Stranded Knitting in Four Easy Lessons

I started writing this post about stranded knitting (AKA Fair Isle knitting) mumblety years ago. Since then, I've knit several stranded knitting projects, including more advanced techniques, such as using more than two colors, and steeking. I guess it's about time to share what I learned.

My first project was a little case for my mp3 player. (Yes, I started this post so long ago, I actually owned and used an mp3 player because my cell phone didn't have  the memory capacity to hold my favorite playlist!) I learned a few things from that project, most notably that tight floats can make your project too small, and that there are several ways to hold two different yarn strands while knitting.

Lesson #1: Avoiding tight floats
To avoid tight floats in stranded knitting, after you've cast on, joined in the round, and knit a row or two, let the knitting turn inside out. Stranded knitting is typically done in stockinette, which naturally wants to curl. The result of doing this will be that you are still knitting (as opposed to purling) every stitch, but you'll be working on the needle that is in the back, with rest of the work hanging down in front of it. It's a little strange at first, but you get used to it. The floats will be on the outside, which has a slightly greater circumference. When you finish and turn the knitting right-side-out again, your floats will be looser than if you had knit right-side-out the whole time.

Lesson #2: Holding two working yarn strands

A Norwegian thimble

If you already know how to knit both "English-style" (holding the yarn in your right hand) and "continental-style" (holding the yarn in your left hand), you are ahead of the game here. The easiest way to keep two strands of working yarn separated while easily accessible for knitting is to have one in your left hand and the other in your right. When you're knitting the color in the left hand, you work continental-style, and when you're knitting the color in the right hand, you work English-style. I knit continental, and no matter how I tried, holding yarn in my right hand just feels awkward and wrong to me. So I always keep both working yarn strands in my left hand. The two yarn strands would often wrap around each other, making it difficult to grab just one of them with the needle and difficult to adjust the tension on the strand being knitted without also pulling the other strand. I tried using a nifty device called a Norwegian thimble that sits on the finger and has loops for 2 strands of yarn. It worked well, but it was cumbersome to put on and take off and load or unload the yarn strands.

In the end, I came up with a method of holding the yarn with my left hand that keeps the strands separated, doesn't use any device, and with some practice, can be done quickly. See the picture on the right. Both strands go around my left pinky from front to back and then up along my palm. One strand then goes out between my ring finger and middle finger, and the other goes out between the middle finger and index finger. The end result is that my middle finger keeps the two strands separated. When I'm knitting (as opposed to taking photographs of my own hands), I bend the index finger so that the knuckle is between the two strands of yarn, which makes it fairly easy to grab one with my needle without grabbing the other.

My next stranded knitting project was a pair of socks sold as a kit, with the pattern and all the yarn included. It involved 5 different colors of yarn, but no more than two colors per round.

Apirka socks, my second stranded knitting project

Lesson #3: What's the difference between Fair Isle knitting and stranded knitting?
Both types of knitting involve carrying strands of two different colors of yarn, with some stitches being knit with one color, and others with the other color to create a pattern. In traditional Fair Isle knitting, there are only two colors per round or row. In other types of stranded knitting, there can be more than two colors.

From this second project, I learned that managing loose ends is important. Even with weaving in ends as I went and carrying yarn forward between rounds whenever I could, there were a whole lot of ends left to weave in when the socks were finished!

My third stranded knitting project was a small coffee cup cozy, knit in the round, then steeked and a button band added. It could very easily have been knit without the steeking, but it was designed as a project to let one practice steeking on something smaller and less involved than a sweater. This turns out to be an excellent idea, because the idea of cutting a perfectly good piece of knit fabric is frankly terrifying, even if it only took a few hours to knit it.

Lesson #4: Steeking
It's very important to reinforce the edge to be steeked before you cut it. My pattern used the crochet reinforcement technique, but I would not use it again. Even though this project was knit with very grippy, non-superwash wool, some of the cut ends are looser in the selvedge than I would like. I feel like I have to treat it delicately for fear that they will come out. If I ever have the guts to steek a sweater or other large item, I will definitely machine-sew the edges for reinforcement.

