5.25.2007

a little history

ok, so i've mostly thought knitting would be cool to learn how to do. i don't remember the actual sequence of events but it's goes something like this...


sometime during this last year or so, i remember something about red chenille and Ali trying to help me learn to cast on. i found this knitting bag at a garage sale or hand-me-down or somthing-or-other with tons of needles (poo-mostly crochet). then, getting a Susan Bates 'learn to knit' kit at Wal*Mart and my MIL teaching me the thumb cast on because i had forgotten the cast on that Ali taught me. i spent a lot of time learning/mastering that (i'm not terribly coordinated. i can't even do the 'running man'. *sniff, sniff*. this ones for you Ali!). then i tried actually knitting the chenille on needles that now i know were too small and it was so tight it broke so i gave up for awhile. then i got a skein of Homespun from my FIL who had also knit me this great scarf the year before in 'eyelash' yarn(?) and that sat around for awhile. several months later i tried again and came up with exhibit 'A' in an earlier post below. then i was a 'master' so i ran to wally world and bought several skeins of 'red heart' acrylic b/c i thought that's what you knit with. in between there i learned stockinette and was practicing some random knitting and purling. i then dug out the chenille and tried a larger needle and lo-and-behold, it worked!
i was working on that garter scarf when i was asked to make the camo scarf for the violist. that turned into exhibit 'B' in the other post below. that was this last February/April-ish? then through Ali, Blue Sky Alpacas asked me to knit a couple Baby Hoodies for them and i learned seaming, following a pattern, 3-needle bind off and a bunch of other stuff. which leads us to exhibit 'C' right here:

not too bad huh? i was a bit nervous at first, but i kept on task and watched EVERY video on KnittingHelp.com, Ali gave me a helping hand and a few technique pointers and they turned out great! (thanks again Ali!) i had a lot of fun making them once i focused and became more familiar with things. i've always been a fast learner (whew!) and that character quality comes in handy often.
so, other than a few fuzzy details in between, that's it in a medium-sized nutshell!

8 comments:

Sheknits said...

Fast learner is an understatement. How do you jump from making a simple old garter st. scarf to being a test knitter of hooded baby sweaters and turn out with sweaters that look that perfect?? At least in the pictures they look pretty flawless. YOu were born to knit! So I tried to contact Blue sky through the two e-mails on their website and both e-mails were returned as undeliverable...I would love to be a test knitter for them...I would love to summit patterns to them for publication! Any ideas, I guess I could call....anyway I liked hearing your history,

Traci said...

thank you so much! i'm really proud of them. they really stoked the knitting bug flame for me to keep learning and making things!
:)

Alison said...

I still LOVE those pinks with that brown! They look soooo yummy together, I may NEED to make osmething for my kids with htose colors- my list grows...
Happy knitting-
ali

Jean said...

Wow! You're a warp speed learner! Those sweaters are stunning. Love the color choices! And I love how bold and fearless you are to dive right in. Good for you!

Fiberjoy said...

Don't stop now!

I'm flabbergasted at how quickly you stepped from scarves to great hoodies! You have to learn to spin. Well, maybe not. It does take time away from knitting.

Lori's Light Extemporanea said...

Wow! That is just so awesome! I'm so impressed and proud of you (and I just met you today). I learned from a friend in December and the "biggest" project I've done was to knit some socks. I want to knit the twins some sweaters for the winter but I do think I'll knit them in acrylic because they'll only be able to wear them one season, if that.

I also have a crazy dream to knit everyone in my family (including myself) a Crayola-colored sweater and have a picture of us taken in the fall when the leaves are changing.

I have big plans.

Thanks for sending me your HSB name. I have such trouble with getting HSB to come up that I finally just left the blog there and don't update, but if you want to see what I've got going over there, my user name is SlackerMom.

Happy stitching!

Heather said...

Your sweaters turned out fantastic! I think that fearless is the way to go with knitting. I'd love to test things for BSA, too. I'm a big fan of their yarns.

Zonda said...

Wow, those sweaters turned out super!! And you just started knitting?? Amazing!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!