New Books

I’ve just been paid so I went to Amazon and bought myself a couple of books. They arrived today.

One Skein Wonders looks quite good. Especially since I have a a couple of skeins of grey and charcoal alpaca that I want to use up before the moths get to it.

Domiknitrix looks REALLY fun, but quite hard. It’s yet another book that seems to have lost its way and doesn’t really know what it’s about. I could be wrong, but it explains all the basics of knitting in much detail and then has some really hard patterns. I guess they have to cater to all levels and I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve actually read the book/tried some of the patterns. I like her website a LOT, though.

Project 1 – Bonnet

My first project is almost finished. It’s a cute little lilac baby bonnet. I still need to learn mattress stitch to close it up and how to pick up and knit for the band at the back. I’m going to learn this on Saturday.

My next project is going to be the cute booties and scratch mitts. We’ll see how it goes.

I ordered a ton of knitting books today on amazon. One of them is 101 ideas for one skein of wool. Brilliant as I have so many leftovers at the moment, I’m dying to do something with them.

Knitting Lessons

I’ve decided to take some private knitting lessons to learn about some new techniques. If I’m going to make this entire baby book, then I need to sort myself out on this front.

This weekend, I’m meeting with Aneeta at her home for two hours. Her prices are quite reasonable (£30 for 2 hours) and she seems very nice. I’m hoping she can teach me about picking up and knitting and sewing my items together so they look nice. I am also going to have her walk me through the bootie pattern in the book.

I also got an email back from Erssie about private lessons. She also does them in her home for £22 for 3 hours! Bargain! I’m going to have her teach me how to use double pointed needles. Would be great to learn cable stitches too, but I have this baby book to get through first.

I’m looking forward to this Saturday…

Baby Clothes

So, here’s my idea for this blog…

I learned to knit about 3 years ago. So far, I haven’t stretched myself at all. I’ve done loads of blankets (this is one I made for my friends Jon and Rachael and their new baby, Ace), scarves and corsages. They are good, but I need to start really learning to knit.

So, I went to Loop in Islington and bought myself a new book called Easy Baby Knits by Claire Montgomerie. Claire works at Loop, which was a major draw to buying the book. I can walk over there on lunch and ask her questions… although I know I wouldn’t do that.

Because I seem to approach every new thing in my life with gusto, I’ve also found myself a knitting teacher who is going to spend a few hours with me on Saturday, teaching me how to do all the things I don’t know how to do. Namely: pick up and knit, button holes, finishing, adding yarn, etc.

My goal is to knit everything in this book in quick succession. I’ll learn how to do the new techniques this way.

I’ve started on a baby bonnet and am halfway through that. I’m going to get R. to take photos of all the finished products and I’ll post them here.