monday morning knits: Life is a Textured Simplicity Knit Scarf

MMKnit Tip

When the Needle's Too Big for the Bead!

This is a problem I’ve recently come across as I’ve gotten into working beads into some of my knitting to give it an extra sense of allure and depth. I grabbed my handy Chibi set, got out the smallest needle, threaded my fingering weight yarn and slipped the first bead on only for it to get stuck at the eye of the needle! What do I do?

I tried a sewing needle – couldn’t get my yarn through the eye. I attempted the old scotch tape at the end of the strand bit only to be turned away again. I even took a twist-tie, stripped off all the green paper and attempted to fashion a needle. Once again, rejected.

But then, I struck gold (45 minutes after I had begun this circus act)! I cut off a length of the heavy-duty thread upon which the beads were threaded, tied a simple, single-knot securely around my yarn leaving a six-inch tail and then began to slide the beads on. I had to use minimal force to get the bead over the knot. I was ready to go in no time!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Life is a Textured Simplicity Knit Scarf

Over the course of an evening back in June spent at a gal's home who I didn't know with other gals I didn't know well , it came to be know that I knit. Immediately the four other wives decided then and there that we would start a knitting club and that I would be the teacher. So, for the past few months, I've been getting to know some gals through teaching them to knit.

Each mon

th, we set the date and our excitement grows. When the evening comes, we arrive sans kids and toting goodies, we boast about what we've accomplished on our projects since the last meeting. We share frustrations and joys, failures and successes, knitting and life. It's a group of girls that I had originally known as acquaintances because of our husbands and as the months have passed they have become a great group of friends. We come from different walks of life, different stages of marriage and familyhood, but we all have one thing in common...a passion for knitting, sharing life and building relationships.

As I prepared my guest blogging series on Learn to Knit, I kept thinking of my knitting club friends. Our relationships are complex yet simple. We discuss the mundane and the deep. We share and intertwine our lives. I kept coming back to this idea that no matter how complex a relationship becomes, it's always built upon the simple things: a phone call, an e-mail, a letter, a coffee date, a knitting club get-together. So, I dedicate this scarf to these girls whom I've come to love. As we share something simple: learning to knit, we build something beautiful: a friendship. And like all good things in life, it comes free and holds the promise of joy.