A Bug in my System

Can’t Knit until I feel better. My throat sounds like it’s filled with mylar cat toys. My temperature keeps fluctuating and my joints ache– for almost a week now. But not to worry, I’ll be back practicing in no time…

If You Want to Destroy My Sweater . . . Or Scarf?

So, I have only been knitting now for a few weeks, and this is my first blog post, so go easy on me. And I will apologize now for the shameless Weezer reference in the title . . . I couldn’t help myself.

Knitting. It was this crazy idea that was born from some pretty insane knitting books on Amazon. My co-worker Tim and I aspire to be able to knit small animals like cats and squirrels and other small woodland creatures. Upon starting this knitting venture, I realized pretty quickly just how difficult it would be to knit one of these. . .

Anyway, back to the task at hand, a scarf. Probably the easiest, most basic project I can complete with my beginner knowledge. I found some amazing chunky yarn at Michael’s this weekend and it was 50% off. Of course with that kind of deal, I had to buy it and set out to make a chunky multi-colored scarf. So, while shirking my adult responsibility of dishes and laundry on Saturday, I set my mind to learning how to switch yarn colors in the middles of a project.

I am still fervently practicing my knit stitch. Whenever I practice my purl, I feel like it doesn’t quite look right, so I am just sticking with the knit until I have it down. So, the scarf is super simple with only one stitch. But, if you are just starting out with knitting, I think this is the best way to go. It makes more sense to just practice the moves and get your hands and fingers used to the procedure of knitting before going into more advanced moves.

Now, seeing as how this is Knitflix, I feel like I need to share with you what I am watching while all this knitting is happening. There is a part of me that is a little embarrassed to admit, but I am actually “power” watching episodes of Dance Moms. Yes. That is not a typo. I am totally addicted to the crazy drama that these moms create in the lives of their children who just want to dance with their friends. It blows my mind that these moms are so oblivious to how their antics impact these kids and their experience dancing. . .

Side note, it should be mentioned here that my cat is not impressed by my knitting skills or my choice in video streaming. My main goal is to keep him from eating yarn at this point.

So, back to stitching. I had to watch several tutorials on adding new colors. It seems as though everyone has an opinion on how to do this. I had to let go of my perfectionist traits and just go with it. I am not sure if I am super happy with what is happening. If I didn’t have so much work already put into to this project, I might have decided to pull the string. But, it was a lot of work, and as my husband said, worst case is we could donate it to Goodwill.

At this point, I am almost done with the scarf. I am actually pretty happy with the look of it. I know I can do better and all I can do for now is keep practicing!

rib stitch practice

the future unraveling stitch

Yes today, through all of my housework and parental obligations I am going to practice my rib stitch. A rib stitch is one that creates a “ribbed” design in your work; two knit stitches and two purl stitches; that’s how it’s supposed to go. But in my case it will probably go 5 knit 3 purl 18 knit, 1 purl….unravel, laundry, vacuum, clean the bathroom, aspirin, start the whole thing over. But that’s okay.

In the end my scarf should look like something you would find at fine retailers like Wal Mart, Rite Aid or Goodwill. No matter, a good documentary, some nice lighting and I should be level-minded enough to work through my frustration.

I did notice a documentary on Netflix about the earthquake in Japan not too long ago, “Megaquake: Hour that shook Japan” but every time I watch a show about earthquakes, I tend to imagine that I’m feeling one at any given moment. My husband gets sick of me asking, “Did you feel that?”

It’s So Exciting!

Our traffic to this site has been phenomenal!Thank you all you curious wanna-be knitters and Netflix watchers! My son was a little upset with me last night. I wanted to change the yarn I was using because I was getting frustrated with the rib stitches I was doing. I pulled out a ball of blue yarn and started another scarf. My son walked in, saw me and got this sad look on his face. I forgot that I bought him this yarn for his finger knitting projects. Hundreds of dollars on Christmas gifts, a trip to Disneyland and  Xbox games, it’s the ball of cheap yarn he’s upset about! He’s just like me.

Listen, learning to knit is easy! Basically you’re making a knot on a needle and transferring it to another one. But hey, it took me a little while to even figure that out. The good news is, is that this site is more than just knitting, and more than just watching Netflix. Whether you prefer one over the other, or something else entirely, we may have you covered. So head on up to the top of this page, or wherever the “follow” button is and click it. This is going to be fun!

Welcome Knitters, Netflix watchers, or both!

We’re just a group of knitters watching Netflix streams. We sometimes do one or the other, or both. I’m such a beginner, that I can’t do both right now, but I can listen. If I try to do both, I end up forgetting if I did a knit stitch or a purl stitch. I have ripped apart many scarves because of this inability to concentrate. And having two children who seem to want to talk over each other, invade my space at its quietest, and bicker with each other doesn’t really help either. Ah well, I’ll get them back when I knit them socks as a Christmas present next year.