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castaliaI have been knitting a LOT lately. It's a nice way to pass the time when I'm subbing, and very relaxing. I spent much of the day on Monday knitting with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shanola22's mother while my car was being fixed, and have met fellow knitter firiel44 through another friend, so now I have others to sit and learn with.
Not surprisingly, the first new thing-not-a-scarf project I chose was a tea cozy. Specifially, the Lily Sugar'n Cream Tea Cozy for a small teapot, as posted at Michaels.com.
Lesson learned right off the bat: use the right yarn. I had a cheap ball of Hobby Lobby brand yarn I wanted to use (one of the Icelandic Jewels yarns), b/c I really loved the colors, but it was all wrong for this project. It's not horrible, and it does fit one of my mother's teapots, but it doesn't show off the cables very well and doesn't close properly at the top. Plus the knitting got really tight towards the end and I was fighting with the tension the entire time. I also made a newbie mistake and didn't count the number of alternating rows I knitted to get the three inches you need before the decreases start. Thus, even though I measured it, one piece ended up being a little longer than the other, and when seamed together it was a bit wonky.
The much better second try:
Yarn used: Lily Sugar'n Cream in the country sage ombre, little less than one 2 ounce ball.
Needles: US size 7
New skills learned: Purl stitch. Crochet for the little loop at the top. Also, cables! I googled to find out how to Tw2R, which was a bit confusing at first but easy once I got the hang of it. It wasn't too difficult, but very time consuming, as it was hard juggling that extra needle. I didn't have any cable needles, so I just used a duplicate size 7 straight needle.
I thought this was a fun little project and a way to learn new things without overwhelming myself. Once I used the right yarn it went very smoothly and this time I made sure to keep notes about how many rows I was doing in the alternating pattern. I doubt this will be an ultra-warm tea cozy, unless I go back and line it or something, but it's cute and will serve its purpose for such a small two-cup teapot.
Right now I'm working on some dishcloths to give to my mother and grandmother, mostly to give them something useful and also to practice knitting in patterns. Now that I'm used to working with cotton, I really like using it, and the Sugar'n Cream and Peaches'n Cream brands are nice and cheap with some pretty colors. I'm all about cheap thanks to the student loan.
Pattern: Free pattern from Lion Brand website
Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream, country sage ombre
Needles: US size 7
Very basic but I was pleased with the end result. Such a useful way to practice new stitches and patterns.
Next/current projects: My so-called scarf and the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf. Both of these have been lessons in Choosing the Right Yarn. Oy.
shanola22's mother while my car was being fixed, and have met fellow knitter firiel44 through another friend, so now I have others to sit and learn with. Not surprisingly, the first new thing-not-a-scarf project I chose was a tea cozy. Specifially, the Lily Sugar'n Cream Tea Cozy for a small teapot, as posted at Michaels.com.
Lesson learned right off the bat: use the right yarn. I had a cheap ball of Hobby Lobby brand yarn I wanted to use (one of the Icelandic Jewels yarns), b/c I really loved the colors, but it was all wrong for this project. It's not horrible, and it does fit one of my mother's teapots, but it doesn't show off the cables very well and doesn't close properly at the top. Plus the knitting got really tight towards the end and I was fighting with the tension the entire time. I also made a newbie mistake and didn't count the number of alternating rows I knitted to get the three inches you need before the decreases start. Thus, even though I measured it, one piece ended up being a little longer than the other, and when seamed together it was a bit wonky.
The much better second try:
Yarn used: Lily Sugar'n Cream in the country sage ombre, little less than one 2 ounce ball.
Needles: US size 7
New skills learned: Purl stitch. Crochet for the little loop at the top. Also, cables! I googled to find out how to Tw2R, which was a bit confusing at first but easy once I got the hang of it. It wasn't too difficult, but very time consuming, as it was hard juggling that extra needle. I didn't have any cable needles, so I just used a duplicate size 7 straight needle.
I thought this was a fun little project and a way to learn new things without overwhelming myself. Once I used the right yarn it went very smoothly and this time I made sure to keep notes about how many rows I was doing in the alternating pattern. I doubt this will be an ultra-warm tea cozy, unless I go back and line it or something, but it's cute and will serve its purpose for such a small two-cup teapot.
Right now I'm working on some dishcloths to give to my mother and grandmother, mostly to give them something useful and also to practice knitting in patterns. Now that I'm used to working with cotton, I really like using it, and the Sugar'n Cream and Peaches'n Cream brands are nice and cheap with some pretty colors. I'm all about cheap thanks to the student loan.
Pattern: Free pattern from Lion Brand website
Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream, country sage ombre
Needles: US size 7
Very basic but I was pleased with the end result. Such a useful way to practice new stitches and patterns.
Next/current projects: My so-called scarf and the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf. Both of these have been lessons in Choosing the Right Yarn. Oy.
