Hanging Out With the Girls
What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than yarn shopping with knitting friends?? This afternoon, I met up with Jolene, Jody, Theresa, Laura, Eunny, and Larissa to check out a new yarn shop - A Tangled Skein.
After a yummy lunch (with a really irritating waiter) we grabbed our wallets and went shopping.
Sadly, I only managed these three pictures before my camera battery died.
The store is in what looks to be an old bank. I thought it was a nice shop and they had a decent selection, but they need more sock yarn! There was plenty of other yarn to drool over though. After much petting and fondling, I finally chose this:
Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Pine Tree and Mistletoe. I had never heard of this yarn before. I went to the shop wanting to get two shades of green sock yarn, so this definitely fit the bill.
At Christmas time, I had asked my parents for Latvian Mittens as a gift. Supposedly it was back ordered, and they still haven't received it. But my mom immediately said she wants a pair of Latvian Mittens. Since I don't have the book yet, and her birthday is coming up, I thought I might make her a pair of Eunny's Anemoi Mittens instead. (Thus the need for the green yarns.) Whether I actually give them to her or keep them for myself remains to be seen!
When I got home from the yarn store, I immediately cast- on for them. Two hours later, I finally had this:
Stupid tubular cast-on! I had never even heard of it before. So, of course I did a google search. The first set of instructions involved a crochet chain of waste yarn. I followed the instructions, and then when I pulled the waste yarn out, the whole thing fell apart. So I tried again. And it fell apart again. I went back to google and found another set of instructions. Despite the fact that it said "hold your needle in your arm pit" (that may work with size 10's, but not so much with the size 1's) I tried it. It involved wrapping the yarn oddly from one side of the armpit needle to the other. That didn't work. The site even had a video, but I still didn't comprehend it. Finally I found yet another page with instructions for the tubular cast on that required knitting with waste yarn. Hallelujah, it finally worked for me! I was so proud that I finally figured it out! Yay! It was time to knit a cuff!
I love two color knitting. A while back, I taught myself to hold one color in my right hand and knit English style and hold the other color in the left hand while knitting continental. I love it! I feel so ambidextrous!
So I happily attached my second color and started to knit the cuff when I suddenly realized that I was going to have to purl English style. AAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!!! I can barely purl continental! And I thought the damn tubular cast-on was difficult!
It's like I'm trying to knit with my feet while blindfolded. It is some completely awkward and foreign to me. SO frustrating! I get the concept - I know how to purl, but I just can't make my hands work that way!
But I kept going.
We will not discuss how long it took me to successfuly complete two rows. We will also not discuss that I have to do 17 more rows of this ribbing. And we will not discuss that I will have to do this all over again for the second mitten.
I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience.....
What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than yarn shopping with knitting friends?? This afternoon, I met up with Jolene, Jody, Theresa, Laura, Eunny, and Larissa to check out a new yarn shop - A Tangled Skein.
After a yummy lunch (with a really irritating waiter) we grabbed our wallets and went shopping.
Sadly, I only managed these three pictures before my camera battery died.
The store is in what looks to be an old bank. I thought it was a nice shop and they had a decent selection, but they need more sock yarn! There was plenty of other yarn to drool over though. After much petting and fondling, I finally chose this:
Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Pine Tree and Mistletoe. I had never heard of this yarn before. I went to the shop wanting to get two shades of green sock yarn, so this definitely fit the bill.
At Christmas time, I had asked my parents for Latvian Mittens as a gift. Supposedly it was back ordered, and they still haven't received it. But my mom immediately said she wants a pair of Latvian Mittens. Since I don't have the book yet, and her birthday is coming up, I thought I might make her a pair of Eunny's Anemoi Mittens instead. (Thus the need for the green yarns.) Whether I actually give them to her or keep them for myself remains to be seen!
When I got home from the yarn store, I immediately cast- on for them. Two hours later, I finally had this:
Stupid tubular cast-on! I had never even heard of it before. So, of course I did a google search. The first set of instructions involved a crochet chain of waste yarn. I followed the instructions, and then when I pulled the waste yarn out, the whole thing fell apart. So I tried again. And it fell apart again. I went back to google and found another set of instructions. Despite the fact that it said "hold your needle in your arm pit" (that may work with size 10's, but not so much with the size 1's) I tried it. It involved wrapping the yarn oddly from one side of the armpit needle to the other. That didn't work. The site even had a video, but I still didn't comprehend it. Finally I found yet another page with instructions for the tubular cast on that required knitting with waste yarn. Hallelujah, it finally worked for me! I was so proud that I finally figured it out! Yay! It was time to knit a cuff!
I love two color knitting. A while back, I taught myself to hold one color in my right hand and knit English style and hold the other color in the left hand while knitting continental. I love it! I feel so ambidextrous!
So I happily attached my second color and started to knit the cuff when I suddenly realized that I was going to have to purl English style. AAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!!! I can barely purl continental! And I thought the damn tubular cast-on was difficult!
It's like I'm trying to knit with my feet while blindfolded. It is some completely awkward and foreign to me. SO frustrating! I get the concept - I know how to purl, but I just can't make my hands work that way!
But I kept going.
We will not discuss how long it took me to successfuly complete two rows. We will also not discuss that I have to do 17 more rows of this ribbing. And we will not discuss that I will have to do this all over again for the second mitten.
I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience.....
posted by Coleen at 5:33 PM
8 Comments:
Sorry I couldn't make it... looks like you all had fun!
It seems you girls had such a fantastic time together, how great! And I absolutely love the yarn that you got for yourself, what a beautiful colour!
I've never tried tubular cast on either before, it seems to be a really tricky thing ;(
Wow. You're FAST! (;P)
You have heard of Wildfoote, you've touched it and admired it (because for a while I was knitting very pink socks from it, and in fact half of one is right behind my head right now). It's nice stuff. Makes you knit really fast.
See you tonight!
Sorry to have missed you guys - it looks like it was fun. (I was trapped doing Cub Scouts treasury accounting.) I hope the rest of your mittens go faster.
Well, congrats on finally managing yourself a cuff there. =D The yarn is gorgeous!
it looks like you guys had such a great time! So sorry I missed it!
great job on the cast on! it took me quite a while to get it the first time I did it....
I'm proud of you getting that yarn cast on so quickly! When I do color knitting - I tried to hold the yarn in two differnet hands - but my gauge was so different - I gave up. I can now successfully knit in two colors with both in one hand. Much easier. Good luck!
I wish I could have been there to enjoy the knitting friends and yarn. I hope to see you all again one day soon...
I haven't worked with Wildfoote, but I have heard pretty good reviews. Great colors you chose.
Take care~
Post a Comment
<< Home