Knitting

I can't believe I haven't talked about knitting in so long. I took a break when I wasn't feeling well (flu!). I have finished two projects - a hat for Donovan's teacher and a sweator for a baby which I still have to sew together.

The hat for Donovan's teacher is from an old knitting pattern of my Mum's. The bottom part in the lime green is a new stitch I have never done before. It is Tw2F and Tw2B which is Twist 2 Front and Twist 2 Back. For the first one, you knit in the front of the 2nd stitch and then knit in the front of 1st stitch and then for the second one, you knit in the back of the 2nd stitch and then knit in back of the 1st stitch. It was slow knitting for the first couple of rows but then it got easier as I kept doing it. The yarn I used for this was Merino wool, OMG, it is SO soft. It is called Filatura Di Crosa Baby Zarina, yes it's Italian. You wouldn't even know it was wool, I bought it for $3.50 for a 50g ball from Soper Creek Yarns. I also have purple and pink, I am going to knit one up for my cousin's daughter who just had her first baby - a girl, Katie Sarah.

The sweator I knit was again from an old knitting pattern of my Mum's. I did it in the Berroco Comfort DK. It is also extremely soft. The baby sweator knit up fairly fast but just was a bit ackward with changing colours every row.

I have started to use a new method of casting on. I previouly knit my stitiches on, but that can be time consuming. In the autumn, I knit Miles a pull on hat - balaclava and then I knit one for Donovan. Except with Donovan's hat the cast on was too tight so I thought I would try the long tail cast on method. I followed the instructions in the book and it was easy. Also I found it made a looser cast on so the hat easily fitted over Donovan's head. I have used this method ever since, it is so much faster. So for those of you who want to know how to do it, I found this video on You Tube - Long Tail Cast on. There is also a website where you can find other videos - Knitting Help. I have done so many new stitches and patterns this past winter. Knitting the hats for Miles and Donovan was the start of it. I loved the way the top knitted up. In fact, I also knitted one for my sister Joan so she could wear it under her riding helmet.