I’ve been sitting around patiently waiting for an invite to Ravelry for a while now.  I kept thinking surely my turn would come up soon.  Lo and behold, during a quick e-mail check last night I saw the invite sitting in my inbox.  I signed up right away, but I don’t have much time to play there just yet.  I have a feeling I could get sucked in for hours before I notice.

I’m really impressed with the site after getting just a quick look around.  I think it will definitely be a great resource for me as I learn my way through the knitting basics.

Speaking of learning, I’m still working on that darn Grace beanie.  I started (and actually finished) another one during a car trip this weekend.  It was coming out perfect until I got distracted by a toddler and let my stitch count get off.  I went ahead and finished it out anyway as it was just a test with some spare yarn.  I’ll be starting another one soon to go with the blanket I recently finished.

I also knitted up another quickie infant hat over the weekend that I have yet to take pictures of.  It may be a while before I’m able to post pictures though as we are heading out of town on vacation on Friday.  I’ll have a very limited internet connection while we are gone unless I can find some free wi-fi somewhere.

Technorati Tags: ravelry, grace beanie, baby, hats, knitting

So it appears that I may have gotten in a little over my head with the Grace Beanie. It didn’t look that hard from the pattern, but apparently I’m more of a novice than I like to admit. I did my swatch for gauge, then started in on the beanie. What I didn’t do was practice the heart pattern. That part didn’t go so well.

I was knitting along as happy as could be on the beanie when I discovered that the heart pattern wasn’t looking so much like a heart. The holes in the pattern weren’t lining up correctly. Trying not to get frustrated, I pulled out my trusty knitting books and double checked to make sure I was doing the slip, slip, knit and the yarn overs correctly. Apparently I was doing something funky with the yarn overs, so I decided to back up a bit and rip.

With my new knowledge, I started in again. It still didn’t line up. I decided to put down the beanie I was working on and grab a different yarn so I could see my stitches better. I figured I would make a quick swatch of the heart pattern and figure out what I was doing wrong. Three tries later and I still can’t seem to get it to come out right. At this point, I figure either the pattern is wrong or I am just doing it wrong. What do you want to bet it is the latter?

I’m still working on it though. I refuse to give up because I really want to make the beanie. In fact I have plans to make several of them if I can ever get it right. It is times like these when I wish I had some knitting friends around here to help me out.

Technorati Tags: knitting, grace beanie, slip slip knit, yarn over

One of my favorite things to make lately is baby blankets. I loved crocheting them so I figured knitting them was the next step. When I first started knitting I started out with hats because they are generally a pretty quick project that I can finish in a day or two. Since I knew my sister was going to be having a baby soon, I decided to see what kind of knitting patterns I could find for a baby blanket. I wasn’t sure I was up for knitting a blanket with my newly learned and still quite clumsy knitting skills but I thought I would give it a try if I could find something that looked simple enough.

I searched and searched my knitting books and the internet and I finally found something I thought I could handle. I discovered the Broken Rib Baby Blanket through Knitting Pattern Central. I adapted the pattern slightly to use some extra chunky yarn and size 17 needles (look at me already changing things when I barely know what I’m doing!). I managed to finish the first blanket in only two weeks knitting in the evenings on weekends when I had spare time. I wasn’t sure how well it would turn out, but it actually looked quite good. My sister loved the blanket and I was very proud of myself for finishing it just in time for her impromptu baby shower.

Since I enjoyed making the first one, I have now started on a second one. It seems like everyone I know is pregnant right now, so I think I’ll be busy for a while!