Thursday 2 August 2007

a few good lessons


I finally finished the blanket with the WRONG SIDE problem, (see previous post) and have made something i am happy with, and something my daughter loves to play with when she is in her pram...although I'm slightly worried she is going to pull the flowers and caterpiller off as she gets a bit enthusiastic about playing hide and seek with them or tries to sniff the flowers. (lesson 1: make sewn connections 5 times the strength you believe is necessary if the object is to be used by a child) ) My friend Pat showed me how to crochet a simple border onto my rather wonky knitted edges and this gave me a more solid foundation to then stitch on a fine woollen backing cloth. So now the blanket is even warmer, and there are no WRONG SIDES, just a back and a front. I fiddled around with the crotchet hook and fashioned a few flowery sort of things and knitted a few bobbles and attached them in a random meadowlike composition. finished. my sense of satisfaction is enormously quietly wonderful. (lesson 2: finishing difficult projects is better than starting them)



If i ever knit a blanket again, it will definately not be made of tiny squares, but will be knitted as one big piece on circular needles. (lesson 3: dont knit anything that requires more sewing up than knitting) I think it was a cruel exercise Ms Debbie Bliss! However I made it much worse for myself by altering the pattern, which again was very foolish given it was only the second thing i had ever attempted to knit and I soon found that I had absolutely no idea what i was getting myself in for. (lesson 4: dont run before you can walk, unless it is in your nature, in which case, be tenacious and keep working on the thing until you find a solution)

I learnt a few good knitting lessons, but I havent been turned off improvising with a pattern again, in fact I am fantasizing about drafting my own pattern for project number 4. How hard can it be?