Yep, those are adorable little bee buttons. Liela had asked if embellishment is allowed. I replied absolutely. Be creative with materials, buttons, beads, mixing yarns, etc. or you can keep it simple. Here are some I have made. 
The brown ones aren't the prettiest but I don't love them any less.People have also asked how many flowers to knit. I will take as many as you care to knit! You can mail them a little at a time or all at once, I just need them by the end of March. Finally, my goal is finish editing the intro to the thesis this week so hopefully I can send it out next week with the announcement email. Now that the house keeping is out of the way, this week's discussion question is:What is your favorite item to knit and why?
I love to knit afghans. I knit my first one three years ago as a gift to my mom and step dad. It was a very simple pattern with alternating squares of garter, reverse stockinette, stockinette, and seed stitch. I bought a bunch of wild, soft, textured and novelty yarns like Fun Fur, Patons Allure and Divine, Yarn Bee Luscious, and Bernat Bouclé. These are yarns I normally wouldn't knit with but because the afghan was so large, there was a lot of room to play with texture. Then I began really exploring my afghan options and discovered the beautiful Mason Dixon patterns like the log cabin and mitered square afghans. They reminded me of growing up in rural central Pennsylvania seeing all the quilts in Amish country and at the county fairs. In addition, they reminded me of the Gee's Bend quilters that I fell in love with while I was in art school. Over all, because afghans are so big, there is a lot of opportunity to play with pattern, color, and texture. I also usually make them with cheapy acrylic yarn so they aren't too expensive to create. I donate them most of the time, though I do have two I'm working on now that I plan to keep. Aside from afghans, I feel like I need to give a shout out to socks because I recently started knitting them and the variety of yarns and patterns is staggering! Each one is like a little sculpture. What about you guys? Hat's? Mittens? Socks? Sweaters? What's you passion?
I used to love hats best. There's just one of them, so you don't have to worry about matching. They only take one skein, so you can get really nice yarn or cheap yarn. They're just big enough that you can go wild with strange construction or stitch patterns, and not so big that you have to commit to a bad idea. But, I hate wearing knitted hats because Hat (my favorite hat) is superior to all other hats.
ReplyDeleteNow I love socks best. I magic loop toe-up, so I don't have to worry about matching or fit problems. So I've got all the benefits of a hat, plus they're something I'll actually wear. I'm working on a pair inspired by the Hundertwasser paintings in sunny yellows and sky blues.
Sometimes I crave something a little more complicated than socks. I do about one sweater every other year or so, and plenty of -- ahem -- sculptural pieces that stay in the swatch box.
Ok, I like making really hard pieces in stockinette. Cables, mitered squares, perpendicular construction, entrelac, short rows, grafting... I love you all!
My favorite thing to knit is whatever I'm currently starting. Or whatever is next once I finish what I am working on. I like socks, hats, and gloves. Scarves get a little long and boring, but that's ok. I have just started making sweaters, which can also get a little boring, but I think it is worth it. I also like to make little dolls based on Jan Messent's book Knit a Fantasy Story. They are super fast and easy, it is impossible not to be creative and playful with them, and they are so cute I wish I could still play pretend so I could play with them myself. They tickle my imagination. They also satisfy the need for instant gratification. Daydreaming new characters and environments for them is hugely entertaining as well. Maybe they are my favorite after all...
ReplyDeleteI'm still exploring.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I really like socks and toys and pretty much things that require double point needles. Which I didn't realize until I was around a bunch of people who were very anti-DPNs. I can see why they suck but the things they make are so intense and delightful.
My favorite things to knit are intense and delightful projects.
While I knit almost everything ( I am knot into socks) Shawls are my true love, and I love to give them as gifts to those in need of a lift or comfort!
ReplyDeleteLace. Lace has become a passion for me. I haven't knit much lace yet but I feel the need to educate myself on the beginnings of lace knitting.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong. I am still in a learning phase of my knitting. I hope to always be learning and growing with the stitches.
I find great joy in watching an item move from being a ball of yarn into a piece of knitted fabric. That is very satisfying for me.
Knitting is a source of meditation for me. I can be in a room full of people but with the needles in my hands I am centered.
I like to knit projects that give me instant gratification. This has been because I had lots of other things going on like writing my Master's thesis! Now that I have finished (YAY!) I am excited to begin really challenging myself and venturing into larger projects and sock knitting.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing your thesis!
ReplyDeleteI was on a hat kick for a while, until I discovered that the hat pattern I was using was really unflattering and everyone I gave them to kept "losing" theirs. That's okay. Now that I've finished my first sweater I plan on making more and more, because they're warm and I am ALWAYS cold. Plus. my arms are really long and I can make the sleeve length as long as I want. And I can show a sweater off. (I really prefer knitting for myself. It takes so long!)
ReplyDeleteIf I'm giving something away, I prefer to knit scarves. They're easy, quick, and I can use ridiculous yarns like fun fur.
I'm not sure that I have one favorite thing to make. I just love knitting. What I make the most are scarves. I would say that I love making scarves, baby blankets and felted bags in the round. I cannot tell you how many times I've knitted something out of stress and was completely relaxed at the end of it. Knitting a baby blanket helped me get through my last lay off from work. I ended up having to redo the blanket because it was a little mishaped but I was pleasantly willing to reknit it. Is Reknit a word! :-)
ReplyDeleteAs far as ITEMS to knit, I don't really have a favorite. I just enjoy knitting. Usually my most favorite projects are something I see in a magazine or a book that I have to knit like RIGHT now! I'm famous for being a slow finisher because I am so inspried to start many things. Probably my favorite technique would be stranded color work. I love color and making designs while stranding is very interesting and fun. I like watching the different shapes emerge as I go along, row by row.
