Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Learning to knit.. early days

It all started with an episode of Arthur.  My gang loves to watch it.  In this particular episode the kids learn to knit.  So they decided they wanted to learn. My husband and I spent much time watching youtube videos learning how to cast on, knit, and bind off.   Me more than him.

Seven days later I was hooked.   That was last May.   Never in a million years did I think that I would like knitting.  I have tried to learn as a child but ended up with a bunch of knots.  Of course I did not have the advantage of youtube.   What a blessing the wonderful videos of knitting tutorials on youtube are.    I love that I can watch them over and over again.  They are always patient with me.    Of course if you have a blue ray player even better because you can play them on your TV.     I am so thrilled with my discovery of knitting.   It is such a relaxing past time.   If I can't sleep or need something calming I can just grab some needles and knit a couple rows or a couple of dozen.    Time seems to fly when I do this.. It is so peaceful.    When I work it is like my hands remember what to do before my brain does.. kind of cool.  It reminds me of when I dust off my flute and read some music how my fingers seem to know where to go in relation to the notes.

So far for the most part I have knitted stuffed toys.  I think I have knitted at least 20 teddy bears, crocodilies, birds.. etc and other stuffed items for them to play with.   Also of course there were the knitted afghans.. 5 of those.   This blog is about my knitting experiences.   I do eventually hope to learn crochet and I would love to learn to spin my own yarn...but for now I am focusing on knitting.   I am so thrilled to have discovered this past-time.

Here are some great free knitting patterns I love:

This is a really fun alligator.. his mouth is such that you can fit things inside :-)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/56806270/Baby-Gators-from-Knitting-Mochimochi-by-Anna-Hrachovec

These chickens turn out really cute.. and they are so quick to make...
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/08/project_excerpt_teeny-tiny_moc.html


I knitted a ton of these shells.. I didn't stuff mine.. The shells are really neat to put other mini stuffed toys inside.
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/10/craft_pattern_podcast_paper_na.html

Thats all for now..