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...or Thin and Sad Vs Fat and Happy. It had been some time since I had made a pom pom, very possibly decades. I remember making them in primary school, so approached my first pom pom making project this century with a high level of confidence. how hard could it be? On top of the years of life experience I had gained since primary school, I had also purchased myself a dedicated "Pom Pom Maker" - so self explanatory is the task that the packaging does not bother to include instructions!
My first attempt took at least a couple of hours. I used my pom pom maker (below) and thinking I wanted quite a large pom I left the 3 coloured rings joined together and proceeded to wind my yarn in a radial fashion using a tapestry needle. I wanted to use a solid pink yarn to compliment the flecked hot pink yarn, so I painstakingly alternated the colours, winding only a single thread at a time. Increasingly I found it harder and harder to fit the needle through the centre of the pom pom maker. I had a bad feeling about this pom...
...The result is the emaciated, scruffy-dog excuse for a pom pom you see on the left of the top picture. What a blow! But I was not to be defeated, failure is after all the best way to learn. On attempt #2 i really smartened up my game. Using only the yellow rings of the pom pom maker, I thread both colour yarns through the needle at once and used them doubled over. What a brain wave! I'd quadrupled my productivity before I even started!!
The result is a fat and bouncy, heavy-weight pom. Almost a little too heavy to be attached to the beret, but it will go there anyway. He could still do with a hair cut, but I'm afraid that I will get carried away, so I have put the scissors away.
For my second project I wanted to tackle knitting something on four needles (having tried and failed in the past) and decided to knit a baby beret. I used a pattern that Mum had used to knit a couple of berets for Nina last winter, although Mum knitted hers in stockinette rather than garter stitch.
I definitely got the hang of the four needles by the end, and am happy enough with the result even though I had a few issues with the increasing and it looks a bit dodgy if you look close enough. It also sits a bit differently to the ones Mum made, in that it is quite wavy, but this is how it looks in the picture on the pattern so i assume it is right. Perphaps it doesn't have the same stiffness when knitted in stockinette?
Originally I planed to make it for my niece Charlotte's 2nd birthday. Nina's berets are quite big so I thought I could get away with using the 6-12 month sizing. I didn't finish in time for Charlotte's birthday and it is too small, so it will go to my muse Nina (though it won't fit her for long either).
I am very proud to have finished my first project within a week. I actually finished knitting them last Thursday but only finished sewing in the threads yesterday. Being the novice that I am I wasn't sure how to actually do this and was waiting for mum to get back from a road trip to Brisbane. Yesterday was so cold that I couldn't wait any longer and so with the help of a video tutorial on expert village I finished it off.When I put them on Nina this morning I discovered that they are more "doodle tights" than "pants". Not the most flattering but comfy and warm none the less.
I definitely made some errors along the way (namely the ribbed waistband knitted with the wrong gauge needles!) but I have already learnt many new things: Kitchener stitch, how to knit and I-cord, how to knit a short row and how to weave in loose threads. I think the best way to get over the disappointment of one project is to move quickly on to the next, so I have started project two, a baby beret knitted on four needles.
...so on Friday I bravely started my first project, Aubrey Doodle Pants for my muse Nina. I found the pattern through the Ravelry website, which ROCKS! I've had a few issues to tackle. Firstly, failing to get my head around the difference between metric, imperial, and US needle sizes resulted in my ribbed waist band being knitted with larger rather than smaller needles. I had to learn how to knit a short row and do kitchener stitch with the help of videos on youtube. Now that I am almost finished the first leg, I can't wait to start another project.
Nina's Rock Your Baby Pixie hat is knitted in moss stitch. Now that I know how easy it is to knit moss stitch I can see that this hat would be easy to make. The construction is very simple too.
This is a baby blanket that Mum knitted for Nina before she was born. It was only after I had knitted my sample squares that I realised it was in snowball sticth and moss stitch.
I decided it was time to do away with the dodgy old knitting needle bag with the broken zipper and jumble of miss-matched hand-me-down needles. Surely a serious knitter needs a pretty needle roll!
I found the pattern for this one on the lupinbunny blog and used an off cut of the Missoni Home fabric Haiti that I got during my Spence & Lyda days.
It looks pretty and is much more functional than my old bag, but I did have a few issues sewing the heavy linen fabric. If I were to make it again I would only use the linen fabric on the outside of roll, I'd sew the ribbon into the seam and I would make it wider to fit more needles.
Firstly let me clarify; I know how to knit, I know how to purl, I've knitted lots of scarfs and two jumpers in my time. But now I want to learn the tricky stuff and I want to knit beautiful things that I treasure rather than hide in a drawer. I want to get as good as my mum and to be able to pass on the knowledge to my daughter and even my sisters, should they ever want to learn.
This week we covered the basic equipment needed and Mum set me some homework; to knit sample squares of the following: fan stitch, snowball, stitch, moss stitch, garter stitch, stocking stitch, single and double rib.
Having never tried my hand at lace stitches before I ambitiously started out with Snowball stitch. After three failed attempts however I moved on to Fan Stitch. After dropping a stitch a few rows in this was the result of attempt two.
I've always loved the dense texture of Moss Stitch and was surprised to find out that it was just alternating rows of knit 1, purl 1. I think I need to work on my tension but this should correct itself with a bit more practice. 
The abominable Snowball Stitch took me a while to get my head around, but I got there in the end and was very happy with the result. Unfortunately my ball of wool ran out with just 3 cast off stitches to go, and since it was an odd ball from mum's stash I had to splice in a different yarn to finish it off.After knitting these 3 sample swatches I am feeling restless and need to start a project I can sink my teeth into. Mum is away at the moment so i am boldly going to attempt to start something without her...
...or Thin and Sad Vs Fat and Happy. It had been some time since I had made a pom pom, very possibly decades. I remember making them in primary school, so approached my first pom pom making project this century with a high level of confidence. how hard could it be? On top of the years of life experience I had gained since primary school, I had also purchased myself a dedicated "Pom Pom Maker" - so self explanatory is the task that the packaging does not bother to include instructions!
...The result is the emaciated, scruffy-dog excuse for a pom pom you see on the left of the top picture. What a blow! But I was not to be defeated, failure is after all the best way to learn. On attempt #2 i really smartened up my game. Using only the yellow rings of the pom pom maker, I thread both colour yarns through the needle at once and used them doubled over. What a brain wave! I'd quadrupled my productivity before I even started!!
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