My Knitting Roots

And so begins Knit & Crochet Blog Week! Today's topic is: How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting?

Looking back, I learned to knit about 7 years ago because of my grandmother, pictured with me on the right. In this picture, she is holding up an afghan that she had just finished and I believe if you click on it it will enlarge so you can see the detail. My grandmother is currently 94 years old and still knits, although not as much as she did in the past.

One day, about 7 years ago, I started thinking that it would be sad for her craft to not live on when she passes away. I started expressing an interest in knitting and ended up getting a "Learn To Knit" kit for Christmas that year. I didn't do anything with it at first, maybe because it intimidated me a bit, but a few months later I picked it up and taught myself to knit. I started out with scarves and knit dozens of them, selling many in a local craft fair that I participate in every year.

I eventually branched out to knitting hats, and because I love to knit them and because I also love giving to others, I started a charity called Knits For Needs. I am super proud of this wonderful charity and the people who comprise it. We donated 634 knit/crocheted items to people in need throughout the United States in 2009 and this year's goal is 900 items!

Today I love to knit amigurumi, hats, scarves, purses, afghans, and cell phone cozies. I am not advanced, so I'm sort of stuck on a beginner/intermediate level, which I'm not very happy about. I know how to use circulars, but I have not yet mastered DPNs, which is on my agenda. I do not really know how to follow patterns unless they are amigurumi patterns by Amy Gaines, who writes super easy patterns for us beginner folks. I recently taught myself to knit cables using YouTube videos, but I don't know how to knit anything with cables just yet, I just know how to make a cable.. does that make sense? I love to teach myself new knitting techniques, I just need to make the time to foster those skills and learn how to knit actual patterns. Tips would be appreciated!

A year or so ago I wrote a blog post similar to this one that dove more into my Grandmother, my roots in knitting, and also teaching others to knit entitled "Spreadin the Knittin Love" that I hope you check out as well. Thanks for visiting Merf's Turf!

Hats and Fairies

Ok, I need to take some Blogger lessons or something because I have the worst time getting my pictures in here right! The one with the hats is sideways, for some reason it uploaded that way on Blogger and I can't fix it.

Anyway, I've been busy knitting, as usual. I take time every day to knit because I love it so much and I need the few minutes of relaxation. I do not work during the day anymore so I have much more time to put into my knitting. The first pictures you see here are hats I have knit, mostly for Knits For Needs. I will keep and attempt to sell the bright colored ones in a craft fair I do every year, and the purple and gold one is MINE, all MINE :) Can you guess what school I went to and follow? That one is for fall when we're having our football parties and cookouts. The pinkish one on the bottom, or actually on the left since my picture is crooked and I can't fix it, is felted. It turned out pretty cute. I personally love all the square topped ones I knit. As you can see from the picture of my youngest son, they look very cute on kids!


The other pictures you see here are of an amigurumi fairy doll I knit for my daughter for Easter. It is an Amy Gaines pattern, seen here, although hers looks much better than mine! I had trouble with the eyes and improvised a bit, but other than that I think it turned out pretty cute. I am working on some forest critters for the boys for Easter and will post those pics when I'm finished with them. I just finished the squirrel yesterday and I'm working on the owl currently.






















In other news, my daughter (12) and I went to a meeting of Twitter knitters at Rare Purls in Duluth, GA on Sunday. We met up with a couple people I have met before and I also got to meet some people I know from our online conversations. I did not do a good job taking pics, in fact I took none, but Melissa, the Knifty Knitter, did take pictures that can be seen on her blog. There is a picture of me and my daughter sitting next to eachother as well as the other people we met with. I had fun and was so glad we set up that meeting! My daughter is a novice knitter and is currently knitting a hat for Knits For Needs as a service project for the Junior Beta Club at school.

Thanks for stopping by Merf's Turf, and have a wonderful day!

A Plethora of Miscellaneous-ness

As you're about to find out, this post is aptly-named :)

Firstly, I'd like to mention I finally finished my very first afghan! As you know, I am pretty much still a novice knitter, not because I have been knitting for a short time, but because I'm not great at learning new things. Also because I am quite content hanging out in the "novice" phase. I am not good at following patterns, and like I've mentioned before, I knit like I cook.. just throw it together. So, for my afghan, I simply knit, in garter stitch, about 15 13in x 13in squares and sewed them together. I was so very proud of this afghan that was 2 months in the making, all the way up until it got a hole in it. I have no idea how it happened since the hole was smack dab in the middle of a square, but I managed to sew up the hole. It is quite an obvious patch-up-job that I'm a little upset about, but I'll get over it. You live and you learn, right? Currently I am working on another afghan similar to this one, but in different colors. The new one will be a pretty sage color, a darkish blue, and a light blue.

