The Lure of Knitting

I watched the "Art of Knitting" this afternoon. Half to 2/3 of it anyway. The DVD box says the running time is 3½ hours. I've been reading "The Knitting Answer Book". I borrowed both of them from the library. I'll post reviews after I finish them. I also crocheted on the purple and gold ripple afghan (see A Ripple Dilemma).

I haven't done any knitting in the last couple of months, but I have thought about it. I have a kit for a summer top that I found at a thrift shop 3 or 4 years ago. I got it out a couple of weeks ago and looked at it, thought about, and decided I should finish another project or two first. And I'm again thinking about designing a preemie baby afghan pattern in knitting.

I have made several knitted items in the last year. It started when I stumbled across a crochet shrug pattern and decided that a shrug would be a good gift for my best friend. But I couldn't find a crochet shrug pattern that I liked. I started to design my own, but couldn't find a stitch pattern that I liked the feel of for a shrug. I decided that it needed to be a knitted shrug and found a knit pattern that I liked (Leef Bloomenstiel's Elegant Shoulderette Shrug), bought yarn and started knitting.

My friend and I were browsing at a bookstore during my vacation visit last year and I saw a pattern for handwarmers (a.k.a., fingerless gloves). My friend is cold natured and I keep the heat low to control the winter heating bill, so I thought handwarmers would be great for both of us to wear indoors to help keep warm. The only patterns I could find used worsted or bulky weight yarn, which I felt was too heavy for indoor activities. So I created my own pattern using sport weight yarn. My friend got her handwarmers for Christmas and after Christmas I made a slightly larger pair for my aunt. I need to make a pair for myself before it gets cold again. I want to put the pattern on my website also.

I've got a half-finished feather & and fan afghan that was given to me with the knitting needles still in it. I forget how many years it's been in my closet. I had it out a couple of months ago and showed it to a quilting buddy who is an expert knitter. It has a couple of minor problems that I wanted her advice on. Maybe I'll work on it soon.

Yes, I think there is definately more knitting in my future. My relatively near future.