Hello, and welcome!

My blog about (mostly)* knitting and spinning begins here.  Beginnings are often challenging, so I thought it might be fun to start with an overview of some of my current works in progress—almost like joining in the middle of a conversation.  Also, I thought reviewing my unfinished projects would publicly shame motivate me to make sure they become finished projects sooner rather than later.  And, as a final justification, at all times I consider myself to be a work in progress, so it is an appropriate start for anyone who may be meeting me for the first time here :).  Hopefully (with a little dedication and discipline) there will be plenty of time for bits of back story in this journey.  Indeed, think of this blog as similar in structure to the television series Lost. Unless you are still bitter about the ending, in which case, think of this as nothing like Lost.

Work in Progress #1: 

This is a future cardigan**:

This one has a special place in my heart.  You see, I like to engage in a practice referred to as “designing on the needles.”  That is to say, I cast on a bunch of stitches with some sort of game plan in mind, but no actual pattern.  I decide on the details as the object emerges.  Here, I knew I wanted to begin with some sort of modified old shale stitch,*** but also knew I did not want that stitch pattern to cover the entire cardigan.  I’ve had some past success with shaping a garment by changing the stitch pattern rather than decreasing or increasing stitches, so I had originally envisioned some sort of cabled pattern used to create waist shaping.  I had finished the lace section and was happily entangled in a lovely, multi-directional, criss-crossing cable section when I realized that I had made the horrible mistake of not mirroring my cables, i.e., instead of having the cables on the two front sides of the cardigan reflect each other, they all curved in the same multi-directions.  Now, I can be very persuasive, but even I could not convince myself that it would pass as a design element.  I gallantly attempted to fix the cables using the first method the Yarn Harlot describes here, but that resulted in horribly ugly gaps in the fabric.  There was no choice but to frog, frog, frog away.****   At the time, I had never been able to partially frog a garment.  I simply had not been successful in picking up the loose stitches without dropping some and leaving such ugly gaps as I was now frogging to avoid.  It was too sad to start unraveling immediately (I was so far along!) so I set the garment aside and turned to other things.  After a week’s break, I was ready to dive back in and begin ripping away.  Then, like a very slow, dim bulb, it came to me that, since I was planning to frog the whole thing anyway, I should use it to practice trying to pick up the stitches.  (Can I get a big round of “duh”?)  Amazingly, for the first time ever, I succeeded!  Instead of frogging the entire project, I was able to save two-thirds of it, including all of the lace.   Very shortly thereafter, I realized that stacking a section of cable on top of a section of lace had actually looked a bit gaudy, and I began to think of the frogging adventure as not just a personal triumph, but as a design blessing in disguise.  Since I love how this is turning out so far, I absolutely believe that losing the cables was the way to go.   

Alas, this cardigan still needs sleeves.  Sleeves often foil the cardigan knitter.  At the risk of further undermining your confidence in my power of self-persuasion, gentle reader, I must confess that I can’t convince myself that it is really a vest.  Sorry, it’s just not going to happen.  It really, really wants sleeves.   

I suppose it is not fair to end a discussion of a work in progress without setting a goal, so here goes:  Wouldn’t it be nice, given this cardigan’s lovely shade of green, if this was ready to wear by St. Patrick’s Day?*****

Thanks for reading and stay tuned—there are many more works in progress to discuss (which is actually sort of a problem, but never mind).

Blissfully yours,

harperist

 

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*We’ll see how it goes.   When spring comes, I may be tempted to throw in some gardening.  If I ever take a break from using my kitchen to dye fiber, I might want to occasionally discuss cooking.  And though I haven’t played my harp in over a year, the threat of harp-talk looms eternal (though, for now, that is all that looms—I’m not yet a weaver, alas.)

**For those of you, like me, who must have these details:  The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss, fingering weight, in Woodland Sage (a discontinued color, which breaks my heart).  It is 70% wool and 30% silk.  

***Here’s a fun discussion about old shale by Elizabeth Lovick: http://northernlace.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/feather-and-fan-versus-old-shale/

****For my non-knitting friends, “frogging” means unraveling your knitting, i.e., “ripping out” the stitches.  The term comes from the notion that “rip it, rip it” is similar to the sound a frog makes.

*****I make no promises or representations as to which St. Patrick’s Day I refer to herein.