I taught a teenage boy how to knit, hear me roar.

I've taught my friends how to knit. I've helped them successfully resolve their knitting issues. And I pride myself on being a pretty decent knitting coach.


So when I was told by I boy in my youth group (yes, a real, live, breathing, testosterone-filled boy) that he wanted me to teach him how to knit, I was freaking ecstatic.



We decided I'd teach him at the church lock-in, because teaching someone how to knit is best done in the middle of the night with bad lighting. Yeah.. uhh, no.

Anyways, he went out and bought yarn and needles. (He thought he could use 36" circulars to knit himself a hat. It was hilarious. I ended up trading him those 36" needles for some 16" that would work out so much better.) He already knew how to create a slip knot. I helped him decipher a yarn label. We measured the circumference of his head, and I taught him how to cast on.

Easy as pie I tell you.

Due to the fact that we were in a pretty constant state of either running around or sleeping, I didn't get much of a chance to teach him how to knit, but I'll help him out at the next church service.

I'm so proud of myself :D

Jeeze, this brings my total to 17 skeins in 4 days.

"Hey, mom, since Hobby Lobby is on our way home, can we stop there? I want to find these needles I've been hunting for. It'll only take a minute or two."
"Sure."


I went in looking for 16" circular needles in any size except for 6.

I found 16" circulars in a US size 5.. and 2 skeins of Wool-Ease Chunky and the newest issue of Debbie Bliss's magazine.


Honestly, people should start locking me in the car or knocking me out when I ask to go to Hobby Lobby or Joanns. I only plan of getting one thing and I come out with 30$ worth of impulse-buys.


My mother is right, I really need to learn how to be financially responsible.

Plum yarn.

I casted on for a cowl yesterday with the beautiful purple yarn I found and decided it wasn’t working for me and frogged it today.

Oh, frogging. I means ripping out your knitting to re-do it or do something else with the yarn. Whatever, it means taking the stitches off the needles and pulling them out.

Like.. Ripping it out. Rip it, rip it. Kinda sounds like ribbit ribbit, right? I don’t know the full story, but something along those lines is what started the term “frogging” and it stuck.

Gotta love cool knitting lingo. (I wrote this just for you, Sami.)


Oh, back to the almost-cowl. I was in Joanns when a single skeins of bright plum yarn practically jumped out at me and forced itself into my basket. Seriously. It was made for me. I desperately looked and searched and hunted for another skein, but there wasn't one. I had gotten the last one. It was a radiant color, it was a fantastic weight, it's 4 ply, and it is sooooooft. I clutched it tight and practically sprinted to the check-out counter.

I instantly knew it had to be cuddled around my neck at all times. So, I figured, why not a cowl? I grabbed some circular needles that should work and heading home.

I cast on 150 stitches, decided 5x5 (don't ask why 5x5, it seemed like a good idea at the time) ribbing, and starting knitting.

I instantly hated it. The magnificent plum yarn was not feeling it either, so I frogged it. And now I'm back to square one. What on earth to I do with this yarn?

I really should go on a yarn diet... Nah :)

I was lazily knitting away on the bus, in choir, and knitting in US/AZ History before I finished my hat. I finished the knitting, the binding off, and sewing the top of the hat together to get a bunching-effect.finally It was done... But it looked a wee bit short.

Turns out “a wee bit short” means a whole 2 freaking inches minimum to normal people. I was bummed.

I cut out the top sewing part (and accidentally cut a teeny part of actual knitting. I was way less than amused.) and undid the binding. I put all hundred stitches back on the needles and realized that I had twisted Every. Single. Freaking. Stitch. Did I go back and untwist them all? Nope, just knit along and finished a row before I ran out of yarn.

My once-totally-beautiful hat that I had spent many hours knitting now has a row of twisted stitches and a big 1" square of ugliness where I had to fix the spot where I cut a stitch on accident.

