Baby Booties

One of my best friends is having her first baby, and so it will be the first chance I have to shower a mother with gifts. At the tender age of 22 she is having her first with the man she’s been with since we were in high school. I wanted to buy something off the registry, especially since I am not a mother and know nothing about what parents need, but I also really wanted to gift a handmade item.

I went with baby booties because they were easy to make neutral (they’re letting the baby’s sex be a surprise!) and I thought they would look cute on top of a present, a decoration and gift in one. I’ve linked the pattern I used at the end of this post, I changed a couple numbers in the pattern to make it work out which I talk about on my Ravelry project page. They turned out so cute and I chose a nice cotton yarn so they are also very soft.

I also decided to include a book in my gift, a collection of short stories put together by Kristen Hedges called mama, bare. The short stories are all written by new mothers about their experiences following birth, in the early days of motherhood. From the registry I picked out a baby carrier and all together I’m really happy with the gift and excited for the shower. I think adding something handmade to a gift makes it so much more special.

Pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stay-on-baby-booties-archive

My project page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ashleygeneral/stay-on-baby-booties-archive

Row Counting Stitch Marker DIY

I’ve accumulated quite the collection of stitch markers in the past couple years and I love the idea of a stitch marker that keeps track of how many rows I’ve knit so I thought I would add another one to my collection. This is a DIY for a stitch counter with sliding beads that you can use to count the number of rows you’ve knit. I decided to use ten beads on each of my counters because it’s a nice even number but you can use however many you think would work for you. If you'll be using this marker on larger needles make sure you get jump rings large enough to comfortably slide over the needles.

Materials:

• embroidery floss

• 10 counter beads (size 6/0)

• 2 accent beads (with same hole size as counter beads)

• lobster clasp OR jump ring

• 2 embroidery needles

• needle nose pliers

• scissors

Step 1: Cut 20 inches of embroidery floss. Thread the floss through your jump ring or lobster clasp (depending on which you’re using).

Step 2: Tie a knot in the thread as close to the jump ring or lobster clasp as possible.

Step 3: Using an embroidery needle, thread one of the accent needles onto both threads. 

Step 4: Push the bead right up to the knot.

Step 5: Tie a knot right beneath the bead and get it as close to the bead as possible.

Step 6: To make it easier to thread the counter beads place an embroidery needle on each thread.

Step 7: Thread one of the needles through one side of the bead and the other needle through the other side of the bead. Pull each thread to tighten the bead up to the top.

Step 8: Attach all 10 beads this way, pulling each tight so you have a line of 10 beads as shown in the picture.

Step 9: Tie a knot in the embroidery floss approximately 1 cm down from the last bead you threaded.

Step 10: Use an embroidery needle to attach another accent bead over both threads.

Step 11: Tie a knot in the thread as close to the accent bead as possible. Trim the threads.

WATG and the Luna Throw

Knitting with super bulky yarn has become one of my favourite things, the project works up so satisfyingly fast and it’s super soft to work with. I’ve ordered from a company called Wool and the Gang twice now and I’m addicted to their Crazy Sexy Wool.

Most recently I ordered a giant box of the wool in white, grey, and black, because I had this design in mind for a phases of the moon blanket. The finished blanket turned out perfectly, it’s heavy, thick, and amazingly warm. The pattern, called Luna Throw, is available on Ravelry if you want to make one for yourself.

My first order from WATG was last summer when I ordered a couple of their knit kits. I’ve finished all of the kits from that order and each of the pieces turned out beautiful. The three I ordered (from left to right in the image below) was the Hold Tight Clutch, the Khaleesi Bracelet, and the Zion Lion hat. Their patterns are written so clearly and I love working with the big rosewood needles you can get from their site. Next I plan on ordering one of their sweater knit kits. I’ve been knitting since I was a little girl and after all these years I still haven’t made myself a sweater.

 If it’s your first time ordering from Wool and the Gang you can get 15% off your order by following my referral link and signing up: http://watg.co/s/j96c8

Links:

• Luna Throw Pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/luna-throw

• Hold Tight Clutch: http://www.woolandthegang.com/product/hold-tight-clutch-women/knit-your-own

• Khaleesi: http://www.woolandthegang.com/product/khaleesi-bracelet-women/knit-your-own

• Zion Lion: http://www.woolandthegang.com/product/zion-lion-women-1/knit-your-own

• 15% off coupon: http://watg.co/s/j96c8

A First Attempt at Yarn Bombing

After almost a year in the making, and with all my housemates helping out, the yarn bomb was finally installed on the bench where I’ve been picturing it. Because I knew that there would be so many helping hands I decided a patchwork design would be the easiest, that way everyone could knit simple squares and rectangles whenever they had time. I measured and remeasured and after sewing most of it together at home we walked to the bench and sewed it on. I had originally planned on finishing it last summer but this project was definitely one that dragged out because of all the other projects I had going on at the same time. It felt amazing to finally put it all together last night and have it fit it’s bench perfectly.

Last Yarn Bomb Post: Planning a Yarn Bomb

Deliberate Practice

I spent my weekend at Embrace UX, a user experience conference, which I went to because it related to my major in Computer Science. Throughout the conference I found myself making connections to knitting (oddly enough), particularly during a talk done by Verne Ho which was a talk I took a lot away from. He talked about deliberate practice, which relates to my studies but also to almost everything in my life: hobbies, relationships, work. I don’t want any aspect of my life to be mediocre, but that’s something I have to work on, I can’t just expect good things to happen by only putting the time in.

I often knit a pattern multiple times because I know I will like the pattern, I can knit the piece well and I know I will like the outcome of the project. I’m taking this safe route because it’s comfortable and I’m not really improving much, even though I’m putting tons of time in. I’m sure you’ve all heard that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something, but this weekend we talked about how this is only true if you’re spending those hours wisely, doing different and challenging projects as often as you can, getting help from mentors, asking questions, doing research, and taking risks.   

“Practicing something for 10,000 hours -or for any amount of time- is only worth a damn if you’re spending the entirety of that practice time completely focused on improvement” -Ryan Hamrick  

None of this is to say that you don’t need to put the time in, it’s a given that you have to. But you get out from your time what you put in, so learning to learn is one of the best things you can do.

Anyways this is something that’s been on my mind so I thought I’d share this  with you. What do you think? Is knitting a time for you to relax, and do you even want to think about learning while you do it? Sometimes that’s the case for me, but knitting something you didn’t think you were capable of making is so rewarding. I want to be able to knit any pattern I come across, and eventually I would like to be able to design anything I can dream of as well, so I will start my 10,000 hours of deliberate practice today.