How jsins became a knitter: A tale that includes a couple of firsts, the last and the latest

I have a little tale to tell of how jsins, she of the limited attention span, went from declaring that she would never knit again to becoming the intrepid and obsessed knitter that she is today.

In a time long, long ago (1999ish), a career hobbyist was at Joanne Fabrics with her friend Mary Jo who was picking up supplies for her daughter's Girl Scout troup craft project when she spotted a brightly-colored variegated yarn in rainbow colors. Feeling inspired, she went to her local library and picked up a book on how to knit so that she could make herself the most amazing technicolored scarf that the world had ever seen. Excited about how cool her scarf was going to be, jsins immediately went home, opened the book and had her mother dig out her knitting needles. She knit and she knit and she knit.

Then she got bored and the scarf when into a basket next to the recliner chair in the living room. Every so often she would pull the scarf out of the basket and knit on it some more only to become bored with it again and set it aside. After about a year of such behavior, she had a garter stitch scarf that measured somewhere around 10 feet long. She was quite over knitting the scarf but stuck with it due to stubborn perseverance and a strong desire to prove to her mother that she would indeed finish it as there was much doubt. Upon casting off, jsins declared that she would never knit again and had her mother do the fringe. The end result was this:

A number of years pass by and one spring day in 2006, jsins once again ends up in a Joanne Fabric and while roaming around the store happens into the yarn section. Again, the yarn calls to her and she feels inspired. She purchases a few skeins that are on sale and heads down to the Barnes and Nobles located within the same shopping complex. Once there, she makes her way to the craft section and proceeds to pick up another knitting book. This time it is Stitch and Bitch: The Knitters Handbook by Deb Stoller. This time, jsins learns not only the knit stitch but also how to purl and knits the ribbed scarf from the book for practice but does not finish it before taking the leap to knitting in the round. Heading to a LYS, she picks up a few better yarns and proceeds to embark upon a project that is a bit more interesting than a garter stitch scarf (not to diss the garter stitch scarf as I still wear my 10-foot behemoth to this day) and a love affair with knitting is born. In a single weekend, jsins creates the following:
While knitting the Adults Only Devil Hat, jsins learns how to knit in the round, seed stitch, who to pick up stitches, do i-cord, increase, decrease and cast on additional stitches. The monotony of endless garter stitch is over and an intrepid knitter is born.

Now, jsins has a number of FOs under her belt and the career hobbyist who bounced from hobby to hobby, new project to new project, has a hobby that can keep her interest long enough to finish a sweater (Egads, who'd have thunk it?) and to tackles socks with very thin yarn on extremely tiny needles. Why just last week she finished the following:

With Rusted Root, she tackled lace and stuck through even the portion of knitting a sweater when you knit and knit and knit and it doesn't seem to grow at all! She's learned how to customize a garment through shaping so that it fits her just the way that she wants it.

Upon casting off her UnRusted Root, jsins immediately cast on for Juliet and has progressed to the start of the lace portion. This is her first garment using bulky yarn and she is quite enamored with how quickly it is knitting up but must admit that she is also looking ahead to what she will cast on next.

I see the light! (well, the flash at least because my camera is back in business)

I have decided to make an attempt to lead a more organized and leisurely life than I have been. In that vein, I cleaned my house and organized nearly all of my stuff (notice the nearly, it's all about baby steps.) It didn't hurt that my roommate's family was coming to the house to visit so that I had a deadline to bring things to some reasonable sense of order. I took this picture of myself to document what too much cleaning and organizing can do to a person.

(Be afraid kiddies, be very afraid.)

While I've been cleaning I've been trying to get pictures of my projects and my stash for updating this blog and for making the most of my ravelry account. To that vein, I have some photos to share and project progress reports to make.

Let's start with the Finished Objects that I have just gotten around to getting pictures of and posting.

Candy Apple Gable

I love this sweater and wear it all the time.

Pattern: Green Gable by Sarah and Rachel of Zephyr Style

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece - 3 skeins in the Candy Apple colorway (80% cotton, 20% wool)

Needles used: Size 6 and size 4 knitpicks options

Date Started: June 23, 2007

Date Completed: July 15, 2007

Modifications: I was wary of knitting the medium size (36-39") so I added an additional increase row before separating for the sleeves. In hindsight, I realize that wasn't necessary and have not done so with the Rusted Root that I am currently knitting.

One Skein Wonder

A fun and quick knit. I didn't think I would wear it much but I've worn it quite a bit since I finished it.

Pattern: One Skein Wonder by Stephanie Japel

Yarn: Nassau by the Great Adirondack Yarn Co. - 1 skein in the Tourmaline colorway (50% silk, 50% cotton)

Needles used: Size 8 and size 6 Knitpicks Options

Date started: Late July

Date finished: Early August

Modifications: Changed the body trim to k2p2 rib rather than seed stitch. Used size 6 needles for the ribbing rather than the size 5s called for in the pattern.

Adults Only Devil Hat

Pattern: Adults Only Devil Hat by Kitty Schmidt from Stitch 'n Bitch: A Knitters Handbook by Deb Stoller

Yarn: Unknown hand dyed worsted weight wool

Needles used: Size 7 16" circulars and dpns

Modifications: None

Notes: This was my first non-scarf project knitted too long ago to accurately remember when but suffice it to say that it was about a year and a half ago. I learned knitting in the round, decreasing, using dpns, i-cord and picking up stitches from this project. It sure seems like a hell of a lot to learn from such a small project but it true. I would highly recommend either the Adults Only Devil Hat or the Official Kittyville Hat for beginning knitters to tackle as their first projects.

Now on to the UFOs:

I am currently working on an UnRusted Root, that I started about a week and a half ago. The picture is a little dated as I got to the point of separting the sleeves out. I will knit a few more rows before I try it on and update with a glamorous mirror shot when I get there.

Right before casting on for UnRusted Root, I finished the first of my Monkey socks.

I also pulled out my oldest UFO that I plan to actually finish by the end of the month so that I can wear it this fall. It is the Ticuna Vest.

Well, I'm a bit blogged out at the moment. There will be more knitterly adventures coming soon to a theater near you.

j.