I'm a knitwit...

My dear sister-in-law Amy is an avid knitter and taught me the basics of knitting three years ago when we had the opportunity to spend a few days together. I had a great time with my new craft until we returned home and I suddenly didn't have a teacher nearby. I tried to get by with a how-to book, but it just wasn't the same as having sweet Amy guide me through, so eventually I gave up and my knitting basket went untouched for years. Fast-forward to Christmas, 2007. We spent a week at Amy's house and, yep, I came home knitting again! I had a great new project I was excited to work on and couldn't wait to get started. Amy gave me a few tips as we headed out the door to come home and then I was on my own. And then it happened again! I made a mistake and couldn't see how to fix it. Each row I'd complete, I'd have one more stitch than I started out with. I'd make a small repair and move on, only to find I had the same problem at the end of the next row! BLAH! So, I set it aside. Fortunately, Amy came by a couple weeks ago on her way to D.C. and was gracious enough to sit with me for a couple hours while I sorted through my mistakes and got onto the right track. The result? I got the hang of the pattern and was able to complete my project! Wahoo! It's a suede belt for Irene, complete with beads and dolphin charms! I admit that I am very proud of this. I have always struggled with craft projects and never really considered that I was capable of doing them well. So, completing this was a big, big deal. Here's a couple pics of the finished project:




Then I also whipped out a small scarf for Bella since she doesn't have one yet and we're headed into the land of the Great Snow in just three weeks! Here's the finished scarf, modeled by Pony since the Belle Belle is snoozing in her crib: