Hobbies we used to love

I was a mini teddy bear maker and wanted to create little books to go with the bears. This is what brought me to Cricut years ago. I hoped Cricut would help me to make my little books but the Cricut never really did what I thought it could! I still have many of my mini bears and I still love them.

As I have been taking time to breathe, I am adding to my "Bears from the Little Woods" collection. Yes I will share too.

A little bit of sewing, a little bit of stuffing, an embroidered nose and a smile! These lil guys are still my favorite.

What’s a long lost hobby you haven’t thought about in years?

Today's Knitting Challenges

Working my way through this first hat attempt and I am really enjoying my journey. But as many of you know, teaching is my jam. I have been teaching paper crafting and Cricut forever. I know it was time to retire my paper crafting but my love of teaching and sharing ...well that is another story! I know I am just

a beginning my knitting obsession but I am quickly discovering many of you are just like me. You have always wanted to knit but don't know where to start. I remember how many of my Cricut students felt!

We are going to learn to knit together. I will share resources and tips I have discovered here and hope to save you some of the time I have spent trying to figure out how, why and what you need.

Do you look at other projects and think oh I could never do that? Ya , me too! Do you check out a YouTube video and I think I have no idea what they are talking about??!! Yup that too. How about wandering around the yarn section of your craft store and realizing you don't know what you need or what you don't need? I have been right there with you.... for years. I was paralyzed with confusion and just gave up. I decided now was the time (and I have had many many second thoughts this time too!)

But I am determined and I promise we will figure this out together. My goal is to take away the mystery and confusion. With each post I also plan to share some of the thoughts inside my head, I know I know I might wish I kept them to myself! See if you have some of these thoughts too!

INSIDE THOUGHTS Another challenge for me is the need to knit useful projects that I can keep or give away. As I sorted thru my crazy craft closets, I realized I had so many "cute" projects that were fun to make but then what? I want what I knit to be used not just fun to make. Ya that makes it trickier too! How many scarves do you need?

So I decided to teach myself to knit!

It may not look like much but oh I have learned so much! I promised I would share my journey.

Some things I have learned:

• pick the right yarn for the project

• pick the right size needle for your project

• if you like circular needle knitting, you need a kit so you will have the right size needle and cords or you are buying each one separately. Here is what I ordered CLICK HERE

Choosing a project has been a HUGE challenge! I want to make something I will use and something simple (yes you know me!)

I have spent way too much time wandering around so many pattern sites! Honestly, I always said during my Cricut teaching days, you get what you pay for when downloading fonts or svgs. I should not be surprised that free knitting patterns might be the same way. So I have narrowed my search to a few sites. I can't tell you have many free patterns I have downloaded only to delete after realizing the made no sense to me at this point.

I worked with HUGE straight needles... oh ya they are sized in US or UK or mm!!! I was using a thick bulky Walmart yarn and size 10mm ( 15 US needles) and it moves fast but my hands were exhausted holding the project and the needles. It is in my basket for a bit.

I decided I wanted to go with:

circular needles and this pretty yarn from Lion Brand a hat pattern I found at Knitters Pride. I disagree when the post says they are "easy knitting patterns" The shortcuts are frustrating DPNs?? Double Pointed Needles ...ahhh ... what??? I decided I would cross that bridge when I got to it :) I have to knit 7-8 inches first.

OK I cast on 88 stitches using the long tail cast on method. PS I have cast on and ripped out soooooo many projects but I can know comfortably cast on.

LONG TAIL CAST ON ** check!

BUT of course I struggled with the ribbing to start. I need to work on making my (K2P2) which means knit 2 purl 2 ribbing. I have to visit my next door neighbor to have her help me figure out what I am doing wrong with that. So I decided to would work the ribbing in later. I can knit 2 (check) and I can purl 2 (check) but when I started the second row it wasn't right. So yes, I pulled all that out and started fresh with Cast On 88 stitches.

I am learning and I am really loving the calming effect of knitting. Now I just need to enjoy the journey, not rush to the finish line!

Wanna see what I started to add to my Pinterest Board? CLICK HERE