Welcome to my blog. Here I will share some knitting stories and patterns. I may also share some of my life here on a little island in Puget Sound, or the Salish Sea as we like to call it. The Salish Sea refers to all the waters that are connected, be they part of Washington State or part of Canada. The waters know no boundary lines.
My grandmother was a knitter and my mother is a knitter, however I did not learn how to knit from either of them. Oh, I have a vague recollection of them trying to teach me to knit, but I didn't ever catch on, nor really desire to learn. They were both "throwers" (or English style), perhaps that is why? I spent one of my university years as a student in Denmark. At the time, it seemed every one in Denmark was a knitter, and they were "pickers" (continental style). It was the thing to do and I wanted to learn to knit. While we sat in classes at our højskole (literally translated as High School, but it has nothing in common with high school in the states), we listened and we knitted. There were no tests or assignments, it was experiencial education. Listen and learn. I knew no Danish prior to going and was nearly fluent when I left. Sadly, with no one to talk to here in the states, my Danish fades.
My very first knitting project was a scarf, which was wider at the beginning than at the end, not because I lost stitches, but because I was knitting tighter and tighter with every row. Tension. I learned a lot about tension while knitting that scarf.
I knit several sweaters, including my very first Scandinavian motif sweater (still looks good after more than 20 years!). I remember it was important to me that it not be red, white and blue. Even though they are traditional colors in Scandinavia, they were too American for me. So I picked navy, off white and magenta. I still love this sweater! While knitting the bottom in solid navy, I was fascinated by the texture of the fabric that I was knitting. As I started on the 2 color star pattern, I learned about keeping the yarn loose. I had to rip out those stars and redo them at least once as the fabric was puckering due to the "carried" yarns being too tight.
Upon returning to the United States, my knitting needles were set aside while I finished my university degree. In Denmark, every town had a wonderful yarn store. I either didn't notice yarn stores upon my return, or they just weren't as plentiful. Perhaps now I just know where they are! In any case, I didn't find inspiration here and I didn't knit. Then, on my honeymoon (much to my new spouse's chagrin), I found myself in a yarn store in New Zealand. Oh, look at all the Baby Wool! It's so soft! And these cute baby sweater patterns! Oh dear, I bought yarn, I bought patterns, I started knitting again. A baby sweater. On my honeymoon. And no, I wasn't pregnant nor intending to become that way.
I knit a little, but then, eventually, a baby did come our way and I found less time for knitting (even though I had someone to knit for, that is so unfair!). I was also frustrated that the patterns I had didn't list a size by age, but by chest size. What in the world does it mean to be a 22 inch chest? Is that for a toddler? A 3-4 year old? A baby? I still don't get it, I much prefer for sizing to be age related. While pregnant, I had no idea what chest size the little baby would have. The sweater I knit ended up having sleeves that were too tight for my chubby baby. And before you suggest that I could've looked it up on the internet, this was all before the "age of the internet".
I am also a sewer. I sewed most of my clothes as a teen, and now that I had babies, and baby girls at that, I sewed. The first child would only wear a dress that would spin. Full circle skirts. So I sewed. I have 3 daughters and 2 nieces. My sister-in-law is also a seamstress. We sewed dresses and more dresses for our girls. And before you think we're totally sexist here, these girls WANTED dresses. We, their mothers, didn't wear dresses and we tried to encourage the tom-boy in them, but they wanted clothes that spun and were fancy. The baby girls were dressed in overalls and pants for comfort, but when they could get up and dance, they wanted clothes that would get up and dance with them. The knitting needles had been set aside until future inspiration.
When our oldest child was 5 and our second 2, we took a trip to Denmark and Norway. One of my cousins was getting married in Norway and so we took advantage of the opportunity for some world travel. Revisiting Denmark with my family was wonderful. I was surprised, though, to find it difficult to find a yarn store. Hmmm… Had things changed? Then, off to Norway. We headed to Bergen and rode the coastal ferry up to Honningsvåg. On one stop, we got off and I found a huge yarn store. I re-discovered Scandinavian knitting and once I found the Dale of Norway baby pattern books, I couldn't knit fast enough, I wanted to knit them all. I love Scandinavian patterns, they inspire me to knit.
So back to the US with yarn, yarn, more yarn and some patterns (perhaps this was the most important item?) I started knitting. Now I found time to knit. I knit sweaters for the girls. I had my mom's help as there were too many for me to knit by myself. I knit a yellow one for the oldest, my mom knit a purple one for the 2nd. Soon daughter number 3 was here and I knit the zebra sweater and matching pants for the baby. I knit a ladybug sweater for the baby. I knit a red Norwegian sweater for the 2nd child. One of my favorites was the Dale of Norway "Hans" sweater, in blue. Sadly, the original sweater was lost. I loved it so, I knit a second one, in a larger size naturally as the baby had grown. I had to make it up as the pattern didn't go up to size 4. I'm not 100% satisfied with the neck, so if I ever knit it again, that will have to be improved upon.
The youngest is now 8, the middle 12, and the oldest 15 so I find more time for knitting (and seem to do less sewing, except around Halloween. My children always have big plans for Halloween costumes!).
I find I spend a fair bit of time looking for the "right" pattern for a project I want to knit and then end up creating something myself (or altering something to be what I really want). I prefer knitting with fingering (sock) weight yarn, sport weight and dk weight. Sometimes I knit with worsted for items like hats and scarves. I plan to post my patterns that I've come up with and show some of the changes I've made to patterns. If anything inspires you, get out your needles and your yarn and let's knit.
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