Wednesday, January 7, 2009

It's Like Riding A Bicycle, Almost

When my kids were small, I did a lot of knitting. I made them hats, mittens, scarves and slippers. I even knitted sweaters for my DD. When we moved to AZ. they were too old plus we found there was not much demand for knitted things. The knitting needles and patterns got packed away. A couple of years ago, I fell in love with the new yarns they have now and knitted scarves for DD, DIL and myself on big needles, no pattern required.

When Colin saw the slippers that our neighbor gave us for Christmas, he really liked them. At six, he still believes his Nana can do anything, so there I was digging for the patterns and the needles! Looking at the patterns was fun because some of them go back to the mid 70's.

He loves camo and I was really happy when I found Red Heart yarn that was in the right shades to get a camo look. I was ready to knit and really looking forward to it.

I thought that it would be no problem to read a pattern that I had made many times before, even if it was 20 plus years ago. Ha ha! First off, I could not find the pattern that I thought I used to use. I have lots of slipper patterns but none seemed familiar. When I did find what I thought was it, it had several different sizes included in ( ) for each row. Yikes, I had a terrible time keeping my place and making sure I used the right part for my size slipper. After tearing it out multiple times, I sat down and wrote out the pattern with just the size I was using. Then, I marked off each row as I finished it so I knew where I was.

This is the end result. Colin is thrilled and will be happy when I finish the other foot! I won't give him his until I have a pair for Julia, so I am off today to see if I can find some more colorful yarn in girl colors. I am also going back to my patterns because this is not the one I used to make, mine did not have a cuff. So you can get back on that bicycle after a long time but that does not mean you will ride it well at first.




I have been thinking about goals for 2009. I found I was thinking more of what I did not want to do than what I wanted to do. Joining challenges and swaps means stress to finish and that does not work for me, so I need to challenge myself in someway. Not quite sure how to do that and have it work but, I do know what I want to do this year. I love to quilt but last year I realized that I like to do other things too. I was missing those things. So this year, I would like to get back to embroidery, knitting and more of the rag rug crochet. Finishing up several quilts that are partly done is another goal. So tune in now and then, not sure what you will find but plans are to enjoy the process more.

Other goals are to resume my de-clutter quest from last year and to spend more time reading and less time playing games on the computer! Then there is that lose some weight and get some exercise one................yuck!

8 comments:

Amelia said...

Camo looking slippers - how cute.

I am with you about no challenges or swaps or things like that. I have had enough deadlines and "have to" in my working years...don't want them now.

I am going to continue to quilt but not with the pressure (self imposed) to do alot each day.

De-cluttering - a big goal for this year.

Love from oklahoma

Amelia

Belvie said...

I used some of that camo yarn to knit DH a hat for hunting trips. Those slippers are going to be so cute for the little guy.

Goals for 2009....hmmmm....about the same as yours. We'll have to form a support group!

SueR said...

The slippers look really nice. I didn't know they made "camo" yarn, really cool. I am taking a sock knitting class tomorrow night--one of my goals this year to learn to knit socks. Should be very exciting...because I'm not a knitter! Luckily being an experienced knitter is not a prerequisite!

jovaliquilts said...

It's a really cute slipper. I hadn't knit for umpteen years and then decided to teach my daughters and it all came back -- except I learned later I had always purled incorrectly!
Good luck with your New Year's goals.

ZONE F DG TEAM said...

I thought perhaps you'd gotten the pattern from the neighbour lady.

Great work.

I'm sure you won't falter.

With kids their known to badger you till the job is complete...LOL

Marla said...

Love the slippers....I CANNOT KNIT! I am too uneven!! Sometimes my stitches are very, very tight and sometimes they are verrrry, verrry, loose! I gave up on it and crochet long ago. I'm in the envy what others do catagory now!

Lynda (Granny K) said...

Well done with the slipper! I've recently gone back to knitting and i'm so glad I kept all my old needles and patterns. I've even got a slipper one.....somewhere!

Femin Susan said...

seeing the slippers i guess you are good in knitting. those slippers look exquisite.