HELP

Written by: Catherine Hoben

Author's email: c.hoben@hotmail.com

Uh-oh…You have made a mistake and cannot fix it. You try, but it just gets to be a bigger mess. No time to fuss, it’s time to get help. And who can you turn to for knitting and crocheting help and advice?

Relatives, friends, co-workers and their spouses, little old ladies at church, club members, neighbors.

Locate a local knit and crochet group though on-line searching or checking the craft section of your local newspaper. Meet up at a coffee shop or restaurant. Bring your “problem” and some helpful wonder-knitter/crocheter can show you how to work miracles and fix it. Or e-mail your question to the group and helpful advice will be in your inbox shortly. You will be amazed at the support and encouragement from perfect strangers.

Take a scheduled class at your local yarn store or craft store, or drop in at the place where you bought the yarn.

Find a beautiful book of baby gifts for you to knit at a local bookstore. Look for authors like Debbie Bliss, Amy Bart, Julie Carles, Erika Knight, Zoë Mellor, Melanie Falick and Kristin Nichols.

Check out a FREE book at your local library. Try the children’s department if you need great illustrations and simple instructions.

Purchase a new knitting or crocheting magazine that has projects you like. Investigate the refresher pages for stitches, gauge, yarns, and resources. You’ll get lots of ideas.

Watch a yarn crafting TV show on cable, TIVO it and replay it for inspiration. You can download a podcast of knitting and crocheting to your computer or MP3 player. You can purchase a CD with instructions for knit and crochet stitches you can replay on your computer as needed.

Internet resources…of course! Check out the websites for the Yarn Craft Council of America, yarn companies, crafting, charities, and on-line publications like this one. Check out the archives for other projects. Google a search term like “knitting” or “crocheting” and get over 30 million sites, while “knitting baby gifts” gets it down to under 3 million sites. Yarn related blogs can be addictive as you get caught up in the latest work in progress (WIP) report.

Remember, you are not the first yarn lover to “mess up”. If your project can be fixed, get help to fix it. If your project can’t be fixed, rip out and start anew. If your project cannot be ripped out, cut it out and start a new ball of yarn. If your project is too hard for you right now, choose something easier. Don’t give up, though. Keep on knitting! Keep on crocheting! Keep on working with yarn!

Meet the Author:

Cathy Hoben has been blessed with 12 grandchildren...so far. This means that she has been knitting almost exclusively for babies, baby showers and working on “Quick and Easy” projects to keep up with all the babies. She has been especially blessed with five little grandchildren in less than 2-1/2 years!

Cathy has perfected her skills teaching knitting classes at Michael’s. When she’s not knitting, she’s babysitting her cute little grandchildren. The parents usually give her 24-hour notice, though, so she can get the yarn and needles put away. Cathy says that meeting other knitters at a local knitter’s group gives her encouragement, and steers her away from projects that are too difficult or are going to take too much time to finish, because she would like to hold each new grandchild and newborn Cameron (as seen in this picture) as often as she can.