The Best Project for a Beginner Is the One You're Most Excited About

Plus - free wallpaper for May

Hello, friends!

I’m learning how to knit!

Again. 🙄

The last time I tried, I thought I hated knitting. But what I did was make a very, very basic mistake.

I know how to help beginners learn. It’s what I do!

But I went against all of my own advice from this post about choosing an applique pattern for a beginner.

Friends - I chose a boring pattern. Truly, the most boring pattern ever.

Let me back up. . .

A few years ago I decided I wanted to learn how to knit. Jo (my daughter and new partner) is an excellent knitter, and she offered to teach me.

I bought some inexpensive-but-nice-feeling yarn and started to make The Most Boring Scarf in the Whole Wide World.

It’s just knitting back and forth. Endless knitting. Boring knitting. That photo above is my progress after, I think, three years.

Yawn.

I don’t even wear this kind of scarf! I was making it just to learn how. There was nothing exciting about the thing itself.

This year I decided to try again.

I chose the Sophie Hood, a very popular pattern from Petite Knit. It’s an intermediate-level pattern, with increases and decreases, and a built-in i-cord edge. I decided to complicate things even more by adding a second yarn and striping them. Some experienced knitters were dubious about choosing this for a first project, but it’s a thing I’ll actually wear, and I know I’m a patient learner. I’m okay with stopping to get help/watch some videos whenever I need to.

Jo and I went out and enjoyed the Rose City Yarn Crawl, and she helped me choose yarn. Look at how pretty it is!

Now I was ready to start again.

Here it is after (I think) a week.

I had to learn again how to cast on, how to knit, how to do that pretty i-cord edge, and how to change colors. I made some mistakes and had to learn how to un-knit my stitches. (It’s way harder than just pulling out crochet stitches!)

I’ve been making slow and steady progress, and now I’m halfway finished!

Look at those yummy color changes in the stripes!

So here’s the thing - all those things that make the project more difficult are also making it more interesting.

Yes, sometimes I forget to switch to the i-cord stitch and I have to un-knit stitches and do it the right way - but that i-cord edge looks so finished and nice! And knitting with two balls of yarn is annoying and I have to keep untwisting them, but I love the stripes! And every time my contrast yarn changes color I get a little frisson of excitement.

I’m having fun, and I can’t wait to wear my finished scarf.

A long time ago, I heard someone (I don’t remember who) speaking about kids learning to read. Learning to read is hard, and he was talking about the importance of writing books that kids will enjoy, because putting a lot of effort into decoding a boring book is not very rewarding. But if a book is a pleasure to read, the kid will be more willing to practice, and that practice will make them more proficient, which will, in turn, make the activity more pleasant, and around and around we go.

All of this is a very long way of saying that if you want to learn something new - whether it’s knitting, quilting, crochet, embroidery, cooking, whittling, playing the cello, or whatever - do it with something you’re excited about!

Happy May!

There are new free downloads of wallpaper for all your devices - this month with a cheerful goldfinch!

This is one of the many songbirds you can make with the Backyard Birds pattern. I saw one swooping across the street last week and decided I needed to make a cut-paper version. 💛

As always, you can get your wallpaper wide or tall (to fit different devices) and with or without the May calendar.

Get the free downloads here.

And get printable goldfinches (to frame or to make greeting cards, stickers, and more) here.

---

We had some water damage in our home last December, and finally got the floors replaced in April. Yay!

But doing that meant every stick of furniture (including thousands of books) had to be crammed into our bedroom and office. I couldn’t get into my sewing room for most of the month! Boo!

Before I filled up my sewing room, I fused the pieces for a TON of samples. That allowed me to do a bunch of cutting while the work happened, but no sewing. I also sketched a bunch of new faces.

All that is to say there are no new patterns this month, but prepare yourselves for an absolute flood of new patterns next month.

See the In My Studio section at the end of this letter for a complete list of exactly what’s coming. (There’s a capybara!)

Here’s a double dose of awesomeness from the Shiny Happy People group!

Look at this fabulous quilt that Laurie made for her great-nephew! She used the Mix & Match Monsters pattern with the wonky squares setting, and almost all the fabrics were scraps from her stash. Wow! Wow! Wow!

Congratulations to Steph on her very first quilt! She used the Lovable Mutts pattern and loads of fun, bright colors. I love it! I especially love the way she added the name - the bouncing letters in the pieced section is loads of fun.

Head over to the Shiny Happy People group on Facebook to see lots more wonderfulness people are making with my patterns—and to ask questions and share photos of your own projects. It’s my favorite place on the internet!

Here’s what I’m working on right now. . .

• New Blocks

  • llama/alpaca - finished, just waiting for copyright registration, will be in the new Farm Animals Bundle

  • sheep - finished, just waiting for copyright registration, also for the new Farm Animals Bundle, and a Lunar Zodiac Bundle

  • mosquito - so many requests for this and I love his sketch! I designed two faces: silly and angry. You’ll get both options!

  • toucan - for a Rainforest bundle

  • capybara - almost unbearably cute! Also for the Rainforest bundle

  • a simple bird - in two sizes! The large version fills a block, and the tiny version is small enough to sit on the capybara’s head. 🥰

  • macaw - four different kinds, also for the Rainforest bundle

  • anteater - also for the Rainforest bundle (see a theme here?)

  • heron/crane/flamingo - for a Pond bundle and also a second Safari bundle

  • rhino - a complete redesign with options for one or two horns

  • moose - a slightly more realistic version for a National Parks bundle

• Updated Blocks - all to finish up the new Arctic Animals Bundle #1

  • puffin

  • seal/sea lion

  • orca

• Bodies/Clothes for existing animal head patterns - still sketching and testing. I know this is taking forever, but getting a pattern like this just right is hard. I want it to be perfect and work with as many blocks as possible!

• Side gig - I told you a couple of months ago that I wrote a book! Status - still waiting to hear back from an agent. ⏳ I’’ve been noodling around with ideas for a new book, and had a fun flash of inspiration during our trip to Malice Domestic last weekend.

And here’s what Jo’s working on right now. . .

• Tedious computer work - Jo got ALL of my quilt patterns listed on Etsy, and ALL of the covers formatted properly! Now she’s proofreading all the product descriptions and uploading little snippet videos whenever possible.

• Sample Making - Now that we can get in my studio, she’s back to quilting an enormous stack of background blocks. I mean ENORMOUS! She’s prepping hundreds of blocks for my sample-making!

• Other People’s Patterns

  • almost finished knitting the August sock design from the Colorwork Cuff Club by Summer Lee

  • stitching a felt goat from a pattern by Lia Griffith (with a few special modifications, including gemstone eyes!)

  • more knitting - starting the Rumble Raglan Sweater from Lydia Morrow

• Writing - A horror novel for kids ages 8-12. More than halfway through the first draft!

Thanks so much for reading - and I hope you have a fabulous week!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi
🥰

PS - Special 50% off discount code for paid subscribers is below!