Stitch in Time

At the beginning of the summer my Aunt died very suddenly. She sewed mostly clothes and had a pretty large knitting collection. When my uncle was going through her things he loaded up all of her sewing supplies and gave them to my sister and I. There was a lot of fabric and supplies that Cassie and I divided between us. Now, Cassie doesn't really sew clothes so I inherited all the patterns and such. Also amongst the things was a LARGE basket full of yarn and knitting needles and crochet hooks. Again, Cassie doesn't knit so it came down to whether or not I wanted it. I had learned to knit in college once but hadn't kept it up enough to remember anything. Looking at that basket, something clicked in my mind and I felt the need to relearn how to knit. So I took the basket and was determined to do something with it. I bought a couple "how to" books at Joanns and picked a scarf to be my first attempt at knitting. Let's just say it was a "vintage" looking scarf that went to my mother as a birthday gift (she HAS to like whatever I make haha). Next came a pair of fingerless gloves. They seemed easy enough. No circular needles or anything fancy required. I made the first pair for myself, which was good because then I could change whatever I wanted about them. They came out wearable and I certainly enjoying them in this weather. Since making that pair, I haven't stopped making them yet 

There are a few of the pairs I have made so far. The black are by far the most popular.

I've made them in sports colors and solid colors and each pair gets better and better as i make them. Eventually I'll make a better pair for myself, if i ever have the time.

My next venture was hats. Originally I wanted to get good enough to make hats (a particular moose a hat), so I started with a pretty basic pattern. I couldn't have been happier with how the first hat came out! There was a mistake but to the untrained eye it kinda looks like part of the pattern. My next hat was a slouchy hat. I found a pattern book at Joanns that I loved so I took it home and had to try it out. It was definitely more challenging than the first hat. This hat required 2 kinds of circular needles AND double ended needles! I had NO experience with these things and they were very intimidating to me. Luckily I had all the needles I needed already so I gave it a try. What I ended up with was pretty awesome. Again I managed to surprise myself with how well things went. I tried the new needles with confidence and it went great!

 Again, I have more to make of these for people who have seen them and like them. It's really exciting to know that people are enjoying the things I make. I never imagined myself being a knitter, let alone have other people interested in my knitting.
I fully intend on learning how to crochet eventually (probably after the holidays). And to make new knit things. My dream of making the moose hat hasn't waivered either. I look forward to the challenge and hope that my love of knitting won't fade. If I ever get some free knitting time I would love to make a bunch of hats to give to a local shelter too. Living in this area of NY it gets SO cold and you seem so many people without a hat. Just another something I'd like to accomplish. Add it to the list! lol