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January Knitting

Knitting has always been my favorite hobby. It was my first real hobby that I had and I taught myself with a book. You can read more of my knitting story here. 

As part of my goal to be creative everyday, I have started knitting a lot. For the past two months I have only knit hats (I am so over hats) for gifts. I am on my last three and I hope to have them in the mail by next Monday. My favorite hat that I am working on this month is the turquoise one for my little friend ( Hi E!)

All the hats in the photo above are my own personal patterns, but the last three hats that I am working on are patterns that I have found on Ravelry. Fluid Slouchy Beanie. Back to Schol(ar). Dustland Hat. Once I am done knitting these hats, I will only be doing personal knitting for the rest of the year. 

I would like to publish a few of my hat patterns this year and learn how to dye yarn. 

Knitting Away

Socks + Books (audio)

(click on image for more info on the socks)

I think I have found what I love knitting most and that is SOCKS! I love the challenge that they bring with the heal, toe, gusset and structure of the sock. I love that they are small and light to carry around and I love that I can knit both of them at the same time. 

I have been wanting to advance my skills in knitting and take on bigger projects. I have come to realize that I can advance my skills without knitting something big like a sweater. I don't enjoy knitting sweaters and after I am done with my husband's, I doubt that I will even knit one again unless it is a baby sweater. By knitting socks, I can learn new things and knit a small project that keeps my attention. And since socks are a significant investment of time and energy - about 34,000 stitches in an average pair of adult socks made in sock-weight yarn, it is still a good size project. 

Last year, I had this idea to bake 52 pies in a year and my friends thought I was crazy. My friend Eryn said that she would join my Pie Challenge, but would only bake twelve pies in 2012. So each month we got together and baked and would invite our friends over for pie and ice cream. It turned out to be one of my most cherished times in 2012. Not sure why I never blogged about it. 

So taking that same idea of baking one pie each month, I have decided to knit one pair of socks each month of 2014. Not only am I going to knit one pair of socks, but I am also going to pair it with an audio book to read (ummm... listen to?) each month. For this challenge, the sock size does not matter; I can knit socks for myself, for my husband and/or for my baby. I can even knit socks for our stockings at Christmas. Anything that is in the shape of a sock will count toward the Great Sock Challenge of 2014. 

Photo credit: my husband

I am so excited about knitting socks that I have already started my Sock Challenge! By the end of my challenge I should have 17 pairs of socks(!)... five for the rest of this year and twelve for 2014. 

I am currently working on an entire page dedicated to socks. This page will be a place where you can find all the helpful links, videos,books, blogs, etc. that I have found to help me through my first pair of socks. There, I will keep track of the socks I have made and the socks that I want to work on. I also plan on including a couple of interesting sidebars like lists of the books, songs, movies or TV shows that I was listening to and/or watching while I was knitting. The page should be going live early next week so stayed tuned and happy sock knitting! 

On Knitting// 5 Things

(A hat I designed and knitted for my husband... pattern by Yours Truly.) 

1. I have been falling back in love with knitting. All I want to do all day is knit and read about knitting. I find myself searching Ravlery for my next project and then surfing the web for new knitting blogs.

(Side note: most of the knitting blogs that I have come across don't keep my attention very long because the blog design is usually not that great and the photos are too small. People spend so much time making these beautiful knit goods and then let all the beauty get lost in bad photos. I feel that if you spend hours upon hours on a project you would want to let it shine in photos.  But that's just my opinion...) 

2. My revived passion has gotten so intense that I have even been dreaming about knitting lately. I made a list of knitting related blog posts, pattern designs and ideas for my next challenge (coming tomorrow). Yarn is my (old) new obsession and every time I go into the yarn shop I spend more money than I should and the Husband does not complain. I don't feel bad about the money being spent because I have been doing so much knitting. Before when I would buy yarn, the yarn would sit around in my stash for weeks, months and sometimes years. 

3. My stash is less than half the size it used to be and that is a GREAT thing. One of my many projects is to go through my yarn again and donate, trade and/or sell more yarn. The only part that is going to be hard is that the yarn that is left in my stash is all really nice and very pricey and I am not going to want to part with it. 

4. I have been slowly updating my Ralvery account. This site is so cool and keeps track of everything for you. I like to say it is the Facebook for knitters. I would like to get old projects from Polka Dot Robot uploaded in the project section and any other ones that might be missing. I also need to upload my yarn stash and all the needles that I own. 

 (The Husband learning to wind yarn and hanging out in the yarn store with me) 

5. One of the most exciting things for me is that The Husband wants to learn to knit. At first I thought he was joking with me, but he is totally serious! 

I love knitting and knitting loves me (sometimes)!  

Great Divide Shawl

I am getting back into knitting and it is making me so happy. I have a long list of projects that I want to make -- from head to toe, hats to socks.  I want to finish two more knitting projects this month and then, in September, I am going to finish my husband's sweater. He has been waiting for it since the beginning of this year and I feel bad that it's just sitting there waiting to be worked on, but I have to be honest... it is the most boring knit I have ever worked on. 

There is something about finishing a project that gives me motivation to move on to the next one. I finished this shawl and I am already working on a baby toy for our Baby Boy. After I am done with the toy I am going to start on a pair of socks. Knitting is a hobby that I will always come back to and will always love. 

I started working on the Great Divide Shawl this past Sunday when the Husband and I were flying home from Colorado. I had to start over five times because I was not paying attention to what I was doing. Ha! 

I worked on this shawl almost non-stop for 3 days because I loved the pattern so much. Since we (my husband and I) drive to and from work I get to knit in the car. Before you ask, no, I don't get car sick because I am not always looking down at my knitting. It took a few years to get to the point where I don't have to constantly look down at my work.

Like I said... always knitting!

Here are some other knitting posts you might enjoy! Knitting 101, Central Park Hoodie, My Story on Knitting