Organised - My "Sampler" Needle Tidy

In Paris, I had to be conservative about the quantity of my possessions as I had to somehow get them back to the UK. Once back in Brighton, I had a knitting spree and ended up with a messy pile of wool and needles.

This called for a needle tidy.

Using some aran yarn (I forget the brand) and a vintage headscarf that I had picked up from a market years before, I designed the following:

Heartbreak in Paris - The First Two Jumpers

Jumper Number One

In January 2007, whilst living in Paris, I decided to knit my first jumper. I chose this little beauty from the vintage book I used to teach me how to knit.

I took a trip to the wonderful BHV in the Marais, and got a big whoosh of excitement when the amazing yarn department came into view as I came to the top of the escalator. My enthusiasm took a bit of a blow however when I saw how expensive all the yarn was. Like many knitting virgins, I had been in a little "I'm-going-to-save-money-by-knitting-my-own-clothes" bubble.

I picked up the cheapest yarn I could find, some nasty whiter-than-white nylon two-ply, handed over 16 odd euros and rushed home to start knitting.

I spent hours knitting away, days, weeks. About halfway through, I realised that I had made a fundamental error. I was still using my mothers 4mm's, (including the broken one with a blue-tack stopper on the end), and they weren't compatible at all with the ugly yarn I was using ...and to top it all off, neither the yarn or the needles were compatible with the pattern.

I kept on going nonetheless. I finished all the blocks. I stitched together the front and back and knit the neckband. I tried it on, I couldn't get it over my head. I wasn't experienced enough to realise that I could unpick the neckband and re-do it in a looser cast-off, (oh the glory of hindsight). I threw the torso of the jumper into the corner of my room, chucked the arms on top, and forgot about the lot until it was time for me to move back to the UK. My first jumper didn't make it to England, I left it for the Parisian bin men.

Jumper Number Two

Still in Paris and feeling sensitive after my first jumper attempt, I bit the bullet and started another project. A little fairisle number from book 13 of the Rowan Classic Alpaca range.

This is what their version looked like:

...and here is mine:

My fairisle wasn't bad for a first attempt

Rowan baby alpaca is a really nice yarn to knit with.

It's been a couple of years since I've worn it, and it is rather bit mis-shapen now. But I'll always love my first completed jumper.

The Ugly Beginning

I am a knittaholic. Completely obsessed with it. If I won the lottery I would buy myself a knitting shop and sit on a rocking chair knitting day in day out. I'm 27.

Take a look on the internet and it is immediately apparent that I am not alone in knitting at a (relatively) young age. But try saying that to the 50% of people who compare me to their nanna when I admit to my favourite past time. The other 50%, (and these statistics are completely pulled from nowhere), tell me that they wish they could knit but they were never taught how.

There is a common misconception that you can't learn to knit on your own. That's so untrue!!! I did ...sort of. At the age of 9 or 10 my late grandmother taught me knit stitch and purl stitch, I produced an unfinished stripey scarf in peach and mint, (gran did the colour changes for me), of just over a foot and then forgot all about knitting for 15 odd years. I tell a lie, I did think about knitting, however I hadn't been taught how to cast on or cast off, so I couldn't actually knit anything.

Fast forward to Christmas 2005 and faced with a week at my parents, I decided that I'd try to learn how to knit again. I bought some bargain wool, pinched some size 4's from my mother, (one of which had lost its stopper and so had a big glob of blue-tack on the end), and went hunting through ma's book collection looking for a knitting for beginners book.

No such luck. ...This is what I found

One of my gran's old books. It doesn't have a date on it, but judging from the contents I'd guess it was from the 40's.

I'd completely forgotten all that my gran had taught me so I essentially learnt from scratch.

The Ugly Beginning

I can't believe I'm going to share my first project with you. It's not a pretty sight. The rationale, I guess, is to prove to those sceptic knitting virgins amongst you that it is possible to learn how to knit on your own. AND that you must keep your faith that you will get there one day, even if you don't get it right the first, second or even the third attempt.

Here goes ...don't judge me...

1. Some beautiful garter...ahem



2. Stripes for a bit


3. An attempt at rib ...at that stage of my knitting career it took a lot of concentration to knit even a simple rib and so I went back to...


4. Stripes again


5. Then I tried to get adventurous with block colours. It didn't work.


6. Another attempt at rib




7. Then I got carried away and tried something fancy. Like it?




8. Quite why I tried a pleat before mastering a cable I don't know, it almost worked, ish.




9. Then I got cocky and tried three at once...




10. An attempt at a simple lace pattern just looked like bad 'holey' knitting.


11. Not sure what this is...




12. Cables!




13. ?!?




14. Hmmm




15. It looks ok all folded up doesn't it? I'll never wear it, but on the same token I'll never chuck my first finished object. I'm rather attached to it.






If I had to learn all over again


1. I'd forgo my gran's ancient knitting book, (romantic as it was learning from something so old), for this fab book.




2. I'd take a look at the hundreds of "how to" knitting videos available on you tube.