Once you've mastered these four lessons, you know everything I know about stranded knitting, which is enough to impress your knitting friends as well as non-knitters. (That's one thing I love about stranded knitting. It produces a beautiful finished result, which looks complicated, but is really very simple.)

Happy Knitting!

Evolution of a Knitter's Stash

At one of the knitting groups I attend, I recently met a brand new knitter. She's already been bitten by the bug, and has a pretty bad case of infatuation with her new hobby. Last night, as we were discussing stash, she asked us all (in disbelief), "you guys buy yarn without knowing what you're going to make from it?" Her reply was a chorus of laughter.

It got me thinking about how we acquire stash. Knitters differ from each other in so many ways. Some of us are pickers and some are throwers, some are process knitters and some are product knitters, some only have one or a few WIPs at a time, and some have dozens. But I think we all go through the same stages in the acquisition of stash.

I present you with Katie's hypothetical Stages of Stash Acquisition:

Stage 1: The New Knitter. You buy the yarn for your first project, and you cast on. Maybe you finish it first, maybe you don't, but soon you buy yarn for your second project, and your third. Eventually (probably), you finish these projects, and invariably there is yarn left over. This is the beginning of your stash.

Stage 2: Oooh, I want to knit THAT! You've already got projects going, but a pattern catches your eye, and you just HAVE to knit it. You buy the yarn for it, and the pattern, and you set them aside for a time when you have fewer projects or life stuff going on. Now your stash includes not just leftovers from past projects, but yarn designated for future projects, too.

Stage 3: That Yarn Would Make a Great Hat. You've got projects on the needles, and projects planned already, but you see a gorgeous hank of yarn, and a project idea pops into your head. You may or may not have a specific pattern in mind, but at this point, you know about how much yarn you would need, so buy the yarn anyway, and stash it. Now, your stash includes leftovers, yarn for specific patterns, and yarn for vague future plans. Uh oh.

Stage 4 (terminal): What a Beautiful Yarn! You know you've got plenty of stash already. There are more projects in your queue than you could possibly knit this year (or this decade). But the yarn in front of you is so pretty, so unique, or so special that you just have to buy it, even though you have no clue what you'll make with it. You buy an amount that makes sense to you (enough for a pair of socks, enough for a sweater, or all the seller has, whatever) and it goes straight into stash. Every now and then, you see it there, pick it up, pet it and rub it against your cheek, just enjoying the sensation of it. Yeah, you're an addict.

I would venture to guess that most knitters hit stage 4 before SABLE, but anyone could reach SABLE at any stage. My own personal journey into stash acquisition was fairly quick. I covered stages 1, 2 and 3 in my first year as a knitter. It was probably another year and a half after that before I would admit to myself that I had bought yarn without knowing what I was going to do with it. I am solidly in stage 4 now. However, I still haven't reached SABLE.

What about you? Did you go through these stages? Did I miss something? Let me know what you think of my hypothesis in the comments!

How to Add Buttons As You Knit

I don't remember where I got this idea. I don't think it came from my own brain, but I'm not sure who properly deserves credit. Oh, well. The gist of it is this: I'm lazy. I don't like sewing on buttons, because it means more ends to weave in. So, for this cardigan I'm knitting, I decided to try adding the buttons as I went.  Note: this will only work for buttons with a shank or two holes. Buttons with four holes cannot be knitted in this way. Well, you could actually add them this way, but they would look funny. You'll see what I mean.


Here's how I did it:
You'll need:

• Knitting-in-progress to which button is to be added
• Button(s)
• A tapestry needle small enough to go through the hole(s) in your button(s)
• Floss or thread

First, work up to the point that it's time to add a button. Where's that? You'll have to figure that part out yourself. As a general guide, I'd recommend basing it on the pattern's placement of the buttonholes. Once you've decided where, work up to the stitch you want to use to anchor the button. Make sure you are on a right side row, unless you like buttons facing inward. Come to think of it, there may be situations where you want a button on the wrong side, but that's certainly not the norm!

Next, thread a needle with thread of your choice. I used a snippet of dental floss.

