Sunday, January 31, 2016

Conversations with knitters and a double knitting adventure!

Top of BF's hat.  I haven't taken any others yet.
Today I volunteered at the US Botanic Garden, and I met a lovely mother and daughter who knit!  I had been talking earlier that morning with Lani (our wonderful visitor's service desk person....I don't know her exact position, she's my friend who works at the front desk!) about knitting my hat, and one for the BF, and one for my dad, and I had mentioned the BF had a really itchy hat and that's why he wanted a new one.  Well, these ladies came in, with cute Baa-ble hats on, so Lani noticed and remarked to them that I also knit, and hats are itchy, and oh, they should come find me in the Garden.  I was giving a tour, which meant I was a moving target, so we didn't actually meet up in the greenhouses.  However, we did meet up at the front desk, and we chatted for a good ten minutes - just about different yarns and patterns, how hats are itchy, and that when we make hats, everyone else seems to want one too!  They had had to knit new hats for other people as well!  It was nice to talk to another knitter - we knew a little bit about yarns, patterns, Ravelry, it was so great to share information!

Lovely bromeliad from the Garden today!
I really do need to go to a knit night or something.  But I'm so shy when approaching groups of people.  I don't do small talk really well, so going up to a group of strangers, who all seem to know each other since they've been doing this for a while, it's so fear-inducing!  I just need to follow Steve's advice, and build up 20 seconds of courage!  It's not like anyone's going to laugh at me, which is mostly what I fear the most.  They'll probably just say hey, ask a few questions, then continue knitting.  And I can join in the conversation when I want to.  It's silly how shy I am when I write it like that!!  When I finally get another project on the needles (I just finished one, see below), I'll stop by one Thursday!

Gotta be brave like this chilling lion - coated in snow from the big storm!
I do have one group I really do want to participate in.  It's called Project Knitwell.  It's based in DC, and it provides knitting instructions for wellness and stress-relief to patients, doctors, and those who have to wait in the waiting room!  It's really intriguing, and it's another way I can make someone's day.  They also have started working with SOME (So Others Might Eat), which has put a notion in my head that maybe we could also organize to work with Miriam's Kitchen, where I also volunteer.  They already have art therapy / Miriam's craft studio, and they have knitting notions, so it would be good for a group to go in and help teach!  I've contacted the group to see when I can do a volunteer training and what sort of samples they need knit up.  They do have a training on February 22, but that's a Monday, and the training is over in Falls Church or something, so I'm checking to see if they have anything more local for me.  I'll report back when I hear a response!

Onto project news - I made a double knit dishcloth!  Check it out!




 It wasn't meant to be a face, but I was just playing with switching colors, and that's how it ended up!  I'm really impressed with it, plus look how cool it is - reverse images!  wooo!  I used this tutorial from Very Pink Knits to learn how to do double knitting.

I then got frustrated with the speed of the knitting and the yarn getting all tangled in my hands, so I decided to learn how to knit continental style, so I could hold the yarn with both hands.  I mostly used this video from Craft Sanity to learn how to knit continental.  End result?  See below for my hands knitting both English and continental!  And no, I'm not slowing down to demonstrate, I really do knit that slow.  This is why I need to do more knitting - practice means I'll get faster!!  My tension is also waaay different in Continental.  Super loose.



Purling in Continental



Knitting in Continental

Apparently now YouTube does moving previews to the next video?  Instead of still images?  That's not distracting at all!

Have a wonderful week - I'll leave you with this:

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