My Knitting Journey

Anyone ready for an essay? I decided to update my Ravelry bio, and thought I'd share some of it here too. I put a short little blurb about myself at the top and then the long story, if anyone has the courage to brave through it. Welcome to the long of it...

I learned to crochet at seven or eight, taking lessons with my two older brothers from a lady who went to our church. My grandma had been crocheting baby blankets for my siblings ever since I could remember, so the craft was fairly familiar to me. I enjoyed crocheting a lot and for my ninth birthday my grandparents bought me some yarn and a book called Knitted Babes. (Link leads to Ravelry, please exercise caution!) I had seen a book for crocheted dolls once, but they couldn’t find it and thought this one was the next best thing. And am I glad they did! I saw the dolls and knew I had to learn how to knit so I could make them.

At nine and a half, I mastered the knit stitch and a few months later I had purling down too. My first real project was a Knitted Babes doll, not something normal like a scarf. And though I had some issues and put the project in time-out for a few weeks, I found a way, finished the doll, and I’ve been knitting ever since. Over half my life by now!!

I spent my preteen years knitting and crocheting dolls and selling the occasional one to friends-and in rare situations, strangers. I also made multitudes of hats, scarves, mittens, and socks for my parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents every Christmas. There were a few shawls, baby blankets, throws, and sweaters in the mix, too.

Ravelry introduced me to the world of independent designers and after months of research (i.e. reading through hundreds of helpful posts on the forums), I self-published my first pattern at fourteen.

Since then, I’ve published several patterns, a few with the support of indie dyers and yarn companies, which were awesome experiences. I’ve also submitted work to various publications, though my proposals haven’t quite “fit the bill”…yet. I’m thankful to have had the experience, to be able to say, ”I’ve submitted to magazines!”, and to not be stymied (nerd alert!) by the “rejections”.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing my work, seeing what others create with it, and being a part of the wonderful designers’ and knitters’ community here on Ravelry. I look forward to designing more in the future!

But I do love the freedom of being able to decide when I want to design. Sometimes, I’d just rather work on personal projects, be it socks or a sweater or a gift for a friend. I think knitting should be fun, and I try to let it be that way for me as much as possible!

Change is in the Air

I've decided to expand this blog to include all of my yarn and knitting adventures. I've updated my blog description and profile to reflect this. This blog is now "the ongoing saga of a slightly nerdy girl and her love for all things yarn and knitwear". So you'll be seeing more of my non-designing knitting projects, random posts about pretty yarn I've acquired (or want to acquire, I suppose), and other thoughts on knitting. I'm excited about this change! It will be nice to have all of my knitting thoughts in the same place, and hopefully, it will make this blog more enjoyable to read!

I have quite a few non-designing projects going on right now, but I don't have any good pictures of them to share. It's the time of year where I really start to think about knitting sweaters and all those lovely cold weather accessories. I knit a lot of those in the summer too, but the cool weather and the promise of autumn makes me think about them even more.

Right now, I'm working on a shrug in a many-hued hand-dyed cotton/silk yarn. I started it back in May and planned on wearing it at my high school graduation, but it's still not done. :) Also on the needles is a striped blanket for a baby cousin of mine that is due in October. I have a few projects that have been sitting around for quite a while as well. One is a cabled shawl I started last September that I haven't touched since and a swatch for a textured tunic-my first true sweater! All of the other garments I've made for myself are sleeveless or short-sleeved. I'm hoping that this season will be the season of sweaters for me. I have several sweater quantities in my stash and patterns picked out for them, so all I need to do is cast on! Makes me happy just thinking about it!

Well, that's about it for now. Next time, I hope to have a few pictures of a cowl I finished last week. I need to weave in the ends and block it before Sunday...

Hi!

I am a 14 year old designer who just recently started publishing designs, and I started this blog as a way to tell others about my designs and where I am as a designer. I am very excited to share this journey!