Knitting: A new craft for 2024

I fell in love with the designs in this book.

I was now determined to learn how to knit well enough to make these hats.

The patterns were colorful and of images that I really wanted to try. The problem, or challenge, was that I hadn’t really every knitted, and it had been years since I had tried. The advantages that I had going for me was that my sister knits, my daughters purchased a knitting class for me, and the You Tube videos that I knew would be out there.

Before I even saw this book I was going to knit because my daughter wanted to try it, so we both got some supplies and I started with a simple scarf. I had to watch some videos to figure out how to cast on and how to do a purl stitch! Once I could complete a knit stitch, purl stitch and casting on, I was able to at least start.

Even with the scarf I was struggling with changes in the number of stitches that I had on the needle. I would start with 30 stitches and end up with 42! I could not figure out how that even happened, but once I tore the scarf down I did figure out that I had knit the yarn “tail” into the row.

To learn this new skill I logically came to the conclusion that I needed to make several scarfs. I started with a “knit” only scarf, then I advanced to one with just purl stitches, the last scarf was one row knit, and one row purl. I used cheap yarn, and I had to tear apart the scarves so many times due to my mistakes, but I was ok with this since I knew that I would learn from the mistakes.

After this I tried to make a very simple beanie hat. I was pretty excited! When I finished the hat and tried it on, it was disappointed because it was so loose. I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong. Plus there were little holes in the ribbing and I wasn’t sure what mistake I had made to create the holes.

This was my first simple beanie hat.

It was so loose that when I wore it outside it wouldn’t stay on and the ribbing had little holes in.

I was determined that I was going to learn this skill, since I wanted to knit the National Park hats. Therefore I kept asking my sister questions, watching more videos, and waiting impatiently for my class that was starting in February. I had promised specific hats to my daughter and son-in-law without a worry. I was sure that I would be able to figure this out.

Since starting this new craft I have figured out a lot of important skills, but I am still working out some equally important details. Here are the three National Park hats that I have made so far.

Mesa Verde Shenandoah Carlsbad Cavern

One Stamp, Many Looks

Recently I purchased a stamp from Colorado Craft Company named “Peonies Frame”. It had 3 main sentiments that fit into the frame; Happy Birthday, Sympathy, and Get Well. My thought was, it’s a beautiful stamp and would be very versatile. But how, I wondered, would I make it look different enough with just watercolor paint? Below was my first attempts at creating different moods for the sentiment that represent very different occasions.

I felt that using cool tones from the Get-Well card fit the mood. I used more abstract petal techniques in the teal flowers and a more concrete style with the light blue flower. With the blue flower I painted the darker top edge of the petals first and let it completely dry, then I added a lighter wash over it. This allowed me to see all of the details while I was painted.

For the birthday card I used brighter and cheery colors in the picture and a brighter blue for the art frame. I used more blending of colors on this card. I used wet on wet paint and then would add a second color while it was still damp to allow the second color to blend into the upper part of the flower.

I used subtle pastel colors to fit the style of the sympathy card.

The actual watercolor painting started out being more challenging. Part of what made it more difficult was the fact that the peonies have petals that are different sizes, different orientation, and even different shapes. If I painted the first layer of watercolor too dark or too thick, I could then not see the outline of the petals well enough to give them the correct detail. They ended up looking like a ball instead of a flower. I learned to lighted up my first wash of paint so that I could still see the detail and then I could outline the petals in a slightly darker shade. The other challenging thing with the stamp was that I had to really examine the structures to make sure which were leaves and what was flowers. My first step was to paint the leaves. I did this my turning the paper round and round and painting only what I was sure was a leaf. As I progressed the structures became more clear. Then I painted the buds, making sure to balance the colors. If there was yellow on one side the other side of the frame got yellow too, etc.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Sharing what I love

My goal in writing a blog about art is to share those crafts that I love and have learned about over the years. I have progressed and have learned from so many generous artist on You-tube and their own blogs. I want to give back too in my own style.

Appreciating your own style can sometimes be challenging for artists. Some of us play the compare game and find ourselves less worthy then our colleagues. This is something that I am getting better at, but I do have to remind myself that I am unique and my art will be in my own style and if I try hard to be true to myself I will succeed.

Additionally a strong influence and passion of mine has been learning about personal development. Over the years I have taught leadership classes, read hundreds of leadership and personal growth books. These experiences have made me a happier person who believes strongly in treating myself and others with respect, tolerance, and kindness. I love helping people grow, both in their artistic endeavors but also as human beings. This second passion of mine will probably peak out from time to time, since it is a big part of who I am.