Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week, Day 2
Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?
I learned to knit when I was about 8, and while I never quit being a knitter, I picked it back up with serious fervor nearly a decade ago. The big revolution for me was when my friend taught me how to knit in the round on DPNs to make socks. It was like a mystery revealed, a door unlocked. Fortunately, this was also a time when knitting was becoming more popular in general, so there was an explosion of books being published and the beginnings of patterns, instructions and tutorials available online as well.
I've known how to knit almost as long as I've been playing the piano (I started lessons in Kindergarten). While these two things play entirely different roles in my life (one is a hobby I try not to spend too much money on, the other is something I have worked long and hard to become professional at and could theoretically earn me money if it weren't for the whole "taking care of my kids" thing!), they are both skill sets that I have been developing and studying since childhood, and they are both subjects with infinite possibilities for learning.
So what have I learned about knitting in the past year? I haven't had any major revelations, to be honest, though I've picked up a few new techniques here and there.
The Cedar Leaf Shawlette (which I still wear all the time and still get lots of compliments on) was my first time doing a knitted-on edging.
I learned the sewn bind-off when I made my first Ptarmigan:
I greatly improved knitting with two hands when I made MJ's Tremblant mittens for Christmas:
Same with the Polar Chullo, plus I did my first applied i-cord edging on this hat:
And last, but not least, I took a gander at using charting software to write up a pattern for Anya's bobbly hat:
(That was particularly fun. I need to do more of it!)
I learned to knit when I was about 8, and while I never quit being a knitter, I picked it back up with serious fervor nearly a decade ago. The big revolution for me was when my friend taught me how to knit in the round on DPNs to make socks. It was like a mystery revealed, a door unlocked. Fortunately, this was also a time when knitting was becoming more popular in general, so there was an explosion of books being published and the beginnings of patterns, instructions and tutorials available online as well.
I've known how to knit almost as long as I've been playing the piano (I started lessons in Kindergarten). While these two things play entirely different roles in my life (one is a hobby I try not to spend too much money on, the other is something I have worked long and hard to become professional at and could theoretically earn me money if it weren't for the whole "taking care of my kids" thing!), they are both skill sets that I have been developing and studying since childhood, and they are both subjects with infinite possibilities for learning.
So what have I learned about knitting in the past year? I haven't had any major revelations, to be honest, though I've picked up a few new techniques here and there.
The Cedar Leaf Shawlette (which I still wear all the time and still get lots of compliments on) was my first time doing a knitted-on edging.
I learned the sewn bind-off when I made my first Ptarmigan:
I greatly improved knitting with two hands when I made MJ's Tremblant mittens for Christmas:
Same with the Polar Chullo, plus I did my first applied i-cord edging on this hat:
And last, but not least, I took a gander at using charting software to write up a pattern for Anya's bobbly hat:
(That was particularly fun. I need to do more of it!)
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