Thursday, January 04, 2007

 

The Knitter's Resolve.

I have really enjoyed reading New Year's Resolutions on many blogs this past week. Resolutions are such an insight into a person, what their goals are, what they want to do, what they want to change about themselves. And since most of us that read blogs are a bunch of armchair voyeurs, there has been some great reading this week.

That said, I am not going to make any resolutions this year. I'm all resolved out. I have some core resolutions that stay the same from year to year (i.e., get in shape and get out of debt), and I'm likely to work on them or not work on them regardless of the list I make.

Instead, I have just a few knitterly goals that I'd like to share. It's also a good idea that I keep a record of these goals here, so I can go back to it in October of 2007 and get to work.

1. Knit a pink scarf. The entire reason I wanted to learn to knit was because of a pink scarf I saw at the Gap. The inner miser/do-it-yourself-er in me exclaimed, "Forty bucks! For a scarf? I could make that for less than forty bucks!"

That's right. I thought I could knit a Gap-worthy scarf for about 6 bucks or so with some Red Heart from Hobby Lobby. Little did I know that a) it would take me over a year to figure out how to knit, and b) I'd soon be spending a heck of a lot more than forty bucks for a scarf. But guess what? I still haven't knit myself a pink scarf.

2. Learn to magic loop. No matter how many little projects I make on DPN's, my hatred of them has never waned. I'm afraid that if I'm ever going to be able to complete a sock, I'm going to have to learn to magic loop it.

3. Organize my knitting needles. I have circular needles in every room of the house. Nuff said.

4. Knit a Katie-sized sweater. To date, I have attempted one Katie-sized sweater and one Katie-sized vest. On the attempted sweater, I learned that since I don't weigh 100 pounds soaking wet, I won't look good in a sweater made of super bulky yarn at 2 stitches per inch, no matter how good it looked on the model. With the vest, I learned not to try to make a garment bigger than it should be. Deciding to knit a 40-inch vest to fit my size 36 bust just made for lots of extra material that didn't know where to go. And while I was making this item too big for me already, I had the great idea to add some horizontal stripes. Because, you know, I just didn't feel big enough already.

So, this time, I'm thinking a simple, one-colored, top-down raglan sort of thing. Picovoli? Somewhat Cowl? Green Gable? Something like that. We'll see.

And that's it, folks. I'm keeping my goals simple this year. I have a feeling that as nursing school approaches and then completely overwhelms me, there will be a lot of comfort knitting going on (read: mucho pictures of washcloths). Exciting, no?

Comments:
Knitting goals are good and fun :D

One of the patterns I have in my stash (for when I drop another size or 2) is Glampyre's Simple Knitted Bodice. I want it short sleeved. I think its top-down raglan.
http://www.stitchdiva.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SDS-026
 
I love the patterns you're considering, especially the cowl one...

before you knit a whole sweater with raglan sleeves, may I suggest that you try one on? You may already own one, but I didn't and after hours of knitting one for myself of yummy yarn I discovered that I hate them. My sweater fits fine, I just hate the lack of shoulder seam. Could just be me, but I wish I had thought to try one on first!
 
Thanks for the tips, guys. I forgot about the Simple Knitted Bodice. It's really pretty. And luckily, I do already have a store-bought raglan sweater and I don't mind the seamless shoulders. Now to decide on a pattern... :)
 
Magic Loop is awesome! I bought the book but then it does not have any useful patterns in it, so save your money. There are lots of online tutorials and you MUST check out the magic cast on at Knitty.com.

The Widdershins sock from Knitty has instructions for the cast on and the pattern is written for magic loop. Check it out in their archives. It is freeing! I hated DPNS too and I'm not ashamed to say it!
 
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