The Art of Knitting - Block One - Garter Stitch

As a general crafter and lover of all things involving textiles I could not wait to purchase the then new out Art of Knitting, and the similarly entitled, Crotchet and Quilting. However, life produced many difficulties for me as can be discovered in my blog and podcast. It is only over the last year I have finally begun to have time to complete any of the jobs I actually want to do, and one of these is to eventually knit items. After receiving my very own knitting set at around the age of 4 which I love and still have today, the beautiful grey zip bag with sheep on and the red needle case to match. I learnt very early one but although I technically can knit, it is of a flat item, or basically something scarf like. I have terrible issues reading and following the patterns and make so many mistakes that I cannot rectify, leaving me to do the totally incorrect thing of giving up! Therefore it is my mission to fulfill the challenge and make every block in The Art of Knitting to complete the beautiful blanket. I also continued the series and purchased the second blanket with more complex structures. Only once I have finished all of these will I attempt to make an item!! I wonder if I will manage it, and finally fulfill one of my ambitions, to actually be good at something? - You just never know.

The first block is fairly straight forward. I know how to cast on and off. 4mm needles are a good size for me and I feel fairly comfortable. I must say, I was a little concerned about the tension, as I notoriously pull my work tighter as I progress and garter stitch has always been a tricky one for me as I just pull too tight - but having grown mentally since I last attempted to knit, I knitted this square fairly quickly and confidently. The tension I believe to be fairly even and the square was completed soon after. Block number one - complete!