I love the yellow swatch in the blanket – and the whole thing is starting to feel so soft and comfortable! I am hoping to complete at least one tile a day, but I know that’s a pretty optimistic goal. Still, I’m not doing too shabby!
I’m beta testing some amazing yarn which I’ll get into in another post – but I wanted to show off how awesome the cables look, neat and defined. I’m knitting a pair of fingerless gloves (my first) and have learned a few new terms.
LC (left cross) and RC (right cross)
These are cable terms, at least for this pattern here at Purl soho (which happens to be free if someone else wants to give them a knit). They’re not particularly complicated terms, but I’m used to doing cables with a simple C6F or C6B and I’ve never encountered these stitches before. Once I’m done 2 rounds of cables it’ll be onto the thumbs – sigh. Gussets. The bane of my existence. We shall see how that goes.
I also had a quick refresher course in M1L and M1R (make one left, make one right) but seemed to pick it up without too much issue. Hopefully these gloves turn out, because the yarn is just yummy and I can’t wait to wear them!
I love inspiration. It motivates me to be a better person, to try harder, and to not give up when things get difficult (which they always do). My inspiration this week comes from a very special blog where the writer has been posting just about every single day for a year about her creative endeavors. I am pretty sure I won’t be able to post every day or even do something creative every day (especially since Wednesday I’m expecting my daughter to arrive) BUT that doesn’t mean I’m not still motivated, and that I wouldn’t love to at least try.
I figured it was fitting since this ends her first year that it marks the beginning of my first one. So let’s consider this day one, and see where we end up. Hopefully we get some neat creative things done along the way – but if not, that’s OK too. Remember the goal here is to challenge myself and to inspire and motivate myself to keep up, not to berate myself if I fall behind or have a few days where the creative juices are just not flowing.
For today I’m starting off with a square on my mitered memory blanket. I’m up to 7 now and it’s starting to feel more like a piece of cloth rather than just weird squares of yarn. It’s soft and squishy, and as I knit it I imagine Llama Bean or Nugette taking it to college with them to keep warm and remind them of home. It doesn’t LOOK like much right now, it will require blocking and a boarder (and to be much larger, of course) but I can see it in my mind. Each square tells a story. Not all of the yarn came from my stash, either. A lot was donated through a christmas exchange (if you’ve got spare fingering yarn you want to donate it takes less than 25 grams to make a square, just drop me a message here or on twitter and we can see about an exchange!) that I’m very grateful for. Some squares tell my story of learning to knit socks, staying up late working on baby clothes, or just trying to de-stress from the day. Other squares tell the stories from other people. That’s what I love about projects like this. Plus you can never have too many home made blankets…
In keeping with my goals of learning new techniques and at least getting SOME knitting done in 2018 even if it wasn’t a lot of knitting, I picked up my mitered memory blanket from a few months back and added a few more squares to it. I’m not sure why I initially found the project difficult but my last two squares turned out much better and I’m finding it a simple relaxing knit (which is something I need right about now). As you can tell by the picture, my 2nd square (the blue and white one) is actually backwards. Long term that may bug me, it’s facing wrong side and it’s pointed the opposite way from the three other squares – but I decided to embrace this mistake. When the blanket is done, it will be a reminder of my learning, and getting better at something like this. It will be proof that I have improved.
Same can be said about the very first square, the black one. It’s not sized properly as I miss counted some rows and made some very simple mistakes. The two most recent squares (the gold/grey and the pink) are much nicer, show off the stitches, and are done ‘properly’ – but I think that even heirloom items need mistakes in them, it’s what makes us human.
Originally I had grand ideas of knitting one square a day and completing a year-long project (that resulted in a nice blanket) but I think I’ll continue to just work at it here and there when I have time between other projects, or the urge strikes me. It doesn’t take long to complete a square, and this is a fantastic way to stash bust those little ends of yarn that I’ve been collecting for absolutely zero reason (well, now they have a reason). Eventually once I find the blanket is as large as I want I’ll trim it with a black crochet boarder to complete the ‘look’ and to give it a cleaner appearance. I’ll also block it which should help make it look more uniform.
Remember, you shouldn’t be afraid to try new projects, even if they don’t turn out perfect the first time. There’s nothing wrong with growing from your mistakes, and there’s nothing wrong with showing your human side and even embracing those mistakes you’ve made. We all started from somewhere.
My twitter timeline lately has been filled with knitting. I haven’t been doing a whole lot of it this year, but back in December I had set myself some goals that I wanted to accomplish, and they were goals that were really important to me. One of those goals was to learn the “fish lips kiss heel” – an alternative to doing gussets.
A bit of backstory – I’ve been knitting for almost 3 years (this September). I’m completely self taught. I found out I have a bit of a knack for it, and I find it really (really) enjoyable and relaxing. I purchased the FLKH pattern almost 2 years ago for $1 (that’s all the designer charges) and was COMPLETELY intimidated by the booklet that came along with the pattern. It was 18 pages of explanations and examples and instructions. I set it aside and went back to gussets.
I decided this year would be THE YEAR. I would FINALLY learn how to do these magical heels. Why are they magical? The designer claimed there was zero math involved, that there would be no gaps, and that they’d fit perfectly. If you’ve ever knit a gusset before, you know these are pretty big claims. I was still terrified.
I read the instructions. Watched the youtube videos. Re-read the instructions, and then just dove in, knitting my sock toe up for the first time ever and then following the pattern (which may be 18 pages long, but only one page is the actual instructions).
I should have done this 2 years ago. The heel is everything it claims to be and more. I am pretty sure I will never go back to a gusset type heel and that this is going to be my new favourite. I’m not 100% sold on the toe design I decided to use, but that’s the great thing about knitting, there are tons of options.
The best part is how proud of myself I am. I set a goal. I stuck with it. I accomplished it. I learned something new that works and it makes me feel good about myself and my skills.
Don’t let that little voice in your head hold you back. Go after your goals, no matter what that voice is telling you. It’s a huge cliche but the only regret I have is not trying sooner. Even if I failed (and trust me, I have failed in knitting many MANY a time before) I would have at least tried. I didn’t even give myself the opportunity to fail.
So here’s to my awesome looking socks – and now I can knit some for my very knit-worthy husband, because I don’t have to be so afraid.
stargrace