Knitted purl scarf

Knitted purl scarf

One of the girls from work asked if I could make her a big long royal blue scarf. I said yes! She wanted it to be quite thick and long. 

So my mission began in Knit World trying to find the colour blue she wanted and to no luck. The store manager, Barbara, was super helpful with picking the colours but also showing me some of the knit samples with different knitting techniques which helped give me an idea of what I may look at doing in terms of this new scarfs pattern. I got the closest nicest looking blue I could find and it is a nice dark blue colour. Even though the colouring isn't quite spot on, she may still like it. Plus if she doesn't it would have been good practice anyway as I am looking at learning how to purl knit with this one.

I am using the thickest knitting needles I have in my collection size 10mm. So glad mum one year ages ago for christmas gave me a whole pack and carry case for a range of different sizes of needles! Thanks mum! Finally putting them to good use. I always knew they would come in handy :)

So the process begins! Of course as like last time I will document the process and stats I have with this, and who knows maybe this time I can avoid holes and extra added stitches. Plus I brought a how to knit book that goes over all the trouble shooting areas (The cool girls guide to knitting, by Nicki Trench) so hopefully I can now fix my mistakes instead of letting them be. Check out my photo albumn 'Knitting projects' on my facebook page to see my progress (Tali attempts arts and crafts')

The wool I picked out from Knit World is a navy blue colour, 8ply wool from the brand Olympus at the price of $9.20 per ball. I have two balls of wool to start off with. Its also 100% acrylic and double knit which will make the nice thick scarf we are looking for.

Ok I have started with a different cast off video as I couldn't seem to get it to work this time around. I just flicked through YouTube and found a video with a good camera view of the cast off (can' remeber which one).

Day 1: saturday

I started off with 40 stictches wide and by the end of the night I somehow managed to get on 59 stictches. I have no idea how that happened! All I can think of was that with alternating between 3-4 plain stitches and 3-4 purl stitches that I must have been doing something wrong with the purl stitches.

I used the book I brought as mentioned above to try and decrease the number of stitches I had.. And managed to make a number of holes appear along the way. Still have no idea how to fix holes yet. Measured at the end of the day at roughly 39cm wide and 70 cm long.

Day 2: sunday

I got a little side tracked today as I wanted to practice and remember how to crochet, but some how I managed to finish my first ball out of the two balls of wool I had brought. I tied the second ball of wool to the first just with a normal knot and then continued knitting the scarf.

At this point I am no good at keeping track of whether I was suppose to be purl knitting or normal knitting, so I kept looking at it and trying to figure out which was more needed. Measured at 60cm wide and 110cm long. Scarf seems to like to grow longer as well as wider! Opps...

Day 3: monday

So I couldn't take this scarf to work as it is now too long and bulky to actually carry to work in my bag. I had some crochet practicing to keep me busy while at work and then the scarf to keep me busy in the mornings and nights when I am home.

Today I managed to finish my second ball of wool and decided that I would need anither ball of wool to finish the scarf at a length that I would be happy with.

Pay day is this coming wensday so will have to get another ball of wool then.

Stats so far: 81 sticthes wide?!!!??? I think I keep adding a stictch when I purl knit... I have no other Idea how I do it..

Widest part is approx 75cm and is now sitting at 130cm long.

Day 4: wensday

I managed to buy a new ball of wool same brand, type and colour to continue and finish the scarf. I have started another knitting project which I can do during work hours and that is a knitted blanket made of different coloured patches for another friend at work. So hopefully I manage a good balance between both projects.

I didnt get much done today as my wrists are a bit sore from knitting all day! Hopefully I can get the scarf done in the morning.

Day 5: thursday

I managed to finish the scarf this morning. I didnt have time to check the last measurements as I had to wrap and gift it at work today. Hopefully she likes it.

I spread the scarf out on my bed spread and realised the dimensions are all wonky. It looks like a triangle shaped scarf with the top cut off of the point.. Opps... 

So reaction was good from the recipient. She liked the thickness and size and colour. The holes aren't noticable when worn and neither is the wonkiness as its so thick and long that its hard to tell when bunched together. Its very warm thanks to the thickness of the wool. The only down side she saw was that it was too hot a day to wear it today.

