My First Project: Great Grandma Gertrude's Blankets

Shop Manager, Photography Queen and Dearest of all Dear Hearts, Hillary Holiday has been with Starlight Knitting Society since day one. Recently we were chatting about our first projects and main inspirations for fiber craft. The following information was taken from that chat.

Needlepoint Pillow and one of Great Grandma Gertrude’s blankets makes for a cozy legacy

Hillary’s face brightened as she recalled her initial desire to jump into fiber craft. It was the strong women that drove Hillary into the fiber world. One year, her mom made each one in the family needlepoint Christmas stockings. Another friend gifted her an intricately handmade needlepoint pillow. Perhaps the most comfort came from the great grandmother she had never gotten to know. Getrude (Gertie) had made the family big, comfy blankets that were passed down through the years. This tactile connection to family left her with a powerful taste for craft. So equipped with her affinity for color, texture and the love for her family, she learned to knit.

Grandma Ginny with her parents Dormer and Gertrude

Hillary is a self-taught knitter and her first project was a small patch…or scarf. Can’t exaclty recall…BUT she remembers knitting blankets for her own family members. As she had children, it became important for her to pass on the nostalgia and powerful love from her own family and friends. The discovery of combining colors and textures has become an exciitng way to express herself through knitting. You can see some of the glowing examples of colorwork samples she has made in the shop.

When asked for advice for new knitters she encourages the maker to go for what feels good. Explore with texture and color. Also, when it gets to be too much, she offers “give yourself a break" and not to feel the pressure of perfection. Knitting isn’t always for everyone! We do need people to make items for after all. How else would we pass on the legacy of fiber craft love?

My First Project

Hey there, friends of Starlight, Tim here! Welcome to this new project I am calling “My First Project.”

The idea is to encourage new knitters and crocheters in the craft while sharing some fun stories and memories from Starllight’s Starlites (aka the employees). There will be photos and inspirational tips and tricks from us to you. Hopefully it will help build and make the fiber arts community stronger in a time when we can’t always be together. Think conversations at a knitting circle but in blog form!

Check out our new posts and feel free to comment!

Stitch on!

timtastic

My First Project: Casting on 100

“My mom says you can’t do that!” My next door neighbor and best friend at the time sneered. Her competitive jab was in response was to my excitement over learning how to knit. Her mother had accepted my plea to learn to knit at the young age of 8. She had me cast on 20 stitches (why do I rememeber that?) in orange acrylic of a certain widely-known brand sold in box craft stores. I worked back and forth in garter stitch, picking up spare stitches and dropping some until my yarn ran out. There were 37 total stitches making my piece a trapezoid not long enough to be a scarf. I decided to seam it on two sides and make a pencil case. I then decorated it with glittery puff paint because…well it was the 90s. I became so excited I told my now-jealous friend that I was going to cast on 100 stitches with more acrylic white yarn (of the same brand). Her response made me want to do it more than before. So I took the US Size blue aluminum straight needles and did it…probably to spite her.

We weren’t friends long after that. But my knitting was….

The orange pencil case in progress

My obsession blossomed and I found a pattern for a Fisherman sweater on the inside tag of another yarn (this time 100% wool). I dove into that sweater as a young child, with the “My Mom Says You Can’t Do That” spite, and knit the sweater of my dreams. Ames Department Store was big in Upstate New York at that time and supplied me with all I needed to make the garment. When it came time to knit the sleeves, I didn’t trust the instructions, so I kept knitting. They looked too small. Little did I know that a drop sleeve adds much-needed length. Also, when it came time to bind off the neckline, I think I crocheted it? It definitely doesn’t resemble anything of a cast off I have seen. Live and learn I guess.

That sweater made me want to know EVERYTHING about knitting. So I pushed on, learning new techniques. When my family finally got a computer with the internet, all of my time was spent researching tips and tricks that I couldn’t find in my growing collection of knitting books and patterns. The knitting bug had bitten (which is famously different than the crochet bug that I didn’t catch for too long).

Neck bind off?

So for all new knitters or ones who want to learn here is my advice: don’t listen to the ones who tell you not to cast on 100 stitches. Follow your passion. And if you don’t get the Knitting Bug (or Crochet Bug) know that trying was enough. But try again and if then, you dont want to do it, well….knitters and crocheters always need people to make things for!

With all the knitting spite you need until next time,

timtastic