10,000 Hours Later…

I started knitting when I was a teenager. My grandmother taught me the basics and then I basically picked up the rest as I went along. I wasn’t terribly serious about it though until well into college; actually about the same time the neat little existence of my adolescence crumbled around me and I was forced to rethink everything I’d ever believed about anything. I finished my first scarf when I was twenty. I finished my first blanket when I was twenty-one.

For years I have been what I would call a hobbyist. I dabbled in a little technique here and there, but nothing too serious. I didn’t really learn how to follow a pattern until I was twenty. It was just a thing that I did to keep my hands busy. Then, almost six months ago, something clicked. My brother bought me a gift certificate to my LYS for Christmas. I had been in a few times, but for the most part I had been buying my supplies from soulless superstores like Jo-Ann Fabrics. Somehow, this time was different. This time was the turning point. I wanted to do something really special with Charlie’s present. What Red Purl offered, was not just something to keep your hands busy during your idle hours; it was an opportunity to display craftsmanship, attention to detail and self-expression. It was an opportunity to make art. So I walked out with three skeins of Malabrigo and a Brooklyn Tweed pattern and I was off to the races.

Improvised Cowl in German Herringbone

Ever since that fateful January afternoon, I have experienced a new fire in my desire to knit every spare minute that I get. Each new project is a new lesson in technique. I learned consistency in making a pattern twice. I learned precision in crafting my first fitted garment. I learned creativity in improvising my own pattern off of a swatch that I found in a book. Every stitch brings me closer to mastery. Every yard makes me a disciple of my own hands.

They (whoever they are) say one must practice a craft for at least ten thousand hours before one can master it. I don’t know how many hours I have spent knitting. Frankly, I don’t want to know. What I do know is that I just finished a lace shawl in ten days. I may not be a master yet, there are still many things that I need to learn, but I feel safe in saying that I am now a journeyman knitter. I have left the term hobbyist behind me.

Knitting is not my hobby. It is not the thing I do in my spare time. Knitting is my craft. I am a craftsman. A craftsman work shapes her body until it is part of her. I feel my fingers and wrists grow stronger and nimbler. I feel my posture improve to prevent cramping. Knitting is literally changing the way I carry myself. And I am ready for the next 10,000 hours.

Oh, and you can check out my featured FO, Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark on Ravelry.

What’s Next?

I am mere rows away from finishing Swallowtail. All that’s left is the edging and then she’s ready to block. I do love this part of a project, where I can se it unfold in my hands, while simultaneously contemplating what’s next.

After this, I have a few big projects coming up. I’m making a sweater for my Mom’s birthday in August. We’ve picked out Hartford by Julie Hoover. After seeing how well Swallowtail knit up, I think I will use Rowan’s aran tweed. I love the texture and feel. It’s not too clingy to the skin, which Mom will like. She also really likes the little flecks of color in Swallowtail. I went to my LYS the other day and took a look at Amy’s swatches. I’m leaning towards Dent.

I also have a few other projects for others coming up. One of my oldest friends in the world is having a baby in September. Her shower is in July and I think I could probably whip together a second Wool Leaves by then. The one I currently have on the needles will have to hibernate for a few weeks while I scurry to finish that. I can’t decide between one solid color, or mixing it up. I could do it in all green or I can mix some dark and light grays into it. Any thoughts?

Now that I’m doing a lot more work for others, I am going to have to get a lot more single-minded on my projects. I have about one big project due every month from July on. On July 6, Wool Leaves needs to be ready. August 6 is Mom’s Hartford. Sometime in early September is Wool Leaves II. I do have a few little treats coming up for myself as well though… 😉

 

 

All Good Things…

I spent the past two days lazing about on a lakeshore with some of my oldest friends and closest family members. There was good food, good wine and good, clean air. The sunshine was soothing and the sunsets were romantic. I came back a few pounds fatter and a little pink on my cheeks and shoulders. All in all, it was perfect.

