New Tricks

It's probably a bit late in the year for resolutions, but I have some knitting ones to share. I was taught to knit by my mother and grandmother, who both knit the same way, so I based the way I knit on them - although the way I do it looks a bit cack-handed - more like eating your dinner than knitting, but it does the job... Anyway, its only recently that I've realised there are OTHER ways to knit (ie hold the needles, yarn etc).
It was this realisation, coupled with finding lots of lovely patterns calling for new techniques, which made me appreciate that there was still so much to learn in this craft called knitting! I have already learned how to use DPNs for socks and mittens and just recently used my circular needles to make a summer top (hooray - no seaming!!!). So with that in mind, here are some of the new tricks I hope to learn (and master - eventually):
* Continental knitting (holding the yarn in the left hand - much faster and useful for stranded colourwork)
* Toe up socks - means you shouldn't run out of yarn without finishing the toe!
* Lace - the lightest weight I have knitted with so far is 4ply/fingering.
* Fair Isle (stranded colourwork which looks just amazing)
* Double-Knitting - which means you either knit two things at once or you can create great two-sided colourful designs without having to carry the colour (like in fair-isle) or wrap the colours around (like in intarsia) - by swapping the colours from front to back.
I'll be back with updates on my progress on these and my neverending task of trying to reduce the stash (or even try to keep it static!!). I have projects lined up for each of them but before I start, I've got some christmas gifts to get going on (yes I know its early, but my knitting speed is not very fast!).
Ho hum - all good fun!

Sanity check: Too early to say - need coffee...
Stash +/-: +1 fun fur for beards (you'll see...)
Projects: +1 = Twilight Mittens for neice's birthday (still WIP)