#15. Knitting Nooks

 

I am lucky to have several knitting nooks in my home.  I have an indoor knitting nook.  It’s literally a nook off the “toy/rec room” that our kids enjoyed while growing up.  The nook had a tv, cabinet, and “video” chairs for playing video games and watching DVD and CD movies when the boys were growing up.  The video game playing moved out to the main room several years ago when we moved a large screen tv to the rec room where movies could also be streamed..  That left the nook empty.  I moved an old love seat we’ve had since we got married, our first piece of furniture we purchased, to one side of the nook.  The shelves that used to hold movies now hold photos and candles.  A small flat screen tv fits in a corner.  Now that I’ve started knitting, project bags and yarn add to the decor.

This is a great nook!  It’s quiet as my husband rarely ventures to this upstairs rec room.  I keep one of the the cats here because she doesn’t get along with our original cat.  The rec room is 800 square ft plus the nook is another 50 square ft so she has plenty of space.  She enjoys curling up on the couch with me as I knit.  It’s air conditioned for the summer heat and heated for the winter.  The rec room had lots of natural light and the nook has a huge half round window as well.  A wonderful space with WiFi and a phone.

Now that Mother’s Day has passed it’s finally safe to put out flowers.  So the hanging baskets are hung in the lower deck.  I’ve even added some small pots of flowers sitting on the side rails and pots with young mimosa trees decorate the corners.  It’s a beautiful setting for knitting in the morning or late afternoon.  It will be a wonderful spot through September when the leaves will change and fall.

I’m thankful for my beautiful knitting nooks.  That doesn’t mean I don’t look forward to Friday mornings when some of us from Silk Road Textiles gather together to knit and talk.  It’s fun to talk about future projects and yarns.  I’m so glad I’ve discovered knitting and making new friends through knitting.  Life is so good!!!

Advertisement

#14. Lots of Projects

Compared to some, I’m a “piker” but I currently have six knitting projects on needles (WIPs) and will start a seventh tomorrow.  Yikes!!  I sure didn’t mean to do this.  But this year there have been so many knitting classes that I wanted to take to expand my skills and keep knitting interesting, that I have bitten off too much.

I’ve learned that I can’t really take two classes at once.  This year I took sock classes and sweater classes over the same period.  Since I’m new to socks it still takes me 4-6 weeks to knit one sock.  Then I need another 4-6 weeks to knit the match.  This will get faster but currently I also always make mistakes requiring me to rip out and reknit which adds to how long it takes to complete a project.

Then I also get overly optimistic on how much knitting I’ll get done on a trip.  I started two pairs of socks thinking I’d get a lot of knitting done on vacation or college visit trips with Jared.  Hence I have three pairs of socks started in addition to the pair I just started in a new class this month.   So that’s four pairs of socks started.  I’m having to buy more sock needles!!

Finally I have a sweater for my daughter.  It’s been on hold a few weeks awaiting her visit next week.  I need to check the body and arm length on her to determine how much more is needed.  Sadly I found an error in the pattern on the body front so after I confirm the desired final length, I have to rip back 6″ to fix the error.  As I said, making mistakes is a big reason it takes me so long to complete a project.

Tomorrow I take a scarf project with the objective of learning how to knit continental. I’m hoping that style of knitting will be easier on my shoulder and wrist (getting old sucks).  Fortunately it’s an incredibly easy pattern so it will be good for knitting while watching TV.  I have been working on a prayer shawl for a year.  It’s such a large project 20″x60″ that it’s taking a very long time.  Plus with all the classes I’ve taken, the shawl always takes a back seat.

My goal for the summer is to complete these WIPs.  Then I have plenty of yarn already purchased for making more socks, a scarf, and a sweater.  With Jared going to college in Alaska, it will be interesting to see if I get any requests for socks, hats, and/or scarfs.