But in case you thought it was all lazing about with my eyes closed, you would be wrong. I made great headway on Swallowtail. I am about half-way through the Lilly of the Valley border and then all I have left is the scalloped edging.

I must admit that the fingering weight was much easier to deal with in the heat of the midday sun than anything in worsted. So, points for lacework! What? I didn’t just say that… Oh, and there was some boating and tubing of course. Subsequently, my shoulders aren’t working today.

The Unforgiving Delicacy of Lace

This one is going to be fairly short, because I have a lot to do today. But, since I haven’t updated you all in a while, I felt I needed to at least post a few thoughts.

First thought: lace is rough. I knew there was a reason I had avoided it for so long. This Swallowtail Shawl is kicking my butt every inch of the way. I got a little mangled in the edging for about two reps, but now I’m back on track again. It doesn’t look too tragic, so I’m just going to leave it. I could spend the rest of the summer frogging and reknitting this stupid thing. At one point you just have to say good enough and keep on knitting. I just finished my first skein and it is beginning to take a coherent form. I can finally say, I’ve grown about an ounce of pride in this thing about halfway through that first skein. Now, only four more to go…

 

In other news, I am attempting another pass at a baby blanket for my little cousin. She’ll be a year old in September, and I didn’t finish a blanket for her in time for her birth, so she’s getting one for her first birthday. I chose Jared Flood’s Wool Leaves pattern, which I think is very pretty. I am a tad nervous about the material though. I bought it back before I knew better and it’s Bernat’s Softee Baby. It’s all acrylic and all salmon pink. The mom helped me pick out the color though, so I will struggle through. Hopefully the end result will do justice to the pattern. One of my best friends will be having a baby around the same time, so I’m actually off to the yarn shop to pick out a soft, fluffy cotton for my second pass at this one.

And final thought, I happened to drive by the little town where I lived during my undergrad years. The Island Weaver in Winona Lake, IN is a sweet little shop. I only visited it once or twice during my college years, but it was worth stopping in again. The owner is a delightful weaver and she has her shop set up in thirds. The front room is for FOs by various local artists. The middle is full of yarn and pre-dyed and un-dyed roving wool for sale. The final back room is her own studio where she weaves beautiful blankets, scarves and rugs on her various looms. It is an absolute delight and she is super friendly. I picked up three skeins of Manos del Uruguay in the Tanager color way. This is an artisan’s collective of women all over the Uruguayan countryside that spin and dye wool for sale in the US. The proceeds feed directly back to them and help them support their families. The wool has a fun, raw texture and a bit of a thick and thin nature to it. And the colors are just glorious. I think these are going to be made up into a pretty little scarf.

 

 

So much for being brief…

Vacation Knitting Binge

Due to certain perks of my job, I have the next eight days off. I don’t have enough money to travel far and there’s not a whole lot to do around here, but I do have quite a bit of knitting that I would like to get done. The good news is that both Oshima and Afton II are finished. I’m sending Afton II to Moura in a day or so and Oshima still needs to be blocked, but they are both off the needles! I even wore Oshima to work on Sunday. I wish I had made the torso and inch or two longer, but now I know. My torso is a tad long and I’ve learned that I need to compensate for that in judging dimensions.

I had a single skein of dark purple Malabrigo Rasta that I’ve been struggling to find a use for for weeks now. I finally decided to give it a whirl and improvise something of my own. I landed on a cowl, since it’s a short project that enables you to easily try out a new stitch and knit it up quickly. Looking through Barbara C. Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting, I found a German Herringbone Rib stitch that I quite liked. I did four panels of it and repeated the pattern seven times on 9mm (US 13) needles. Since I only had that size of needle in straights, I knit it flat and plan on seaming it together after blocking is complete. I like the results so far.

 If I did it again, I would change a few things. I almost ran out of yarn and there are a few things that I could have done to change that. I would have done a simpler cast on, instead of long-tail, because I feel like that used extra yarn. (Though it did give the bottom edge a very nice crispness) I would have knit in the round, and I would have sized the needles down by about a size or two. I’ll give it another pass some day and actually publish a pattern. The rib looks terrific in bulky yarn and I feel like it will be super cozy when wrapped around one’s neck. This one is probably destined for my Etsy shop once I finish the seaming.

