Is it the season or the deadlines that cause us such a frenzy right now? I bypassed knitting pandemonium this year for health issues yet I am still knitting at breakneck speed, for me at least. This made me ponder about prior years. I tend to take up the needles in a big way each October. I turn out more finished objects during this period than any other, finishing UFOs collected all year long. Not knitting for the holidays has really made me productive.
In reading my old records, I realize, on average, that I can turn out a worsted or sport sweater in the same amount of time as a complex pair of fine socks. That startled me. Shawls equal ½ to 1 sock. Yet, I always have at least 5 pairs running at a time. I think I need to move onto something other than socks. As nice a package as they are for doctor’s offices or other long waits, I could be doing something more. I only own one pair of store bought socks. Fiberguy isn’t much different. He keeps finding socks that were hidden in a corner of the drawer that he hasn’t seen for quite a while.
Yet, we are still obsessed by them. We dye the yarn and ponder over patterns.
When I finally do other patterns, I am always startled by how fast it can go. I must have read and admired the pattern a hundred times for Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Fall 2004 of Interweave Knits. Yet, it took three evenings to knit it and I am slooow. That means that I should just cast on when I see one I like. What is the worst that can happen? I often use handspun, so yarn cost is not always a factor. I actually spent more time looking at that darn pattern than knitting it. The lesson? Cast on early and often.
In reading my old records, I realize, on average, that I can turn out a worsted or sport sweater in the same amount of time as a complex pair of fine socks. That startled me. Shawls equal ½ to 1 sock. Yet, I always have at least 5 pairs running at a time. I think I need to move onto something other than socks. As nice a package as they are for doctor’s offices or other long waits, I could be doing something more. I only own one pair of store bought socks. Fiberguy isn’t much different. He keeps finding socks that were hidden in a corner of the drawer that he hasn’t seen for quite a while.
Yet, we are still obsessed by them. We dye the yarn and ponder over patterns.
When I finally do other patterns, I am always startled by how fast it can go. I must have read and admired the pattern a hundred times for Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Fall 2004 of Interweave Knits. Yet, it took three evenings to knit it and I am slooow. That means that I should just cast on when I see one I like. What is the worst that can happen? I often use handspun, so yarn cost is not always a factor. I actually spent more time looking at that darn pattern than knitting it. The lesson? Cast on early and often.
3 comments:
Those of us who take weeks to complete a single simple stockinette sock view you in awe. You are my new knitting hero!
(Gosh, I wish I could knit faster...)
You knitted that in 3 evenings?!? Wow! Mine has been sitting in the closed half-finished for 2.5 years!
If you're slow and it took you three evenings to knit that shawl, then I, my dear, must be knitting in reverse of some sort. Or in a time bubble that's slower than slow. Sigh.
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