there's always something new to learn

i recently celebrated my fifth anniversary of knitting.  even tho i've been knitting for a while, i'm always looking for a new skill to learn.  last year i conquered a few knitting fears:  lace shawls, mittens and a sweater.

i knitted two shawls last year:  multnomah (aka it takes balls to be a butterfly):







and faraway, so close:




i started my third shawl, clara.  clara is currently in the testing stages - she was designed by a member of HAPL in memory of her daughter.  proceeds from the sale of clara will be donated to the march of dimes.  clara is the first shawl i'm knitting that uses a chart.  i've gotten a lot of encouragement from other knitters to try charts.




i'm still working on the garter portion of the shawl - i've been busy cranking on my log cabin baby blanket and march socks - but i'm okay with that.  clara's still has a few bugs, so i'm banking on by the time i'm ready for the charts, the bugs will be ironed out.

clara is also my first dip into the testing pool.  well, others are deeper in the pool than i am.  but it's still pretty exciting!



last year i also knitted mittens.  for a long time, i was afraid to knit mittens becos the thumb gusset intimidated me.  i got over that fear pretty quickly and for a while i cranked out the mitties.  this pair kicked off my new obsession:




my mmmmalabrigo mitties:




the kick ass red mitties that went to the boy's teacher:




my kick ass red mitties:




this mitten got frogged:



in a few days you'll find out why this mitten got frogged!


lastly, i got over my sweater fear and knitted a baby sweater for my cousin:




not only did i knit a sweater, but also sewed a zipper into it.  w00t!  i want to knit two more sweaters for the kiddos, becos they are quickly outgrowing the ones they have now.  where to find the time to do it...


there's still a lot for me to learn.  in a few months the KDO catalog will be out and i'll pick classes for new skills to learn (rumor has it there will be a drop spindle class - that's probably my biggest goal of all, to learn to spin...)


no matter how long a knitter knits, there's always something new to learn...