Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Knitting Crossroads


Well, I have reached a knitting crossroads. In the six months since I started knitting, I have learned to cast on, pearl, add in a new ball of yarn, cast off, weave in ends, knit in the round on circular needles and on double pointed needles, knit stripes, increase, decrease, to follow a (very, very easy) pattern, and last night I cabled for the first time.

I have knit a scarf, a hat, and two dishcloths. And I have been pretty pleased with myself.

Last night it was Monday night knitting circle at the Southern Cross (some cute ladies from England asked if they could take our picture to take back and show their Women's Institute group, of course we said yes). And I had nothing on the needles to take along. I decided to go along, cast on, and give cabling a go as Penny is nearly finished her first knitted item after months of hard work - a beautiful bright golden yellow scarf with cabling. She's shown me how she makes the cables before and it seemed pretty easy. Here is my attempt, it looks ugly but Penny assured me I did it correctly and if I kept going I would start to see the awesome pattern she has on her scarf emerge:


(I did it on a pair of my circular needles because I wanted to try knitting the cotton yarn on smaller needles than my straight bamboo ones of which I only have one size)

Do I digress? Kind of. Anyway, the point is now I have to decide what to knit next. I bought some beautiful purple, plum, and pink variegated wool a while ago at the Knit World sale with a scarf for my sister in mind (she has a jersey in similar colours which is why I thought of her when I saw the wool). So I could knit another scarf. But that seems a bit boring and like it will take ages (I may have learned many things but knitting with speed is not one of them). So I thought maybe I could cast it on and knit it when I just feel like some simple plain and pearl.


I could knit some more dishcloths as I have quite a bit of each ball of cotton yarn left. I could see what happens when I knit plain and pearl squares in variegated yarn, I could try one of the Ravelry dishcloth patterns. But again, I feel like I've been there, done that with dishcloths for the moment. However, I'll definitely knit one or two again soon when I feel like a quick hit of the feeling of achievement you get when you finish a project.

I could knit another hat - for Valentine's Day I gave Guy a voucher entitling him to choose a pattern off Ravelry and the colour yarn he wants the pattern knit in and I will make him something (I didn't specify that it can't be a jersey, but it can't. It would take me a year at the rate I knit at the moment). I think he wants a hat and is pretty excited about me knitting something for him - he said, 'It'll be so cool to watch you knitting and know that it's for me'. What a cutie. So yes, I'll probably be knitting a hat again in the near future.

OR, I could continue my theme of 'onwards and upwards' and try something new. Socks? A baby vest? Booties? All with a very low difficulty rating of course - it stressed me out enough increasing and starting a new ball of wool as it was with the hat. Or maybe a hat with cabling...

I think it's pretty clear which direction I'll be taking at the crossroads. And it's not going back down the scarf or dishcloth road right at this moment. I love learning (it sounds cheesy but it's true) and that's what's kept me hooked on knitting (is that a pun? I feel like it is but there aren't really any hooks used in knitting so I guess it's not) so far. I actually can't believe it's been six months since I started, it's scary!

The hard thing is that I start rehearsals this week for Tea for Toot which means back to a lifestyle I haven't lead since August last year. Rehearsals 6pm - 9pm Tuesday and Thursday nights and on Sunday afternoons 2pm - 4pm/3pm - 6pm. It doesn't sound much but it gets pretty tiring when you're working full-time as well and when it gets to production week and the season it's absolutely draining. As Guy is finding right now because his solo show for the Fringe Festival opens in just over a week's time. So I'm thinking knitting might start taking a backseat to everything else and a simple, repetitive project like a scarf or some quick dishcloths might be all I need.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Maybe it's not so clear.

1 comment:

  1. You'll get bored real quick only knitting squares and rectangles, I promise. Try something simple like a baby vest or jacket, or if you can already knit on circulars try a hat.

    I learnt to knit on dpns and to cable at the same time with a little baby hat and now, I can whip one up on a couple od days.

    And if you are not already, Ravelry. All manner of patterny goodness.

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