This is ALL Judy's fault

I am currently on a church service mission in Brazil for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been here for 10 months and will be here another 8. I am an avid quilter but quilting is just not happening here. Fabric is very expensive and the project I brought is not working out.

I have been reading Judy's blog for several years to see what she was doing with quilts and the knitting and chickens were an pleasant and often amusing side story. Then one day she posted this entry. I got to thinking that maybe I could knit socks in my down time. So being the obsessive person that I am I began researching socks and yarn and accessories. Goodness. There is a lot of knitting stuff out there.

I went to a local yarn store and picked up some unmarked knitting needles about the size of a pencil and some acrylic worsted weight yarn (for $4.50) and began to learn knitting. I had learned how as a kid but didn't continue. So with the help of Youtube I learned I had been doing it wrong. I then learned how to drop stitches unintentionally, how to do unintended yarn overs and other great tricks. Through a lot of study I have also learned what was causing the problems and how to eliminate them.

I found a great cache of abandoned yarn (former missionaries that went home) and one pair of DPNs! OH JOY! I could learn how to knit in the round. The DPNs are a size 5. My first knitty project was a hat for my new and very first grandchild. See previous post for lots of gushing. I'll spare you that here. I need a darning needle to finish it up.

I also found a pair of size 3 1/2 straight needles and have been using that to practice different stitches. That is a lot of fun and adds great variety to my knitting.

There are five different patterns. See the big holes? I learned wrapping the thread 360 degrees is not what yo means. The smaller holes above the big ones are what is intended.

Right now I am doing the Simple Skyp Socks on my DPNs and I think it is sport weight yarn. This is merely a learning piece and when I finish it I will unravel it and try something different.

We are going home to Utah the middle of March to meet the new baby. We will be there for two weeks. I have ordered some yummy sock yarn, Hiya Hiya circs, a DPN needle set (sock size) and a couple of books. All of this I will bring back with me. So I have three weeks until I can fondle my yarn. Three weeks to practice continental knitting and different patterns until I can cast on a REAL sock. I am looking forward to that along with playing with the baby.

All of this has come in handy lately because my vertigo has returned. It is not as severe as the first time but enough to have kept me home for almost two weeks. I can knit and not have any problems because I do not have to move my head. Head movement about does me in. So I want to say thank you Judy. It has been a life saver.