(Pattern is from the book Last-Minute Knitted Gifts)

This little guy was made by me for my little guy for his first Birthday! My baby boy Benj has amassed quite the collection of elephants in the past 366 days and I wanted to give him one, made with love, by me out of the same yarn I used to make his new born baby hat.

I think when I made the yarn choice I allowed the emotion and sentimentality of the project out weight the practicality of the materials, but you know, whatevs.

Lessons Learned:

1. This pattern is in the book in the “4 to 6 hour gift section”, it took me a whole lot longer than that to make this thing, which I am chalking up to the fact that I didn’t follow the directions EXACTLY as written because I thought I knew better.
2. Never assume you know better than a person who has a pattern published in a hard cover book.
3. I should never used variegated yarn for anything except socks.
4. Make sure you always pull your stitches extra tight when working with thin yarn. Once again, I decided to follow the directions written in the PUBLISHED BOOK and chose instead, on my own, to NOT double the yarn, as was instructed. This made making sure my stitches were worked tightly that much more important.
5. Never assume you know better than a person who has a pattern published in a hard cover book.

For Christy

Pattern: Head to Head Band

Needles: Size US 8

Yarn: Wool of the Andes Worsted in Black Berry

Lessons Learned:

1. Head bands are a super quick, easy knit and a great gift for the friends you have who are more stylish than you are. This pattern is very easy, very quick and looks stunning when finished.

So… I was enthralled in an episode of Vampire Diaries (don’t ask) and I started sewing up the seam on this hat incorrectly.

I sewed it by saying Purl, slip, Knit… Knit, slip, Purl rather than the correct way, which would have been Knit, slip, Purl… Purl, slip, Knit.

Lessons Learned

1. Do not get attached to pointless television shows while trying to do something important.
2. The seam actually came out looking rather cute. Stitching backwards just turns the edge out, rather than turning it in.
3. I will probably use this accidental knowledge again, but not on a hat with so much other stuff going on. This type of seam should be used when you want the seam to be a focal point, probably THE ONLY focal point.

This is a prototype of my own pattern I came up with while trying to make a hat for my daughter.

Lessons Learned:

1. When your daughter who hates hats asks for you to make her a hat DO NOT expect her to wear it… because she won’t. No matter what you do.
2. When making something up on the fly and totally out of the blue, make sure you have a pen and paper next to you so that you can write down everything you are doing, just in case you want to make another.

Lesson(s) Learned:

1. When working a project that requires a change in color throughout, remember that the yarn you are working is the yarn already on the needle, not the yarn that is in your hand. So think and plan ahead!

Seriously?! How irritating.

Lessons Learned:

1. Although hand winding a hank into a ball is time consuming, its also worth it. You can find out where the imperfections are in the yarn and plan your piece accordingly.

(Source: knittwit)

Derrrrrrrrrr aka: “The ladder effect”

Lessons Learned:

1. Here

Lesson(s) learned:
I just realized that you can measure how much yarn you are using per knit row by measuring your working yarn and placing a marker (bead, tied on piece of yarn, whatevs…) at a determined length. If you get to the marker before the row is done, just measure a little bit more, and place the marker a little bit further down the working end of the yarn.

I was just about finished with one ball of yarn and needed to end on a purl row. I was about to cut and ditch the excess, but I decided to measure how much I was using. I actually worked 6 rows more than I thought I could.

I just maximized the ball, and minimized the waste.

I feel pretty smart right now… Pretty damn smart.