Distraction

Distraction is not a good thing. Be back soon.

This way lies danger

Sometimes you can be distracted and forget about a certain thing. If you, say, discover weaving and take off on that trail for awhile, you may look around and discover your knitting is nowhere in sight. This is also true for spinning, sewing, quilting, embroidery, needlepoint,,,,etc. Ok, so I'm easily distracted.

This is the reason I give for leaving at least one knitting project out where I can see it. (It really has nothing to do with housekeeping. Really.) When I have exhausted myself on some other craft, I walk through the room and there is my knitting, happily waiting for my return.  The other things are important, but not more important than knitting.

Demalangeni in brown still awaits enough yarn to finish it. Reading the directions could have avoided that one, but noooooooooooo we had to charge on because we just knew there would be enough. Right? Wrong. It isn't Pulitzer, but read the darned instructions. Make the dreaded swatch. You can always use them for yarn bombing later.

Demalangeni in blue is finished and beautiful despite some flaws which I hope only I can see. The lesson learned here is that when knitting doesn't feel right it usually isn't right. Stop and see what the problem is. Or you can wait until you see it in blocking. Your choice.

Tried to start another shawl because I like the crescent shaped short row ones, but couldn't find one I liked as much, so I moved on to something new. A hat. A simple hat just to see if it can be done.

Well....I finally finished my Forest Canopy shawl. A friend said it was a good beginner lace shawl and it was. I gently washed it and spread it on the blocking board with wires in the top edge. I looked at it with outright admiration for two days before I saw a huge error...and then I wanted to cry. I didn't cry, but I was sorely disappointed. It's like a bad child, you're saddened, but you still love it. So, here is the pic.

And then I did what any knitter would do......I started another one vowing not to make any mistakes.

Discovery

Learning to knit involves a lot of discovery. As a case in point, my latest foray into Lace. Ah...that scary word. I fought this one for a long time. I would knit and knit, but the result looked like mud instead of lace.  I thought there was something wrong with me. All the pretty pattern had eluded me. And then I discovered, while watching Liat Gat, that I was wrapping my yarn overs the wrong way. Who knew it would make a difference! This discovery caused me to look at the way I was doing other stitches, but the most remarkable thing is that, with that one change, my lace now looks like lace! Hallelujah!!

Having discovered the solution to my problem....I got cocky. I thought I could just knit away and I would have lace. Wrong! I would get to the end of a row and have too many stitches or too few to complete the row. So I figured intense concentration was necessary. This made my head hurt and took the fun out of knitting lace, but I persevered. I could not let this beat me. I tinked and I knitted, I tinked and I knitted until I almost wore the yarn out. But I discovered something. Looking at the chart (and yes I would advise a chart over written instructions for lace all day long)  I discovered that the sea of symbols ran together and I couldn't keep my place. So, I might skip from one O or / to another and the pattern was contaminated because I had gotten the stitches out of order.

So how do I overcome this? I decided my brain didn't work well with the chart. I do not mean that there is something wrong with my brain. Recent brain studies have shown that we don't all learn the same way. I decided that not all brains deal with the "symbol sea" the same way and mine was one of them. In order to follow the pattern without losing my place I resorted to a number of solutions. One of them was to sing a song so that each word was a square on the chart. By keeping up with the song, I would know where my place was in the chart. I would not suggest this method as it did not work that well and people look at you funny.

I tried a number of things. I won't describe them all. The one that finally worked was to color 3-block columns of the pattern with alternating colors.

This way I could remember pink or green or blue and relative position (section 1, 2, or 3) and that helped tremendously.

I still get hung up sometimes, but at least I don't want to ball it up, needles and all, and throw it in the corner.

Next Newbie advice: Find out how your brain works and do what you need to facilitate knitting lace...or anything else for that matter.

Go out on a limb

Once you have become comfortable with your basic knit stitches (knit & purl), go a little further out on the limb.You can't hang onto the tree trunk forever. You'll never learn to fly that way.

Cables used to look mysterious and very difficult to me. At the first knit group I attended, one of the knitters said, "Cables are easy. You just have to knit the second group of stitches, then knit the first group." It was mind blowing for me as a newbie, but it made perfect sense. So I went a little farther out on my limb. I got a simple pattern (Irish Hiking Scarf on Ravelry) and knit a cable scarf.

I started thinking what if other things I was scared of trying were just as simple if I could stop looking at them as really difficult mysteries. Soooooooooo...I tackled Fair Isle on my own. If you read (really read) the pattern and don't assume things, you can do this. Or so I told myself. I found a small fair isle piece (one fourth of a pillow top) and jumped in. I could do this! I read the "it's very important" bits like don't go more than five stitches without crossing the yarns so that the floats on the back aren't too long.

Next was Entrelac. That didn't go so easily, but after my class with Gwen Bortner, it clicked.

Next one out on my limb is LACE!!! Yikes!

Next Newbie advice: Go out on a limb. Try something new with an open mind and a positive spirit.

Hindsight

I still say attending a conference is enlightening, educating, inspirational, and just downright fun. I took four classes over three days at Stitches. I learned a TON of new stuff:

• What to Look for in a Yarn with Lily Chin. Why do certain yarns behave the way they do? How to manage yarn problems. Fiber content and its characteristics. 
• Entre to Entrelac with Gwen Bortner. I finally mastered Entrelac and came away with a finished class project.
• Lace Basics with J. C. Briar. I learned different types of lace, fiber content for lace, basic stitches for lace, and chart reading. Came away with a class sample that will become a lace scarf.
• Picking up Stitches with Kellie Nuss. I learned how to pick up stockinette and purl edges. I learned how to pick up vertical and horizontal edges and came away with a sample of them all for future reference.

I met other well known knitters at book signings and even at breakfast! Teachers have to eat too.

A word of warning, however. When it comes time to enjoy the Market portion of your conference, be prepared.

• Find a small rolling shopping cart that is easily maneuverable in crowds. Carrying bags full of wool, especially plastic ones, will not be comfortable after awhile.
• Or don't buy yarn.....yeah, right.
• SET A BUDGET. (Really. You will thank me later.)  It's far too easy for shopping to get out of hand. Try (the operative word here is "try") not to purchase yarn without a plan. Yes, it's pretty and soft and colorful, and yes it wants to follow you home, but resist the urge to overspend.
• Do take a vendor's business card and make note of what you liked at the booth. You can always contact them later. If they will allow it, and not all do, take a picture of the booth for reference.
• Take name, address and phone on return address labels for door prize entry slips. Writing that information over and over gets boring very quickly.
• Do take a contact card (just your name, address, phone, and e-mail) in case someone wants to contact you later.

In hindsight, I would readily have taken my own advice, but this was my first conference and quite a learning experience.

Next Newbie advice: Prepare for conferences and set a yarn budget.

Take a Class

Classes are offered at LYSs (Local Yarn Shops), community centers, conferences, and guild meetings. Not only can you learn something new, but you have the opportunity to ask questions of a live person.

I took a class today called "What to Look for in Yarn." Not only did I learn tons of stuff I didn't know about yarn, but I got bonuses from the instructors knowledge. She told us in conversation stuff that wasn't in the class.

Our guild offers an educational program at every monthly meeting. I was having trouble with Magic Loop even though I had both books and a dvd. I took the class at guild and the light bulb came on.

Next Newbie advice: Take a class.