Knitting Dragonflies

I started this sweater in the fall of 2012. I’m sure some of you have projects like this. Not disliked enough to frog,  but can’t get going enough to finish them. I got this sweater out repeatedly and counted and looked and deduced where I was in the pattern & usually knit another inch or so and then it went back to sleep in my bag. I finally decided to finish it or frog it. I gave myself permission to finish it and it was ok if it wasn’t perfect or even fit me. Sometimes I just need to jump in and create, I tend to be a perfectionist and that can leave me to think way too much and stop the creative process. This is a top down knitted sweater, I love knitting in one piece in the round, this is only the 2nd sweater I’ve knitted from the top down. I’ve done numerous bottom up in the round sweaters and didn’t think I would like top down. Well I love it. It is so easy to try on as you go and keep an eye on the fit. I modified this pattern quite a bit in the years. There is so...

I am in love with top down and bottom up in the round construction for sweaters. Consequently I’m always on the look out for books that use this technique. Wendy’s Custom Knits came out around 2008. I purchased this book off of Amazon without being able to look through it. (I will buy in the round sweater books sight unseen, *grin*). I very much liked the style of the sweater shown on the front cover. I expected this book to be a bit more user friendly for beginning knitters. (like Elizabeth Zimmerman books, she takes you by the hand and leads you through the process if needed, otherwise knit on), I do like her advice of finding styles that work for you, look at the bought sweaters that you own, and flatter you. My favorite is her “reality checklist” for picking a pattern out. I am especially guilty of seeing a photo of a women in a field of flowers, who looks nothing like me, wearing a lovely sweater and have to buy this pattern and yarn. If you follow her checklist, it will elimina...

I’m on a mission to finish as many UFO’s as possible and stash bust. Hats are a great way to quickly knit up some misc balls of yarn. Put them away now for gifts when the weather turns cool. They are great for “to go” knitting, small enough to fit into your purse or bag, and fun. I had some bulky yarns, and my crochet needle out from my Laguna Sun Hat, so I created this hat! I think it turned out super cute and it was fast. I used the Sun Hat pattern with bulky yarn, I would like to try it with cotton also. Someone suggested jute or hemp to make a Laguna Sun hat, in my yarn bin I found some long forgotten hemp that was originally meant for a basket, (it has been a LONG time since I made baskets). It turned into a super cute hat! I added another bulky yarn to the left over yarn from this hat and created this slouchy hat on big needles knitted flat. Here is the beginning, and I just knitted along in a k1, p1 pattern until I was almost out of yarn and then did several row...