So it looks like we have one happy first client. And I got to learn not only a new technique in knitting but also that I am a lot faster at knitting with the more I practice.

Now onto a knitted patched blanket!

Knitted scarf by an amatuer - part 2

Knitted scarf by an amatuer - part 2

Day 1 - I put in a whooping 4 hours of knitting time in while watching tv episodes to make good use of my time and made it to the 30cm long mark! I managed to start out with 15 stitches and gain an extra stitch along the way, I have no idea how I managed to add a stitch. I swear they just appear. And I have no idea how to fix it, so I just kept going!

Day 2 - worked on the scarf for another 4 hours and 30 minutes! Half of the time I did while at work. Seen as all I need at work is my voice and a headset my hands are free to carry out projects like this and christmas decorations! And somehow I am now on 17 stitches wide and a couple of random holes have popped up.. Again... I have no idea how to fix that so I just carried on. The holes aren't too noticable unless u really look at it and know its there.

 The other half of my scarf hours were while at home catching up on The Originals tv series. Nothing like knitting while watching vampire babes killing other vampire babes! And oh hello another added stitch! I really do admire any one who can knit and keep the stitches consistent, especially as they seem to appear by fluke chance when I knit. Ended the night at about 11.15pm and with a length of 60 cm! 2 days and double the length each day. At this rate just two more days of knitting and I will be done! Super excited to start and complete my very first scarf all by myself :)

Day 3 - morning - just spent and hour and a half knitting before heading to work. The scarf is getting quite long now, will measure at the end of the day and also check the amount of stitches I have.. I have a feeling that I am on 19 now. Opps.

- afternoon - I managed to spend a full 3 hours and 50 minutes knitting while at work. Great thing I can multi task! And i was right I have 19 stitches wide now that I am working with. They magically apleared I swear. I also think I made a total of 4 holes in the scarf... But they are little so it doesn't matter. The one thing i picked up on was that the tail end of the string that is used to wrap around the needles for the basic and generic knit; I would wrap it around my index finger on my right hand so it was faster and quicker to manipulate. That my muscle memory picked up on the longer I knitted for. 

-evening- I got home from work and realised I couldn't knit as the last metre of wool I had was all knotted and tangled! I literally spent an entire hour untangling the extensive knot it had formed. Good thing I had youtube keeping me company. Then finally around 11.30pm I made it to the last 10 cm of the ball of wool to which I realised I had no clue how to tie it off with out it unravelling. I then found a 2 minute video on youtube called 'how to bind off your knitting for dummies' video channel - fordummies. Subsequently a funny video name to click on in the first place. But seen as I had never finished a scarf before... It made sense to continue watching it even after the title appeared in the video's first 3 seconds. Once i figured that out which was super easy compared to casting off I clocked off and completed the scarf at 11.52pm! A whole day earlier than I expected. The scarf is 8cm wide and roughly 120cm long. It is a little bit shorter than I would have liked, but I only had one ball of wool, and boy I know if I had a second ball I would have no clue as to how to attach them together nicely.

So there we have it. 3 days and I started and fully finished the scarf all on my own without getting bored in the process! Horay! 

Photos to be posted up on facebook page - Tali attempts arts and crafts

Please share and like my page. Leave comments and tips.

Also let me know of a project you think I should tackle! Post me photos or youtube links and I will try and attempt majority of the ideas posted.

Special thanks goes to:

My mum-  who originally taught me how to knit all those many years ago, and would have to re teach me ever time Id try to start a scarf project. Thanks for putting up with me all those years!

Subscribers- whonhave been tracking my progress

And also to 

Knit world - who i brought the wool from and the super nice ladies That served me at the Wellington store when I came in to find some nice wool colours. 

Knitted scarf by an amatuer!

Knitted scraf by an amatuer

This is my first time knitting a scarf since I was probably 15! I brought my wool from knit world in left bank arcade just on cuba st which cost $3.50 for just a single ball, and I am using knitting needles that my mum gave me a set of for christmas a bunch of years ago. Size 3.75m. I chose a colour blend of white, baby pink and baby blue in a pastel pallete.

