Inspiration hampered by slowly emerging skills

Well I have tons of ideas for knit designs, I just don’t quite have the skills to bring them into reality! So I’m making myself slow down a bit. I’m going to see if I can finish a project or two from patterns and swatch a bunch of different fibers so that I can get a feel for how they work up. I’m doing some Knit Picks Wool of the Andes right now and I’m not sure what I think of working with wool. Most of the books I have read sing the praises of wool as a fiber. I have never been a fan of wool sweaters, they feel like sandpaper to me. I almost always buy cotton sweaters. I think that I will probably end up liking blends best.

My speed in increasing my skills and experience is severely limited by the fact that I don’t know one single person that knits. In fact, I don’t think I have ever actually watched anyone else knit! I come from a crocheting family. My Mom and Grandmother are big crafters but neither of them knit. Now that I think of it I have only seen a couple of people besides my Mom and Grandma crochet! For all I know the way I do it is completely screwy.

One of my priorities is to find a way to hook in with some kind of local knitting group. One LYS has a Stitch ‘n Bitch group but I havn’t been able to work it out to make it there when it’s happening’. I’m not sure how many people around here actually knit. I know there are a ton in NYC but I’m out of range of getting in there to connect with some people really serious about it.

Anyway I will keep on plugging away and hopefully work in some new techniques. A few that I would like to explore:

• Norwegian Lusekufte (Fair Isle)
• Lace
• Socks

That is a pretty general list and it may be awhile before I get that far but I’m looking forward to experiencing something beyond st. stitch swatches.