Lessons Learned!

I finished the shawl that I was knitting with the yarn I bought at Stephen and Penelope in Amsterdam while we were on our knitting cruise to Australia and New Zealand.  The entire time I was knitting it I complained about how I did not like it, I was not happy with how it was turning out, how it was not a fun knit and on and on.  I was just not thrilled with it.  I stuck it out, I finished it.  I steamed it out, clipped off all the ends and voila!! It is fabulous!  It is long enough to wrap around and stay on my shoulders, it is soft, the colors are fab...I could not be happier.  My take away is this, don't give up!

I spent a good part of this afternoon learning the Italian Bind Off method so I could bind off the front part of the vest I am making for my little Olivia.  This was a challenge, but well worth it.

Italian Bind off

 I will suggest that if you are interested in trying this super stretchy and very smart looking tubular bind off you should refer to the Brooklyn Tweed You Tube video. After I tried a few I found that this video was the easiest to follow and understand.

I have to share a picture of my little angel in the sweater I surprised her with.  Her mom asked if I could make it for her when we saw a sample in the Tangled Ball in Edgewater, CO.

Olivia!

Meanwhile, my classes are just amazing me! Everyone is super enthusiastic and ready to work and learn. I am trying to put together a list of free and easy patterns in a links list to help my students find a project that is suitable to work on.  I found this cool pattern for pants! Joost pants by Lion Brand I may try to make these!  I will attach the links to the end of each blog post.