knitting *ahem*

I don't know about you, but knitting is something that has recently taken my fancy and I'm really rather interested in learning how to do it. Something about creating your own wintery apparel gives me this warm and cozy feeling. And oh, the glory of the materials you can use! Soft (yet astronomical) mohair and cashmere and merino, the ever lovely wool, bamboos, silk, linen, cotton... and of course the needles as well, and all of those much lusted after needle point tips and other paraphernalia you may perhaps see in Walmart sometimes in the fabric department (but not usually, since those are being thrown out altogether of most Walmarts nowadays).

But oh my goodness, I either don't have the proper patience to knit or I'm using all the wrong methods and materials. I began last weekend out of having nothing to do, the boredom setting in as the school year has been finished out already and I had nearly no tech-type projects to take on. So alas, using some spiffy 10.5 bamboo needles I bought online from Jo-Ann's and some Red Heart yarn, I decided to learn to knit with the help of tutorial videos.

I learned to tie the split knot, and the casting on part was easy compared what was coming. Then rows had to be done... oh my. For a good hour, I sat there with myself velcro'ed to the computer (figuratively), shoving the pointy little needle row by row through acrylic yarn that kept on splitting. At this point, my patience had altogether diminished and I was getting so frustrated with that stupid thing. (Note to self: never buy Red Heart yarn ever, ever again. It's scratchy and it's hell for the knitter)

So much for a first try at knitting. So thus I spent the rest of my day making a little swatch of heather gray knitting in the most basic stitch: the knit stitch. The product of all this was a holey, unequally proportioned, mangled piece of knitting. My sister told me it looked like a piece of a sweater chewed up by the cat. (I honestly don't even know how many times I've typed the word "knitting" in this paragraph, let alone this post)

Yes, I realize it's Thursday and that means I should have made soap today, but I was out and that's obviously not exactly ideal for making soap. I shall be posting my soapmaking adventures of last Sunday tomorrow, though, to make up for it!

tapping into my nonexistent blogging skills

Well hello, I'm glad you've dropped by. I'm honestly a complete newbie to blogging. I don't have much of an appreciation of templates, either. They're so very cumbersome and clumsy. I've finally gotten to work on a proper blog for Malkata Soap Works, so that, if you're interested, you can see some of what goes on behind the scenes in my kitchen, with plenty of photos, of course!

If you don't know who I am or my soap company, I'm a homeschooling student from Georgia who has an slightly unhealthy love of soapmaking. What more can I say? Those who don't make soap won't understand, but the precious few that do will totally understand what I'm talking about! It's one of the most fun crafts around, keeps you busy, and it allows you to play around with your creative side.

I'm a self-taught graphic and web designer. I learned HTML a few years ago and I took a course in Java this year, which I've been trying to apply to any and every web page that I code, which isn't exactly working, you see. Java is really hard for me to remember, unlike HTML, which has become second-hand for me. I also really, really enjoy photography and I'll be snapping photos with my little Canon point and shoot whenever I get the chance.

I'm getting a little on the life-story side here, I know, so I'll try to wrap it up so you don't fall asleep on your keyboard.

I'm thinking, to start, I'll make up a little rundown list of my weekly blogging plan (I'm making this up as I go along, though). Thursday and Sunday are technically my "soapmaking" days because they're when I make soap the most, so I'll post photos of my experiences every week on those days. Since summer's just around the corner, I'll have more time to soap and that means more blogging! Yay! On other days of non-soaping, I'll post things unrelated to soapmaking, like gardening and my failure attempts at sewing with my sister, and cooking and the occasional knitting project... (continues rambling)

Thank you for taking some time out of your day to drop by my blog! Come and say "hello" in the comments, if you'd like!