Practicing Monogamous Knitting

I am not one of those knitters with an incalculable number of knitting projects on the needles. I make it a habit to have no more than three.

1) Something complicated and challenging.

2) A portable one for on the go knitting.

3) And an instant gratification project so I’ll always have something to show off on the Gram.

But for some reason although I have those other projects to turn to I am only interested in knitting this sweater, Tuileries Pullover by Julie Knits Paris. When I put it down and try to work on something else it calls to me. When I am busy, I crave time to knit on it. I am in love with the pattern and the 100% cashmere yarn I bought for it from Nordic Yarn. They say you can’t make a “Ho a Housewife. But this project has tamed me.

Having said that…If anything can break the spell this sweater has on me, it is the sleeves. I am so tire d of knitting the seemingly endless ribbing of the sleeves. I have always been privileged enough to have two arms but knitting all this ribbing makes me jealous of amputees.

Like most of my knitting projects I am filled with fantasies about what I will be doing while wearing my sweater. Soon it will be fall and I will be glamorous in my white cashmere sweater. It will give me confidence. Or…I’ll simply be me, but warm. All I know is I can’t quit this sweater. It is true love.

Thrummed Mittens. Never Again.

Adults who wear mittens have to endure a fair amount of teasing. I don’t know exactly what the socially acceptable age cutoff for mittens is, but I feel like it is as young as 10.  And this is unfair. Mittens keep your hands so toasty. And the excuse that you need to be able to use your fingers doesn’t hold up. We take our gloves off anyway. Most cellphones have touch screens that require bare hands. Knit  or leather gloves don’t have the grip of human hands so you’re still limited in what you can do. Gloves thinly knit and form-fitting enough to not make doing things awkward don’t keep the hands warm. So I maintain that it just as easy to pop off a mitten to text your friend as it is a glove. I love mittens and will defend them until the sun explodes and engulfs this planet.

These thrummed mittens are my latest work of art. And I pray I never lose them because I will NEVER, EVER, EVER knit anything with thrums again. It wasn’t hard per se, although it was far from easy since nothing about thrums feels natural to me. First it is making the thrums themselves. It was boring and the roving sucked all the moisture from my hands. It felt like I was twisting and rolling steel wool. And I was never able to make them a uniform size. Some were as big around as my pinky. Others were so wispy they almost blew away. Felting was a constant fear. And then there was trying to tighten them into the cute “v” after knitting. Often one side of it would disappear or start to show friction. Every thrum row was an exercise in frustration and acceptance. I tend to knit to take myself out of my daily struggles, I don’t want new ones.

So if I wasn’t having a good time, why didn’t I stop? That’s a good question without a great answer. I think it was the challenge of something new. I’ve been knitting for 16 years.  I don’t get to learn new skills all that often. And this was new. I didn’t even know that thrummed mittens were a thing until I saw them on pinterest. And there was a certain desire for the finished project. I walk a mile to and from the train to work everyday. My hands get cold in the winter. And apparently thrummed mittens were inspired by Europeans stuffing their mittens with pieces of wool to help stay warm. I love it when need creates craft. I wanted to be a part of that. And it gives me a chance to share my knitting. The mittens are big and colorful, they will get comments. And I will get a chance to talk about my knitting. That always makes me happy. A different project could’ve given me all that, but I pressed on with this one. I

 bought both the yarn and the roving from my favorite yarn store The Needlepoint Joint in Ogden, UT. It is a bit of a trek abut always worth it. I didn’t really follow any kind of pattern when it came to placing the different colors of roving. I just went by feel. If I felt an area needed some purple it got some purple. And any opportunity to use teal was leapt upon.

If you’re interested in learning thrumming I found this video very helpful.

Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool Worsted

Needles: Size 6 dpn

Pattern: Thrummed Mittens by Tanis Lavallee

Bowl of pre-made thrums

Sentiment Shawl

Entirely too many knitting websites have my email address: Knit-Purl.com, nobleknits.com, knitpicks.com, yarn.com, just to name the big ones. Consequently, with that barrage of stylized photographs and sales that always seem to be ending soon, but never end, I make impulsive purchases. But this shawl pattern wasn’t even an impulse buy. I saw it and it was a full two weeks later before I bought it. I had time to talk myself out of it. Time to realize that I have breasts and shoulders and a mass greater than a French model. Needless to say, that didn't happen.
 
I actually forgot many basic truths when it comes to my knitting:

• Bulky knits make bulky gals look even bulkier. And this was SUPER bulky yarn
• Lace patters have to be blocked beyond what feels sane in order to show up in SUPER bulky
• I hate green and purple together. Why do I buy yarns with those two colors? I am not the Joker. I cannot carry off that color combo.
• Math is important. I should always look at the dimensions of an item and then compare them to my dimensions.

 It is a gorgeous shawl and I did beautiful work. So what do I do with it? Give it away to a petite woman? Frog it? Put it in the closet and hope to someday be small enough to wear it? 

She looks so warm and mildly seductive

Project Details:

Pattern: Sentiment by Andrea Rangel

Needles: Size 15 bamboo

Yarn: Malabrigo Rasta in Zarzamora

Cardiff Cashmere

Even the tags are pretty

I have only ever bought cashmere blend yarn. Frugality has its place. While luxury has a more exalted one, at least in my heart.  Woman can not live by acrylic and Peruvian wool alone. 

I regularly receive emails form Knit-Purl.com and each one fills me with longing. But I have a long standing policy of not having too large of a stash. Currently all my yarn fits in one Rubbermaid tote. This is aided by my inexplicable habit of only buying lace weight and fingering weight yarn, although I haven't knitted anything out of lace weight yarn in almost 2 years. A few months ago I was dying to make an infinity scarf and I didn't have any worsted weight yarn. Once I recovered from the shock I went yarn shopping. I finished the  scarf . I again have no worsted weight yarn. The Cardiff Cashmere is a dk weight. 

I saw this yarn and wanted it but  I also wanted to find a project that I could knit for less than $100. I rarely get a better laugh than when a non-knitter says "Oh. Making your own stuff must save you so much money," I did the math and casual drug use would cost only 20% more than my knitting habit. 

I initially thought I would make the same cowl that my friend recently cast-on. But when I started the cowl with it's honeycomb pattern I wasn't pleased. It was too complicated for the yarn. The slight halo to the yarn was lost and it no longer had the drape that is a hallmark of cashmere.

So I cast-on a cowl of my own creation and I am pleased with how it is progressing. The yarn is plied and this results in me splitting stitches sometimes if I'm not keeping tension with the yarn. But I also think the plies give the yarn a smoother profile. I find myself a bit nervous knitting with a white yarn. I wash my hands before I pick it up and make sure I haven't recently applied hand lotion. We're having a particularly cold and snowy winter this year and my hands are starting to take on a lizard-like appearance, so skipping lotion is a sacrifice. But this yarn slides easily through my hands and isn't drying them out. So far this a wonderful first experience knitting with 100% cashmere yarn.

Cardiff Cashmere comes in small balls of only 120 yards. My previously stated budget concerns meant I could only buy 4 balls. This would be enough for the cowl I initially had in mind but I wasn't sure it would be enough for the one I had decided on. I began to worry as the ball got smaller and smaller and only an inch or so had been knitted. I even got out my food scale and weighed the left over yarn to determine how many grams I had left to give me an idea of how far I would get with it. As the ball of yarn became no bigger than a pound of soap after a good days wash I just surrendered to the fact that I was going to have to buy another ball. But low and behold after I had finished the first ball I was a little more than a fourth of the way to the desired size of the cowl. I won't attempt to describe my elation but I assure you it involved a little dance and a little song made up on the spot. 

I haven't finished the cowl but I expect to keep loving it and will likely buy this yarn  again from knit-purl.com. I'd been dreaming about a white cashmere cowl for months, but this yarn aslso comes in some very beautiful colors.