Winter. It isn’t my favourite. Aside from snowy days which I’ll take happily, it’s cold. Dark. Often grey. And also the busiest time of the year in my house. Stress runs high and sleep runs short. But we won’t be beaten!
One of my favourite ways to get through winter is to explore my creativity. In fact winter is the perfect time to create. This is a tale I’ve told many times. My love for making something out of nothing and a creative streak that is forever a part of me. If I can create, I feel at peace. Anything, from baking, to photography to my first love of sewing. I’ll try most crafts given the opportunity. Even knitting…
I need – yes need – to have creativity in my life to the point that I deliberately make time for it. It doesn’t have to be in huge amounts, the odd half hour is enough. And this time is most essential to me during the winter months.
Now I am not a knitter. I have never knitted anything in my life. I can vaguely remember trying when I was a child and both my mum and sister are proficient knitters, but I always preferred the sewing machine. So when Wool & The Gang offered to send me a beginners knitting kit to try, I deliberated a while. Because I don’t want to share a terribly knit something you know?
But they assured me it was for beginners like me. So OK I said, I do like a challenge anyway.
Then a few days later the Foxy Roxy giant scarf kit arrived and so I began. And I was hooked. This grey scarf is the first thing I have ever knitted. It is a bit uneven. That’s OK with me. Because I made it and I’m a little bit proud of it.
time to create
So what can you expect from a beginners knitting kit? Well inside the Foxy Roxy Scarf kit is everything you need. 4 balls of chunky wool, a pair of knitting needles, a large needle to sew in the loose ends and an instruction booklet.
Wool & The Gang have everything covered. For a complete novice like me, their tutorials are easy to follow. From casting on to how to stitch to casting off. In fact they are some of the best creative step by step instructions I have seen. I think beginning with a chunky knit is a brilliant idea as it grows quickly, is quite forgiving and it is less time consuming than a fine knit.
OK so it took me a few attempts to cast on because I struggled a bit with the tension – looser than you think would be my advice here! But once I got past that first row I was away. I actually knitted the entire giant scarf in my free time over three days. It may not be a perfectly even knit but I can tell you this, there is nothing more satisfying to me than creating something from nothing. A ball or four of yarn = a giant, soft scarf in the space of a few days.
That’s amazing really isn’t it?
In fact, I loved the process of knitting my scarf so much that I ordered myself a few more balls of wool, taught myself another stitch and began another knit. I’m planning to sew this delicious pale pink knit-one-row-purl-one-row into a cushion cover for the studio. Next up, maybe a hat…
J x
The Foxy Roxy kit was gifted to me by Wool & The Gang
