Let's get it started, ha.

Remember when I told you I started crocheting when I was nine? Well, guess who just turned nine? That's right, we have a new crocheter in the family. Color me proud. I give you* my niece Hailey:

<--Totally presh.  And she has good taste in yarn.  Just look at that beautiful color selection!



She's got the eye. -->
The eye of the tiger.  ;)




Hailey has tried crocheting each year for the past two or three years, according to my sister.  Each time, the process proved vexing and was abandoned.  But now, at what I have determined is the magic age for crochet, she's off to the races!  To all you 8-year-olds out there, perseverance.  That's the key.  Stick with it and you, too, can make a beautiful blanket for your Miniature Schnauzer.  Yes, homegirl is quite fond of her dog.  But why not?  Dogs are great and deserving of homemade love, too.

*I do not actually intend to give you my niece. But you may admire her cuteness.

Cool cat, lookin' for a kitty.

A cautionary tale.

Friends, in the age of Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, texting, and yes, even my dear pal Instagram, one must take great care in the striking of the keys, lest their mis-type should create an entirely different verbal effect than the one intended.  There are so many opportunities in life nowadays to record our finger fumbles for posterity.  We must diligently "mind our P's and Q's."  We must unswervingly "cross our T's and dot our I's."  And we should probably pay some attention to our N's as well, as it turns out.

A rookie mistake and a rad result:

Two days ago, I posted a status on Facebook which was meant to say "knitting."  However, in one such moment of imprudent typing, I instead wrote the non-word "kitting."  The rookie mistake.

The rad result?  A witty friend of mine, with a keen editing eye, caught this mistake.  He sought clarification as to whether this "kitting" that I spoke of was, as he assumed, "knitting miniature scarves and hats for kittens."  I must say I think this will one day be my favorite flavor of knitting.  Then this happened:

Robot (left) and Zombo (right) modeling the digital prototype of their kit-wear.  Insert *LOL* here.

You know what?  No.  Throw caution to the wind.

Bird is the word.

Instagram is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  There, I've said it.  What's more fun than keeping up with what your friends and family are up to via an ever-cascading supply of funky filtered photos of their life and times?  Well, there may be a couple of things which are more fun.  But certainly not sliced bread.  Sliced bread pales in comparison to Instagram.  Why?  Because there's nothing stopping you from eating bread without slicing it.  Probably even tastes the same.  Instagram.  That's where it's at.

Speaking of Instagram, a couple weeks ago I posted a picture of my first knitting project of the season.  You see, I am typically disinclined to knit over the warm summer months.  I'm not sure if that is just due to the lack of necessity for wearing lovely yarned items to ward off the frigid South Dakota air that joins us for the winter months, or because I simply get distracted by squirrels a la that little dog from the movie "Up."  Anyway, I began knitting again a few weeks ago, and here is the finished product:

For any knitters reading, I found this pattern on a website called Ravelry.  Ravelry is also amazing!  Not as amazing as Instagram.  However, it is a wonderful resource for finding patterns, ideas, and general inspiration.  

This seemingly inconsequential owl mitt' posting has resulted in just that, inspiration.  There was a moderately surprising amount of encouragement from my photo sharing friends, followed by a renewal of ambition toward yarning creatively.  I am looking forward to designing some original patterns, which are currently forming somewhere in that region between my ears.  Until then, I'm busying myself replicating (though, slightly differently each time...variety is the spice of life) the above feathered friend for some folks who found this pattern to be as eye-catching as I did.  In case you're wondering, here's what that looked like today:

Sometimes, ripping the guts out of your skein to find the end bit is inevitable.  A cruel fact of life.

Sometimes, you need to drink tea out of a mug as big as your face.  In those times, it's best if that mug says your name on it.

Back to the topic of encouragement.  I first learned of the importance of this in elementary school.  The school guidance counselor, who was a wonderful man, decided to focus on encouragement with us rugrats one year.  How did that look?  It looked like an elementary guidance counselor wearing a red cape with a big gold "E" on the back.  Anyway, for those of you who have encouraged me in this, you know who you are, I give my sincere thanks.  I'm imagining you each in a flowing red cape with bedazzled "E" right now.  You look rad.

Right, then.  I'm off to Instagram a picture of some sliced bread.  Toodles!

Change my life like Oprah and Maya Angelou.

It happened again.  Yarn sale.  Danger mouse.

Feeling a touch nostalgic for my early days of knitting after reminiscing on that a bit yesterday.  As a result, I give you the "Maya Angelou" scarf.  My first knitwear!

This little guy took forever.  Many a delightful cup of coffee was consumed during the half a year or so of caffeine fueled chats it took to finish the Maya Angelou.  And now, for fun, an anecdote about how it came to be known as such.  An out of town friend came to stay with me and made the unexpected decision to go cross country skiing with another friend of ours.  Having not planned for this, she had not brought the appropriate winter wear for the adventure.  She searched around my place a bit, in hopes of finding some winter gear, only to discover the Maya Angelou.  Deciding that would suffice, she set off to commune with the out of doors.  After enjoying the brisk South Dakota air for some time, it became evident that her ears were in greater need of some knitted comfort than her neck.  Thus, the Maya Angelou was worn like this and received its moniker:

Classy, no?  

My dear people,

I warmly welcome you to my blog, which will hereafter chronicle my adventures in knitting!  Thank you, most sincerely, for visiting.  Whether you are a knitter, a fan of knitwear, or simply a supportive friend of mine, I hope you will find this blog to your liking.  Please come back from time to time, and feel free to be a part of the fun by leaving any comments you see fit.  Again, welcome!

I suppose I  should begin by telling you how knitting and I became acquainted.  I have been an avid crocheter since the age of 9, stubbornly holding out on knitting and staying very close to my crocheted roots.  In the early years A.C. (after college), one of the activities that proved to be a great source of joy for me was a regular crochet date with one of my best gal pals at a local java joint.  It seemed as though life would go on like that forever:  drinking coffee, talking about life, crocheting.  Then, one day, things changed.  A few years ago, on a whim, this lovely friend decided we ought to learn the basics of knitting and sought out a friend-of-a-friend who had the know-how to show us the ropes.  A date was set for a group of wanna-be-knitters to learn the basic "knit" and "purl" stitches.  The gathering took place on a Friday the 13th, and was brilliantly termed the "Friday the 13th Knitting Needle Massacre." It was then determined that I was "gaugey," and an irreversible crush on knitting was formed.  The rest is history.  I love knitting.  I love yarn!  Yarn is so beautiful.

Yarn is also dangerous.  Shortly after the great Knitting Needle Massacre, my friend and I found ourselves at a local craft store, for there was a yarn sale afoot.  She was, very appropriately, selecting the correct number of skeins for particular projects she had in mind for the knit-able portions of her Christmas list.  I, however, was gluttonously gathering all the lovely yarn I could manage to carry, without a care in the world or a thought as to what that yarn would become.  When my friend asked me what I was going to make, my immediate response was:  "Everything!"  So, while I've fallen short of that task thus far, I've enjoyed knitting varied things and look forward to doing the job more credibly now. Holler atcha girl if you have any bright ideas of knits that should be knit!

much love,
janny