Keepin' Your Ears Warm

You may know that I am a knitter.  Which is to say I am a BEGINNING KNITTER.  Which really just means I have a few needles and some yarn and I can knit and purl.  

My beautiful daughter has been begging me to knit an ear warmer for her.  She says it's COLD when she walks from class to class.  So I have searched online and finally came up with a pattern for a really cute ear warmer that doesn't have very many complicated stitches.

'Cause us beginning knitters can't do complicated stitches. But I don't want to make something that isn't cute.  If I'm going to put the time and effort into knitting something, I want it to be something I am proud of, and that my daughter will be proud to wear.  Does that make sense?

So a couple of weeks ago I found a pattern for a "Lacy Earwarmer."  It was under the heading "One Hour Projects."  So I figured hey, one hour project, how hard can it be?  Sounds simple.  I can do simple.

I had some yarn I bought a couple of years ago because I wanted to knit myself some fingerless mittens.  I haven't made the mittens, so I still have the yarn.  I had to make two trips to JoAnn Fabric to buy the right size knitting needles.  I bought the right size needle the first time, but after I got them home I noticed they were too long.  This project is knitted on circular needles, and the ones I bought were too LONG.  So I took them back and exchanged them this past Monday for shorter circular needles. 

Last night I told myself SIT DOWN AND KNIT YOUR DAUGHTER SOME EARWARMERS!!!  I mean, it's only a one hour project, right?  I have plenty of time to do this, I said.  It will be easy, I said.

I had to cast on the stitches THREE TIMES because I kept running out of yarn.  A simple beginners mistake I guess, but really, can any of you professional knitters out there tell me how in the world you know how much yarn to use in a long tail cast on??  'Cause its BEYOND FRUSTRATING to have to cast on THREE TIMES!  UGH!!!

Finally, I was able to cast on 63 stitches and join in the round and away I went.  Or so I thought.  Some of the stitches were new to me.  I mean SSK??  What in the world is SSK?  YO?? Hello, what is YO?  But I have discovered that YOUTUBE is absolutely PRICELESS for us beginning knitters.  Did you know that you can find a YouTube video that shows every knitting stitch in the world????  I can now tell you with certainty that not only do I know what SSK and YO mean ("slip slip knit" and "yarn over" for you non-knitters out there), but I can actually knit those stitches!  YEAH ME!!!

Once I got the hang of the new stitches, the pattern was really pretty simple.  And here is the finished product.  Ta da!!!!!

I think it turned out very nicely.  It is warm and soft. Just what my daughter ordered.

But I would like to say this.  It took me a whole lot longer than ONE HOUR!!  I started knitting about 9:30 p.m. and finished this project at 1:00 a.m.  Yes, I am a beginning knitter.  Yes I had to cast on three times.  Yes I had to check the pattern -- a lot.  And YouTube.  Lots and lots of time on YouTube.  I am going to make another one, and I can probably do it in an hour or so, now that I'm not checking YouTube every few minutes!

I'd be happy to share the pattern if anyone is interested!  And if you have any knitting advice to share, I would LOVE it!!!