SP12 Q of the week – w/c 25th Aug

Service Announcement:
Sorry, I know the blog is chocka with SP12 stuff at the moment. Normal service on the blog will resume once normal service in my real-life has resumed.
Thank you.

What is your proudest knitting moment?
Well, after my first garter-stitch scarf (which I knit way too wide!) and bag (another square) I decided to branch out into something more interesting. I picked up a “kit” for making a massive throw, which is still technically on the needles. I’m mad proud of my first socks, which are here: It’s a plain sock pattern with the coolest yarn I could find at the time. It’s Opal Feelings 1702. Although there are holes where I picked up the heel flap, I got confused and decreased every row on the toes, and the cast on is a little tight as I only knew how to do one kind of cast on, I love these, my first ever socks. They’ve allowed me to go on to knit lots of socks!
However, I’m also proud of my first ever sweater This was for my boyfriend. He was very patient as I cast on in December 2007 and didn’t finish until July 2008! However, he’s worn it more than once since then, despite the sleeves being a little longer than he would prefer! I think it looks great on, and that’s the thing that makes me proud of it, it’s wearable!
Hopefully I’ll be really proud of loads of other finished objects to come too!

I’m also proud of myself every time I learn a new technique to make my crafting better. I was really pleased when I learnt a different cast-on to use on sock-cuffs, making them stretchier. I was really proud of the cabled scarves I made at Christmas. I was proud of myself when I made a mistake on the monkey socks, realised I couldn’t live with it, dropped the stitches down a couple of rows and fixed it without having to tink or rip-back!.

What is the one thing that you can’t get right?
One thing I can’t get right? Hmm, that’s tough! I bought some cotton yarn and tried to knit a lace cardigan for my Mum (she didn’t know about it, thank goodness). It was hideous yarn barf. I made mistakes, I hadn’t learnt how to decrease in pattern, I didn’t swatch – basically I did everything wrong! But, I’m putting those demons to bed as I’ve cast on for – you guessed it – a lacy cardigan for my Mum! This time I have slightly more forgiving yarn (still cotton, but much softer) and I have pre-read the pattern. I understand what I have to do. I still didn’t swatch, but I can live with that.

If we’re talking about areas to improve in, though, I can talk about that!

• Learn to knit faster. I know this just requires practice (and an easy pattern) but I’d love to be able to finish a pair of socks in a week. It takes me about 3 weeks, or more, at the moment.
• Read charts better. I can figure charts out, but I still like written instructions.
• Design more, and better, patterns. I’ve butchered a basic sock pattern to make my own lacey sock pattern twice now, only one success. I am working on understanding how the patterns work for these things so that I can better design my own versions of them. That includes clothing, bags, socks, whatever I think of!