New Hobby

This winter I decided I needed a new hobby. Being holed up in my apartment, when I wasn't traveling for work, with not much to do and no dog to take care of makes a person need to feel useful and accomplished at something. I decided that knitting was just the thing to keep me occupied. My first trip to JoAnn's was unsuccessful. I had no idea what kind of yarn I needed or what type of pattern I wanted to use or what all those acronyms stood for, so I decided to go home and do some research. The internet can be very helpful when learning about knitting. There are all kinds of free patterns with pictures and step-by-step directions. YouTube is also a great place to learn different stitches. My first project was a scarf I made for myself below.

I finished the scarf while home for Christmas and still had the 'itch' to do some more knitting, so I made a scarf for mom.

I later decided my scarf was too wide and decided to take it all apart and redo it. Much better. I also used a different stitch than the first time. As you can tell I didn't really like that picture of myself so I went ahead and cropped my head off.

My next project was to make a pillowcase for one of two plain white pillows I had given to me by Grandma O., who no longer wanted them. I decided that this kind of project would definitely need advice from our family's knitting expert, Ronda. She instructed me on what stitch she thought might work best. I finished my pillowcase and I like it pretty well but it's a little big for my pillow and needs a few embellishments, but boy is it soft to lay your head on.

(The pillow on the left is the same as the one I covered with the pillow case.)

(Close up so you can see the yarn.)

I'm currently taking a break from knitting and will probably resume a project or two in the fall. If you were around at Thanksgiving Ronda talked about how cute 'felted' purses are...that might be next on my agenda! Happy knitting.