I can't believe that we are almost at the end of the 2012 Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. It has been great so far and I really enjoyed working with a different topic each day.
So, what have we got in store for today? Well, this of course:
Improving Your Skillset
3KCBWDAY6
How far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be? Are you comfortable with what you know or are you always striving to learn new skills and add to your knowledge base? Take a look at a few knitting or crochet books and have a look at some of the skills mentioned in the patterns. Can you start your amigurumi pieces with a magic circle, have you ever tried double knitting, how's your intarsia? If you are feeling brave, make a list of some of the skills which you have not yet tried but would like to have a go at, and perhaps even set yourself a deadline of when you'd like to have tried them by.
I am always looking at improving my skills.
When you consider that I actually started knitting about 40 years ago I should pretty much be an expert, right? But I am not, because my once loved craft fell by the wayside when I hit my late twenties and I only re-discovered it last year.
As a crocheter I would still class myself as beginner as there are many ordinary stitches I still cannot do. But every year I progress in my skills and look at improving what I am already capable of doing plus add some new techniques to try.
If I don't challenge myself I get bored. There is nothing I detest more than becoming stagnant.
I can still recall last year when I tried so hard to get my head around a Granny Square.
Don't laugh, folks - I was incapable of creating the easiest stitch pattern around and I was in tears about it. I looked at You Tube tutorials, step by step photo patterns, charts, etc but I just did not get it. The worst part was that I was able to follow instructions that were classed as intermediate or advanced really easy, but the humble Granny had me stumped. But I did not give up, I tried again and again and again and after one month of continuous attempts I was there and finally cracked the Granny Square.
The problem I had was that it was too easy...I was used following more complex instructions and the sheer simplicity completely threw me, isn't that just the weirdest thing ever?
But I digress - there are still so many techniques and skills and I wish to learn in knitting and crocheting and to keep it at an achievable target, here is what I am hoping to learn in 2012:
When you consider that I actually started knitting about 40 years ago I should pretty much be an expert, right? But I am not, because my once loved craft fell by the wayside when I hit my late twenties and I only re-discovered it last year.
As a crocheter I would still class myself as beginner as there are many ordinary stitches I still cannot do. But every year I progress in my skills and look at improving what I am already capable of doing plus add some new techniques to try.
If I don't challenge myself I get bored. There is nothing I detest more than becoming stagnant.
I can still recall last year when I tried so hard to get my head around a Granny Square.
Don't laugh, folks - I was incapable of creating the easiest stitch pattern around and I was in tears about it. I looked at You Tube tutorials, step by step photo patterns, charts, etc but I just did not get it. The worst part was that I was able to follow instructions that were classed as intermediate or advanced really easy, but the humble Granny had me stumped. But I did not give up, I tried again and again and again and after one month of continuous attempts I was there and finally cracked the Granny Square.
The problem I had was that it was too easy...I was used following more complex instructions and the sheer simplicity completely threw me, isn't that just the weirdest thing ever?
But I digress - there are still so many techniques and skills and I wish to learn in knitting and crocheting and to keep it at an achievable target, here is what I am hoping to learn in 2012:
- Crocheting - Broomstick Lace
- Knitting - a pair of socks
Do NOT beat yourself up over not being able to make a granny square. Those suckers are difficult, I've been trying to learn for about a year and a half now unsuccessfully, and we are not the only ones. They are challenging. Also, you definitely have to knit a pair of sock this year! I'm really looking forward to seeing the yarn and the pattern you might pick out!
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