The other day I had a conversation with a LYS worker about how my knitting often drops off in the spring/summer months. I have a hard time wanting to pick up wool or variations of it when the weather gets warmer and even though she went through the trouble to show me plenty of springy patterns (lots I loved from a Rowan book---big surprise), I just couldn't get into it. I usually will work on a project or two, but other than that, I am generally needle free for many months.
I knit for my husband often, but I don't Knit for him. He wants a scarf? Sure, no problem. He wants a hat or two? Again, no problem (though I am curious where the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino hat I have not seen for a year disappeared to...). Gloves? Okay, I can do that. For the most part my work for Phillip has been knitting, not Knitting. There is a distinct difference as when I am Knitting for myself I tend to not have issue with trying new patterns and being a little adventurous. So the seam is a little off, or the some stitches were never really recovered... Meh. It reminds me of the "don't knit a sweater for a guy" sentiment... I think Knitters never see this folklore as an issue. If he doesn't like it, oh well. There will be plenty more where that came from. knitters think "If he doesn't like it, I will never make another again!" That is not to say that proper gratitude for the hundreds of thousands of stitches a sweater takes should be blown off as if no issue. Lots of hard work and sweat go into the planning, the yarn choosing, the pattern selecting, the actual knitting and that is not even discussing the problems ("Hmm, I guess I made this second sleeve 20 inches longer than the first...? Wait, I attached the front on the wrong side...") but we never have those. Last night I started wondering whether I was having the wrong idea about this mid-year knitting curse. What if I extensively planned the next few months and crammed them with projects just waiting to be worn once the weather changes? Maybe then I will have more time to finish and I won't activate the evil powers that are causing my recent hand pain issues. And as an added bonus so many of the fall/winter yarns tend to go on sale around this time, which means making a project that would have cost me $120 can be made for as little as $40 or $50. (Or so I tell Phillip....I am joking!)
I couldn't sleep last night once I had settled on a sweater pattern for my dear. I chose the Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood and have looked at just about every one of the 3,000 projects I can find. Cascade 220, Malabrigo, Ecological Wool, Rowan Tweed Aran...surprisingly the list of used yarns was quite small. I decided picking a color first would be best but I knew it wouldn't be difficult as Phillip is pretty set on his color palette. I ended up choosing a heathered olive green color, which if you know my husband, makes perfect sense. I ordered the yarn and am really looking forward to casting on. I have already begun changing the pattern some--I will add 2x2 ribbing to the neck, sleeves and bottom to clean up the lines a little. I doubt I will do any major changes to the construction as it is seamless and is well written. I think once I am finished I can finally add men's Knitter to my growing list of Knitterly occupations.
In other news, I have cast on a Clapotis with the Madelinetosh Pashmina I recently purchased (see last post). The Damson is still high on my list but I am a little burned on triangular construction (though Clap is very similar with increase rows galore) and thought it would be nice to finally finish one up. I assume there has to be a reason it is likely the most popular pattern on Ravelry with something like 20,000 project pages. So far so good and the MadTosh is looking pretty wonderful. I am usually not a fan of kettle dyed, or hand dyed yarn, I like something very constant so this is a bit of a stretch for me. I am happy with how it is coming; I am somewhere near the 3rd increase section and after that I imagine a lot of mindless knitting to come to achieve my desired length. Either way, I am happy for the distraction, as I wait for the post man...
Is he here yet? I think I heard something...Wait, I just ordered that 20 minutes ago.
Other projected projects for Fall 2011:
(for my wearing)
Happy Knitting!
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