Using the needle, pull the floss or thread through the stitch (direction doesn't really matter).

Then, thread the other end of the floss or thread through the needle. Now, you've got the needle pulling the thread, which pulls the stitch. Slip the stitch off the left knitting needle.

Push the tapestry needle through the button shank if you have a shanked button, or from back to front if you have a two-holed button, and pull the thread, then the stitch, through as well.

If you have a two-holed button, you must then repeat this going from front to back through the other hole. Now your button is on the stitch!

Place the stitch back on the left needle, then knit that stitch through the back loop. (Technically, it doesn't matter whether you knit it through the front or back loop, since the button compresses the stitch to the point you can't really tell anyway, but I found it much easier to knit it through the back loop.)

Voila! You have knitted in a button.

My First Trip to Knitting Camp

Never having been to knitting camp before, I was not sure it would be worth the money. But I figured, the price was not much more than I would pay for that many nights' lodging in a comfortable hotel, and I would be surrounded by knitters instead of screaming children, so what was there to lose? As it turns out, I very much underestimated the camp experience.

I had been to innumerable knit nights, to trunk shows, to fiber festivals, to Stitches and to knitting weekends with my buddies, but CampKIP was something else entirely, combining the best (in my humble opinion) features of all of these things into 4 too-short days of pure fiber bliss.

Like a knit-in, camp involved a good-sized group of knitters staying overnight in a retreat atmosphere. But, it was better, because it was more than one night long.

Like a trunk show, there were handknits on display everywhere. But it was better, because there were more of them, by a wide variety of designers and knitted by all the various camp attendees.

Like a fiber festival or Stitches, there was yarn and fiber for sale, and door prizes and raffles. But camp was better because the group was smaller, odds of winning were better, and the vending was not so overwhelming.

There were dozens of knitters from all over the country. We all stayed 3 nights at a retreat, where fabulous meals were provided. Everyone showed off their WIPs and FOs. Lots of people brought spinning supplies (including wheels!) and spun. People shared equipment, like their spinning wheels, yarn winders, scales and swifts, even a drum carder! People gave each other impromptu lessons on all kinds of techniques. Each evening, there was a raffle of 15-20 door prizes. There was a scavenger hunt for additional raffle tickets and prizes. There was a bonfire at which marshmallows were roasted and  s'mores were made. For those willing to pay a bit extra, massages, a wine tasting and a beer tasting were available. On vendor day, sumptuous yarns, luscious fiber, and useful equipment were sold.

It was a yarn fanatic's paradise, I tell you! If you ever get the chance to go to a knitting camp or retreat, drop everything and GO!

Diagnosis: Stashitis. Prognosis: Grim.

Stashitis: inflammation of the stash.

I might have too much yarn. Knitters who read this will know that there is no such thing. But non-knitters, such as my husband, are fond of pointing out that a person who acquires yarn faster than she can knit it, who runs out of storage space for said yarn, or who isn't even sure where all the yarn is, has a problem.

I call this problem stashitis. My stash is inflamed. It has swollen to the point of causing problems.

So, how does one treat stashitis? The surgical option, stashectomy, is just too painful to contemplate. Besides, it might be life-threatening. How can a knitter live without a stash? But the lifestyle treatment is very difficult indeed: a yarn diet. One must knit more yarn than she takes in, and continue to do so for months, even years, until the stash shrinks to a manageable level. This can have side effects.

Queueitis: inflammation of the queue.

As I try to come up with projects for all the yarn in my stash, I notice that my Ravelry queue is lengthening. I am spending valuable free time, potential knitting time, browsing for just the right pattern, and adding patterns to my queue and my library.

And how does one treat queueitis? Assuming for the moment that stashectomy is still not a consideration, there is only one treatment. Casting on. Start the queued projects. This leads inevitably to...

WIPitis: inflammation of the WIPs (works in progress).

Alas, I have a rule about WIPs. To prevent myself from developing WIPitis, which I recognize as a very real danger to me, I have a rule (okay, more like a guideline, but I really do generally stick to it) that I may not have more than two WIPs at a time. Once I have started two projects, I must finish one before I can start something new.

