it's nice to get back to it. Plus I'm taking a drawing class for me. I'm not very good with drawing, but I've got hopes to get better at it.

Onto projects:

Remember how I was having trouble with the purl stitch? Well, I decided to go a little more modern with my approach and watched some YouTube videos.

I haven't checked out any of the other videos - and there are plenty - but this helped me make my first stockinette stitch!

I dropped a few stitches but I'm pretty proud of it!

And, in case you thought I forgot about the Hollywood Pattern skirt, I was about done and then got the notion that I should probably take the time to line it. So here's a little picture of the progress on that too (by the way, soon I will get better at this blogger layout with the pictures and all! Haha)

And I know I haven't mentioned anything about combat sports yet. Today I went to the Oregon Open to root on my friend, and fellow gym mate, Jenny. This was her first BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) tournament and the competition was really tough. She's only been at it a short while and the Beginner's bracket was 18 months or less. I think she got a lot of nerves out of the way and it was good to experience competition. I haven't competed yet because I'm a bit of a wuss about it so far. I just always want to be really prepared. Here's a photo of Jenny at the beginning of her very first match!

I have to go get my cardio in before the gym closes so I'll leave you with that. Bye guys!

Knit One, Purl None

I think I see it! The knitting booty! Dropped stitch marks the spot! Okay, hopefully my injection of humor will get better as this blog goes on. Onto the knitting results:

There's been some scarf knitting in my past, maybe five or more years ago, but they were always scarves that looked like that <<. And, I'd love to move past that!

So here I am looking through the "Learn How Book" and I have to say I think the illustrator might have used a little creative flair with the illustrations - I mean, maybe they didn't exactly read the instructions while they were drawing. They just went off of memories of grandma knitting in her rocker.

I remembered the knitting motions a little though and got my way through the regular old knit stitch. When I got to the purl stitch though, I just got stuck - I think I understood how to do it but each time I'd try to do a row of purling, after a row of knitting, the loops would just be too tight to manage. In fact, the picture you're seeing shows that little piece of knitting about to bite the dust. I think I might have to resort to YouTube-ing it and check back.

Also, does anyone have any tips on regulating your stitch size? I'm not sure if you're supposed to stay kind of loose from the needle or if you want to stay relatively close to its gauge. Any beginner tips that changed your knitting for the (much) better?

Finally, have you ever gotten a numb thumb from knitting? I'm beginning to think these knitting needles were recycled from a past life as poison darts.

I Guess This is Another Teaser Post...

So, I know I mentioned showing sewing results or possibly my sewing room - it is full of goodies, it's true!

Well, today is another teaser - tomorrow will be different, I swear!

After seeing all these beautiful sweaters popping up and thinking about all the blustery weather on its way in, I had been thinking A LOT about learning to knit. So, it was sheer happenstance that while errand shopping I found a very, very cheap skein of yarn for practice!

I had the needles and the how-to books, now it's time to finally do it.

By the way, I got those needle caps along with a large box of vintage sewing notions and they're supposed to be rubber...Haha, I think I'm going to have to settle for framing them because the years haven't been so kind to them. (Of course I tried testing one when I very well knew what would happen; me: 'oh crap, oh crap' and pulling the needle out before it cracked in half. I guess sometimes a girl just has to try, right?)

Tomorrow, results! Wish me luck!