R.I.P

Riiiiiiiiiiiiip.

Shh. Did you hear that? That sound? Listen...

Riiiiiiiiiiiiip.

It's the scariest most terrifying sound....The stuff of nightmare's and knitter's ghost stories. A project moaning in it's last throes of death, as it sinks despairingly into the frog pound, unraveling at last, returning to it's base element. The dreaded R.I.P - I'm not talking about simply ripping back a little bit to fix a mistake, I'm talking about all out total unmerciful shredding. We're sending this thing to the stash and back.

At this point you may ask, what project has fallen prey to such an evil fate? Good question! Remember Hey Teach?

I knit it, I sewed it up. Yes I got gauge, but it simply didn't fit. Not going to lie, it was too big and nothing was going to change that. Rather than try to salvage the project, I've decided to completely frog it and knit something else instead. This isn't anything against the Hey Teach pattern, I liked it and may knit it again someday. but for now, I've been there, done that, and now I just want to move on.

The frogging process was hard. Harder than I thought, and I'm not talking emotionally here, I'm talking technically. I did way too good a job seaming - and for now on I'm TOTALLY going to go easier on the weaving-in, because I ended up having to just cut the yarn in places in order to get it to unravel. Yikes! Oh well. I've already cast on a new project with this yarn, fingers crossed it'll have more luck!

Knit Goddess

Dear blog,

Despite the seemingly frequent and successful number of FO's that I have been knitting in recent months, I have not really felt happy or satisfied with my knitting experience as a whole lately. Especially when I remember or think about my swallowtail scarf, which hasn't seen any progress in..... a while. However, I'm getting alot of that good energy back via the very spiritual and enlightened book The Knitting Goddess by Deborah Bergman.

While some of the contents of the book are a bit weird (suggestions on how to build a small alter to isis, for example) I have found it to be quiet a refreshing, invigorating way to step back and look at my knitting and how it effects my everyday life, habits, and thought process. Knitting as a form of meditation is definitely something that I can get behind, and reading this book definitely helps me calm down and reach that mental state necessary for meditative knitting.

I know that everyone approaches knitting differently and has different needs/expectations form their knitting, but finding ways to reduce the stressfulness of my projects and increase their stress-relieving qualities is something that is very important to me (knitting should be fun and inspiring, not frustrating and difficult). To that end , The Knitting Goddess

inspired me to knit my own 'Goddess scarf'; I took the noro striped scarf as my starting pattern, gathered together my most recent (and most yardage produced) spinning project to date, paired it with a fetching store-bought black wool that made the colors pop, and proceeded to knit my own handspan ribbed scarf

This project was such a blessing in so many ways. First, not having to follow a pattern and having the freedom to just knit knit knit for miles without interruption. Second, I've been having serious issues with gauge recently, so not having to worry about achieving a specific gauge was immensely gratifying. Working with my own hand-spun gave me a very nice warm feeling of pride, not unlike that of a small child showing off his most favorite macaroni craft project; I could sit there knitting, fingering my yarn, and grinning to myself. "I made this, this is all me, look what I can do!" I think as I've gotten older I've become more and more afraid of self-praise, because it can so easily seem like bragging or self-absorption, but knitting this scarf has certainly underscored a point that I've been neglecting. It IS important to like what you do, and to be/feel good at it. If you aren't proud of your knitting, then what's even the point of doing it?

I'm not saying it's important to be 'good' at knitting, or to knit perfectly, but it's a good idea to sit back once in awhile, and look at all the cool things you've made. Recognize your talent and let yourself feel good about it, rather than constantly judging yourself. This is your hobby, nobody can tell you that you're doing it wrong, or how to enjoy it.

Good knitting

Theo

FO: Turn a Square

Hey blog.

Whew. I'm beat. Spent all day walking around at the Maryland Renaissance fair, which is always a blast! Anywho, today's FO is another repeat pattern, and a brooklyn tweed design no less, the Turn a Square hat!

I love this hat, I have a dream of someday knitting one in a self-striping yarn. That would rock. For this hat, I used left over yarn from two different projects. The purple is Bernat silky left over from my Treads, and the blueish gray is (I think) Ella Rea left over from the fetching gloves I made back in december....

Notes.... It says in the instructions to knit for 5 inches before doing the decreases.... My head isn't that tall so next time I'll probably just ignore that. Also, I'm clearly doing the jogless jog wrong. But it's not that big a deal, just something else for my list of 'techniques that need polishing'

Huzzah for post that are short & sweet :P

'Cheers

Theo