Knitting

I think that I mentioned a while ago that I've decided to pick up knitting.  I've been meaning to for a while now, and I recently found my starter kit so I got going.  It does seem to be the thing to do these days.  And there are a few women on campus who get together once a week to knit over lunch, so it is a nice thing to do to relax a bit at work (not that I really have the time).  Anyhoo, I am happy to announce that I have two projects under my belt now!  To be fair, I first started out with a swatch of knit stitches for about 5 rows, then I got bored and decided to try a "real" project.  So my first try was some hand warmers:

This really is a rectangle sewed together in a tube, but it was good practice with a ribbed pattern.  And the yarn that I have is a bit too chunky for this, but I think it could work over my usual leather gloves for some extra warmth.  Or to wear in the cold office and still be able to type.  At the advice of a friend I'm going to try to learn a new technique with each new project.  So for my second project I learned how to cable knit.  It actually is pretty easy.  And now I can look at my store-bought sweaters and see exactly how they are made.  They use really tiny yarn, though!

I confess that I am pretty impressed with myself on this one.  I didn't actually envision really wanting anything that I could knit, but I actually think that I will use this.  Especially when I have my hair in a ponytail so it is hard to put on a hat.  Unfortunately (or not) the weather has gotten incredibly gorgeous in the last few days, so I don't know that I will actually need this for another 8 months.

So now I'm trying to decide what to do for my next project.  I have a million things that I want to try.  I can already see that my problem is going to be actually finishing projects before I move on to the next one.  Knitting is quite a bit repetitive.  I suppose that is the relaxing part, and to an extent it is, but I am going to have to work on my patience in seeing results.  I'll let you know if I finish anything cool!