iKnit: Keyhole Scarf

I mentioned in my About Me a lot of the different hobbies I have which include: reading, listening to music, cooking & baking, knitting, watching films and *hopefully* I'll be adding sewing to this ever growing list. So I want to start a new series called i[insert hobby]. Or at least until I find a better name haha.

The first in my new "iSeries" is going to be all about my first major project I've undertaken in the knitting world, the Keyhole Scarf from Craftsy.

If you've never heard of Craftsy, it's this wonderful site that's kind of like an online school for different crafts. They have courses you can take in knitting, sewing, quilting, cake decorating, crocheting, jewelry making, photography, food & cooking, and much more! The classes are interactive video tutorials and you can get actual feedback from both the instructor and your peers. They offer both paid and free "mini" courses, the paid courses ranging from $14.99-$49.99. They often have sales so you might be able to get one of the more expensive classes for a little less if you're lucky.

When I first joined Craftsy it was for their cake decorating classes of which I enrolled in all the free ones haha. Then I decided to just enroll in mostly all the free courses they had available in things I was interested in. However when it came to the knitting courses, I saw one that I really wanted to take for $14.99 so I decided to bite the bullet and just buy it, and I'm so glad I did!

I enrolled in Knit Lab with Stefanie Japel and the project for this course was making a keyhole scarf with the main lesson being how to knit lace. But Stefanie starts you from the beginning with an introduction to different types of needles and yarn, to how to cast on your first stitch and the actual process of knitting. It was perfect! She is very thorough with her instructions and what I think I love best is that she's knitting along with you so if she makes a mistake she will stop and show you what she did and how to fix it. She would also purposefully make common mistakes that a new knitter might make and show how to fix them. Now, on to the project!

Here's what the scarf should look like when it's all finished. Isn't it nice?

And here's mine! Not too shabby for a first timer I think haha. I absolutely adore this color yarn and bought it on a whim forever ago. So when I found this project I knew I had to use it for this! I actually had a lot of fun making the scarf even though there were times when I thought I'd have to start completely over after making a couple of mistakes. But anything I did wrong there was either a part of the video that addressed it or I could ask one of my peers in the class and they could answer it for me.

All in all I am a huge fan of Craftsy and when I finally start sewing I already know which courses I'm going to enroll in! And I'll be sure to post any more projects I make from the site on here too!

Have you ever used Craftsy? How did you like it and what courses did you take? Are you a fan of online learning or do you prefer traditional classes? 

MKD