60th sweater complete!

Hey Everyone!

I finished up my size 8 sweater that I had been working on for about a month and a half. This sweater I made using Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Grey Heather as well as some hot pink and light pink that were without labels and had been donated to the cause. I had picked these colors after having seen a picture just before Valentine’s day, with three skeins of yarn in similar colors and I at first was thinking about having to go and buy the pinks (I had the grey) but then decided to go see if there was anything in the buckets of yarn that my mom and I have, to see if I could find colors that were close that would work.

This particular sweater is my 60th sweater, so with that, I am taking a break from sweaters to work through some of the yarn I have sitting in a basket and in my knitting area and make hats. The hats knit up really quickly, they help use up remnants of yarn that would not be enough to make a sweater out of. Hats are fun and easy.

A Change of the Name

The same great Blog, with a new name and more opportunities to write about Knitting in general while focusing on the projects I knit for kids in need, and other projects for a good cause.

Knitting for kids in need is a huge part of what I love doing, but I love hand knitting in general. I want to be able to share the projects that are outside the scope of just those that are for kids in need with you all as well.

Keep Doing what You do best.

Hey Everyone! 

Over the course of the last five and a half months I have learned how to use a knitting machine and a linking machine. While they are great for production, I am not a fan. I prefer using knitting needles and my own two hands to using a knitting machine. I also prefer the repetitiveness and simplicity of using knitting needles. Life has gotten so fast, and having to have everything right then and there. Hand knitting to me, is a means to take a step back, slow down and think about more meaningful things. 

How much of the time I know that I don’t think about the fact that learning how to knit and becoming proficient took me years, and I am learning new things all the time. I also love that I can just sit down and make something beautiful, and the ideas half the time just seem to come out of nowhere or just happen. I know that I come up with them, but it is so natural and a second nature to me. I also know what it is like to be learning something from the beginning, and having someone there walking me through it, being patient with me, and helps me when I screw up but lets me try it myself, has really helped me.

Life is more than just being so wrapped up in our own little world that we forget to think about someone else, even for a little bit. That is part of why I keep doing what I am good at. What I am good at helps kids in need, and anymore I can do it without much thought and a little bit of effort. 

If anyone is reading this, who is just learning how to knit, and possibly thinking “she makes it sound so easy, and it is frustrating me to no end, why should I stick with it?” my response to that is that, yes, it is hard in the beginning. I have been knitting for almost 16 years, and took me time to excel at. Sticking with it, and keep working it, and it will come. I have put in the time and the effort, and it has paid off. 

Knitting on the Horizon

Hey Everyone! 

I have been working on this size 8 sweater for about a month now, and I finally got sleeves cast on the back yesterday, I am so excited. This sweater is in the home stretch. This sweater also happens to be my 60th sweater! once I get this sweater done, I will have a nice even round number for my sweater total, which means from there I am going to take a break from sweaters and work on hats for a while. I have a basket and then some full of small or partial skeins of yarn, as well as some yarns that would not be good for sweaters. They will make great hats though, and hats knit up really quick, and easy which will be nice. I want to get this hat yarn working on, and used up before I start another sweater. 

I love knitting projects for children in need, and as means to support our troops (which I will talk about in a future post), that is where my heart is. I enjoy using something I love do something for children who are less fortunate and those who put their life on the line to protect my freedom, to be doing what I do. I even take for granted being able to write these posts, because of the freedom’s that allow me to write about what I love. 

If you had asked me 3 or 4 years ago if in 3 or 4 years I would love knitting projects for kids in need as much as I do now, I would have told you no, and that knitting was just a hobby. Since that time it has grown to so much more than that, and I hope to see it continue to grow for years to come. 

Project of the Week

Hey Everyone! 

I have been continuing to work on the size 8 sweater I have written the previous two posts about. I have made it into the front sleeves on this sweater, so I am making good progress. Beings that I knit the body of the sweater all at once, using a stitch marker in the middle to show me where the front and the back are, and then knit the sleeves on the front then do the back sleeves it makes it a lot easier. I got tired of getting the front done and then having to knit the whole back of the sweater, this way I only have one side seam on the body to sew up, and without the hassle of having to compare the body pieces to make sure the back body is long enough and will match up length wise with the front. 

I like working on these projects for kids in need, because they are for a good cause, and they are an amazing creative outlet. I enjoy getting to be creative with the patterns and colors I get to use with these sweaters, as well as with the hats that I knit up. Working on projects that help children in need is really important to me.

Beings that I am working, and don’t have as much time as I did when I was not working to devote to knitting sweaters and hats, I feel like some of these posts are repetitive. I keep writing them because maybe they are interesting to someone, but am on the fence about whether to keep writing them, or put the series on hold and just write about each sweater as I complete them. If you read these blogs and enjoy my weekly updates, please leave me a comment below and let me know if you would like to continue seeing them on a weekly basis. 

Working with Colors

Hey everyone!

I know this post is coming to you a bit later than it normally does, but life, and work is keeping me busy!

This past week I have been spending much of my free time working on a size 8 sweater with grey, hot pink and light pink. It is turning out very cute. I cast on the sleeves on the front last night. While I wouldn’t say that it is my favorite of the sweaters I have made, in terms of how it is turning out, it is one of the prettier ones that I have made.

I love being able to be creative with my sweaters and they are all interesting and unique. I enjoy working with different colors and patterns. That is part of why I keep a stash of yarn, so I can work with colors I feel like working with. What Colors I feel like work with changes often enough.