So, I have stashitis, which leads to queueitis, and I have the Two-WIPs-at-a-time rule to prevent WIPitis. Stashectomy is too painful to contemplate. I haven't got enough self-control to stick to a yarn diet. There is only one cure.

KNIT FASTER!

On knowing when to let go

I don't frog often. I tink a lot, and I correct a lot of mistakes in various other ways, but I rarely frog. I especially hate completely unraveling an entire project. So when I have a project that clearly won't work out and needs frogging, I have to prepare myself first. I go through a mourning period for the item I had imagined, but that will never take shape. I hope I'm not the only crafter who does this.

I recently frogged my Bex socks. The pattern, by Cookie A, is lovely, with complicated, symmetrical cables that form a diamond-like pattern with ribs of varying widths. Most of the cabling is not very difficult, although there is one complex cable I ran across.

But, for whatever reason, I just didn't enjoy knitting it. The cables are on every single row, which means the progress is especially slow. In the end, I decided the finished socks wouldn't justify the frustration I was experiencing.

So, after about 10 days' mourning, prayer, fasting and soul-searching (okay, I exaggerate, but there really was mourning and soul-searching involved), I declared the socks beyond hope of recovery. I unplugged the needles, removing them slowly and with a heavy heart. Then, I watched as, stitch by stitch, my hands unraveled my work and wound it back into balls of yarn. Unraveling the cast-on was like seeing my project take its last breath. It was sad, but I knew the yarn was in a better place, ready to become something else, something that would inspire joy.

I am at peace with it.

A New Technique: Learning Double Knitting

It's been a while since I really learned a new knitting technique. Lately most of my "adventures" have involved using techniques I already know in different ways. And, to be perfectly honest, a lot my recent knitting hasn't been particularly adventurous. It's been practical. I recently moved to a colder city, and I've felt the need to knit useful items for myself and my children.

One of the lovely things about knitting is that it can be practical and fun at the same time. Right now, double knitting is both for me. It is practical because double-knit items are very warm, having two layers of knitted fabric. It is fun because it is new to me and because it can create endless interesting patterns.

In case you are wondering what double knitting is, I'll try to explain. Double knitting involves working with two strands of yarn (usually of different colors) in a manner that creates a two-sided, reversible fabric. One strand is knitted, creating the front, and the other strand is purled, creating the back. If you swap the two strands, you'll get a stitch of the opposite color. By doing this in pattern, you end up with a reversible fabric, with the same pattern in opposite colors. There are many helpful videos available.

As I usually do when learning a new technique, I started with a small project: a cell phone case. If this works well, I'll probably try something a little larger for my next double knitting attempt, maybe mittens or a hat. Now that I live someplace with real winters, those would be very handy!

First ever knitalong

Knitting for 3 years, and I'm just doing my first knitalong (KAL for short). I'm participating in the first ever Google+ KAL. The pattern is beautiful: Bashful Butterflies by Julia Temiseva.

Of course, being me, I can't just do it like the pattern says. It calls for fingering weight yarn, but I'm using lace weight. Because I bought 100g of laceweight, I've got 925 yards of yarn. And I want a bigger shawl, so I decided to add repeats to the pattern. That involved some math. Actually, a lot of math. A lot of intimidating math. It took me over an hour to figure it out and I had to break out the good ol' 8th grade algebra skills. Yeah, I'm a nerd. What of it?

But I'm pleased with how the shawl looks so far. It might not be done in time. But it will be big and gorgeous, which makes it totally worth it.

Finally, a new post!

For a while there, I really wasn't knitting anything adventurous. Then, I just got out of the habit of blogging about what I am doing. But lately, I have taken on some new knitting adventures, so it is time to post again.

One new adventure I set for myself involved converting a pattern for a baby bunting that was written to be knitted in pieces and joined by seaming into a nearly-seamless pattern. This was very complicated. I managed to do it, but I am not sure I would do it again. I certainly would not for such a complexly-shaped piece.

Another new adventure was knitting a project I designed myself: baby boots. That went very well, and I am considering making the design available on Ravelry.

