Yarn Lessons

Back in March I was so jazzed about knitting a sweater from yarn I reclaimed from a thrift store sweater. Once I frogged it back I had a pile of yarn to work from! But the more I knitted, the more I found thin spots in the yarn that needed to be removed and then spliced back together. I'd been excited to find out I was working with home spun yarn, but now I had my doubts! I couldn't knit a single row without having to stop and splice, slow going. And truth be told, it was scratchy; did I want this against my skin?

I had a long conversation with a knitting friend and she agreed it wasn't worth the effort. I 86'ed it.

Undaunted, I bought other remnant wool from a thrift store and cast on for a Feather and Fan lace scarf.

Loved the color! Loved the pattern! But it quickly became clear I didn't have enough yarn. I frogged the scarf and searched the online knitting sites for help. I found a chart that gives suggested yardage by project. What a great tool!

I just keep trying. I've been a quilter for over 28 years and an active knitter for three. I know how to adapt a quilt pattern to my fabric stash or draft an original design. But I don't know how to adapt knitting patterns. It's becoming clear to me that I need to get a good book of knitting patterns and *follow the instructions* as written. I shouldn't branch out until I understand the basics better. But it's hard, I'm so used to adapting something to make it my own.