Friday, October 2, 2015

the story of September's project



so. I don't have a finished project for September.

It's not for lack of purchasing patterns, or lack of starting projects. Oh no, I did plenty of that.

First off, I started the Firenze Socks by Rachel Coopey using my YOTH Litte Brother yarn. This is a beautiful pattern and the yarn is absolutely amazing to work with but it has been slow going for me. I've only now just turned the heel of the first sock. Socks are my comfort knitting- what I reach for when I need simple knitting, when I just want to enjoy the process without too much of a challenge. I now have a template- my own numbers that I start with every time so that the socks will perfectly fit my feet. And I always follow the exact same procedure- cuff down, heel flap, toe decrease socks. Sure, now and then I add a new stitch pattern, or use a fun yarn, but that's about as crazy as I get. And this is why I've not been reaching for this project. These socks, while lovely, are not comfort knitting. 

So. Once it became clear that there was no way I would be finishing this project by the end of September, I thought about pushing it to October's project (or you know, November or December's really...) and casting on something new. Brilliant. 

I chose the Hediye pattern by Ysolda. Again, the pattern is stunning- really, it's gorgeous. It's exactly the item I want to wear for Fall. My problem was with the yarn. As soon as I saw the photos of this shawl I just knew it would look beautiful in the Mule Spinner yarn that I picked up while in Canada. And it would have. Only I only bought one skein (WHAT was I thinking?!) and my budget just doesn't have room to order more at this point in time. So I decided to purchase the pattern anyways and plunge on ahead. I would just make a smaller shawl, no problem!

I knit this up twice with two different sized needles, at two different gauges and both times it was way way too short. A little too short would have been fine. But this was more than just a little too short.  

So I did what any knitter would do. I ripped the frustrating project out and started a hat for Waldi- one I knew would be worn and loved. And I'm happy to say it's turned out great!

Just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with either of these patterns. They're both lovely and I'll be returning to them at some future point for sure. 

3 comments:

  1. a true knitter.....knit, rip...reknit...rip...knit again....doesn't matter, just as long as you are knitting! :) makes me smile. I 'stutter-knit' a lot myself!

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  2. Some months are certainly like that! In this past week alone, I have been horrible about starting projects and ripping them out :)

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  3. Oh, I've been there ... it's hard to rip back but in the end, we need to enjoy the process of our knitting.

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