Yep, it's finally done. It took me about 9 months to knit, but it was well worth it. My big lesson from this project was that all the fancy knitting I've seen over the years but was afraid to attempt probably wasn't as difficult as I imagined it would be.
The project is from Barbara Walker's, Learn To Knit Afghan Book. It's a nice way to increase your knitting expertise, and you get a product at the end of all your hard work. You can see more details on Ravelry (I'm HawaiiHooker). I decided to give it to my cousin, Delores, for her 80th birthday. She really loves it, so I'm happy.
Ok, now it's back to crocheting full time. I'm working on an easy afghan for one of my daughter's friends, so I'll try to keep you up to date on my progress (if I can get out of this "I don't feel like writing" slump).
UPDATE: 7/28/09
Sarah, who's just getting started on her afghan, posted a comment asking me to suggest any instructions or pattern tips that would help her on her journey. Yes, I do have a few tips.
- The best tip I can give is to enjoy the process. I don't knit that much, and when I do it's usually small projects, so completing a square gave me a sense of accomplishment without needing to hurry up and get the whole thing done.
- I was also looking forward to learning new knitting skills, so that made it fun for me.
- What made it a little easier to follow the pattern instructions was making a photocopy of each pattern and putting it in a see-through sheet protector. Trying to knit from the book was awkward. And I could carry the one or two pages with me if I went out with my knitting.
- I also put highlighter tape on each line of instruction to help me keep my place in the pattern row.
- The lace patterns were the hardest for me, only because I kept loosing my place in the row of instructions. So I wrote each line of instruction vertically on a piece of paper, one step per line. For example, I would rewrite "yo, k1, yo" as "yo" on one line, "k1" on the next line, "yo" on the third line. For some reason, it was easier to follow than reading horizontal instructions.
I hope this helps, Sarah. Thanks for stopping by!





