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.