Yarn collecting is addictive lads

It is. I have some yarns i dont even know what to do with yet. I'll find something eventually I'm sure

Knitting? BUT WHY?

BECAUSE it was covid and I had nothing to do. So yeah I picked it up in 2020, in autumn. I went for knitting specifically and not crochet because I wanted to learn how to make clothes and honestly... I really don't like how crocheted items look, be it plushies or clothes... though I do kinda wanna learn how to make granny squares cos I'd love to make a throw out of them. So I don't fully dislike crochet, just. Generally.

ANYWAY it took a minute to understand how it worked but once I started it was really fun and it still is. It's relaxing and it's so nice to be able to see your progress every time you look over whatever you're working on

I knit in the English style, as that is the first style I learned. I tried continental for a bit but I just found it uncomfortable. It does mean I take a bit longer to knit things, I can't knit super super fast cos I gotta make bigger motions but I'm okay with that! I am developing calusses on my pointer fingers and I don't like that. so. that kinda sucks. but not enough to stop knitting lol

Stuff I made

My first scarf

Pattern: None. Just started knitting

The first thing I made! It's made purely out of knit stitches and its a weird width cos I found out I like casting on stitches lol so I kinda did too many of them. It's orange and black because it was Autumn and I love both of those colours, also. It's very warm cos the wool is really thick, and it didn't take that long to make because of how thick the wool is. I'm going to unravel it and use the wool to make a new scarf eventually cos I still really like the colours and the wool and I can do more interesting stitch patterns now!

...My second scarf

Pattern: It's from a book my mom gave me after she found out I started knitting. She used to when she was younger so it's hers from back in the day.

I made this one for my partner, so I asked him for two colours to use. Can u. Can u guess what class he plays in FFXIV

It originally was the same pattern as the first scarf I made but I redid it in a new pattern and switching the colours more often. I think it turned out really nice! And I'd done some project with finer yarn at this point so it was nice to use chunky yarn again.

Cat paw scarf

Pattern: Cat's Paw Scarf

This was before I felt comfortable enough to unravel an old project (as in, my first scarf) so I made a new one with finer wool. I thought the pattern was really cute so I bought some yarn in my favourite colour and started knitting. It generally turned out really well, though I did mess up on some of the rows so some of the cat paws have kinda weird toebeans. But it's not that noticeable really

Faux Cable knit scarf

Pattern: Scarf Mit Faux Cables

Made it for my bf! I hadn't knitted for like, a year and these two scarves were the first things I did. I kinda just wanted to try some different knitting patterns. This scarf is hella short though so it doesn't really keep him warm :( So he uses the red/white scarf.

Fingerless gloves

Pattern: Finglerless Gloves Pattern

Made them cos I had left over red yarn from the scarf. I've actually made these before in white but the red yarn is a little finer and I love the colour so I thought hey why not! No gloves with fingers tho. Just thumbholes. Fingers sounds hella hard (I'll probably try sometime in the future)

A cat sweater

Pattern: Bebe Kitty Sweater

I really wanted to learn how to knit a sweater but it felt super daunting so I thought I should start with something small. And I don't know any babies so cat sweater it is :D

If you look at it closely (or... not even that closely tbh) its super wonky lol it was the first time I had to pick up a bunch of stitches and I'm still not fantastic at that, so it's super noticeable on Tsuki's jumper. She very bravely modeled it for us for like, a couple hours n then I took it off her cos I was worried she hated it. But I think she was fine. But still

A human sweater

Pattern: Flax DK pattern

First sweater done! Woo! Those little bits of yarn hanging off the sleeves and body are ends that I never weaved in because I really don't like how this sweater looks on me :) It fits, which is a relief since aaa measurements and maths are scary, but. Well. U can see in that photo how it fits. Back in the olden days of EGL they used to call that a "boobloaf". Ok that wasn't really the sweater it was kinda the angle and the top under it but in general idk the sweater just looks kinda dumpy. But I'm really proud I managed to make my first sweater! One of the sleeves is yellow cos I got tired of using so much purple yarn. I didn't run out or anything. Just wanted to look at another colour.

A big fat cardigan

Pattern: tba

I bought the wool cos i thought it was neat how it was black white and red. It was called Robin, I think. I tried to make it into a sweater first but i kept fucking up the collar so eventually found a different pattern. Cos it's so chunky I finished it very quickly, which was kind of nice. Its very heavy and super thick, practically unwearable. My partner's worn it once when he was sick and very cold, so at least it's good for that. The hell is super bulky wool good for, really