And, the adventure in which I am currently immersed (mired?) is knitting a sweater for my husband, on size 3 (very small) needles. This could take a while. If I'm lucky, I'll finish it by his birthday in January. Wish me luck!

Christmas is Over...

... which means I now have time for blogging again. A lot has happened in the month and a half since I last posted. The new digital camera arrived, so I have pictures again. Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. I knit like a fiend in between, and finished four pairs of fingerless gloves for Christmas presents. I also knit myself a hat. I gave my dad the Celtic cross sweater, and he wore it for the next two days straight.

It's finally time for me to finish my own fingerless gloves, which I began several months ago. There are a lot of projects in my queue that I've put off until Christmas was over: a hat and mitts for my dad to match his sweater, a hat for Paul to match his brown cardigan, an MP3 player cozy and a journal cover for myself. I'd like to crochet Paul a cute afghan with a checkerboard on it, and the checkers to match. I also have a couple of "impulse" skeins of sock yarn that I need to decide what to do with. One is handspun that I bought at a local fiber festival; the other is Lorna's laces shepherd sock in a colorway that I couldn't resist.

On top of all that, I got some knit-related Christmas gifts that I will need to use as well. I used some of my Christmas money from my in-laws to buy undyed yarn, a ball winder, and a basic dyeing kit from KnitPicks. I also got a gift certificate to my favorite LYS. I promised the giver that I would use it to buy supplies to knit something for myself, but I may subtract the yarn I bought for the hat I just knit, since that was for me. Maybe it's cheating, but I will knit something for myself at some point soon, so that counts, right?

Anyway, the holiday was nice for my family, and I hope it was for everyone else, too. Now, back to knitting!

New camera on its way

So, I finally gave in and ordered a new digital camera. I realize this means that my old one will reappear, just as soon as I can no longer return the new one. But I really would like to be able to take pictures at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, I learned a lot from my first camera about what to look for in a digital camera. Plus, it was 3 years old, which is ancient in camera years. So, I'm pretty happy about replacing it for under $100. We'll see if I'm still feeling that way a month from now.

Hopefully, the new camera will arrive before next weekend, so I will be able to take new pics of my projects to post here.

In the meantime, I continue to knit furiously on my Christmas projects. I am making Paul's first stocking, knitting an ornament for the Chicks with Sticks club ornament swap, and knitting several Christmas gifts (can't give details right now; this is public after all).

A miracle: no WIPs

I finished two projects today, leaving no works in progress (WIPs) on my official Ravelry project page. This is the first time it has happened since I started using Ravelry to keep track of my projects. Since I usually have two projects on the needles at any given, it's quite unusual for me to finish both so close together.

I'm feeling ambivalent about this. On the one hand, there's great pride in the accomplishments. Both projects turned out beautifully. (I don't have pics yet, but will take them soon.) On the other hand, it's a little bit sad not to have a project to turn to at the moment. My needles look forlorn and lonely.

Of course, they won't stay that way for long. I have so many projects queued up, both on Ravelry and in my own mind, that I can't wait very long to start something else. I just need to make up my mind which two projects to do next. There are several things I want to knit for myself. I think the fingerless gloves in laceweight alpaca will have to be the next thing I start. I also have some super-soft yarn I need to use to make baby caps. Then there's the mp3 player cozy and the journal cover I want to make for myself. But I probably shouldn't have two selfish-knitting projects at the same time. Decisions, decisions.

A Minor Disaster

I blame my husband for this, as for most things. If he had been helping me watch our two-year-old instead of napping this afternoon, this would never have happened. Really, my choices had nothing to do with it. That's what I tell myself. Don't disillusion me.

The disaster in question is miscrossed cables, about 6 rows back.

I really don't want to rip back that far, and correcting miscrossed cables is a real pain in the neck. I'd take it to the knit shop, but they're closed tomorrow. So I'll be setting aside my lovely cashmere wrap until I get another chance to go to the knit shop, which will be next Friday. Aaaargh!

