Tuesday, April 24, 2007

What am I knitting now?

Hmmmm... I think the easier question is "what aren't I knitting now?"

I have a few friends who are "serial knitters": they finish one project completely before beginning the next. I can think of exaggerations to describe how hard that is for me to imagine, but none of the far-fetched examples I can muster are far enough fetched! I honestly cannot comprehend it, just as I cannot imagine "forgetting to eat" or "not needing another pair of shoes".

There are days when I long to be one of those focused knitters, with self-control and a firm grasp on what they can actually accomplish in a given week or month. It will just never happen for me.

Today, I visited three blogs.

1. Brooklyn Tweed's Blog - His rendition of Meg Swansen's Aran Cardigan (was Wool Gathering 63, is now Spun Out #49) is to die for! I have the perfect wool in my stash, some home-grown, mill-spun, hand dyed wool (purple) from Rainbow Fleece Farm (Patty Reedy) in New Glarus, Wisconsin. I even have a large swatch knitted with the various cables I will use. Too bad I pulled the needles out months ago for use on another project, so I don't know what size I used. I really want to get that going before next weekend, when I go off to a 3-day knitting event. I always want a "body" to knit on during long hours of public knitting. Sleeves are too fussy to knit in public!

2. Janine's Feral Knitter - Janine's Acorn Fair Isle made me think, "Oh, I haven't done Fair Isle knitting in months!" Plus, the reminder that J&S is discontinuing almost 70 colors made me rush to my Wool Room and look through books. I made a list of only 4 projects that I need to buy for before the colors disappear. Only 4, because I had to stop myself to continue laundry, not because 4 is all I need. One quick call to Schoolhouse Press and I will have my way with the wool.

3. Purlwise - OK, I admit I was just visiting and this site didn't make me buy anything. Why not? Because I purchased the wool for "Ruth's Kauni Cardigan" yesterday, from Wollsucht, in Germany (with a little help from www.freetranslation.com).

I'm a little suspicious of the Purlwise knitter, because under "In Progress", she lists one item... Can a serial knitter be trusted? I hope so. Her knitting is spectacular and she gives great advice on using Kauni Effect wool to its best advantage.

There you have it: instead of knitting sleeves or assembling almost-finished sweaters, I'm settling in for an evening of Casting On! I do so love the first night of a project. Swatching, measuring, doing math, deciding the cast on and lower edge treatment.... It's bound to be a nice evening! I even have a few Stargate SG-1 episodes saved up to watch (I was going to write "Tivoed", but is it OK to use Tivo as a verb? I guess I'm the boss of my own blog, aren't I?)

3 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Amy,
I hear you on the WIP pile. Mine keeps growing until I run out of needles for new projects. Enjoy your new blog and show us what you're up to!

lv2knit said...

How dare you go and buy that Kauni yarn before moi, when I am the one who told you about it ;)!! I can't believe you found it so fast! I am still trying to get it on back order! Glad to find your blog, Amy -- I so enjoyed spending the afternoon with you and Meg last Friday at the Yarnery.

Anonymous said...

People should read this.