My first knitting project...and some scones!

With the knitting basics grasped during August, I felt confident to start enough to a knitting project and thought it would be best to get a pattern and wool that I could take with me on my holiday to Cornwall in early September. I popped into a little shop in Bath called Wool, it really is a gorgeous wool emporium, as it’s described on their website. It was my first time in a wool shop and I realised when I got in there that it may not be as easy as buying any wool and needles! I knew that I wanted to make a big chunky scarf for winter so I took the plunge and asked for help. I was slightly nervous as I didn't know the 'lingo' but I felt immediately at put at ease as Laura, the owner of Wool, helped me through the decision making process. Laura was so kind and welcoming, and with her enthusiasm and knowledge of knitting I was able to give a brief description of what I wanted to achieve and she immediately recommended a pattern I could try. Laura showed me a pattern called ‘Vanilla’ on the Rowan website that I could download for free. We selected the wool based on the pattern, Rowan Big Wool, it was lovely and chunky and selected it in one of my favourite colours! Laura delivered the best service I have received in a shop for a very long time and her enthusiasm made me really excited about getting started. So together with two balls of Big Wool, in gorgeous teal, and a new pair of 10mm bamboo knitting needles, I hopped on the train home the very proud owner of 'proper' wool, knitting needles the size of drumsticks, the pattern printed out, all in a beautiful white paper bag. I was all set to start my first project!

A few days later I was off to Cornwall for a holiday with my boyfriend and our friends. I could hardly contain myself on the drive there as I was desperate to start my scarf! Knowing that the weather was going to be rainy that week I was prepared and willing the rain to start! I didn’t have to wait long, on day one of the holiday it started off a lovely sunny morning and after about an hour of relaxing in the garden the weather turned! I settled down on the comfy sofa, with a big cup of tea and cast on the required number of stitches. I’m not going to lie, I made quite a few mistakes throughout the first few hours but persevered with it. I struggled to grasp the right tension, wasn’t sure how to follow a pattern and had to work out why I suddenly had more stitches that I should do. I made a mistake of not moving the wool to the front when I was moving between knit stitch and purl stitch! Luckily the pattern was a simple with two rows repeating over and over and due to the size of the wool, it multiplied so quickly.

I almost completed the scarf while in Cornwall but had a sad feeling that it was almost over, my first project was almost completed so much quicker than I thought it would be. I stopped and 'saved' myself some rows to do when I got home…with some time to spare on holiday while it was raining I got on with my yearly tradition of making scones whilst on holiday in Cornwall…

...ooh and loved looking at the flying mallards on the wall…

...Back to the scarf! I left the scarf for a few weeks, just looking at what I had achieved and took the plunge to cast off. At the same time we were learning to cast off in the knitting class I was taking so I felt confident that I wouldn’t go wrong! After tucking in the ends with a big needle I am pleased to show you my first project completed!!!

I loved the way that by alternating between knit and purl stitches creates this great ribbed look...

I loved the pattern and when I got the hang of it, it was became really easily to knit. I tried out the same pattern using different wool to see how I would get on, the scarf below is made of Debbie Bliss ‘Paloma’, again in teal but a bit darker this time. The wool is more soft to touch and produces more of a ‘skinny’ but chunky wool scarf.