Officially a Knitter!!!

Yesterday was a big day for me when the fabulous piece of paper arrived in the post.

This is the culmination of almost 7 years work (if I’d been quicker I’d have received a proper City&Guilds one) and I guess it now means that I’m officially a knitter & designer!!!

I have been knitting for a very long time, since I was taught by my grandma as a child. My grandma and my mum were always knitting and I wanted to be able to do it so much.

Grandma enjoying some riverside knitting!

I learnt so much from both of them, and from trial and error.

I was very lucky having someone on hand to ask when I was struggling and as a result of  learning at a young age I’ve had a lifelong passion for knitting and everything connected to it.

Early in 2010 I decided that I wanted to build on my passion and add some more formal learning to all that I’d managed to learn so far. I did a bit of research and chose to sign up with Loraine McClean of Knit Design Online. There was a waiting list so I had to wait a few months to get going and I think I began the course early in 2011. If you are at all considering doing something similar I would recommend having a look at Loraine’s website & thinking about the courses she is offering.

It is no exaggeration to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed working through the 12 modules that would arrive in the post.

It has been a marvellous opportunity to experiment with so many different techniques, stitches & yarns which is something that I’d never thought to do for myself before. I wasn’t afraid to substitute yarns and try things I hadn’t done before, but always following a pattern.

I have learnt to be much more strict with myself and re-do things until they are spot on as Loraine doesn’t accept anything less than your very best, and I hope this means that I will always produce items of a high standard which I can be proud of.

I’ve never had any training in art, as I was not considered creative enough to do art at school, so I was a little scared of some of the artwork we had to do. I had, however, had alot of experience doing painting, gluing/sticking & making creative messes with toddlers, and I just approached most of the tasks from this level, followed the instructions in the module and managed to present some pleasing results most of the time.  It was always a delight when the assessment came back and I found out I was actually quite good at some of these tasks.

I’m more confident now but there is definitely room for new skills to be acquired!

We also studied different types of yarns and fibres and learnt about their properties and which ones work best for certain projects and why. Finally we had to design and knit our own garments which I now have the courage to do independently. I have so many ideas and inspirations which I now can’t wait to follow up over the next few years.

Doing this course has been an absolute joy and I never ever ever want to stop building on the foundation it has given to me.

Here are the main items I have produced throughout the process.