I started knitting a small scarf on 26th nov at 930pm and watched a youtube video for the cast off - 'Knitting Techniques: How to Cast On: Scarf Knitting' video by eArtsAndCrafts, Serena Nelson.

 My mum was always the one who started the knit for me and she was always the one that finished my scarf knitting projects in the past. This time though I am determined to start and finish it all myself! After cast off the technique came back automatically and I remembered how to knit from memory and muscle memory! 

So far I have spent 4hours knitting from starting at 930pm and going through to 130am in my first sitting. I multi tasked my time while catching up with my current tv obsessions. It was quite soothing and theraputic if I must admit! 

I started my cast off with 15 stitches and have somehow managed to end up with 17 along the way! But so far so good and no holes yet either whoch is also a good trick I can make appear from orevious experience (also something my mum would have to fix!)

The reason behind my arts and crafty stuff and projects, is because not only do I want to develop my talents further and skill set, but also put my time to a good creative use. Also at work I have been in charge of a lot of projects for decorations (which will be discussed and uploaded consecutively along the way). Especially with christmas coming up I have a lot of projects to carry out!

With my knitting I will be keeping a time log here and find a ruler to track the lengths I get up to also. You can also see my photo progress that will be posted up on my facebook page: 'Tali attempts arts and crafts'

Please share and like my page. Leave comments and tips.

Also let me know of a project you think I should tackle! Post me photos or youtube links and I will try and attempt majority of the ideas posted.

I am no Telemarketer

 Blog #2

Don't get me wrong, ideally and mainly our job is to make sales and sell insurance policies over the phone. However I prefer being more customer based and focused. You need help, you have questions? I'd try to help and I'd try to answer your questions as best as possible. Why you might ask? Because I am nice. Sometimes I find people rude and horrid on calls, but other times I can talk to someone and its the complete opposite.

   For example, my fave call was when talking to a lady who didn't work as she was looking after her parents in their late nineties. I told her that that was quite admirable, to which she then said 'I guess, but sometimes they can be so annoying and get on my nerves and I feel so horrible as a person for feeling that way'. This was a lady who really needed an insight on life and a recharge of motivation. I gave her advice, I told her that I'm sure that when you were a baby squeeling and crying and having to have diapers changed that they would have felt the same then. It was a new point of view for her and she hadn't thought of that before. Plus she also wanted to maybe be a caregiver later on in her life to which I said that caring for her parents would be great for gaining experience. The moral of that call, I helped someone who I would never meet and probably never talk to again. I didn't sell her insurance but I gave her free advice before life could get too tough on her. Later after the call had finished the same lady had called our customer service department and left them with a compliment for me saying I was a great assest to the company. The email was forwarded to our whole department and it really made me appreciate the time I spent listening and talking with someone, a person, who could then turn their own life around and get back on track.

There are other calls I've had that have just been good cherry conversations with people that like talking once they are aware your a human too and not a company robot. I've talked to people who rescue turtles and keep them at their house to look after and care for. I've also spoken to people who sound lonely and needed to talk to someone (which ment the calls are long and hanging up is a mission and a half) but it means keeping them company even if for only 20 minutes. Lots of my calls are to stay at home mums too and I admire that they would do that too, watch and raise their kids and see them grow up and learn, but also just being there every step of the way. I can also talk to a lot of people that aren't interested in the product at all, but they nicely say it rather than get pissed off about it and hang up like so many others.

I know there are people out there in the world that are lovely and plesant and it is always one of ten that can be the bed eggs. Its just that somet,es that one bad egg can really become a central focus for me and just upset me for the rest of the day. 

The last thing I wanted to mention in this blog, is that I like my job. The people I work with are amazing, friendly and very supportive. The pay is amazing and so are the bonuses. And there are always prizes and treats up for grabs. I don't think i've had to pay for movie tickets for a while as I manage to win vouchers at work! So my job has lots of perks and good features, their just sometimes hard to remeber when you get a bad call, but when I get a great call it can set my mood for the whole day to be great no matter what.

So far..so good?

 I work hard, I love and I enjoy life. I'm a nice enough person and a good friend to those I care about. I live by morals and standards and well a Christian upbringing to say the least, not that i am very religious any more. I am generous and giving and love helping others. I may be young but my life has had many trials and tribulations. I suffer from anxiety and rare panic attacks. I was also diagnosed with a bone condition, so I try to make the most of my days and my life because one day I could just end up in a wheel chair just from breaking a bone.

