This is mostly a knitting blog. Sometimes pictures of things I've made, sometimes not. I'm a guy who knits, I usually attend a men's stitch 'n' bitch on Monday nights, and I prefer natural fibres to artificial ones. I have a love-hate relationship with bamboo yarns: I love what they can do and how they look, I hate how they are made. I've been knitting since about 2003, though I really didn't get into it until 2005, while convelescing with a broken leg. I must have discovered something good, 'cause I'm still knitting years later.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Wall, or, Thinking Out Loud

Coming to school on the subway this morning I thought that I had hit a wall in my knitting. All I seem able to do is scarves and hats, with the occasional sweater (finished three of them, have five or six more on the needles; what can I say? I'm fickle). So I made a list of what I've accomplished, and where I think my growing edges might be:

Hats? Check. I can make solid colour, striped, and fair isle. Tychus, too.

Scarves? Check. Garter, stockinette, double-knitted, cabled.

Sweaters? Check-ish. I still need help seaming them, and I've got about 5 or 6 of them on the needles. But except for the seams and the sleeves, they aren't much of a challenge.

Lace? Check-ish. I've done one lace shawl, and I really liked it. I'd like to do more, but I'm intimidated by them. Hmm, this could be a growing edge.

Socks and Gloves/Mittens? Nope. Never tried them. I'm feeling strangely ambivilent about socks. I'm really hard on socks, and am not sure I want to spend so much time making something that I'll walk holes into after the third wearing. I am interested in learning how to make gloves and mittens. So here's another growing edge.

So here are my growing edges: More lace. I need to make some round shawls, since the rectangular ones are really fancy scarves (not putting them down, but they aren't a true challenge). I also need to learn how to block shawls better than I'm doing right now. Need to learn the wire trick.

I'd also like to make some mittens and gloves. I have a pattern and the yarn for some fingerless gloves for a friend of mine, and I'm a bit intimidated by the fingers. That alone should tell me that this is a growing edge and I need to explore it.

Meanwhile, I'm working on another Noro scarf, this time in shades of blue and grey. I'm afraid it might be too monochromatic, but I'm only doing two skeins, and will do another two in different colours if it needs to be lengthened.
Noro Silk Garden, on size US 6 needles.
This is brooklyn tweed's pattern, and it can be found here:

2 comments:

  1. I'd be happy to show you how to do socks/mittens/gloves. They're all, sort of, the same basic idea -- knitting in the round on DPNs, with some fiddly bits.

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  2. Nomi, maybe after the semester is done and I've graduated. Yay! Graduation and knitting time with Nomi!

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