Monday, January 11, 2010

Obviously Obsessed

I love knitting. I love the feel of the needles in my hands, and the repetition of making each stitch. I love playing with new yarns, and I look forward to working with old favorites. Starting a new project is always exciting.

The other day in my local yarn shop, an interesting question came up. Someone wanted to know how many started projects we each have. Well, I have at least 50. Yes, that was a five with a zero following it. A few monogamous knitters in our group were appalled, but to some of the other knitters in the group, that number didn’t sound unreasonable at all.

How can I possibly have so many projects started at one time? I enjoy making things for other people …….those are the projects that are most likely to be completed in a timely fashion (especially if they have a deadline like a birth, or a special occasion). And then, even though I know that my knitting time should be committed to other started projects, I cast on something for myself. Somehow those projects seem to always get placed on the back-burner when something else comes up. Add to that the at least 12 projects that are ones I use in the classes that I teach.

         50 – 12 = 38

See, it’s sounding a little better, right?

It was a sad day this past November when I had to go to the mall to buy myself a cardigan, because the knitter didn’t even have a sweater. After that shopping trip, I decided that 2010 would be the year of finishing knitting projects for me.

My latest FO (finished object) is a hat for myself out of Vogue Knitting, Fall 2009, called the “#11 Vine and Leaf Beret” by Angela Hahn. I decided to make it in red. I was so excited to be knitting for myself that it wasn’t until the 4th repeat of Chart 1 that I realized I was doing only K2tog (knit 2 stitches together) instead of both K2tog and SSK (slip, slip knit). I just didn’t have the heart to rip it all out, so my lace doesn’t show as much directional change as it should. I decided to continue to use only K2tog for the rest of Chart 1 and for Chart 2 as well. Since I was consistent, it’s not too bad …..it looks like it was intended to be that way. If you place it side by side with the picture of the original hat, you can see the difference, but on my head, it should be just fine.

At least it’s now an FO for ME!

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