Knit Nut

I learned how to knit over the holidays and now I can’t seem to stop.  It has such a wonderful, therapeutic motion and rhythm to it.  I even like the sound that the knitting needles make as they touch together.  🙂  I have always enjoyed working with my hands and so doing this knitting thing just feels really good to me.

I’m not entirely that great at it, however.  It takes a certain bit of finesse to remain consistent with the amount of tension you use on the yarn.  Oh… but speaking of the yarn… who knew there were so many completely delicious textures, colors, and varieties of yarn?!

I decided I wanted to learn how to knit on a whim.  I was browsing around at a thrift store one day when I noticed some navy blue colored yarn nestled among some of the other random crafting items on one of the shelves.  It wasn’t especially nice yarn, but the blue color of it reminded me of someone special and for some reason I suddenly got the urge to learn to knit with it.  My sister knows how to knit and she was there with me so I asked her if I forked out the whole 50 cents for the yarn and some knitting needles if she would teach me how to knit, and she said she’d be more than happy to oblige.  My big sis has taught me so many things over the years… from quilting, to beading, to canning homemade jam, and now knitting, she’s the best!

Well, it’s a good thing I had some cheap stuff to practice with because it ended up being quite challenging for me at first and had I used a more expensive yarn, it would have been a waste of money.  Nothing worthwhile other than experience came out of that navy blue yarn and I have since pulled out all of the practice stitches and rolled it into a nice little ball for my kitties to play with.

The easiest thing I could think of to learn to knit was a scarf, but even that isn’t as simple as one would think.  After practicing a bit with my thrift store yarn, I went out and bought this absolutely scrumptious yarn from the craft supply store.  It’s so unbelievably soft, and the scarf I made with it is so warm and cozy and… deformed.

My sis failed to tell me until I was finished with it that you have to periodically count the stitches as you’re going along with each row and keep the same number as to keep it the same size/shape throughout.  I know that may seem like common sense, but I’m a knitting noob and didn’t know that, so my first scarf turned out looking quite misshaped.  It’s unfortunate too because I kinda had someone else in mind that I wanted to give it to once it was finished, but I didn’t because it ended up being so deformed.

For some reason every time I tried to take a photo of the scarf by itself I couldn’t get it to show up very well, but one day when I was wearing it and my daughter and I were out and about, she had me stand over in front of some trees so she could try and take a picture of it for me.  I look a bit silly and the overall lighting in this photo is a little off, but the scarf shows up nicely.  And you can’t even tell it’s deformed.  🙂

But even deformed, this scarf is seriously the snuggliest thing ever.

~

Well, I couldn’t stop there, so off I went back to the craft supply store to get more yarn.  This time around I picked out a lovely purple colored blend with a fun knobby, fuzzy texture to it.  With this yarn too I had yet another someone else in mind to make a scarf for, but because my first one had turned out so badly, I still wanted to practice a bit more, so I made one for myself with it first.

Knowing now to count the stitches as I went along resulted in a more uniform shaped scarf, but I still made a few bloopers which caused looser parts here and there, so it’s a good thing the style and texture of the yarn helps hide them nicely.  😉

I failed at trying to take a decent photo of this one too, so I stole this picture off of Facebook of my dear friend wearing the nearly identical one I knitted for her (she is the one I originally planned the purple yarn for :)).  And because this was the third scarf I made, it’s somewhat of an “improved model” with fewer bloopers.  And speaking of “models” the one in this photo looks quite stunning in her new scarf don’t you think?

I love her to pieces!  Warm, fuzzy, and purpley hugs to your neck, my friend!  ♥

But like I said… be careful because those little fuzzies really like to get stuck to your lip gloss and tangled up in your eyelashes.  😉

~

So now I was on a roll, with three scarves under my belt, maybe I should expand my knitting horizons and try and knit something a bit more complicated ~ mittens, a hat, or socks maybe?  No, I’m afraid I’m still feeling very much like a beginner and really not quite confident enough yet to attempt any of those.  So what did I do… I knitted another scarf, of course.  😉

On this trip to the craft supply store I surprised and confused myself because I chose to get some red yarn.  For one thing, red is not a typical color that I tend toward.  For anything.  I don’t often wear red and there are only certain shades of red that I even like.  But here as I was ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over all of the wonderful different varieties and colors of yarn to choose from, suddenly out of nowhere this red yarn starts crying out in a loud voice “Pick me!  Pick me!”  I argued with myself over it for a little while, but for some reason I just couldn’t resist it.  So weird.  My sis was with me and knowing me quite well, she too was surprised at my selection of red.  But sometimes you just have to “follow the force, Luke” even when it doesn’t make sense, so in the end that red yarn went home with me.

As I worked with it I completely fell in love with it, the deep rich color and the simple texture.  And the scarf I made with it is my favorite of all the scarves I have made so far.  I’m not even sure why.  The first scarf is definitely the coziest and the purple scarf is most certainly the prettiest (purple is my favorite color), but this red one… this red one, I just really especially adore.

In the end I’ve just decided that maybe it was meant to be a Valentine’s gift to myself ~ it is red after all.  😉  I also ended up using it to take a Valentiney photo of myself wearing it to give to my special someone for Valentine’s day.  ♥

It’s just a plain, ordinary looking scarf, not anything special, but for some reason I just really love it.  And it’s so weird because I don’t usually like the color red, but this scarf feels like me…

~

I am currently in the process of knitting yet another scarf.  Not for myself, but for someone else.  I think three scarves for myself is enough, don’t you?  Well, maybe not.  😉  I still haven’t moved onto learning to knit anything else or learned any other stitches except for the basic knitting stitch yet, but my sister has plans to teach me more.  She better hurry though because I think I may be moving out of knitting mode soon; for spring is coming.  Knitting is a great indoor winter activity and I have been enjoying it immensely, but spring means ~ gardening!

Winter is so long and oh how I miss my garden and all of the green and growing things.  I can’t wait to get back out there and play in the dirt…

~