Still not following a pattern

I now know how to cast on, cast off and knit on a circular needle. Therefore I decided I was ready to knit and felt my own bag out of a design created from my head. Felting is great for beginners as it virtually eliminates any mistakes or sloppy stitches. I'd recently taught myself basic fair isle colour changes and thought I may be able to design my own pattern. I decided on a two colour flame design and spent a long time charting it out on knitters graph paper (I've added the link at the left) till I thought it looked reasonable. Knitting up the design required that I was not too distracted as I had to count and recount every stitch on every row. This too took rather a long time. The colours are dark brown, dark red and sort of a bluish teal for the centre of the flame. I tried to knit as loosely as possible but found the yarn still pulled a bit around my design. After two feltings it is not as noticeable and I think the bag turned out allright although I wish I'd made the strap a little shorter as it did not shrink nearly as much as the rest of the bag for some reason. I've tied a knot in the top of the bag which does not appear in the photo. I only wish I'd taken a "before felting" photo.

Knitting with Pearl

Allright, I have been knitting since May 2nd, almost 2 full months under my belt. At first I loved it , learning new skills and making things, then I hated it. Suddenly it seemed so complicated for my little brain. I came to realize that knitting was all about counting and pattern recognition. Two things I'm not very good at. Another knitter told me that one must "get over the hump", the learning curve I suppose, and then it would all start to make sense. I think she may have been right as I've been practicing (with the help of a book and the internet of course - thanks YouTube) and can do simple buttonholes, increases and decreases now. Heck, I even did a double decrease the other day. It wasn't long before I was changing colours and doing little coloured designs in my practice projects. Knitting. I have never really known the first thing about knitting except that my grandmother tried to teach me when I was young but I never really had the patience. I recently took a class at a shop called Birkeland Brothers on Main and 21st in Vancouver. The project was to make a bag and then felt it. Eventually after a few classes it started to make a little more sense but I still think our first project was a little advanced for me. I could never recreate this thing if I didn't have someone watching over me every step of the way. I'd come home and tell my partner I thought I was "too stupid to knit". They called me the "special needs" knitter in class. He found this rather amusing. But I just can't let it go. I even bought a little book for beginners that shows me basic techniques and now I find I'm practicing on my own at home in front of the TV. The other night I taught myself to knit a tube using 4 needles at once. I didn't learn this from class or the book. I had just seen someone do it and worked it out in my head. Now I'm feeling chuffed and confident I can learn more. I've been buying yarn I have no business buying and wake in the middle of the night with knitting on the brain. I'm developing an unhealthy obsession. The final straw is the Monday night knitting group which I've just joined. I find comfort in sitting there amongst women of all ages, beginners and advanced alike, knowing that I can get help from the master-knitter, when, not if, I need it. Perhaps one day I'll be able to actually read a pattern. I plan to post photos of my beginners work when I have completed something. It may not be often but hopefully there will be a progression in the quality of work. Special Needs. Pshaw!!