Knitting meets Pinterest & FREE patterns

Girl Guides Brownies in Europe, where I excelled in earning badges like the knitting badge, and a lifelong skill that relaxes me anywhere I take my knitting needles and a bag of wool.

My mom took it upon herself to teach me how to knit so I could earn my knitting badge. I soooo remember the rules that the square had to be even tension and a specific size. I tried stretching it to make it bigger to get out of knitting. My mom laughed, but kept me encouraged to finish. That was something I had trouble with, starting was GREAT, but finishing was hard to do.

Many years later, I decided to take up knitting and began working on complicated sweater patterns, which typically took me a year to complete. Hats were more fun cause you could get them done fast. I even made a few sweaters for boyfriends, which, if they pissed me off during the year, were ripped back to balls of wool! I still have the balls of yarn from one ex-boyfriend's sweater I knitted for him, back in the '70s!

Without wool shops or someone to pass on the knowledge and demonstrate, back in those ancient days before YouTube, it was nearly impossible to figure out those patterns on your own. Loyalty was required with wool shops, so you could return again and again for guidance. My mom was great at teaching, and somehow, between the two of us, we could figure out most patterns; sometimes, we still had to seek out the wool shop expert to show us and tell us.

Now, replacing mom's guidance is YouTube, filled with people who are willing to demonstrate certain stitches and more; it's all there. I have posted some of the ones I needed on my Pinterest account for quick reference, while also sharing them with other Pinterest users.

My mom, Norma, is crocheting a giant blanket with my dog, Dixie, thinking it's for her!

We laughed when I took this photo and titled it, "Sooo many men and so little time".

I love Pinterest; I have had fun finding new recipes to try, connecting with people around the world, and rediscovering my joy for knitting and crochet.  It inspired me to dig out my old needles, buy some fresh yarn, and take up knitting once again, thanks to the numerous free patterns I have recently discovered, swapped, and saved on Pinterest.

In 2012, I discovered Pinterest. I set up my account, not really knowing what good it would be for me, or if it was just another time waster. What I did like, being visually oriented and dyslexic, was that information was saved with images, which is a bonus, allowing me to quickly review and read it later.

Norwegian slippers are knitted in squares and then sewn together.
Thankfully, I have studied geometry to figure out how to put these together!

The squares are all sewn together, ready for the next step.

The photo shows the knitted slipper ready for the hot water wash to fit my foot, size 7.

Shrinking wool is also known as felting, which involves a hot water wash in a washing machine.

 Not all wool shrinks at the same rate, so determining the shrinkage through a sample size is an essential first step. 

I finished Norwegian Slippers with a pom-pom.
Knitted gift sent to my sister for Xmas.
Warm and cozy!

 I added the skull buttons and knitted stripes for my son's slippers!

Wow, there are many free patterns and some for sale available online. The inspiration I found was endless, and the knitted projects I created were discovered on Pinterest.  I find it's like eating nuts, I just can't have one or 10 board collections!

My model, the red ball, is posing for my crochet headband. Quick and easy to make, they were sent off as gifts to family. It's adjustable to fit any size head with a large button on the back of the headband.

The headband flower detail was stitched after all was made.

I invite you to explore my Pinterest collections, which include inspirational artists, art lessons on YouTube, and many other fun and interesting things I have collected on Pinterest.

 pinterest.com/minazjantz/

Happy New Year 2013