knitting

Despite resolving to blog more regularly in the new year, I’ve become more scarce. Mind you, I’m still attached to the internets by a tungsten umbilical cord, but I just haven’t had the energy to string together a thought. I lay all the blame at January’s feet.

Cruel mistress, January. She sets us up with the promise of new beginnings, then pulls the rug out from under us by presenting SAD-inducing gray skies and bitterly cold weather. This winter, I’m giving in to self-preservation by hibernating, and one of my all-time favorite winter activities is knitting.

You may remember, from way back in October, that I started a sweater for John. I had hoped to finish by the end of 2008 so that I could get back to a few unfinished projects. Alas, I hit a bit of a snag.

Mind you, the pattern I’m following is extremely straightforward, with one stitch and very little shaping. No cables. No patterns. No color changes. I knit the sweater front, shaping the armholes and the neck. Then, using virtually identical instructions, I knit the sweater back, shaping the armholes and the neck.

Most patterns that I have knit then instruct the knitter to make each sleeve. When the sleeves are finished, you typically knit the neck on circular needles. Then, with the same yarn, you sew all the pieces together. I’m lousy at finish work. Actually, I’m probably better than average at it, but I’m never satisfied. Rather than stressing over perfection, I schlep pieces to my local yarn shop. For a very reasonable fee ($20, last time I used it), the store sends the sweater to a pro-knitter, who blocks the pieces and puts them all together. I was going to do this with John’s sweater, until the pattern had different plans for me. After the front and back are knitted, you then sew the shoulders—hence, the snag.

I was deep in the procrastination—two entire months—when I met Penelope, my sister-in-law Caroline’s stepmother. In addition to being an accomplished knitter, Penelope has owned a yarn shop and designs patterns. She gave me tips and encouragement so I could tackle the shoulders. When I returned from Princeton, I sat down, with great determination, and stitched those shoulders together. With newfound confidence, I faced the next new-to-me technique—picking up stitches from a bound edge—which I did around the armholes so that I could knit the sleeves. Yes, the sleeves are being knit right into the sweater as opposed to sewing them in as separate pieces.

At this point, with one sleeve attached, the sweater is an awful lot to juggle. I imagine the kids’ version will be much, much less cumbersome. I hope. That said, I have a quarter of sleeve two finished. The end of this sweater is in sight!!

So, sadly, everything else—blogging, job searching (wink), housekeeping, child rearing (wink wink)—has taken a back seat…but the meditative qualities of knitting make it all worthwhile. Oh, and it's fun, too.