Happy New Year

By Sarah Swain, 01-Jan-2012 16:00:00

It's the new year, it's raining very hard and it's dark outside; I'd say it's the perfect time to reflect on the past year and think about what I would like to achieve this year.
So I check my project book, which I started on 15 January 2011, to record my knitty projects when I decided to pick up a pair of 12mm knitting needles and learn to knit.
It started with a big green monster...
The scarf
Knitted using gorgeous multi-coloured Sidar Indie yarn (check out the Sidar website for other funky colours). It makes a wonderful, warm and stunning scarf which is ridiculously easy to create as a first project. I made plenty of mistakes in this project: not buying enough yarn; when topping up, buying a different colour; dropping stitches, finding new stitches along the way...but it was such a wonderful feeling when it was finished that all those hitches along the way have made it even more lovely to me. I also learned quickly that some yarn is more forgiving than others! This winter, I pulled the big green monster out of the cupboard again and it still gets lovely comments.
I was very lucky that I have a very supportive fan of my new hobby, my husband Colin, who does not mind all sorts of yarn around the house; hanging around in Arty Cat while I take an age to check out all the lovely yarn on sale; even not getting too sniffy when I pulled out the needles to finish a project in the Audi (not good for Col's street cred). He also happens to be a dab hand at all things techie and has made this site look great. I hope you agree.
2 Comments
- 1. 09-Jan-2012 12:37:00 by Russell Farr-Jones
  
  And so a fellow knitter was born! :-) I really struggled with the first scarf - I chose a really complicated stitch which, while it looked amazing, slowed me down no end and resulted in it taking weeks to complete! Perhaps next time I will go simple, and choose a lovely yarn like this.
  I'm so envious that you have such an amazing shop so close to home to browse. I have Hobbycraft and I find the way it is layed out very clinical and the staff have only very general knowledge.
  You've made me think about yarn selection a lot more - there are some gorgeous colours and materials out there! I'm trying to select good quality, nice coloured yarn for a cardigan to knit Daf (one of my new year challenges) but I'm struggling to find anything below £60!
  Great blog Sarah - looking forward to reading more.
  Russell
  x
- 2. 09-Jan-2012 14:26:00 by colswain
  
  Thanks for the message Russell, I am inspired by your work, again self-taught and over a relative short space of time.
  I'm glad you like the yarn. The scarf could easily be classed as unisex too. I have used different colours of the same yarn for a few more projects I made late last year. You can see more colours in the White Duck Gallery. I also found that just by changing my tension gave a very different effect. The looser tension gave it a more stretchy look.
  I got really lucky with the terrific shop on Rochester High Street. They have been very helpful in getting me started with the right basics and putting by yarn if I call them up in a panic to say I've run low. I think they run drop-in sessions too, so you can pop by if you're really stuck and they will help you out. A true find! You are of course always welcome to come visit and browse with me...
  Good luck with the cardigan, I have found the cost of yarn to be much higher than I first imagined. But if it's good quality, it could last a very long time and it will be very special for Daf. I did a quick search for natural yarn and found some lovely UK-based websites, some holding 'yarn sales'. Please let me know how you get on.
  Sarah x
  ps: Still loving the Christmas chutney Mr Farr-Jones.

About White Duck

The idea of White Duck, a place to talk about my new crafty hobbies, came to me in late 2011.

The name White Duck is homage to a very friendly duck in the gorgeous Lake District.

I wanted to set up a space to talk about my relatively new hobby, knitting and all things crafty. I hoped this might be a good place to log my progress of what I'm making. I also want to link and share ideas with far more talented friends than me. You'll find a link to their sites below.