Knitting!

So after much trial and tribulation, namely ripping out about 20 times in the same place before just undoing to a better breaking place and starting again, I have finished the knitting portion of my soon to be hat! Now I have to figure out how to block and finish it and luckily I have good books that will help me out because the book I used isn't all that helpful on said subject. My last post on this knitting project is My First Square so look there for the background; I haven't put up in-progress pix because quite frankly I didn't find it too interesting. I do have them over on Flickr, though.

The Project is entitled "Dude Where's My Hat?" and is from Yarn Girls Beyond the Basics and fairly easy. For a first time knit, the only trouble I had was realizing that there's an additional purled row which isn't really mentioned in a few places. I also didn't like the yarn they used, I experimented with three different brands and found myself liking the others. Theirs was a bit bulky in places, but the only times I messed up was with that yarn; probably my inexperience, but it was frustrating!

Here's a picture of the hat, just needing to have side seams sewn together!

I'll post a picture when I actually wear it.

My first square

Yesterday, I went to a local yarn shop, The Knitting Tree for a lesson and to purchase yarn for my first purchase. I'd actually spent about 90 minutes the night before browsing beautiful patterns, which would require knowing how to knit. Finally found one that will be pretty simple hat, with cute stripes and minimal knitting skills. It's from a Yarn Girls book and is called the Brimmed Tweed Hat .

Had a quick 45 min lesson with Jackie, who immediately spotted all my problems and showed me how to do everything I need to do. Highly recommend taking a private lesson if you're just starting out; much more efficient than a class and it cost very little ($20/hr). My current plan is to make another practice square or two while waiting for the library to send me the book and then make this hat. Next it's a cute scarf The Knitting Tree has on display and then it's socks. And, finally, any intermediate pattern I see and like.

Right now, I spent yesterday and very little of this morning knitting this 23 by 24 stitch "square". I somehow counted wrong hence the odd number scheme. Isn't it pretty? There are a few mistakes in it, one noticable, but I think I know what I did wrong in each case. More importantly, though, they are all fairly even and I felt like I knew what I was doing the entire time! Here's a close-up so you can admire the blurry blocking, even stitching and one of my mistakes even more:

Finch is terribly excited by the prospect of knitting. He finds he's as tall as my yarn for the hat, and that he looks good in purple, and that yarn tastes yummy.

More as I knit more! Maybe I'll just turn this into a knitting blog, but don't worry, I've got plenty of ideas about things to chat over and still haven't told you about our vacation, which is coming. I promise!