I have never been a crafty person. I was into cross-stitching for a long time and still have the occasional burst; I like it because you just follow a pattern, and there’s no imagination required. I mainly have bursts of interest in winter these days as a friend gave me an ENORMOUS cross-stitch pattern of three frogs yeeears ago that’s still not finished… although every time I pick it up I discover old mistakes, which there is no way I am fixing.

ANYway, I decided recently to give knitting a go. A lot of my friends seem to have picked up the craze (Gina, aka Clutterpunk, in particular), not to mention those like Alisa who have been doing it apparently all their lives. How hard can it be?? … yeh, this is how my brain works. Drives my husband up the wall.

I started with a brown scarf, because I’ve been wanting one for ages:

When I first made it it wasn’t quite long enough, so I stole Gina’s idea and bought a brooch.

Then I decided to learn purl and ended up making another scarf in stockinette, which I later found out was a bad idea because it doesn’t stay flat… hello another brooch.

Anyway, then I went a little nuts and bought a couple of books of different patterns etc. I got Stitch&Bitch, since it seems to be the one everyone raves about… and I bought one for making knitted monsters. Because I love scarves, but even I can have a surfeit of scarves (although I do have plans for learning to cable). So I decided to start on a monster.

This is his body, made using the Magic Loop method on circular needles. His butt was done with double-pointed needles, and yes I managed to knit the wrong way out so it’s wrong-way-round. It’s all about Individuality.

 A foot. Learning how to do this foot caused me – and the long-suffering husband – a large amount of angst. Truly, the teacher in me absolutely LOATHES the learner in me, because I am Not A Good Student. Still, now that it’s done I’m quite smug about this little foot. Now to make another, and also two arms… how hard can it be?