Knitter in the Kitchen

Pattern: Frieda from Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk
Yarn: Jaeger Shetland Aran in color Fuchsia (033). This yarn knits up nicely and shows cable definition well. However, it is a bit itchy and it bleeds like crazy. I got it for a good deal on eBay, though, so I’m not complaining.
Modifications: I followed Cyndi’s sleeve modifications and knit two fewer sleeve increases. I knit the turtleneck to 7″ instead of 9.5″.

I started this sweater on November 1, and wasn’t sure that I would ever finish it. It took me a week to knit the 7 inches of turtleneck because I couldn’t motivate myself to knit the ribbing. Seaming was spread out over the course of several nights. Cyndi gave me some really helpful tips on easing in the sleeves, but I still encountered problems. One night I spent a full 3 hours sewing and re-sewing the sleeves into the armholes because I kept getting this weird bunching. Finally I gave up and decided to block the armhole seams before seaming the sides and the sleeves. Blocking helped quite a bit, but I can see remnants of bunching.

The sleeves are also too loose on me, particularly on the upper arm. I knew this going in, but I didn’t know how to make further modifications to decrease the width. I didn’t want to cut the number of sleeve increases too drastically because then the sleeve might not have fit into the armhole at all.

Despite the imperfections, I am very pleased with this sweater. I wore it out today, and I like it a lot more than the other two sweaters I’ve knit. I’m so glad I finished!

Today is my one year blog anniversary. On this occasion, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on my knitting and blogging.

Knitting is my first real hobby. It may seem strange for someone to go through twenty-something years of life without a hobby, but it’s true. From the time I was a child, I loved to read. I used to check out the maximum number of books allowed from the library, and even then I would finish them all in a week. However, for a reason I can’t seem to articulate, I have never considered reading to be a real hobby of mine. Perhaps it’s because reading is something that I have always done and will always do. I took piano lessons for a good ten years, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it for most of those years. In college I picked up the guitar, took some lessons, and then promptly lost interest. I tried guitar again post-college and even bought a beautiful Big Baby Taylor, but ended up selling it because I have no strong love for playing music. Several months ago I ventured into beading (to make beaded stitch markers for knitting), but after two weeks my supplies were relegated to the back of the closet. Knitting is the first and only hobby in which I have immersed myself so fully for this length of time. It is also the single hobby from which I have gained so much enjoyment.

Knitting takes on different roles in my life. It is an area of growth for me because I can push myself to learn new techniques, set concrete goals for myself, and conquer challenges. Knitting is a teacher of patience, because lots of times I mess up, need to frog back, or just don’t understand the pattern or what I’m doing wrong. Prolonged frustration usually doesn’t help in these situations; I just need to take a deep breath and move on. Or ask for help. Moving on is usually easier said than done. At the same time, knitting is a way of unwinding after a long day. I’m sure some knitters think that easy projects are beneath them, but I have no shame in admitting that I need mindless knitting. Sometimes I knit projects to learn something, but other times knitting is simply just knitting. As my hands move without much thought, my mind clears. Lastly, knitting is way that I give of myself to others. In 2005 I gifted a number of items to my mother and sister; this year, I hope to be more generous with my knitting.

And then there is my blogging. Even two years ago, I would have dismissed blogging as something under the category of “not for me”. Although I consider myself friendly, by nature I am also relatively private around strangers. Why would I care to publish my thoughts and feelings online? When I stumbled across the Knitter’s Review Forum, I realized that some people blog just about knitting. Light bulb moment! I don’t have to write about love life, family life, social life, or career unless I want to, and even then I don’t have to disclose everything. So I started blogging as a way of connecting with knitters from all over the world. It has been wonderful because I have “met” so many talented and inspiring individuals.

Sometimes I think about whether one day I will stop knitting and/or blogging. I am cautious about saying “never” because, well, I didn’t think I would become a knitter or a blogger at all, did I? There are some days when I don’t knit a single stitch and am perfectly happy in that state. Days will go by when I can’t think of a single thing to write about because I haven’t made much knitting progress. And even when I do have something to share, I worry that my writing sounds mundane. I remind myself that I can love doing something without doing it every single day, and when I go return to knitting and blogging after a short break, I am always happy to be back into them. At the present moment, I think knitting and blogging will continue to be a significant part of my life.

February will mark a season of change for me. As I mentioned several weeks ago, I will be taking a spinning class. I’m excited about exploring this area of the fiber arts. Will spinning become another passion and take a place next to knitting? Or will it be a fleeting interest? Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that I can’t buy a wheel right now because I would hate to make such a large investment if I don’t end up spinning regularly. After all, a wheel costs much more than beads or even my Big Baby Taylor. I will also be starting a new job. I am eagerly anticipating the change, but also apprehensive. Transition is stressful for me, and it always takes me awhile to feel comfortable in a new work environment. In light of these upcoming events, I have decided to ease up on my knitting. In practice, this means that I am discarding my knitting timeline. The purpose of the timeline was to help me knit through my stash. But now I feel pressured to knit according to the schedule even though I don’t necessarily want to work on the scheduled projects right now. I’m still trying to finish Frieda, and I definitely don’t feel up for knitting another sweater anytime soon. So the Salina and Hourglass sweaters will have to wait. As long as I keep plugging away at my stash, I don’t see the point in sticking to the timeline. I will likely need more easy knitting in the next couple of months, so you will probably be seeing a number of scarves. Surprisingly, I’m also itching to knit socks again…yes, socks! Thank goodness I still have a tiny bit of sock yarn left!

