Lessons Learned (Or Stuff I Shouldn't Do Again But Probably Will)

Although I've been knitting for about 5 years, I've only been really serious about it the last 2 or so.  The first 3 years were spent making scarves for EVERYONE! Whether you wanted one or not, you got a scarf for Christmas and I want to thank you all for pretending like you liked them. 


So, here are just a few things I've learned...


1.  Lifelines...  Should be used when knitting an item with a complicated pattern.  I learned this in the sock class I took a couple of years ago.  Do they work?  Absolutely!  Do I ever remember to use them?  Never!


2.  Purchasing Yarn...  You should always have a pattern in mind and know the yarn requirements when purchasing yarn so you'll be sure to buy enough.  This is Pam's motto and I wouldn't be surprised if she has it mounted above the door of her den, which is where she keeps her 'shelf' of yarn and knitting tools. Seriously...  she's been knitting for about 2 years now and has everything on one shelf in her den.  Why?  Because she only buys enough yarn for the pattern she's making.  Me?  I have a whole freakin' room with  shelves, baskets & bins overflowing with yarn and 'stuff'.  Why?  Because I can't resist a beautiful skein of yarn and simply buy willy-nilly without having a clue what I'm going to do with it.


3.  Bleach vs Wool...  Let's say you knitted a beautiful flower out of white wool and decided that the petals would  look better felted.  And let's just say that you didn't think about the colorfastness of the blue blanket that you threw in with it. And perhaps as a result your beautiful white flowers came out of the washer with a bit of a blue tint to them...  my advice...  learn to live with blue flowers. DO NOT, under any circumstances, try to bleach the blue out.  The bleach will also take out the beautiful white and leave you with brown flowers and you will have to start all over two days before Christmas, frantically knitting white flowers to go on your daughter-in-law's felted bag.  Don't ask me how I know.  ;-)