First Forays Into Knitting

I was never very interested in knitting ... until I saw these gorgeous vintage patterns that Liz has posted over at Zilredloh.  Even better, that lovely Liz has shared these knitting patterns with us lucky stitchers for free!  In particular, the 'Aqua Waves' and 'Diamond' jumpers caught my eye, but I also love the two striped jumpers further down the page.

When I saw them, I knew I had to take up knitting so I could become good enough to make these pretties.  It makes sense really, I do love a nice piece of knitwear (one of my nicknames is 'Cardi Clare' because I'm rarely seen without a cardigan - sad but true!) and I said a while back over at JoaT that I needed some stitching to do while sat relaxing on the sofa, away from the sewing machine, so knitting is just that!

After reading some book reviews, I got my hands on Purls of Wisdom by Jenny Lord (over on the right), which I'm loving and I've gone back to a scarf I started waaaaaaay back at the beginning of last year (sorry scarf!):

And it's now nearly finished!  Those pink arrows mark where I was up to before I picked it up again two weeks ago.  See how wobbly it is!  Ooops.  But, unlike my previous attempts at knitting, I've not made any mistakes in the knitting or dropped any stitches, and I think I've kept the tension quite even since I picked it back up.

I don't remember what yarn this is, but it was in a set I got in the January sales last year to make a 'lacy scarf', so the instructions, yarn and 8mm needles were included.  So I'm planning to finish this off and then start on a chunky patterned snood (or cowl) from Ravelry in this fabulous aran:

Those colours!!!!