Alright, I haven’t talked about knitting for awhile. I’ve been really busy with garden planning, cooking, and sewing. But between all of that I’ve also been doing some knitting. Where do I find the time? Well, I cloned myself. Not really. I find the time in between all of those other things, in my downtime – usually in front of the TV. Give me a pair of knitting needles, some wool and a season of Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls or Downton Abbey and I’m one happy camper!

I learned how to knit just over a year ago. I’d dabbled a little bit prior to that but it was self taught and I really didn’t know what I was doing. Also, any evidence of knitting before 2013 has been destroyed (it was so, so terrible). So I decided to take some lessons, which was one of the smartest things I could do. YouTube is also a great resource (I refer to it constantly for knitting refreshers), but I would still recommend taking classes from an expert knitter who can explain the basics and help you with your first projects. Every local yarn store offers beginner knitting classes and it is well worth the expense. Anyway to get back on topic, I thought I would share some current knitting projects and encourage all the people out there thinking of taking up knitting that you can do it too!

This one is just a sneak peak, but I’ve been working on this shrug for several months and it is going very slowly. The stitches are tiny (I’m using a sock weight yarn) and it takes forever to complete a row. I chose this project because I’d wanted to take on the challenge of knitting a sweater, but I also didn’t want to do anything too complicated. It also doesn’t hurt that the pattern was designed by my knitting instructor. I’m thinking I’ll be done this one by the end of the year?

I’m now on to my fourth pair of socks. I love knitting socks, they are probably one of my favorite things to knit. I was actually able to knit this sock in just a week! (I was on vacation). After this pair I am going to try a pattern that is a bit more intricate than the basic toe-up sock pattern that I’ve been using (this basic pattern is great for self-patterning yarn such as the one I’ve used here).

I started this cowl because I wanted a really easy and quick project to work on and I also wanted to use up some of the chunky yarn in my stash (I’m not allowed to buy any new yarn for awhile). I picked up the button on clearance (my favorite local sewing shop was closing its doors forever, sad face), and it really does add an element of character to a basic knit. I like these colorful cowls to wear with a neutral outfit of blacks and greys.

I finally just finished these fingerless gloves/wrist warmers about a month ago after working on them for several months. It wasn’t that they were difficult – they weren’t. I was just busy with gardening, then home stuff, then Christmas, so I didn’t pick them up until the end of December. The original pattern was altered a bit on the recommendation of my knitting instructor – I wanted to do the pattern magic loop style and she suggested that I cross-stitch the cats on afterwards. It was an excellent suggestion and I’m so pleased with the results. Also, cats. This project required quite a bit of different colored yarns which can be very expensive, and while I usually prefer to shop for yarn at my local yarn store, I ended up trying out Knit Picks palette yarn, which worked out to about $3/ball on sale. I did need to increase the number of cast-on stitches using this yarn to ensure a proper fit, but I’m really happy with the results and the quality of this yarn. I would highly recommend the palette yarn for projects like these that require many different colors.

I’m not even going to think about any new knitting projects for the next few months – I’m going to focus solely on my shrug and finishing up the sock twin (maybe start another pair of socks as a relief project from the shrug). Are you working on any knitting projects?