My second knitting project was also a blanket, very similar to the first ones I made. The goal was to perfect the techniques I had learned with the first project: changing yarn balls on the correct side and weaving in ends.
May 1, 2014
Knitting adventures #2
My second knitting project was also a blanket, very similar to the first ones I made. The goal was to perfect the techniques I had learned with the first project: changing yarn balls on the correct side and weaving in ends.
Apr 23, 2014
Easter on our own
On Good Friday we went to Lichtenstein again, to visit Schloß Lichtenstein (our first attempt in December was unsuccessful). It was a rather ugly dark day.
When we got there it was raining and the rain soon turned to snow - yes, snow in April!
Needless to say - it was cold!
Our next stop on our way home was Bad Urach, where the weather was much better.
And this was the only outing of our Easter long weekend. The weather remained cold and windy, with some occasional rain and short hail storms, so the rest of the time was spent at home, eating and watching tv shows!
When we got there it was raining and the rain soon turned to snow - yes, snow in April!
Needless to say - it was cold!
Our next stop on our way home was Bad Urach, where the weather was much better.
And this was the only outing of our Easter long weekend. The weather remained cold and windy, with some occasional rain and short hail storms, so the rest of the time was spent at home, eating and watching tv shows!
Apr 13, 2014
Spring in Herrlingen/Kleines Lautertal
"April hath put a spirit of youth in everything."
William Shakespeare
Mar 5, 2014
The quickest walk
Since moving to Herrlingen we have tried to take a walk every weekend, or at least every other weekend. Just to get to know this area a bit better. I have to admit, though, that February was a complete failure, as we barely left the apartment on weekends, except to do some necessary shopping.
But in January we still went for a few walks, some shorter than others.
The weekend after we arrived we went to see Cloister Wiblingen, in Neu-Ulm. Alas, this was to be a very quick walk because of a certain someone and his choice of clothes. 5 minutes into our walk and he was already saying he was cold and wanting to go back to the car.
By looking at him no one would ever guess that it was about -1C. I, on the other hand, was fully equipped with gloves and beanie and winter jacket!
Feb 7, 2014
Knitting adventures
I decided I wanted to learn how to knit when we were still in Lisbon. For some reason or other I never actually got to do it but I didn't forget about it.
Back in October I started researching about the subject and decided that buying a kit - that included the pattern and instructions, the needles and the yarn - would be the best option. I chose to start with a scarf (duh!) and ordered the kit.
I was really excited when the kit arrived and immediately started watching the videos suggested in the instructions.
Let's just say that I started on a Saturday morning and by Sunday evening this was as far as I had gotten:
I had started and restarted numerous times and was pretty frustrated. A hobby that was supposed to be relaxing was having the complete opposite effect. That's when I decided, by Mike's suggestion, that the yarn I was using wasn't good for a beginner - it was very stiff and extremely difficult to pull through the needles. So the next day I bought other yarn balls and restarted again.
And I was glad I did! Work progressed much faster!
But this wasn't the end of my woes! The pattern called for the stockinette stitch and everything would be just fine if it wasn't for the fact that I get distracted very easily. I would put down the needles, go do something else and when I came back I would have no idea if I was supposed to go on with a row of knitting or purling...eventually mistakes started to appear; some of them I only realized were there when I had continued for several rows. But, even if I had noticed the mistakes immediately, I wouldn't be able to undo them for fear of destroying the whole thing - undoing mistakes is probably for the intermediate level knitters! So the mistakes stayed!
These are just two examples. There are at least three more odd stitches in the scarf.
Then it occurred to me that the best thing would be to do another project that required only one stitch. Being a person who has difficulties in concentrating, this way I wouldn't have to be paying so much attention to the knitting.
So the scarf was abandoned and, after some googling, I settled on knitting a blanket and chose a very basic pattern that required only the very basic knitting knowledge.
After a few bumps, like buying only one ball of yarn thinking that I would be knitting at least 1/4 of the blanket with it (oh the perks of being a novice!) and, upon understanding that that was not going to happen, going to buy more yarn only to realize that the store had run out of the color I wanted. I had to improvise, because waiting for the store to have more yarn wasn't an option for me (addiction alert!!), and that is how I went from a pattern that required one main color and one color to sew the knitted pieces together:
to something resembling a rainbow:
Basically I "designed" my own pattern and kept knitting more pieces until I had enough to produce two 120x95cm blankets.
There is obviously room for a lot of improvement but, seeing that it's my first ever knitting project, I am very pleased with the results. And I really enjoyed myself, which was the whole point anyway!
Now -> on to the next project!
Back in October I started researching about the subject and decided that buying a kit - that included the pattern and instructions, the needles and the yarn - would be the best option. I chose to start with a scarf (duh!) and ordered the kit.
I was really excited when the kit arrived and immediately started watching the videos suggested in the instructions.
Let's just say that I started on a Saturday morning and by Sunday evening this was as far as I had gotten:
I had started and restarted numerous times and was pretty frustrated. A hobby that was supposed to be relaxing was having the complete opposite effect. That's when I decided, by Mike's suggestion, that the yarn I was using wasn't good for a beginner - it was very stiff and extremely difficult to pull through the needles. So the next day I bought other yarn balls and restarted again.
And I was glad I did! Work progressed much faster!
But this wasn't the end of my woes! The pattern called for the stockinette stitch and everything would be just fine if it wasn't for the fact that I get distracted very easily. I would put down the needles, go do something else and when I came back I would have no idea if I was supposed to go on with a row of knitting or purling...eventually mistakes started to appear; some of them I only realized were there when I had continued for several rows. But, even if I had noticed the mistakes immediately, I wouldn't be able to undo them for fear of destroying the whole thing - undoing mistakes is probably for the intermediate level knitters! So the mistakes stayed!
These are just two examples. There are at least three more odd stitches in the scarf.
Then it occurred to me that the best thing would be to do another project that required only one stitch. Being a person who has difficulties in concentrating, this way I wouldn't have to be paying so much attention to the knitting.
So the scarf was abandoned and, after some googling, I settled on knitting a blanket and chose a very basic pattern that required only the very basic knitting knowledge.
After a few bumps, like buying only one ball of yarn thinking that I would be knitting at least 1/4 of the blanket with it (oh the perks of being a novice!) and, upon understanding that that was not going to happen, going to buy more yarn only to realize that the store had run out of the color I wanted. I had to improvise, because waiting for the store to have more yarn wasn't an option for me (addiction alert!!), and that is how I went from a pattern that required one main color and one color to sew the knitted pieces together:
 |
| image from here |
to something resembling a rainbow:
There is obviously room for a lot of improvement but, seeing that it's my first ever knitting project, I am very pleased with the results. And I really enjoyed myself, which was the whole point anyway!
Now -> on to the next project!
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