Frankensweater

Pattern: From the book "52 weeks of easy knits"
So in the book the creator used very different colours for this jumper, but when i saw it i immediately thought "frankenstein monster pattern" cos of the stitch-like dark edges. So i bought some wool in colours I thought were common for Frankenstein creatures and knitted away. Only to then find out there's only one artist that's coloured Frankenstein people this way... n thats Jamie Hewlett for a Mindless Self Indulgence album cover :I
So it just kinda became a super specific reference i wasnt rly trying to make (even tho i do like msi's music). I think it looks really cute and I'm proud i made another sweater but i mostly learned two things from this project:
1. This wool is too scratchy to wear on bare skin
2. Don't knit projects for yourself in colours you don't really like (blue and teal in my case) cos it's not like you're suddenly gonna like wearing em just cos u made the garment yourself.
I still really like the design itself though, i might make it again some day in colours that I like better. And with a wool that isn't super scratchy rip

Headband

Pattern: TBA
I made this to keep my ears warm during winter walks cos painful ears from the cold suck. I picked a pattern i thought looked fun to knit and used some spare yarn from an earlier project (my partner's cardi in this case). I ended up going for like, zero winter walks this year cos the area we live in sucks ass and i hope the next place has better places to walk so I've never used it tho that's not the only reason. It's a small project so it was done pretty quickly and i think the pattern is really pretty but i dont know why on EARTH i made this in arsenic green. Kind of like the project above I used a colour I don't wear, its way too fucken bright. This was a hard lesson for me to learn i guess

This abomination

Pattern: From "52 weeks of easy knits"

I knew I wanted to make a vest with the same yarn as the Frankensweater since I had so much leftover, so I made a practice vest with some yarn I have for some godawful reason to see if I understood the pattern correctly. It is cropped because at that point I concluded I knew what I was doing and so I could cast this hellspawn aside. It's striped but it's hard to tell cos I used two balls of the same multicolour yarn and it kept flipping into the same fuckin colour as the other ball whenever I had to start a new stripe. I've got a decent amount of acrylic yarn i want to get rid of cos I hate the colours idfk why I bought it when I first started out. Some small part of my brain likes baby pastel hues but I just really don't ever wear them, decorate with them, do anything with them. The older I get the less I like pastels, I'm realizing. IDK maybe I can donate them somewhere. that'd be nice.

A scrap yarn vest. sort of

Pattern: Edited from the book "52 weeks of easy knits"

It's not really scrap yarn cos i still have tons leftover, I stuck to the amount listed in the pattern plus maybe one extra ball each but I swear i could knit a whole ass sweater out of what Ive got left. Anyway this vest is made from the same wool as the Frankensweater, just the colours I like though and one I didnt get to use in the pattern (a deep reddish purple). I have a book on fair isle knitting patterns and I picked some of those to make different stripes in this little vest, which in the book I used for reference just had plain stripes. I made it cos I do like these colours, just the wool is too scratchy for bare skin so I thought it'd be good for a vest. I like this garment a lot. Its very warm though so still just kinda a winter thing to wear

White Fisherman's Jumper

Pattern: When Harry met Lucy (link TBA)

Saw When Harry Met Sally and immediately decided I'd make Harry's famous jumper myself. I can't make patterns or really edit them all that well yet so I just used one someone made based on Harry's and some other sweater from a film I haven't seen. The whole thing is made in parts so I had to seam it all together which was new to me, as was making a full cabled garment but I think it turned out really well. Modeling it is my husband and the Sookster who decided she should be in the picture too.

Things I'm currently working on

A Cardigan for my partner

Pattern: From the book "52 weeks of easy knits"

Second biggest project after the sweater. It's a looooooot of stockinette stitching quite mindlessly but switching colours two stitches at a time is pretty fun :) I should technically switch to a third colour now, but my partner is really tall and I'm worried it's not gonna be long enough for him if I switch to the last colour now. [note: It's done now, in the process of adding some ribbed borders so it stops curling in on itself]

Things I have abandoned

The second sock

Pattern: Rye Pattern

Turns out i think socks are hella boring. Theyre on your feet so you never really see them anyways. So yeah i just finished the one and never made a second.

Some useful resources

Thought I'd list some websites I use/used when I first got into knitting for anyone who's interested in starting themselves c:

Sheep and Stitch
Where I learned how to knit my first stitch :) This website has a lot of useful written tutorials that also have video in case you learn more easily by watching instead of reading. The creator always goes over the steps multiple times and I found that really useful, also because it meant I didn't have to pause the video and could knit along because I knew she'd show the new motion multiple times. So yeah I think this is a good place to start!

Tin Can Knits
THEY HAVE AN APP. Haha sry the app is just super useful for the projects it offers, it helps you keep track of which step you're on, what size you're knitting and it'll do the maths for you which is a huge plus for me. Plus they have a lot of pretty beginner projects.

Ravelry
Number one place to find knitting patterns, or crochet if that's more your thing. Probably the most well known yarn craft related website.

emma in the moment
This isn't a resource lol Emma covers yarn craft related drama on their channel. I just find it interesting to watch as someone who's not really *in* the community but does take part in the hobby, plus Emma is really thorough. Might be fun to put on as you knit ur first projects