Ribbed Shrug

Whenever I see a skein of yarn, it gives me the warm fuzzies and I get excited about the potential that it has. The more I knit, the more addicting it becomes. There is something so tremendously satisfying about turning yarn into something beautiful, giving it shape and purpose, watching it transform in your hands. December 2010, I started knitting again and there was no stopping me. Without considering what my skill level was, I started saving patterns and buying yarn to plan new projects. You saw my mom's scarf, now I was going to go one step further and make something fashionable for my sister.

I was confident that I'd figure it out. I finished college. I learned how to juggle. I can drive a car. I can use a computer. Therefore, I can learn to knit harder patterns. The old adage "if there's a will, there's a way" rings so true when you see how much power there is in human will. The human brain has amazing abilities to learn new tasks, so next time you think something is too hard, trust in your brain and give it a try! We're so good at learning things, sometimes we don't give ourselves credit. I'm not giving myself credit for anything more than being a moderately intelligent human being. So, like so many other tasks, I became determined to do it and saw it through. I'm no master knitter, but this was easier than it looks to the non-knitter. There were very few steps to follow in this pattern that I found on Ravelry. This was a milestone in my knitting abilities. I bought a set of circulars just to make this! It was a success, and made me want to try more difficult projects (and believe me, I already have as you will see soon).

I started one end with the cuffs in a 1x1 rib.

The bulk of it was the 2x3 rib for the sleeves and back (one long piece). I just had to measure for length when I was getting close, that's it. The transition between the cuffs and the sleeves were the only part here that really had any increase/decrease for shape. The last step was to sew the sleeves, but leave the hole in the middle, and pick up stitches with the circulars to knit in the round. If you crochet, it's just like going around and around in spirals but with needles. Same concept, different method. I would argue that this was the hardest part. When working with circulars, always use a smaller length than the circumference (unless you're doing Magic Loop, but that's another story). You need slack or you'll stretch the end product trying to make it.

There were parts were I had to really pay attention to what I was doing (and with other projects, where I had to re-read and research to make sure I was doing it right) and it all came together just fine. I'm teaching myself the harder stuff, I don't have a more experienced knitter to defer to for advice. Soon I will post about the first finished mermaid, and the second one I'm working on... soon...