What a roller coaster ride.  Pretty happy with my first knit item, and it's for my mother's birthday next week, so I think she'll like it, mistakes and all.  I love using the hoop and just knitting away.   I found the meditative place and I can't imagine my life without knitting from now on.  My hoop was too big for the project by about 4 inches and things got a little out of hand. It started to bulge out when I made a mistake and then tried many ways to fix it.  Ultimately I didn't really fix it, but made it better and caused a weird extra long loop (my missed stitch, I guess) which I then worked around and around, never able to resolve it. 

I can't seem to reliably count to two twice in a row, tho.  The top and bottom ribbing are a mess, but the wool is pretty enough to make up for it. 

The bottom casting off was too tight, so I pulled it out and made it looser.

Very happy with the result and I think I have to make a little kidney cover winter skirt with the same basic design.

 

It was a great class and I learned to do something that I have wanted to understand for a long time.  Knitting creates a wonderful calm energy (when I am not trying to K2, P2) and I notice how it effects a room.  Very cool.  Thank you so much for this class.  

 

 

*...one week later*

 

So, Mom loved it so much that she took me to the yarn store.  Here is the skirt I made for her.  The ribbing was much easier the second time.  It was an adventure.  I started at the bottom with the wide patch of ribbing and worked my way up, even threw in some decreases near the waist.  I had a hard time getting the bind off the way I wanted it, and ended up working the waist about 4 or 5 times until I was happy with the fit.  And then I did a fun with the edging on the skirt with the little bit of yarn I had left and then did my first color change for the bind off.   I also tried blocking it, but it was taking too long and she had to get on a plane, so I rushed it. 

 She loves it and will probably wear it all winter. :) Awesome class!