I’m totally bummed. Not bummed enough to frog the entire damn thing and start over, but really bummed.

~~~

After getting 12 skeins of yarn (10 of them were gifted, and I had to toss one of those ten due to a questionably huge stain) yesterday, I got 3 more skeins today. That brings me to a total of 14 skeins in 2 days.

Wanna know what’s even more shocking? I wound EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM into balls and put them in appropriate bagging and into the plastic bins that contain my stash.

On another stash-related note: my current yarn bins are overflowing and can not possibly house the yarn I bought today. Now I have to figure out what the heck I’m going to do and how to store all of my yarn. Maybe stacked plastic drawers? I don’t know, I need to think outside of the box(BAHAHA, that was a totally unintentional pun, but it’s wildly amusing to me. I’m such a dork).

I love Katy Blevins

I got 12 skeins of yarn today, and 10 of them were gifted to me from Katy Blevins.

Let me repeat that so you can fully understand. She gave me 10 skeins of yarn. 10 huge pretty decent skeins of acrylic (that wasn't too shabby) yarn.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, the way to mine is paved with yarn.


I freaking love her.



Oh, and I learned I cannot be trusted to go into Hobby Lobby and not buy at least 20$ worth of knitting stuff.

I'm back at last.

Oh, goodness, it's been a very long time since I've posted a knitting blog. To be exact, it'll be a month tomorrow. (To who ever reads this, sorry man. I've got a much cooler non-knitting blog that I update frequently. You can read that if you want to.)


I suppose I took a break from knitting. Not that I disliked the knitting, oh no, I still love knitting, but there's been school. And drama. And family emergencies. And homework. All of which have taken up significant amounts of knitting time. But I am vowing here and now to break the cycle and start knitting whenever possible.

I will be starting up on Serpentina. (Last time it almost drove me to insanity. This time, I will stand strong and I will conquer that stupid scarf.)

I'm taking the plunge. I'm diving in head first. I'm doing what every knitter has to do to really become a Knitter. (Or at least get a head start. I still have to tackle lace, Fair Isle, Entrelac, Entarsia, etc.)

I'm going to knit socks.

Yes, I know, socks. Turning heels and grafting toes, not to mention a wee bit of 2x2 ribbing(which I've already shown my severe distaste for). I went out today, bought sock yarn and DPNs and I am going to do this.

First, I have to knit a swatch. I hate knitting swatches, but I must do it to get a good start on my sock or else this may end badly.


At the moment, I've got a nauseating amount of Geometry homework to do, but I'll keep you posted(on the knitting, not the homework).

I MADE A SWATCH, HEAR ME ROAR.

Today I Made A List.

1. Buy Lion Brand: Organic Cotton and 16" US size 9 (an size 8) circulars at Joanns.
2. Cast on 66 sts.
3. Work stockinette for a couple inches until I realize the hat looks a bit small.
4. Keep knitting.
5. Notice the bottom edge is developing an unflattering curl.
6. Keep knitting.
7. Realize that this hat is so not going to fit onto my big head.
8. Pull it off the needles and try it on to realize that it will fit my head.
9. Measure that it's 4 sts to the inches, and realize that The Math says it's way too small for my head.
10. Rationalize frogging it by saying how much I hated the curl.
11. After seeing The math, CO 80 sts. to better accommodate my giant head.
12. Knit garter stitch border because garter stitch won't curl.
13. finish border, start with stockinette.
14. Start noticing that this hat is a wee bit big.
15. Keep knitting.
16. Start noticing this hat is actually going to be HUGE.
17. Keep knitting.
18. Start thinking of who has a big enough head to fit in the hat. (Andrew!)
19. Keep knitting a bit more.
20. Notice that the garter stitch border is way bigger than the rest of the hat.
21. Ignore it and continue knitting.
22. Start thinking that this hat is even to big for Andrew's head.
23. Scoff the idea that anything would be too big for Andrew's head.
24. Knit a bit more.
25. Come to term with the fact that this will definitely be too big for Andrew.
26. Decide I can sew elastic into the border, then it will fit! I'm a genius.
27. Keep knitting until I'm almost ready to start decreasing.
28. Start noticing that the border is really ugly.
29. Ignore negative thoughts and keep knitting.
30. Try it on for kicks, and decide that is it completely hideous.
31. Frogged the damn hat for the 2nd time in two days.
32. Decide not to even consider crying, and cast on 80 sts. again.
33. Make sure (multiple times) it isn't twisted before I join the two ends.
34. Start the trusty 2x2 ribbing that is perfect for hats.
35. Remember that I hate doing ribbing.
36. Continue knitting anyways.
37. Start thinking how my ribbing always looks icky and sloppy and bad.
38. Keep knitting anyways.
39. Notice that it looks a bit twisted, but straighten it out.
40. Keep knitting.
41. Notice that it is indeed twisted.
42. Spend 10 minutes trying to untwist it, doesn't work.
43. Violently curse under my breath in the middle of a church service.
44. Take it off the needles and frog it with all my might.
45. Fight the desire to start crying because it should not be this freaking hard.
46. Decide to keep the 80 sts. and cast on tomorrow on size 8 needles for the border.
47. Spends too much time on facebook and blogging about how knitting makes me crazy and come to the conclusion that today just sucks.

Secrets Revealed

I'll be honest as to why I don't like ribbing. I'm telling my secret to the world, I'm outing myself, and no one can stop me. -gulps in fear-

I kind of.. er.. zone out and lose track of how many stitches I've done.

And I loathe having to count a million stitches just to figure out where I am (I'm more than willing to do that once or twice, but not once every 7 sts when every round has 80.)


I discovered something great. It's a universal tool in knitting that I had for a while but never though of using them.

*cough*cough* stitch markers *cough*

Not like that completely obvious or anything. I mean, that's their purpose! To keep track of your stitches so you have to involve the minimum of brain function. I love them!

I have then every 10 sts. And I know to start the knitting ribbing on the blue, and purl ribbing on the yellow. It's so irrationally simple I don't know why I didn't do this sooner, it would've saved me so much time and effort. Now it's to the point that as soon as I realize I've forgotten what stitch I'm on, I only have to count a couple sts. to know where I am. Genius! (I can whiz through any math class like a pro and pass with a more-than-decent grade, but yet I can't grasp paying attention to stitch-count? Yeah, I'm not sure how exactly that works. Weird.)

