Finding my knitting groove
May. 26th, 2009 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI have the horrible feeling that I've finally worked out what kind of knitter I am and it's not the nice, easy kind of knitter who works on small projects in chunky yarn.
My mum is a cable knitter. She doesn't mind what weight the yarn is (although she prefers aran or DK), but she wants cables in her patterns. The more complicated the cable, the happier she is. Hats, mittens, sweaters, it's the complexity of the cable that gets her interested. Currently she's bouncing about the gorgeous cable jumper that she's working on, the one that I took one look at and vowed not to even consider.
I can cable, I've done my fair share of cables and I wouldn't automatically run from a project with a tiny bit of cabling in. It's just not something that I like to do a huge amount of.
My sister is still working out what she likes, having worked mostly with thinner yarns and lacy patterns so far but also having some thicker yarns queued to play with. I'm quite enjoying the seeing the process as she develops her style.
I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm a sadistic knitter who enjoys making large items from skinny yarn. Yeah. I'm happy to tackle complicated lace (in lace weight) although I don't think that's my ultimate favourite. That stuff requires sealing myself away from all distractions and even then my mistake rate is high. What I really like is beautiful drapey fine garments, possibly with a pretty stitch pattern although I'm almost finished with a tunic in moss stitch and I'm still really enjoying it. Yes, even after several billion rows of moss stitch.
My next project is another fingering-weight thing with a lacy pattern that looks like it should be easy to memorise. I'm actually really excited about it.
At knitting on Thursday someone let me look through Knit So Fine, a book filled with beautiful patterns done in fingering-weight yarn. This, for the uninitiated, is the weight of yarn that I use for socks. Anyone remember the socks that I was making at Redemption? Yes, that weight of yarn. I want to make three-quarters of the book, it's been added to my wishlist and the only trouble will be deciding which thing to make first.
I do have an aran wieght sweater in my queue that I plan to tackle for the winter and I'm sure that I'll love making it, but apparently it's the fine knitting that I really get excited about.
That's me. Sadistic knitter. Or is it masochistic knitter? Whatever. My mum will be cheerfully cabling away in one corner while I'll be cheerfully knitting sock yarn into sweaters, tunics and halternecks on 2.5mm needles while my more sensible knitter friends look on with horror.
My mum is a cable knitter. She doesn't mind what weight the yarn is (although she prefers aran or DK), but she wants cables in her patterns. The more complicated the cable, the happier she is. Hats, mittens, sweaters, it's the complexity of the cable that gets her interested. Currently she's bouncing about the gorgeous cable jumper that she's working on, the one that I took one look at and vowed not to even consider.
I can cable, I've done my fair share of cables and I wouldn't automatically run from a project with a tiny bit of cabling in. It's just not something that I like to do a huge amount of.
My sister is still working out what she likes, having worked mostly with thinner yarns and lacy patterns so far but also having some thicker yarns queued to play with. I'm quite enjoying the seeing the process as she develops her style.
I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm a sadistic knitter who enjoys making large items from skinny yarn. Yeah. I'm happy to tackle complicated lace (in lace weight) although I don't think that's my ultimate favourite. That stuff requires sealing myself away from all distractions and even then my mistake rate is high. What I really like is beautiful drapey fine garments, possibly with a pretty stitch pattern although I'm almost finished with a tunic in moss stitch and I'm still really enjoying it. Yes, even after several billion rows of moss stitch.
My next project is another fingering-weight thing with a lacy pattern that looks like it should be easy to memorise. I'm actually really excited about it.
At knitting on Thursday someone let me look through Knit So Fine, a book filled with beautiful patterns done in fingering-weight yarn. This, for the uninitiated, is the weight of yarn that I use for socks. Anyone remember the socks that I was making at Redemption? Yes, that weight of yarn. I want to make three-quarters of the book, it's been added to my wishlist and the only trouble will be deciding which thing to make first.
I do have an aran wieght sweater in my queue that I plan to tackle for the winter and I'm sure that I'll love making it, but apparently it's the fine knitting that I really get excited about.
That's me. Sadistic knitter. Or is it masochistic knitter? Whatever. My mum will be cheerfully cabling away in one corner while I'll be cheerfully knitting sock yarn into sweaters, tunics and halternecks on 2.5mm needles while my more sensible knitter friends look on with horror.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-28 09:58 am (UTC)I had to frog the Summer Tweed project because I'd done my math wrong and cast on too large a square. *sigh*
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Date: 2009-05-28 12:05 pm (UTC)I ask because my mum had a nightmare with it for a pair of fingerless mittens but I think that it was the concept of Summer Tweed + mittens that was the issue and I was wondering what it is actually half-decent for :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-28 10:54 pm (UTC)The original notion didn't last long.
Now it's going to wait until the week after next - there's a knitting group meeting the second Thursday in June at the local yarn store, and that meeting's theme is stashbusting, with an emphasis on patterns and guesstimating yarn.
Odds are good I'm going to do a quilting pattern that I haven't seen adapted into knitting yet, not even on a Ravelry search - interlocking crosses.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-29 01:30 pm (UTC)Hmm, a blanket probably would be a good use for Summer Tweed. At least in a blanket it doesn't matter if the fabric has no give. That's probably even a bonus!
Adapting a quilting pattern to a knitted blanket sounds like an awesome project! You'll have to put up progress reports :-) And post the design to Ravelry if you can.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-30 12:07 am (UTC)Exactly. Okay, that and I like a lot of blankets because I used to be a quilter.
I'll post the design if it works out; so far, it's only in my head. However, it's such a simple shape I'm surprised that there aren't any projects already. I did look. It's going to work out better in knitting than it ever did in fabric - look at all the corners in:
+ + +
+ +
+ + +
In knitting, I'm thinking that since I just want to do a random pattern anyway, I can pick up along the edges of the previous +.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-30 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-30 11:28 pm (UTC)This looks like an excellent idea. I love blankets because they can be so pretty and you get the happy feeling from completing something each time you finish a square/patch/section. Plus they're practical - I regularly use my first blanket to snuggle under on the sofa with the cats and a book.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-30 11:47 pm (UTC)Yes. I actually have all the finished pieces for a blanket... but then I got more ideas and started staring speculatively at the yarn...