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Knitting and crochet have provided many many hours of entertainment, satisfaction and sometimes frustration for me.

I want to share my information with others and I hope you enjoy visiting my site.

Why Going Loopy?

Apart from the obvious connection with knitting, some (well ok maybe all) my friends and family might say I'm going, if I haven't already gone, loopy!

Knitting

One of my uncles taught me how to do a basic knit stitch once the stitches were cast on.  From there, one of my aunts taught me how to cast on, cast off, knit, purl and rib.

I did very little knitting until I was expecting my daughter when I felt I must knit something to welcome my baby.  I knew nothing about different ply yarns or about babies come to that.  Hence, the first garment I knitted fitted her when she was about six months old.  I still have the much used and very battered pattern.  I was inordinately proud of the garment I'd knitted.  I did the little jacket and the pom pom bonnet.  You can see the price 9 old pence (about 7.5p!)



While we waited for a house, we lived with my in-laws and my mother-in-law guided my clumsy attempts at making mittens and bootees.  She must have thought I was expecting an octopus because, so thrilled with my success was I, that I knitted enough bootees to kit out a football team, let alone a single baby.

After that, I knitted for my nephews and nieces as well and looking back at my photo album, the children in the photos were all sporting garments I'd knitted at various times.  They have since grown and had their own children and even grandchildren.  I've taken great pleasure in knitting outfits for each new member of the family as it has arrived.

I did have a knitting machine as well when the children were small.  It wasn't an 'all singing all dancing computer controlled' machine such as is available now.  I found it very hard to understand at first but because it cost a fortune (or it was a fortune to us at the time) I was determined to learn how to use it and eventually succeeded.  However, although I could produce garments in a fraction of the time, I couldn't beat the satisfaction of hand knitting.  There is something very soothing about the feel of yarn running through your fingers and the knitted fabric growing in your hands.

Now, I knit mainly baby and toddler items.  Firstly, because they knit up quickly and I'm not a patient person; secondly, because hand knits are not mainstream fashion now.

My favourite knitting is Aran.  I am not good at Fair Isle or designs using different coloured yarns, again, because I am impatient.  It takes me a long time to do lace patterns, although I do like them but I tend not to knit things that are very open for small babies because I think it's too easy for little fingers to get stuck.

Crochet

The fashion for ponchos came in and a lot of them were crochet.  This prompted me to add to my repertoire.  I struggled mightily with this craft but was determined that I would learn how to read and follow a pattern.

Wool shops were more common at the time and to my eternal thanks, the lady where I shopped was very patient with me.  I must have visited her shop nearly every day, for weeks, with my crumpled and misshapen bits of crochet which were my first attempts.  Sadly, I can't remember her name now but to those of you who are willing to pass on your skills, my unending thanks. 

You can view some of the items I've knitted for recent additions to our family here.





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