Kicked Its Butt
That retro Reynolds yarn forced me to put on my boxing gloves and come out fight’n this past week. It was determined to make a fool out of me and look bad with every stitch I chose. First round was arrowhead lace. The combination of size 5 US needles and yarn overs with this yarn made it look like a very holey scarf reminiscent of a 1970’s crocheted afghan. Not what I was looking for. The yarn wasn’t flattered by it either. The yarn claimed victory in that first round.
Round two was another lace pattern – the traveleing ladder. I love the look of this stitch, but again, yarn overs are no good with this yarn. I should have known better after the first time. I ripped it out again and decided to put it away until inspiration would come. I was pretty sure that inspiration in the form of white wine would definitely help. In the meantime, I started a pair of anklets from Alison.
Everyone has a list of accomplishments that they wish to achieve in their lifetime. Those lists often include things like climbing a mountain, travelling to another country, scuba diving in the Carribean, etc. Most of the time the items on the list are things that can be both scary and exciting. My list also contains things that excite and scare me when I think about them. I tackled one thing off of that list this weekend. Short rows.
Now how, you may ask, can short rows scare me when I have completed almost every other knitting feat. Kitchener stitch – no sweat, cables – I work them with pencils when I lose my cable needle – HA!, intarsia – bring it on!, not to mention intricate lace – no problem. But short rows? Even the words gave me shivers, until this weekend. I sat down and re-read the instructions three times, then slowly tackled each row, kicking everyone out of the room so that I could concentrate. And I won. It looked great, AND it wasn’t that difficult!
After this victory, and a lot of wine, I felt ready to go a third round with the Reynolds yarn. I told myself that the pattern needed to be simple. Simple and textural. That would show off the fuzziness of the yarn. I decided that a basketweave stitch would be a good place to start. I want this to be an easy pattern so that I can work it while watching movies, a pattern that I can pick up and work on for a row or two while waiting in the car for the kids to get out of swim team practice without my mind going numb trying to remember the pattern. Basketweave seemed perfect. I completed my cast on and started working. After a few rows the fabric started to look yummy, and I knew this one was a winner.
So the next time I’m feeling beaten up by a skein of yarn, I will go directly to the drinking wine and working on something else plan so that inspiration will hit. That seemed to work this time. That, or the Reynolds yarn got jealous seeing me fondle another yarn. Either way, I won!
Oh, Elaine, who is anxious to see a picture of my husband's culture cap, I will do my best to "scab a pic" from someone's digital camera, or maybe I'll finally break down and buy another one. I'm anxious to show it to you!
Round two was another lace pattern – the traveleing ladder. I love the look of this stitch, but again, yarn overs are no good with this yarn. I should have known better after the first time. I ripped it out again and decided to put it away until inspiration would come. I was pretty sure that inspiration in the form of white wine would definitely help. In the meantime, I started a pair of anklets from Alison.
Everyone has a list of accomplishments that they wish to achieve in their lifetime. Those lists often include things like climbing a mountain, travelling to another country, scuba diving in the Carribean, etc. Most of the time the items on the list are things that can be both scary and exciting. My list also contains things that excite and scare me when I think about them. I tackled one thing off of that list this weekend. Short rows.
Now how, you may ask, can short rows scare me when I have completed almost every other knitting feat. Kitchener stitch – no sweat, cables – I work them with pencils when I lose my cable needle – HA!, intarsia – bring it on!, not to mention intricate lace – no problem. But short rows? Even the words gave me shivers, until this weekend. I sat down and re-read the instructions three times, then slowly tackled each row, kicking everyone out of the room so that I could concentrate. And I won. It looked great, AND it wasn’t that difficult!
After this victory, and a lot of wine, I felt ready to go a third round with the Reynolds yarn. I told myself that the pattern needed to be simple. Simple and textural. That would show off the fuzziness of the yarn. I decided that a basketweave stitch would be a good place to start. I want this to be an easy pattern so that I can work it while watching movies, a pattern that I can pick up and work on for a row or two while waiting in the car for the kids to get out of swim team practice without my mind going numb trying to remember the pattern. Basketweave seemed perfect. I completed my cast on and started working. After a few rows the fabric started to look yummy, and I knew this one was a winner.
So the next time I’m feeling beaten up by a skein of yarn, I will go directly to the drinking wine and working on something else plan so that inspiration will hit. That seemed to work this time. That, or the Reynolds yarn got jealous seeing me fondle another yarn. Either way, I won!
Oh, Elaine, who is anxious to see a picture of my husband's culture cap, I will do my best to "scab a pic" from someone's digital camera, or maybe I'll finally break down and buy another one. I'm anxious to show it to you!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home