Getting SideTracked

Okay. I know I said I would finish the scarf last night, but I ended up popping in one of the Knitting DVDs I checked out from the library. I was so excited about learning new techniques that I let the scarf just sit there unloved, unwanted. I know that tonight, I have to give it more attention and hopefully, if all goes well and I don't get distracted, finish the darn thing.

So, let's discuss the DVD. It's called "Learn to Knit with Tracie Wonderlich". I read a couple of reviews beforehand and they were, for the most part pretty positive. Two reviews gave it very low marks. One person mentioned Tracie's distracting nails. So, just for that I had to check out the DVD. It's true, the stories are all true. She donned an embarrassing set of long acrylic nails with tiger print on the tips. Can you believe that? How are you supposed to learn and concentrate on the yarn and the motions of the needles when you've got tiger print waving at you??! After a while you get used to them but still, any professional producer would not have allowed that. The camera angles were mostly good except there are times, not many, when her hands quickly go off camera or her hand covers what it is she's doing. Again, those times were not frequent, but if you want me to point out tiny flaws those are certainly two of them. This is my second DVD teaching tool. My first was "The Complete Beginner's Guide to Knitting with Nici McNally". Now that DVD I give A+ marks all the way. But I can discuss that in another entry. Nici deserves her own separate review.

So Tracie, entertained me with a 3-disc DVD set. Overall, it wasn't bad. What I liked about this DVD was that not only did Tracie teach you methods of knitting, she actually walked you through 3 projects from start to finish. A dish cloth, a mitten and a cabled scarf. Since I already knew the basics, I was able to just watch each disk from beginning to end. If Tracie comes out with another DVD, I'd consider watching it, but please, Tracie, please, shorten those nails and use neutral colors. Overall, I'd give it an A-.

I have two more DVDs that I still need to watch and will add my brief review. This time I'm pushing myself to finish the scarf before viewing another tutorial. If you've seen other knitting videos that you would like to recommend, please leave comments. I'm interested to know what else is out there that's worth viewing.