Thursday, September 11, 2008

Whew, It Fits

All of my worrying, and my Kaleidoscope sweater fits perfectly. I am so excited. If I made another project that was too small I might have hung up my knitting needles. Probably not, but I would have been so sad. I blocked my sweater and it was just right. Yeah!!

My new yarn for my next project arrived today as well. It was sort of strange not having anything on the needles for a day or two. I was going to start the Rusted Root by Zephyr, but I really want to make a bulky sweater. I am going to make a simple top down raglan with quite a bit of ribbing. I need to swatch now. I think I'll make both. I am starting to feel like a knitter.

I keep trying to figure out what to make next. I pour over Ravelry all the time. I think my brain my pop. I want to make everything I look at. I change my mind all the time. I add to my queue. How do you know what to make next? It is hard for me to decide. I am also trying to keep the stash at a minimum right now. I try to only purchase yarn that has a designated project. That may be a joke later, especially because I keep changing my mind about the projects. I am going to start my project now. Yeah, it fits!!

Monday, September 8, 2008

I Think I Will




I've been doing a little more reading, about knitting of course. It's become all I do, eat, sleep, think about knitting. That is when I'm not knitting. I digress. I was reading a little bit about yarn fiber content. I've discovered that cotton yarn stretches out. One of the articles I read said to prepare for that ahead of time. The first tank top I made for myself came out huge. I had gauge and it was Huge. When I read that article I thought for a moment and realized that may be why my tank top was too big.


Let me explain the first tank top. It was made out Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. It is the Mud Flap Girl Tank from Stitch and Bitch Nation. I blocked it to the measurements. Everything went pretty well. I sewed the pieces together and it was so big that I had to fold a tuck in the waist and armpits on both sides and sew them down. It fits ok after I did that.


I began working on the Shapely Tee. I used Rowan RYC Silk Merino. I lost gauge and ended up with too many stitches per inch. I also remember thinking about my tank top and how huge it was and probably also cast-on for a size too small as well. That poor tee has a double whammy. It was probably going to be a bit tight at first, but to need a larger needle also. It's way too tight. I keep thinking maybe I'll wear it. Probably not. It was a great learning experience. It all went together so well. The seams and the sleeves. I felt so good about it. I love the yarn so much too. What to do?


I keep going back to the whole "knitting is a process" thing. The Yarn Harlot said that yarn is reusable. I guess what I'm getting at is that I am going to frog the tee and recycle it. I found a cute pattern for a lacey tank. I may do the tee again. The yarn wasn't cheap. It was my first step into yarn snobbery. I now can't go back. The yarn needs to be worn. Not sit there because I made a mistake. It needs to be harvested and made to wear. I think I will frog it.


The whole point of my post today was to see how I was feeling about it. I think that yarn deserves to be something I'll wear. I will frog it today. It is the right thing to do. Sweaters are made to wear.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Here We Go Again

I'm about 2/3 of the way down the first sleeve of my "kaleidoscope" sweater. It is so cute, it is really cute. Then my doubt starts creeping in. It's going to be too small. I've done it again. Knit myself something too small. I made the neck too high, the sleeves are going to be too tight. I hope that I'll get past this someday. I have such high expectations of myself. I see all of the beautiful sweaters on Ravelry and want to accomplish some successes myself. I'm not even sure yet if I'm right or wrong on this current project. It may be the perfect fit. I've slipped it on, I think it'll be fine. I just have doubt because I've had trouble so far on all of my projects.

I've been listening to past episodes of "Cast-on" with Brenda Dayne. Listening to her talk about "Today's Sweater" in each of the episodes is giving me hope. It sounds like I am going through the growing pains of passing from a total beginner to a more advanced knitter. I have been bitten by the knitting bug. It is my new obsession. I really want to be good at it. I want to make beautiful things that fit properly. It's funny how this just grabs you and won't let go. Creating things from fiber is amazing.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Back to School


My boys just walked out the door for the first day of the new school year. I am really sad about it. It almost feels like the day they each started for the first time. My oldest boy starts high school today. I never thought it would make me cry, but it is. Soon it will be time for him to become a man and be on his own. That's only part of it, I had a lot of trouble during my high school years and he reminds me so much of myself. I can only hope for now that he has a better experience than I did. I don't think my parents had any idea just how hard it was for me. I am going to do my best to advocate for my child as well as to teach him to be his own advocate. It'll be better for him.


Now the other boy, on the other hand. He's starting seventh grade. I admire him because he's not driven by what other people might think or say. He's popular and funny. He has the attention span of a flea, but it's ok. He drives his poor teachers absolutely batty. I only hope that we can contain his energy long enough to get through his homework. The boys are two totally different animals. I think sometimes that the things about each of them that makes me craziest are the things I love the most.


For our last summer hurrah yesterday, we went to the beach. The boys also have a three and a half year old sister. It was fabulous to watch them able to make sand castles and sift for shells. Having her around allows them to let down their "cool" for a bit. Especially that older boy of mine. He tends to be painfully cool. He's my kid that worries about what people will say or think. He's like I was as a kid, I would've rather died than be embarrassed. The problem was that everything was embarrassing for me. I was twenty-five years old before I realized if people were looking at me that closely, maybe it was their problem. Kids are so quick to point out flaws, mistakes, or laugh for hours at an accident that you'd rather forget. It's the nature of the beast I guess. It makes them forget how worried they are about their own selves for a few minutes.