I think my knitting feng shui is out of balance or something. I made a mistake on this beautiful wrap. I am entirely dissatisfied with the socks I am working on, and considering frogging them. And I have set aside a couple of projects to work on later. Meanwhile, I have friends popping out babies left and right, whom I am obligated to knit for. I have yarn (thanks to another wonderful yarn crawl yesterday, yay!) but no patterns chosen. This is not for lack of trying. I have looked through my pattern books and searched ravelry. I just can't seem to find the right patterns. Aaaargh!

I don't know why I am in a knitting funk right now, and I don't know how to get out of it, but I am open to ideas... (ie. help!)

Yarn Crawl Awesomeness!

Yesterday morning, I got together with several other members of our friendly local knitting and crocheting club for a "yarn crawl," which is like a pub crawl, but to yarn shops instead of pubs.

We went to two yarn shops, ImagiKnit in Tullahoma, TN and The Knit Kit in Shelbyville, TN. In between the shops, we grabbed lunch together at Applebees. I bought yarn and patterns at the first shop, but nothing at the second, primarily because I couldn't think of a specific project to use it for. I will probably go back there soon and buy yarn for a baby project for my friend Amy's new daughter. My Ravelry queue is getting out of control, though.

It was so much fun to see new yarn shops, feel all the nice yarn, and to spend the time with friends who also appreciate yarn and don't think I'm strange if I rub it on my face (because they've done it, too)! We shopped, we conspired to share patterns from an expensive pattern book, we ate, we talked, we even had an impromptu sock-knitting lesson in the car. It was a blast!

I can hardly wait until the next one, set for early September.

Every Way Wrap

I've revealed my sometimes-poor impulse control and the story behind this wrap in an earlier post on this blog. But sometimes poor impulse control isn't entirely bad.

I'm still really enjoying this pattern. The yarn I chose is so soft, it is a delight to knit with. It has become one of my favorite yarns of all time. As I knit, every now and then I just hold the work up to my face and brush gently... so nice! I can hardly wait to be done with the wrap, so I can wear it.

Meanwhile, I need to find a small project to take to work with me so I can knit during downtime. I'd like to make handwarmers, but I'd need to buy yarn, and I'm on a yarn diet at the moment, unfortunately. I have so much sock yarn, I really should pick some and a pattern and knit some socks. That idea's just not floating my boat right now. Maybe I'll go play in my stash until inspiration hits.

Sweater accomplished

I've done it! Finished my first project that I designed myself, the celtic cross sweater for my dad. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The picture above doesn't show the cross to its best effect, but it does prove that I have in fact finished it!

Having a new project I am so excited about really gave me the kick in the behind that I needed to finish this one, when the stockinette got too tedious. Otherwise, it might have taken until Dad's birthday (in November)!

Now I need to decide what to do with the design. I am considering posting it on Ravelry and debating with myself whether to charge for it or make it free. I've checked, and there are no similar patterns for sweaters on Ravelry. It took a significant amount of time and effort to create the design, and it seems to me that it deserves the respect of being paid for. On the other hand, as a pattern-buyer, I'm not sure I would want to buy a pattern that includes only one size. I think I may compensate for that by offering my suggestions in the pattern itself and email support for needs above and beyond that.

Well, that can wait. Time to start on that cashmere wrap...

The thrill of a new project

I am so excited right now about the newest project I have plans for. I just have to share.

I was hanging out at my favorite LYS, and the fall issue of Interweave Knits magazine had just arrived. On the cover it advertised an article about how to do cables without a cable needle, so I started flipping through the magazine. In the pattern section, I ran across several patterns that make use of reversible cables, which fascinated me. One of them is called the Every Way Wrap. Depending on how you wrap it, it can be a scarf, a shawl, a vest, or a cardigan. How cool is that?

Well, I decided right then and there that I was going to make that. I bought the magazine and I started looking at yarns. If it's going to go around my neck, it's gotta be soft, so I settled on a cashmere blend. There wasn't enough for the size I wanted to make in any one color, so I had to figure out what to do about that, and decided that a combination of light blue for the cables and dark brown for the moss stitch portion would be striking. I found some buttons that went with it, and pretty soon, I had all the supplies.

