Wow! From January to today, it’s been a journey in homemade. I left a good job ruined by a bad boss in December 2023 (despite letting go of a month’s health insurance!!) I was exhausted.
I spent a weekend at a respite house for caretakers and then started the new job, full tilt!
My projects were simple and comforting. I made a blanket I’ve done at least ten times and stamped cross stitch.
Plain Jane socks on a paddle board
Another blanket unfinished
Watch this video for complete instructions on how to start knitting, complete with what needles and yarn to buy, to the five basic steps to starting and completing your first knit project.
I’m really awful at keeping up with this. I’m back and I am now a – drum roll please – YouTube creator. I did a few videos about a year and a half ago but they were simply not good and I dropped it.
How did we get here?
Some of you may already know, I’m the mother of three kids, two with special needs, and I work full time as an accountant. If you are on Tik Tok or You Tube, you know I don’t sleep that well. I’m up most mornings between 3 and 4 am. I was away at a respite retreat when I should have been sleeping, but instead I stumbled upon this master knitter’s program. I’ve been knitting for about 30 years, so why not? Then I looked at the program and read/watched reviews of what is required. I was floored. My knitting experience may be vast, but my technique is not.
Do I spend the money, jump full on into it and get frustrated? At that point, I had knit three sweaters in the space of less than two months and none of them fit as expected. The fourth sweater wound up being huge as well.
Let’s start at the beginning with GAUGE.
I decided to knit the Wasabi Sweater from Custom Knits 2 again, but this time for my daughter. I had to go down two needle sizes to get the right gauge.
I did the provisional cast on using a crochet hook instead of figuring it out while in the car on a two hour ride.
I blocked the sweater. For the FIRST TIME. Did I mention I’ve been doing this for THIRTY YEARS!
It came out – perfect. I added a cabled ribbing, and it is perfect.
Onto sweater number 6. Let’s tackle color work. I picked the Darkwater Sweater by Jennifer Steingass (Knit.Love.Wool). I made my swatch and went down one size with my needles and a size down since my swatch was wide. I can knit it longer. I will knit it longer!
So far so good.
Knitwerks 