I started a “real” knitting project a few days ago… and I saw “real” because this is my first project that’s actually going to be something other than a swatch or test.

A couple weeks ago, I wanted to make a cap for a friend’s baby’s birthday, but I didn’t know where to start. I searched online for baby caps… and I found one I liked called “Tri-Peak Hat” on Ravelry. By the time I finished researching and re-learning the basic stitches, it was already too close to her birthday and I wouldn’t get it done on time. Then I learned at her party that she doesn’t like hats, so I abandoned the project…

But I wanted to make one for myself, so I took out the double-pointed needles (and with the aid of numerous videos on YouTube) got started.

Oh my gosh… it was tougher than I thought. It took me almost an hour just to cast on the stitches onto the double pointed needles. Then once I started, I royally messed up and accidentally unraveled part of it and didn’t know how to fix it, so I pulled it all out and started again.

On my second try, I was doing a little better, but it was really difficult to handle the four needles, and I kept messing up when I had to switch to the next needle, so I decided to buy a circular needle and transfer my work onto it. I figured it may be easier and it totally was. I started knitting faster and didn’t have to stop as much. Here is a photo of my progress so far.

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[Update 11/21/2010] I finally completed this. You can see it in this post:
My First “Real” Knitting Project Complete…