~~~

I'll do ribbing for about an inch or two, and then transition into stockinette. There is nothing I love more than knitting something with only knitting. No purling, no yarn-overs, now knit-2-together or slip-slip-knit. Just knitting. Mind numbing, simple, requires-no-brain-function-what-so-ever knitting. Mmmmmm, it puts me into a trance.

And you know what I love more than mind numbing plain knitting? Music that goes with mind-numbing knitting. Like My Heart With You by the Rescues. that's my current favorite song. It's sad, but sweet, and calming. It's a song you can close your eyes and just sway to(while in a candle-lit room taking a bubble bath).

Lesson Learned

Garter Stitch border of a hat: BAAAAAD.

Stockinette Stitch border: ehh, not as bad, but I don't like the curl.

2x2 or 1x1 Ribbing border: always the best option.


There's only one problem in that.. I hate ribbing. A lot. I hate it a lot. Sure, it's pretty, it looks nice, it's easy, and it functional. So where's the downfall? It's mind numbing. You have to pay enough attention to count the knits and the purls, but it's boring. And you could zone out(like I usually do) but then I'd probably screw up the ribbing. UGH. It's obnoxious.

I either like patterns that keep my mind working, or all knitting so that I can zone out. Anything in between infuriates me.

~~~

So, this hat that I'm making, it's not working out. The edge it nice and stretchy, so it definitely won't be too tight, but there's a bit of a problem: it's not tight at all. Sure, it'll fit Andrew's huge head, but there will be nothing keeping it from falling off.

So I figured.. Elastic string! I could sew an elastic thread through the border, and then it'll fit! But then it'll be baggy(not cute slouchy, but baggy). Baggy is lame. So, I could finish it and sew elastic into it and SHAZAAM, it'll be done, but I can't. It's a bad hat. It needs ribbing. I hate ribbing, but a proper hat needs a proper border and therefore: ribbing. I know I should frog it and start over, it's a quick knit, it's not that big of a deal. But it's already 5.5". It's almost, so close I can practically taste it, ready to get decreasing and then be done. It would take maybe half an hour to finish, it's like being on the last stretch of a marathon, I can almost see the finish line.. But it's a big hat, a bad hat, and a hat that Andrew will never wear because it won't ever fit right.

I know I should frog it, I know I should just take it off the needles and frog it, but I can't. I hate frogging, it makes me sad, it makes me oh so very sad.

-fast forward 15 minutes-

I frogged it. It broke my heart, and it made me sad, but I frogged it. I measured the border, and it had a 26" circumference. So yeah, it was huge. That yarn held up well considering it's been frogged twice now, I'm a bit impressed. I took it off the needles and tried it on before I frogged it, and the stockinette portion fit fine, but the border was the only bad part. So I think I'll keep the 80 sts, suck it up, and do a 2x2 ribbed border. It'll be a nice, snug fit and it'll be fine.


Frogging my knitting always ruins my day :|