New Project!

I'm almost done stitching up the sweater (I swear I am NEVER knitting a sweater in a million pieces ever again), and I was itching to work on another project. So I started the hat that I plan to gift at a later date. This is my first project with cables, which are really quite easy, that is after you figure out for yourself that you only twist the cable every sixth stitch because your Knitting Teacher book does not mention this fact. Bite me, Susan Bates.


This one is Patons Merino, again. I really like that yarn, it's just such a great bargain for merino wool! And this purple color is nice.

Previous projects

Here are a few things I have done in the past year.



Token eyelash scarf. I spun (spinned?) the fiber from my pet snufalufagus. Modeled by thermostat.



Another scarf. This one is just garter stitch- it's really the yarn that makes it exciting- it's not hard to knit at all. People always compliment me on it, and I tell them, it's all in the yarn. I have no idea what brand this yarn is. It's a wool/nylon/somthing else blend. It's really warm and a little stretchy.



Simple hat and scarf set. I had a bunch of Wool-Ease lying around from my foray back into knitting in college when I produced The Thing. I was planning to make a scarf and hat set, but for some reason I couldn't do K2 P2 ribbing (???????) and I gave up. So, recently I figured I would use up this yarn. I really don't like the creepy fuzz-glow that some acrylics and acrylic blends give to a knitted garment. Like, a little white halo glow. The TG&Y glow.

I first learned hats by stitching them in the back, rather than knit on a circular. I like the finished look of hats knitted in the round, but I'm pretty good at stitching now. I also need to get a shorter circular needle, because I just don't get that whole knitting tiny things on giant circular needles trick. Yet.



Another hat. To be gifted. This one is in Patons Merino. I really do like that yarn.

Booklet Review

I ordered the Patons Next Steps One, Two and Three booklets from a Canadian company online, since they are not yet available in the US. I LOVE these books, the are really well done. They are small, so they fit right in your knitting bag, and they are easy to understand, good sizing information, great diagrams and illustrations. I re-taught myself to knit a while back from another book, which I thought had good drawings, but the drawings in these little booklets are pretty great. And the sweater styles in Two and Three are really cute, they're fitted with a bell-sleeve option.

The only complaint I have is with book One, a usual complaint I have with almost every How to Knit book I come across, and that is when knitting books teach people how to knit crappy things. Nobody wants to wear headbands or boxy garter-stitch sweaters. So, please, don't teach people how to make them. And putting a plastic squiggle pin on the sweater isn't going to make it any more attractive. I learned how to pick up stitches just fine knitting something I actually want to wear. I will say, though, that some of the projects, like the hats, in book One are cute, and that is why I bought it.

Current Project

Right now I'm finishing up a cowl-neck long-sleeve sweater that I started at the beginning of June. It's the "Cowl Neck Pullover" from Patons Next Steps Two- Create Your Own Pullover. I'm knitting it in Patons Classic Merino, color Aran (I think it's Aran. Or off-white). I swear I don't work for Patons. I do love their merino, it is a real bargain. I didn't want to spend a lot on a sweater I would probably screw up on, since it is my first.

This is the sweater in pieces. I'm currently sewing it all together. Next time, I think I'll re-interpret the pattern and knit the body in the round. Sorry about the bad light in the photos.


A sleeve. I knit the bell sleeves in the book:



A close up of the end of the cuff:


And an up-close detail of beginning of stitching the sleeve in:

The Thing

This is The Thing.


This is me modeling The Thing.


The Thing has been frogged.

I think it was garter stitch. I can't really tell. It was the nastiest, knobbiest heaviest piece of crap that snagged on everything, and I was so proud that I had made it that I wore it everywhere in the winter in college. When I told people I knitted it, I got a sympathetic "Oh, that's nice" with a sidelong look.

I have no idea what I am gong to do with all this crappy chenille. I'm not sure what fiber it is, maybe acrylic, but it's definitely something synthetic and gross, because when my knitting assistant, Ginger, plays with strings of it, and gets it all slobbery, and then it dries, it snaps like a twig. So weird.

I am currently working on my first sweater, in merino. I'll post it soon. Unfortunately, it's almost done, and I can't track the progress of it here. I have a few other projects I have completed this summer that I will post soon, as well.

Blog Name

I think silent letters are ridiculous, but nancynits sounds like I have piojos. I hope that's the way it's spelled.

Blog Inception

I have been debating whether or not to start a blog about the knitting projects I turn out. I'm not a fan of blogging in general, per se, as a hobby for myself, but I am a fan of knitting and do get a lot of tips, tricks, ideas and patterns online, and especially on the websites and blogs of other knitters. This would be a way for me to have a record of my projects and also share projects, etc. with other knitters.

I learned to knit from my mom when I was about 5 or 6, and spent years knitting various rectangles, dreaming each time that it would someday be a beautiful sweater. ha. I picked it up again in college when I knitted The Thing. Not sure if it was a shawl, scarf, or what, all I know is that I bought a ton of green chenille from Hobby Lobby and I owned one pair of size 10.5 needles, inherited from my mother. I'll post images of The Thing soon.

First Post

This is the first post to set up the template.