The start of...

This is my first attempt at a 'real' blog. I have a great friend Claudia who has graciously offered to help me get it going. Since I'm new to this, my posts will probably be a little thin in content until I get the hang of it. I've also started a Flickr account to manage my photos, but it will take me a while to sort through all the pics and decide which ones I want to transfer to Flickr. It is my intention to post at least once a week. It will probably be more once I get used to this.

I guess you can tell by my blog name that I like to knit things for men. So the title is descriptive of what I do (knit for bears) and what I make (Knits for bears). When I say "bears", I mean husky, burly, furry men... not teddy bears (although I do make outfits for teddy bears too).

Most of the knitting I have done has been for my family or me. I've done a little bit of sample knitting for local yarn shops and some consignment knitting. I'm working on a shawl from Victorian Lace Today right now with JoJoLand Melody that I bought last year at SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair) in Asheville. This is my first large shawl and I've gotten about half way through. I've been putting in lifelines every 20 rows just to be on the safe side. It has a knit on edging as well, which I've never done before. Hopefully I'll be seeing my friend Shirley tomorrow night at the knit-in I go to on Tuesday evenings at Pasta Please. She is our knitting master we go to for the technical advice (when Claudia isn't available). ;) She is soo knowledgeable about knitting. I vaguely remember her talking about how she was joining the edging with the live stitches from the body of the shawl and I don't think it was k2tog. When I get some pictures taken, I'll post them. I just finished a baby cardigan a couple of weeks ago in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I also have a sweater going for my hubby that has been a slow process. I have started and ripped out 2 times and I'm on the third incarnation. It started with just 3 colors and is now up to about 20 colors in Cascade 220. It will be my first time steeking the sleeves. Wish me luck. I'll post pics of these too when I figure out how. :)

I'm anxiously waiting for my invite from Ravelry. Claudia got hers last week and told us she was up into the wee hours inputting all her stash and projects and stuff. I'm afraid of getting s*cked into it myself. Just what I need, another reason to spend more time in front of the computer and lose precious knitting time. I can rest for now knowing it will be a while anyway since there are still 12,000 people ahead of me.

My thanks to Claudia for inspiring me to get my blog started.