On my blog anniversary, I want to thank you for reading my blog. Your comments bring smiles, encouragement, and enlightenment. I hope you have a wonderful day.

To my great relief, I woke up last Saturday totally motivated to work on the Frieda Sweater. After feeling blah about this project for so long, I ran with the positive feeling.

I knit the first sleeve over the weekend, and I just finished the increases on the second sleeve. I hope to have it done by this weekend and then put the front and back of the sweater on the blocking board. Many thanks to Cyndi for her notes on the sleeve modifications – they really helped point me in the right direction. My bad sleeve experience with the Kepler Sweater must be haunting me, because I’m already worried that the sleeve won’t fit into the armhole. In all fairness, though, when I eyeball the sweater pieces, the situation looks a lot better with Frieda. So I’m trying to be optimistic.

The Frieda Sweater has got me thinking about whether I am a process- or product-oriented knitter. While the process of knitting brings me great pleasure and satisfaction, ultimately I am probably more product-oriented. I like to see that I accomplished something, so I don’t deal well with leaving projects unfinished and untouched for long periods. My tendency is either to finish a project or give it up. It’s hard for me to leave something hanging the way that I’ve left Frieda hanging (I started it on November 1). I’ve read blogs where knitters put aside sweaters for a year or two before finishing them – wow! That’s not quite what I’m striving for, but it’s pretty amazing. I think I need to work on: (1) maintaining knitting bigamy (as opposed to polygamy), and (2) patiently letting projects sit (without getting frustrated with myself) until I’m in the mood for them. The latter would definitely be helpful if I can’t achieve the former.

Thanks for the encouraging comments about my yarn diet. My last yarn purchase was on December 16th and so far I’ve been good. Of course, I’ve been tempted. Especially when Jillian started a knit-along for Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. *sigh* Talk about wanting to buy a bag of Noro Silk Garden on the spot! But luckily, Steph and I have been chatting over email about what we haven’t bought and it’s been fun. And Purly has been keeping me in check too. I commented on how her lovely fair isle socks were tempting me, and she immediately emailed me saying, “You don’t like socks and you can’t buy the yarn. No Caitlyn, No!! Think of the wheel.” Do I have good knitting friends or what? =) I will be buying yarn for a Secret Pal, though, so if you see me shopping at the LYS, please don’t shoot me on the spot. I promise not to buy yarn for myself. Once I gave up chocolate (which is an essential food group, by the way) for three months just to prove to myself that I could do it. If I could refrain from chocolate, then the yarn diet should be possible!!

Pattern: Boogie by Amy King in Knitty.com
Yarn: Cascade 128 (just over 3 skeins)
Modifications: As I mentioned in a previous post, the pattern does not include any shaping for the v-neck. I added shaping by decreasing one stitch on each RS row. I don’t think it looks too horrible, but maybe just a tad funky. In retrospect it might have looked better if I followed the pattern as written. Here is a close-up of the neck:

Upon finishing the vest, I realized that it’s not quite my style, so it will be a gift for someone else. Hopefully she will like it!

After practicing two-handed fair isle on a swatch, I finally started my Bea Ellis Traditional Norwegian Hat.

When I uploaded the first photo to my computer, I laughed out loud because at a glance it actually makes my fair isle look semi-decent. And you can see the snowflakes!! Wooo-hoo!! But I wish y’all could see the hat in person, because my fair isle has a lot to be desired. I’m not great at taking non-fuzzy close-ups, so here is the best I could do:

As you can see, my knitting is bumpy, and the stitches are different sizes. I thought about ripping the entire thing out and starting over after more practice, but I was having too much fun watching the pattern develop. And to be honest, I bought this kit in order to learn fair isle knitting, so I am cutting myself a little slack and letting it be the way it is for now. I may finish the entire thing first and then frog it, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Want to see the floats?

I have been trying to determine whether the floats are too tight. My gut feeling is that they are, but on the other hand I didn’t want them all hanging loose either. I’ve read that I should spread out my stitches on the right needle before twisting the yarns in the back, so I have been trying to remember to take that step.

Two-handed knitting has been fun and challenging! I’ve never knit Continental before, so this has been a slow project for me. At first I kept wrapping the stitches incorrectly with my left hand and thus twisting them. Then I switched to “picking” so that I don’t have to wrap, and it’s working a lot better. Until now I’ve never been inclined to learn Continental, but now I’m thinking that it’s worthwhile to learn it just so I can be better at two-handed fair isle in the future. Perhaps I will knit a felted Sophie bag using the Continental technique, because the felting will minimize my uneven gauge!

I started out using the true Philosopher’s Wool method, meaning that there are no floats and all the yarn in the back is woven in. It didn’t work for me because the contrasting color kept showing through. Then I started reading the posts for the Norwegian knit-along, and realized that floats are fine too. As a side note, I think the Philosopher’s Wool instructional clips (which can be viewed on their website) are really clear and good. I highly recommend checking out their clips if you’re interested in learning this technique.

Fair isle knitting can be addicting! I’m already thinking about trying a headband next!