Friday 17 June 2011

FO Friday #2

What a week!

This week as well as knitting secret items (see Wednesday's post) I have also been making less secret bootees for my new nephew James. Some of you may remember I knitted some for him when he was first born, but now he is rather bigger so I thought I would make him some more. It was going to be so simple I was just going to redo the first pair but in a bigger size. However, on Sunday when I went to cast on I discovered that the needles I needed were being used! I don't yet have a stitch minder or multiples in needles so I had a rethink. I was looking through some magazines and other patterns I have collected and I came across one my mum gave me ages ago. This pattern was for pretty cute bootees, with a turn down top and a shaped heel and pretty fancy looking. So I thought I would give them a bash. It was not successful. Not successful at all!


It was all going fine until the pattern said turn, I remained calm went onto the internet googled it and found out what to do! No problem! Then the pattern said pick up and knit, I was starting to loose my cool at this point but again went onto the internet (thank God for the internet) and looked it up. Ok it seemed straight forward enough, I gave it a go. I quickly realised I was not doing it right. So I decided to unpick the last 9 stitches (the wrong ones) and try again. Yeah that didn't go any better, to cut a long story short after the fifth time I was in tears and my knitting looked like the above picture! In my frustrated state I called my mum. She was as usual very understanding and said you know maybe I was just trying too much too soon (again!) she also reminded me that not everyone gets it right first time and she still makes mistakes as she is sure every knitter, new or old does. I apparerntly was not in the mood for a pick me up and decided that knitting and I were over and it was all my mum's fault anyway for giving me the pattern! I am very lucky my mum pays no attention to me when I am like this (I really really don't like being defeated by something) and said she would call me back later.

By the time she did my lovely husband had given me chocolate and all seemed better again. I decided to go to the shop the following day buy another pair of needles (can you have too many?) and do the bootees I know how to knit and when I visit my mum next week she can help me with the other ones!

So here finally (sorry for the saga) are the bootees I made this week for James!


The second purple one is just waiting to be cast off, which I'll do later today!

For more hopefully less traumatic FO Fridays visit Tami's blog here

27 comments:

  1. Hi Sam, I can be exactly the same with my projects, I will persist until the end! or until I think thats enough now and give up! Often if I am not feeling well, I get in a bit of a muddle with my knitting and then I think, put it down and come back to it another day and then everything seems to click. They look brill so worth the effort. bee x

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  2. ooo so cute. Well done for hanging in there

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  3. Yay Booties! They're sper cute.

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  4. Good job for sticking with it :)

    OH - I got your link from the FO link at Tamis and your link was wrong - there is an " after the http:// - didn't know if you knew or not :) Figured you might want to go and repost your link for people who won't see that in the URL and just delete it.

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  5. Cute booties! I love all the tutorials they have out there now, don't worry about the other project all knitters have a little snaggle once and awhile.

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  6. The booties are too cute. As everyone else has said, great job in hanging in there, despite going to the ones you know. Sometimes that's the best, and no, you can never have too many needles!

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  7. The booties are really cute. Sometimes patterns are just awkward, hopefully they will play abll next time you try, and the internet is a fab place to learn new knitting things

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  8. They're cute, I'm glad you persevered!

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  9. You'll figure out the other pattern, I have no doubt. In the meantime, I bet James will enjoy the bootees you already know how to make!

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  10. Hooray! Your persevered! I would, on the other hand, throw a fit and visit the yarn shop where I'd sulk until someone would help me fix it (How do I know? yes, because I just returned home from said yarn shop where I did exactly that...I am that bad) You rocked those booties!

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  11. I have been known to unpick, unravel too and start, start again. It can be very frustrating but well worth it when you hang in there. What cute booties you have made!

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  12. Isn't it great how chocolate makes everything better? And now you have 4 booties. Yay!

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  13. Perseverance goes a long way in knitting and your booties are perfect. Good for you in not giving up!

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  14. Thank you for all the lovely comments, it's great to hear I am not the only one! (misery loves company! Hee hee) I am also glad I stuck with it!

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  15. Aw, these bootees are very sweet! Perhaps I should try chocolate the next time I struggle with crocheting a granny square - thanks for the tip!! :)

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  16. awww these are just adorable!!!
    xx

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  17. It can happen to all of us and sometimes knitting patterns are written to catch us out. Love the bootees

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  18. I long since learned to read a pattern first then warn my mum I would be bringing my project round to her for some help if it seemed a little bit complicated! I've been doing that for years lol
    Well done for finishing the bootees off and I'll look forward to seeing the successful outcome of the pattern your mum gave you!

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  19. It's amazing how chocolate makes everything better! Lovely bootees and mums usually know best! Thanks for joining us over on my blog for Handmade Monday x

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  20. Well done for sticking with it - I am sure that somewhere on the Internet there is a website that has the answer for everything listed as just one word...

    Chocolate!

    Ali x

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  21. That feeling of satisfaction when you conquer the pattern will be worth it! These are cute too!

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  22. Lovely bootees-well worth sticking with it!

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  23. Oh someone said chocolate!!? Yes we all sometimes need to step back and have some time away from our projects. But they look fantastic x

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  24. Well done on persevering with the booties, their owners will love them!

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  25. What a great reminder that we all have to learn and we all get frustrated! Sounds like things that happen to me all the time, thanks for making me realize I'm not alone! :)

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  26. Often quite good to put down and leave and then go back whith fresh eyes and start again. The bootees you did make are sweet. Love the purple colour especially. Hugs Mrs A.

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