I wanted to share my story, or more keep this as a diary. Maybe I can influence someone one day or change the world one persoective at a time. Lord knows i have a story or two to tell.

The first part of my story is my current job. Everyone has views and opinions so I'm not saying only what I say is all there is to say. More that it would be nice to open the eyes of how people interact day by day, whether its on the phone, face to face or via social networks and media. 

For me it started 6 months ago when I was selected and hired to work for an insurance company. With a full week of training in products and what to expect when you first get on the phones. We get scripts, what to say and how to handle certain situations, and close monitoring for a month by a supervisor. The work environment is amazing, the people friendly and welcoming, but the job... Well I've had good days and i've had some not so good days.

The first thing I learnt was that people can be rude. Sure we probably called them on a bad day, they may have had a tough day, a bad week or an argument with someone. Others are just so caught up in their worlds which can be hectic and busy and stressful. So when the phone rings and it's someone offering insurance, I understand if you want to get off the phone or you don't want to talk. If you're busy then your're busy. My job is not to force feed you policies, it's not to bully you into buying anything and it's definately not my job to make you late to pick up your kids from school. 

If you don't want to talk, that is fine, I understand that too. If you hate telemarketers, by all means I won't bug you. 

My job is purely that, a job. Sure I chose to accept the role to work in insurance, but that does not mean I became a mindless robot whose sole priority is to make sales and nothing more. I wont be rude or abrupt with customers on the other end of the phone. My upbringing was full of bullies picking on me, yet I treat people how I would want to be treated myself. Same goes for when I am talking to complete strangers on the phone. 

Now picture this, you meet me on the street, in a super market at a restaurant or shopping mall. Would you be nice and say hello and make some polite conversation? Would you just go about your day? Or would you walk up to me and demand to know what I was doing interupting your day, interupting your meal with conversation, or push me out of your way in the queue so you can go first with your purchases? Obviously when ou are at a shopping mall you don't ram your trolleys into other people, you don't argue that you should be first and you don't confront people who are right there in front of you. Why? Because we don't want people knowing how rude we are, we don't want to get into fights, we'd rather stay annonomous and just write about the bad experience later on facebook. Facebook, twitter and other medias we use to complain and vent frustration. We hide behind technology because we can be a needle in a hay stack, with no consequences. 

Let me tell you this, phone conversations are the same. Some people think it is just a voice on the phone when telemarketers call and obviously it doesn't matter how rude or nasty you are because you will never meet them in real life so it wont matter. The thing is though it does matter. I have been yelled at, sworn at, complained at, and taken calls with customers who are abusively rude. I have talked to people who argued their point is right and when trying to explain points calmly resulted in my head being verbally ripped off. I never raise my voise, I never complain, and I never hang up. I listen, try and do my best to stay positive and in control of the situation. Sometimes my explanation calms down the customer and helps them see their debate in a more positive lights. But at the end of the day majority hang up afterwards and are consumed with the anger that they are still right no matter what.

My question is, how can you still be so rude to a stranger? You wouldn't be rude in person so why be rude over the phone? 

You're actions have consequences, even words speak louder than most actions can.

Words hurt, words can upset. As an insurance seller I try not to take calls to heart. But I can and I do. And my health is suffering for it. I have had severe anxiety and panic attacks at work. I have cried and cried so much from hurtful things people say to me sometimes. I have had to go to councillors, doctors and even a psychiatrist to help me cope and manage. It got to the point where I was scared to go to work and scared for calls to come through my headset. Scared to talk to someone in case I made them angry. Scared of having to listen to my own thoughts. Strangers would dictate my emotions, my well being and my emotions. 

Telemarketers, insurance sellers, promoters, all they are is an employee to a company. Obviously some of the are scams sometimes. But most of them are just like me, a person with feelings and emotions who gets paid to talk to people 8 hours a day. Its just the job we have, customers hate our job, so why do they hate the messenger so much then instead? Instead of saying hurtful words or rude words, why not just nicely and calmly state you're not interested. I wont mind.