I work very hard to maintain self-discipline in situations like this. I have been working on this very ambitious sweater project for my dad for about a month and a half now, and I didn't want to abandon it to start on the new project. So I kept to my rule of having only two projects in progress at a time. I made a pact with myself not to start on the wrap until I finish my dad's sweater.

But it's so hard to resist! Wish me luck.

On being multicraftual

People who like crafts often like many different crafts. In the knitting and crocheting community, people who both knit and crochet are sometimes referred to as "bicraftual." Since I engage in other forms of crafting in addition to knit and crochet, I think of myself as "multicraftual."

There are many advantages to being multicraftual. You can use supplies and techniques from one craft to augment another. You can use a craft to make supplies for another craft. You can combine crafts in one finished work of art.

As far as I can tell, there is only one disadvantage to multicraftual status. I call it "I can make that" syndrome. I see something in a store or on a website, and it is lovely and I covet it, and it may be reasonably priced or it may be way out of my budget. But I think to myself, "I could make that," and I immediately start to think of ways I could improve upon it. Then, I will not buy the one I saw, even if it is reasonably priced and would take me hours of work to reproduce. If I think I can improve upon it, I will try to do so. Sometimes I succeed. More often, I spend a large amount of time and effort (and occasionally even money) thinking about the project, planning it, shopping for supplies for it, and then never get around to finishing it.

Lately, I have taken to asking myself whether I can truly do it better than the original and how long it would take me to do so. If I don't like the answers, then I am better off just buying it or forgetting about it entirely.

Designing my first sweater

I love cable knitting. I took to it immediately. After completing two projects, which used celtic knot designs, I decided I wanted to design something with a celtic cross on it. A sweater seemed perfect, and my dad seemed like the perfect person to knit for. He loves celtic crosses, and I know he will get good use from the sweater. Plus, he's a guy, which means no funky shaping is required on the sweater.

I looked on Ravelry for a pattern, but couldn't find one. I honestly don't believe there is any chance that I am the first person to design a sweater with a celtic cross motif on it. Maybe I messed up the search somehow. But in any case, I went ahead and drew up my own design.

I used graph paper to draw the cross first. I already knew a fair amount about celtic cross drawing from a book about the subject which I bought on a trip to Scotland. So that was the easy part (although it certainly impresses people). Then I knit a gauge swatch with the yarn I had chosen. I had knit a top-down sweater with raglan sleeves for my son, so I knew that the construction of such a sweater is very straightforward. I found a formula for the proportions of various parts of the sweater (neck, sleeves, cuffs, etc) based on the chest circumference, and I plugged in the gauge from my swatch and my dad's measurements to calculate the number of stitches I needed at each key point. A little more math to place the cross where I wanted it and figure out the rate of decreases on the sleeves, and I had a sweater pattern.

I am really impressed with how well it has turned out so far. I have done all but the sleeves. I have decided that I want to do them both at once on a long circular needle, a la magic loop. Only problem with that plan is that I don't have a long enough circular. But that just gives me an excuse to replace my current set of interchangeable needles with the Knitpicks options set I've been coveting for a while. As soon as it arrives, I will resume knitting, keeping my fingers crossed.

See one, do one, teach one

I got an unexpected chance to teach today, which is always fun. I am not a teacher by profession, and I really enjoy teaching people. (I say these things together because I believe they are related.)

Anyway, I went to my favorite LYS, having forgotten that they are closed on Mondays, and encountered two other knitters who had done likewise. We struck up conversation and they both mentioned that they were beginning knitters who were looking for a little help on their current projects. They seemed to have helped each other figure that out, but then they asked me whether I knit continental or American-style (holding the yarn in the left hand or the right, respectively). I replied that since I had learned to crochet before knitting, I had always held the yarn in my left hand. They were fascinated by this, and an impromptu teaching session with one ensued. She was a pretty quick study, and within about 30 minutes, had the basic idea.

I found I really enjoyed this unplanned little lesson. Positive feedback from students helps. I have no plans to attempt to become a knitting guru, but maybe someday I'll get a chance to do more teaching.