Knit one, purl one.....

Yup I'm learning to knit!  Back story - Last Monday (was a public holiday here) and I got a phone call from my Nan asking me if I could have a look on the net and see if I could find any patterns for knitted cushion covers.  I accepted and commenced looking and a couple of hours later had five very different patterns to take to her. #she really gave me no clue what type of pattern she wanted but I think she was happy with my selections! 

So whilst hunting I saw some amazing knitted blankets that I just had to make......but first I probably should have someone show me how. 

eleventh hour blanket - The Purl Bee

So I asked my step mum if she knew how, she pulls out two (very different sized) needles and one small tatty looking ball of black yarn and shows me how to 'cast on' (yeah I know the lingo!!) so I practice this and and get 12 stitches cast on (I really don't know whether I'm using it correctly at all, but I'm going with it!).  So then she shows me knitting plain stitch (is what she called it), after a few rows of this she shows me purl and I'm alternating rows of stitches and when I check how many stitches I have there are 15 hmm so I keep going for a bit and recount, this time I have 18 hmmm, by the end of the night I was double the stitches I initially started with (yeah I don't know what I was doing but people I asked tell me I was probably splitting stitches). 

Moss stitch with Nan's guidance.

Following day I am looking after my aunties baby and Nan calls around.  As luck would have it I have my odd needles and yarn on hand and she runs me through some stitches.  I show her the pattern I want to make and she gives me some advice and pointers so once sitting is over I scoot over to Spotlight and pick up a circular needle and some thick yarn to set about making my blanket (for a friends baby shower on April 1st, cutting it a bit fine don't you think?)

Casting on

After a couple of rows

So now I just needed a project bag............and as luck would have it I had this little beauty pinned and just needed an excuse to make it.

Renskes minimalist tote bag - Design Sponge

I love my new bag.  It's a bit different and has a bit of a nautical feel (you know I love the nautical).  I also didn't have any rivets so I just used press studs that I had on hand to attach the strap and yup the flowers are there to cover my mistake.  I put the poppa in on the wrong side so made these little felt flowers to cover and hand stitched them on.  (for the flowers I just drew four different sized flowers (twice) on a piece of felt, then cut them out, easy peasy!!!) So now I'm set to take my knitting anywhere.