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As you may know, I have been wanting to learn to knit and crochet for the longest time now.  I had bought the I Can’t Believe I’m Crocheting DVD, as well as The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Knitting DVD.

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to trying out the knitting DVD.  There is hope for me, after all!  But after taking a look at the crocheting DVD, I decided that I would devote myself to learning crochet pretty well first, before moving on to knitting.

The DVD was based on a book by the same name.  I think it would help a lot if I had that book to go with the DVD.  Since there is no discount on Amazon for it, I’m just going to go ahead and buy it at Michaels, so I will have it right away.  Besides, the DVD calls for a size I crochet hook, and I don’t have one.  So I will pick one of those up, as well, as the light-colored yarn they recommend.

And then I will try to devote a little time each day to working with the book and the DVD.  I really want to actually be able to make stuff someday, soon!

I also need to pick up some more computer memory; that will make it easier to watch the many instructional videos that are online. Sometimes this old ‘puter runs a bit slow, and I need to do something about it!

Anyhoo, I will try to keep you posted on my progress, complete with pics of my sloppy work!

I STILL haven’t started with my knitting DVD yet. So busy with assorted other things. I’m thinking maybe this weekend. Or, maybe I will take my supplies, the DVD, and my portable DVD player up to Manchester tomorrow, because I know we’ll have a little down time before and after the Fisher Cats game. We’ll be staying there overnight, at the Hilton Garden Inn, right next to the ballpark. Sometimes, I can’t sleep, so being able to watch and work with the DVD might be welcome. I’m glad I have the portable DVD player, it works on its own, no having to hook up HDMI cables or anything between the player and the TV.

It doesn’t take too much room in my bag, so why not?

I owe you a ton of food and book reviews, and they’re a-coming.  But after our little trip.  Right now, I’m trying to get what needs to be done, done, before we take off tomorrow.  I have some work online to do, laundry, and a bunch of other small things.

It’ll be nice to get out of here for at least a little while.  We’re looking forward to the Opening Night game for the Fisher Cats, and staying in the hotel overnight is a nice treat.

See ya on the flip side!

So I have been having trouble buying the needed yarn for the Nici McNally knitting DVD that I got earlier this week. I had not a clue how to read a yarn label to get the right gauge. But Dyane helped me out, and I went back to the store today, and bought some Lion Brand Suede yarn. In red. I was thinking of getting red and navy blue, so I could make a Red Sox colored scarf, but let’s not push it with more than one color right now. The red scarf will go with my heavy Sox jacket just fine.

Now I have all I need to start working with the lessons in that DVD. I’ll be tracking my progress here, with pictures. So stay tuned.

Then I have the crocheting DVD as well. Don’t know yet if that calls for any specific sized yarns or hooks…if I can just practice with what I have, that would be cool. But if not, well, I’ll just have to shop for that stuff another day.

I’ll be spending enough time trying to master the yarn, as well as keeping up with scrapbooking and all. I don’t think I’ll be taking up any other crafts, such as making designer jewelry, any time soon!

…from Amazon. Since they have free shipping on orders over $25, I made sure I ordered that much. I never have trouble finding stuph I want there.

I ordered the knitting DVD that I talked about earlier. I really think something like this is what I need to help me learn this once and for all.

I already had this Christina Cooks book in my shopping cart. I’ve been watching her TV show ever since we got the digital TV converter boxes, and I find I like it a lot. She’s completely vegetarian, in fact, she’s vegan, which means that she doesn’t use ANY animal products at all, not even cheese or eggs. But still, the recipes she does look very tasty, and seriously, would it kill us to do without meat and other animal products in our diet at least some of the time? I don’t think I could commit to a vegan or even a lacto-ovo veggie diet, but having a few meals like this a week might be good for us. And it’s easy to find the ingredients around here. I think I would enjoy cooking her way, at least a couple times a week.

I still had to add a whopping 12 cents to my order in order to reach $25 and qualify for free shipping. So, since I’m on a mission to learn to both knit and crochet, I found a crochet DVD that looked really good. Both this and the knitting one got lots of great Amazon user reviews, they’re cheap enough, so I don’t think I can go wrong here. I can’t wait to get it all!

Since I’m on a mission to do stuph to improve my health, and well-being in general…I think I mentioned that I’ve been working out every day on my new stepper machine…I am wondering if I should check out one of the several massage therapy schools in the area, and see if they offer discount rates. I mean, beauty schools offer haircuts and such by students at low rates, maybe I can go and get a nice cheap massage, as well. I know I could certainly use one!

Stay tuned for my progress on the knitting and crocheting thing, and for reviews of the DVDs that I get.

Yesterday, I talked about trying to learn how to knit and crochet.  I mentioned that I had bought a couple of books at the bargain bookstore, but had yet to crack them open.

Anyhoo, I was watching that knitting show on CreateTV, the one with Kassie DePaiva, called Knit & Crochet Today.  Today they were making socks, and they made it look so easy.  It made me want to dig out those needles and yarn that I bought a hundred years ago, and attempt knitting yet again.

This time, I consulted Knitting For Dummies…I’m certainly a dummy when it comes to knitting and crocheting, and it does have pictures.  It took me forever just to get the damned slip knot thing down.  After that, I was able to do exactly THREE cast-on stitches.  That’s it…THREE LOUSY STITCHES.  After that, I just couldn’t get it to work.  I haven’t a clue why.

This is very frustrating.  Normally, I don’t have problems teaching myself to do things from books.  Years ago, when I actually used to wear dresses, I sewed many of my own, without a single sewing lesson.  I had just bought a few basic sewing books, started out with some easy store-bought patterns, and I managed to make some pretty nice stuff.  I never got into any really advance sewing, though, because the machine I had at the time was stolen from me by a long-ago boyfriend, may he rot in hell.

I have a new sewing machine now, but I haven’t used it yet.  Maybe I should re-learn sewing, instead of killing myself with this knitting stuff.  It’s certainly easier, at least it was for me back when I was doing it.

Another frustration I had this morning when trying to knit was the cats.  Allegra and junior were nearby, and they kept trying to grab at the yarn.  Well, they ARE cats, and don’t cats like to play with yarn?  Anyhoo, if I do try again, I’ll have to find a cat-free place in which to do so.  That is, if I can FIND any cat-free place around here.

The other day, I almost bought a knitting book that came with an instructional DVD, at Barnes & Noble.  But I was too cheap to spend the $25 on it, I was afraid it would be yet another failure.  But I was just looking on Amazon for instructional knitting DVDs, and I think that this one looks pretty good.  It got lots of great user reviews, it’s only $12, hard to go wrong.  Maybe I need video instruction, it might be easier than trying to use a book.

The only other option might be to find a yarn store that offers classes, but then there’s the issue with transportation, as in, I don’t have any.  I don’t know of any yarn stores on public transit, and I don’t have access to the car during the week.

I think I might be better off with a DVD and privacy.  With my kind of luck, I might get stuck with a knitting teacher who is impatient with beginners, and that would be annoying.

So I guess I will order that DVD, and see how that goes.