Knit & Purl

Ever since my friend Kim taught me to knit as part of her Virgin Knitters project (if you click on the link my scarf's the pinky-red lacy one, fourth from the top--and here's a pic of me wearing it and looking extra nerdy), I've been wanting to learn more. I finally, FINALLY, signed up for a knitting class at FIT and am kicking myself for not doing this sooner. This class would have been so useful many YEARS ago when I wanted to make something meaningful for my nephews when they were born--first Spencer Jack, then exactly two years later Wyatt William. They're four and six now to give you an idea of how long this idea has been percolating--so annoying.

It's been awhile since I've been in a classroom. And while taking a class in a windowless room in a basement isn't as charming as say, drinking wine and hanging out with other knitting virgins at Kim's cute apartment, it definitely has its perks. In just a few three-hour sessions my teacher has taught us how to cable, increase, decrease, read a pattern and a chart, calculate gauge, block, make lace, do intarsia. Oh, and we've also made hats. Mine hasn't been blocked yet and I think I miscalculated the gauge and/or the circumference of my head because it's a bit large and looks kinda like a shower cap: Oh well. When you've got a Rosemary's Baby 'do, it tends to be a challenge to find a hat that doesn't look like a shower cap...unless you're Mia Farrow, I guess. Back to the drawing board. At least it was fun to make. I used the double fleck stitch from Interweave Press' Knit & Purl for the edge, your everyday stockinette for the top and then sewed the whole thing together.

Oh, and this is my practice swatch:My teacher's philosophy is to teach us the hard stuff since we don't know any better, so we started with a basic rib, went on to the pillar stitch and then did cables. I REALLY wish I would have taken a picture of my lace before I got frustrated and unraveled the whole thing.