Once that was done, I was left with an empty basket and a monumental stash of yarn with no clear idea of where to start next. I finally decided on a Rowan Fine Tweed in Reeth that I picked up at my LYS earlier this month. I bought enough for having a go at Evelyn A. Clark’s Swallowtail Shawl. I’m not a huge shawl person in general. But I’ve been meaning to get better at lacework and reading lace charts. I also need to knit something besides Brooklyn Tweed patterns at some point in my life. As my guru and LYS owner told me, Clark is old school, but in a good way and it would be a good step in my development as I begin to take the plunge into journeyman level. And reading her patterns will help in developing my own voice as a designer. You can master a lot of great basics under the tutelage of Evelyn A. Clark. Plus, I can always wrap the damn thing tighter around my neck, and BAM!, asymmetrical scarf.

 So far, there have been a few grumbles as I tried to figure out the rhyme and reason of her charts (which were not automatically apparent). Clark, unlike Flood, assumes you know what the hell you’re doing and does not take the time to parse out the delicacies of how her charts piece together into a whole. She expects you to just know these things. Speaking from experience, you can follow a Jared Flood pattern even when you’re about two beers into the night. Whereas with Clark, even when you’re stone cold sober, you still find yourself squinting in concentration. I’m a little over ten rows in and I’ve finally got the hang of it, but it still looks a bit garbled. A little voice in my head is worried that the yarn is too busy for the pattern, but I think once it’s blocked, it will look much better. I just have to trust myself for now.

Upcycling and Commission Deadlines

I didn’t get nearly as knitting done as I would have liked today. I woke up around half past noon, which was ridiculous. So, there went half my day. I did manage to get my hair cut, which was much needed. I also stopped by Goodwill and picked up some old men’s sweaters to harvest yarn out of. There was not a single piece of wool in sight, it being May and all, but I did find four lovely cotton pieces. They are extra large too, so plenty of yarn to be unravelled from those suckers.

 

They also inspired me to continue ripping out my old red sweater. It’s a wool/cotton/silk blend and very soft, but there was a massive hole on the yoke, so I’m ripping the entire thing down to the yarn and I’ll knit it into something even better. I’m almost halfway there and I have two decent sized balls to start something fun with. Considering all the tied off ends, I’ll have to make some kind of pullover with it. Before I start ripping apart my next sweater, I really need to teach myself how to make a Russian join. I found a tutorial on Pinterest from Knitpicks, so we shall see how that goes.

 

Meanwhile, I am almost done with my first serious commission. A coworker asked me to make her a scarf like my Afton that I finished back in March. Her Afton has been on the needles since late March and it’s high time that I had it finished the darn thing. I am only about a rep and a half away, so the end is in sight. I really want to have it done by the end of the week. The color is gorgeous and I will be sad to say goodbye to the soft feel of the Malabrigo between my fingers. However, I will not miss the way the indigo has a tendency to rub off on my fingers. Amy, my knitting guru has suggested I soak it in a vinegar solution before I block it to keep the color from bleeding more. I certainly don’t want Moura’s neck to turn blue!

Achievement Unlocked!

The sweater blocking turned out well as I could hope. The shape is crisp and there are no dramatically out of proportion sections. I sewed the bits together Thursday night and tried on the whole body for the first time. Aside from the torso being a little shorter than I would normally wear, it came out perfect. It is comfortable. The sleeves are plenty long, which is much more of a concern for me.

 

I started in on the neck that night and continued working on it throughout the following day. The main problem was, that day was jam backed with family responsibilities and I was knitting on the move and kept losing my place markers. I love brioche stitch, but doing it in the round is quite the challenge. It is very important to know when your row begins and ends. By the end of the night, it was all discombobulated. I tried to make it work, but as I sat down to it tonight, I stirred up enough gumption to frog a good four inches and pick back up in the right spot. There is still one minor kink, but I honestly don’t have the heart to go back and work that out, especially since it will be on the inside of the cowl where no one will see.