ReplyDeleteI like hats, they are small, but with a lot of possibilities, and wearable so the art can go with you. I learned fair isle from the new Mason Dixon knitting book (I made the Liberty Afghan from mostly stash yarns) and have been incorporating that into my hats. I want to take things larger and more freestanding this year. You can see some of my hats here http://www.stitchinkitten.com/index.htm
ReplyDeleteI guess the items I most make are felted bags, socks and fingerless mitts. I don't know if they are actual favorites. I don't have the attention span for things like sweaters. I am not very much into colorwork fair aisle or intarsia. I do however love knitting with varigated , multi-colored
ReplyDeleteor self-striping yarns. I absolutely adore different texture stitches, especially cables.
I'm not sure I've found my favorite yet! I've very rarely knit anything very big. I've started a blanket which I've put down numerous times simply because I'm tired of working on it (although it's turning out beautifully). Most of my projects have been fairly small not taking more than 1-2 weeks. I've attempted larger, but they rarely make it off the needles.
ReplyDeleteAndi's hats rock!
ReplyDeleteSweaters - I love sweaters. But then there are scarves, and socks, and I love to knit them too. Items that have color - lots of color are my favorite. I do a lot of charity knitting (preemie hats and booties, Linus blankets, IV wrist covers and rectangles for Warm-Up America blankets)too. If you are a member of Ravelry, you can look at my projects - I am Fuzzylogic on Ravelry.
ReplyDeleteI go in phases, and whatever I am making at the moment is my favorite. As I mentioned earlier, I like to do quick things.
ReplyDeleteI have made bedspreads, tableclothes, etc. but no more, nothing that time consuming.
Right now I am into spa clothes and soap bags. Planning on making at least 6 sets before I move onto something else.
I really like knitting lace, but end up doing other projects, so the lace gets shunted to the side. I tend to knit a lot of afghans (and squares for them) and hats. I love doing the squares and hats b/c they're so quick and easy. They satisfy the instant gratification urge.
ReplyDeleteI like scarves but get bored, I am actually sitting her trying to figure out what to knit. I think I am going to go do a flower or two tonight. I want to learn socks..magic loop style.
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Stefanie:
ReplyDelete"I love to knit everything, although I'd have to say that my #1 most-knitted project is probably socks - I knit them as gifts and also for myself, they're portable and can be taken anywhere, they're fast, they're a pretty low monetary commitment, and wool socks are freakin' necessary for winters in chicago. i am also into hats, stuffed animals, sweaters, handbags, and random stash-busting projects."
I love to knit socks and baby sweaters. These are small enough to finish quickly, require small amounts of yarn, and can be simple or very complex! Also, it costs way less (even in expensive yarn) to make socks or a baby item than it does to make an adult sweater or aghan!
ReplyDeleteHats are fun because they are a small way to add a touch of whimsey to my knitting!
I love socks. Why? They're portable, mostly. They don't always take too long to make, so you can experience instant gratification once you turn the heel and work your way to the toe. (Obviously, I haven't yet tied the toe-up socks, but I will eventually)
ReplyDeleteMy host mother in Bulgaria, where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer, made me a pair of socks one time - attempting to show me how to do it by working it toe-up, but apparently it didn't stick. (The lesson learned, anyway) I think I was too caught up in trying to write down the new vocabulary that the lesson itself was lost.
Another time, I tutored a couple of students and because they knew I liked handknit things, one of their mom's made me a pair of socks as a thank you gift. There's nothing better than a handknit gift to bridge the gap between cultures! (And they say math and music are the only international languages!)
While serving in Bulgaria, I made several socks because they were easy to work on while sitting on buses for hours. As a result, a bunch of my fellow PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) ended upwearing my creations. It was fun and made for a great discussion with other Bulgarians who didn't know Americans still made handcrafted items.
Personally, I think that working on those opened the doors to many a discussion over there - especially in marketplaces. I'd see someone working on a pair of terleechki, or house slippers, and I'd start by watching, then asking questions and then buying a couple of pair. Sometimes, I'd then start up a pair myself since the patterns weren't too hard to duplicate. Even though I could make my own though, I enjoy buying theirs - they had different designs, patterns, yarns, etc. Plus, it was a great way to join a group of women - usually older women - that I might have otherwise missed. I truly think I would have missed out on meeting many great, wonderful and interesting women had I not had an interest in knitting.
I'm still figuring all this out. I haven't been knitting for long enough to have decided. After all, I haven't made one of everything yet!
ReplyDeleteI've done socks - I like socks. I like that there are sections that distinctly mark progress, and require different techniques. As soon as I get bored with one section, it's time to start the next. (Plus, I love the geometry magic in turning the heel.)
I'm working my way through lace right now. I like the amount of focus required for lace knitting. When I have an easy (boring) day at work, I like being able to go home and challenge myself. My partner likes it too - I'm much easier to live with when I'm focused on something. :)
My favorite items to knit are hats. This is mainly because this is the only thing that I have been able to accomplish. To me, it seems that I can see the results quickly and the light at the end of the tunnel is always visible. Being a beginner it is very important for me to be able to see the results. As I learn more about knitting and patterns I am gaining more respect for the process, but for the time being I am very results-oriented.
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Ingrid:
ReplyDelete"I don't have a specific favourite item to knit: I like to try something new each time. Maybe a new technique, kind of yarn or colour. I have knitted hats the most and I do favour short row shaping, so the teagu hat from knitty.com has been kntted a few times and greens and reds are my favourite yarn colours. I have also just begun sock knitting (to try out magic looping) and I enjoyed that. I may try more socks."