Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Continental Knitting

I know I've touched on this before (likely a year ago), but I'm making this entry for those who were at my "Switching to Continental Knitting" class tonight.

The Utube video is in the entry below. It is excellent! You will refer to it again & again. You can even pause it to get your fingers in position if need be.

The book that we discussed is this one & I've put the link below. Amazon.ca is (by far) the cheapest way to get knit books (or any other kind for that matter) online. If you spend $39- or more (which isn't hard especially if you set up a wishlist), you get free shipping.



I had so much fun at the class tonight. Everyone was extremely nice to deal with. I hope they weren't just putting on a show because I got the impression that they were enjoying themselves. Okay, so not the knitting part, but the jokes, etc.
This group is also very tricky. They tried to convince me that I couldn't post their pic because they were in the witness protection program, but I took my chances, they look like fast runners, lol.

The most important thing is to relax & practice. It will definitely feel awkward at first because you're retraining your fingers & brain. This will pass & you will love the results. It's so much faster & easier on your joints & hands. You might be cursing me now, but you'll be thanking me later, lol.
Best of luck & don't forget that you can email if you have any questions or concerns.

Peace out, Boop

Continental knitting demo

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Flamingo? Aaack.

It's only because of my son that I would ever knit a pink flamingo. (The fact that his grandmother bought the pattern & yarn might have swayed me too). Anyway, last week was Joseph's B-Day. Among other things, he loves flamingos. I have no idea where this originated from, but perhaps from one of 2 visits to the African Lion Safari. Regardless, the kid goes gaga for them.

So, the knit flamingo was born. The pattern is from a Bernat Pattern Booklet 530130. It's called "Gertrude the Flamingo" & is rated Intermediate. It uses 2 balls of Bernat Baby Boucle, & 1 ball each of Bernat Satin ebony & Sea Shell.


Fairly easy pattern, but I loath Boucle & in this case it had to be doubled (great, I now hate it twice as much). I'm sure that had I been knitting it in a silk boucle instead, I would have fell madly in love, but something about the acrylic one drives me to the next level of insanity. This was no small feet either (no pun intended). The thing is 20" tall & 21" wide not including the legs & those feet :)

Joseph however, was delighted. So in fact, that he claimed that this was now his 2nd favourite stuffy in the whole world. He explained that it could never take the place of his 1st one since he's had "Chocolate" (a large beanie pal chocolate lab) most of his life & he thought I would understand this (which of course I did).


This child is very special. Nicest male I've ever met (yes, even including his father) because he says things like "you make the bestest pizza in the world", "You deserve it mommy 'cause you work so hard", "could you knit ......... for me" & last week's "Come see the beautiful cloud formation". The kid obviously has taste, is sensitive & pays attention to detail. Who wouldn't love a guy like this? This was his 9th B-Day, but I hope he never changes. Gives me hope for the male race, lol.

Peace out, Boop