 

I am so close to finishing! I can see the end cresting the next hill. By the end of Monday (my next day off) I should be able make an elated FO post, and show you all how it fits.

Alphabet Blocks Confuse

After a little over a month of hard work, my first sweater is almost complete. It is currently blocking on the floor of the spare room and I am holding my breath, and crossing all my fingers, until I actually stitch it together tomorrow and add the cowl neck. I have never blocked anything with this level of seriousness before. With hats, I normally just soak them and use a plate to block them out as they dry. When it comes to scarves, cowls and blankets, let’s face it, I just can’t be bothered.

But when it comes to sweaters, proper blocking technique could not be avoided. So I hauled my butt over to a supermarket and bought myself some of those foam alphabet tiles from the toy section. I giggled to myself and had to take a picture when I put them in my car. I don’t have any children, so the blocks seemed so anachronistic, nestled in my back seat. Only a complete obsession, like knitting, could drive me to this level of absurdity.

 

I also must confess, that until that day, I did not own a steamer. That little red box you see beneath the blocks is a little travel steamer that I had to pick up as well.

Even after getting the blocks home, I was  bait hesitant to start, but this afternoon I finally built up enough courage to start. After almost an hour of obsessively measuring and pinning, measuring and repining, and measuring again, I finally coerced the pieces into dimensions that vaguely reflected the measurements in the schematic. I ran the steamer over them once and then had to run to dinner with the boyfriend. After getting home tonight, I gave them another once over. I’ll try and stitch the seams tomorrow.

Mothers Day Madness

This past Saturday, I suddenly came to the realization that Mothers Day was in only about a week! I hadn’t planned anything to make for my mother, and I hadn’t acquired any yarn specifically for the job. I racked my brain for something to make and suddenly remembered a pair of fingerless gloves I’d made for her a year or so back.

I’d been rather proud of them at the time, especially my work on the thumbs, which had been particularly challenging for my level of skill. I made them out of a coral colored Patton’s worsted wool. It’s not a particularly luxurious fiber, but it has good stitch definition. I happened to have about a skein and a half left of it too. So, I decided to whip up a matching hat.

 

I used the same pattern that I’d used for the purple hat I made not to long ago (see previous post) as the base and reverse engineered the cabling pattern from the gloves. I finally topped it off with a little hand-painted Malabrigo that I had in my scraps bin to give it a little extra flair.

I’m currently wet blocking it and hoping that the wonky gaps in the cabling work their way out. I’m fairly proud of the thing, but it’s longer than I’d like and I’m hoping that blocking it wide stretches that out a bit. I should have decreased more rapidly, but ah well. it will do.

 

 

Aches and Pains and Art in New Ways

As of late, I have been suffering from fairly severe neck, back and shoulder pain. I will not bore you with a chronicle of my suffering, but suffice to say, it has prevented me from any serious progress on any of my knitting projects. This has produced quite the gap in my creative time and an altogether different kind of ache in my psyche.

Therefore I have returned to an ancient cross-stitch project of mine that has been hibernating for almost a year or more. It is very pretty, but also very delicate and tedious work with much less room for creativity than knitting, so it is most definitely not my go-to when crafting. Nonetheless, I have picked it up again and am making quite decent progress.

Though it doesn’t look like much right now, this will eventually be a tiny piece in a much larger tapestry of the fairytale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Eventually, it will look something like this…

 

 

As you can see, I have quite a ways to go. Meanwhile, I’ve also taken to sketching during my work breaks since I can’t haul all of my threads and fabric back and forth every day. (Well, I could, but I have not yet reached that level of crafting mania.) I have not produced much of merit, but I did finish a cute sketch of a hippie dude that I started when I went to an open mic comedy night with my boyfriend some weeks back.

So, like the dude, I abide, knitless, but not completely devoid of the joy of making even a small something with my hands.