I’ve been bitten…

… by the knitting bug. On Thursdays I’ve been hanging out with some knitters who get together to knit and share what they’re doing. Hoping to tap into some of their creative energy, I’ve been sharing my quilting with them and drooling over the luscious yarns in the shop where we meet. Several weeks ago Roger and I found ourselves in a Borders book store. I wandered into the craft book section and picked up a book by Jean Frost featuring knitted jackets. Thumbing through it, I saw several I thought were very nice. I resisted and put it back on the shelf. Over hot cocoa in the cafe I mentioned the book to Roger and that I was resisting getting into knitting, trying to keep my creative focus on art quilting – I know how distracted I can get, chasing all those fun rabbit trails. Well, Roger couldn’t see what the big deal was, so I succumbed and bought the book. The next step was to choose yarn for the project. I chose a beautiful cotton yarn in periwinkle and dug out the right size needles from my mother’s plethora of knitting paraphernalia. I knitted the swatch to check the gauge – a whole inch too big. I chose smaller needles and tried again – still too big. Smaller needles and another swatch – same size as the second one. The yarn I chose was too heavy and I needed to choose something else.
So until I could get to a store where I could get the right weight yarn, I decided to try the beautiful leaf motif that attracted me to this pattern. I’d classify myself as an advanced beginner when it comes to knitting and this was rated intermediate. That disparity has never daunted me before. I’m good at directions and pictures so I gave it a go. After starting over 5 times, I finally decided to “fix” my mistakes and keep going. Tonight I finished the motif, and while it has several mistakes in it, it is fun to imagine what it might look like if I did it all right.

I’ve started a new one now that I think I know what I did wrong. Then I’ll be ready for the real thing. Stay tuned…