Another project I just finished, this one a small one, is a tiny baby hat that I knit for Knits For Needs using some yarn donated by one of our members. Please click on that link to view our latest blog post. For some reason, this particular hat got twisted the first time around. I guess I managed to do that when I was joining in the round, although I really have no idea how it happened. I posted "Help!" on Twitter and everyone told me I'd have to frog it and start over. So I did, and when I did it didn't even unravel well. It was somehow all tangled up. The first picture here shows when I was trying to unravel it. Then you can see that I started over, this time perfectly successfully, and finished the hat. I love the square shape and the pom-poms!
















Next I'm going to share some things unrelated to my knitting endeavors, the first of which is our rats. We got two rats for the kids for Christmas. Two of our kids are allergic to cats and dogs, so we collect miscellaneous animals, like fish, hermit crabs, and, now, rats. I did some research before getting these new additions... "Should we get a hamster? Mice? Rats?".. and I found out that rats are actually great pets for small children since they don't bite and they are highly intelligent, well, at least compared to their other furry cousins. You can actually train them, which I was surprised to find out. Ours already know their names and come to you when called. They are named Juniper and Jules. The one in the pictures is the most social one, Juniper. The other is a bit darker and likes to hide from us a lot, hence, I do not have pictures of her. Here you see a terrible picture of me hanging out with Juniper and my awesome, and now favorite, sweatshirt. The other picture shows my daughter Sierra with Juniper.

Next amongst the plethora of miscellaneous-ness is my new haircut. This first picture is me and the hubby on New Year's Eve and, as you can see, I had long hair. The next picture is my new haircut, which I love because it is so much easier to deal with.

Thanks for hanging out in Merf's Turf for awhile! Come back soon :)

I'm Still Alive

Wow, I haven't posted in awhile. Yes, I am still alive. I just haven't had much to say, I guess, and I've spent most of my blogging time updating the Knits For Needs blog. Also, I have been terrible about taking pictures of my knitting, unless it is for Knits For Needs, in which case those pics go on the KFN site.

I just started working on my first ever blanket/afghan!! Since I'm not great at following a pattern, unless it is amigurumi, I am just knitting 15 inch x 15 inch squares and sewing them together. I knit like I cook: no recipes needed, just throw it together :) Before I sew, or is it knit(?), them together, I need to do some research about how this is done. I did watch one YouTube video this morning and I think I found out how I'm going to attempt it. Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3rvJx3-9Xs The method I think I'll use is called "Weaving". It looks simple enough.

I recently did a craft fair at my kids' school and it did not go so well. I displayed about 15 hats, 15 scarves, and a multitude of cell phone cozies, purses, and coinpurses. To see a pic of these items, scroll down to the previous post.. they're all pictured there. In previous years, I have done well at this craft fair, but this year I think, with all of the economic hardship people are having to deal with, people just did not want to part with their money. I think they were looking for cheap trinkets, and that is not what I specialize in. Oh well, there is always next year. I really should look for other craft fairs in which to participate, but I'm not sure what holds me back. I mean, I've got a bin full of beautiful items.. I should sell them. Should I open an Etsy shop? Food for thought.

Another item on my needles is an amigurumi monkey. I found it at this site that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE: http://knittedtoybox.blogspot.com/ Another GREAT shop for knit amigurumi is Jelly Bums.

My husband has this week off for Thanksgiving, so do the kids, and I happen to have today off so we're all piling into the car in a few minutes to eat at IHOP... Yum!! I think I'll go see if everyone is ready...

So Excited About the Charity

I've been really busy lately with Knits for Needs. It is really growing and the interest is amazing. I get emails and messages every day about "Where can I send my yarn?" and "What project are you working on now? What do you need?". I am very excited and happy about this project that seems to be taking over my life.. love it! I feel a new sense of purpose and importance and I love the feeling of helping others. I have always been like that, and now I feel like I really found what I'm supposed to be doing. I look forward to also getting monetary donations to help with the costs, too, such as shipping costs and such. Also, I have a ton of yarn from donations and I'd like to get it out to people knitting for charity, but I can't afford all that shipping yet! But.. its growing and I think donations will be coming in soon. I just got a PO Box for us yesterday. Also, I was interviewed about Knits for Needs!! By Loose Thread Stitchers. I can't wait till that is published. That was exciting! I've never been interviewed before.. kinda feel important :) Go Knits for Needs!

Welcome to Merf's Turf

Merf's Turf is brand new! Still working on it. I started the blog for my charity, Knits for Needs, and few days ago and found that blogging can be quite addictive! I look forward to being more personal in this one and letting out my creative and passionate spirit a bit more than I do in my regular life :) This blog will probably mostly be about my knitting and crafting, but I don't want to limit it to just that, so I think other aspects of my life will also make an appearance from time to time. Thank you for visiting my space and I look forward to sharing it with you!