Yesterday, in response to Ask Me Anything, Â Thatdarncat asked “Where’s the knitting, Knitnut?”
Excellent question!
Seven years ago I decided to blog, and since I was really into knitting at the time, I started a knitting blog.
I soon realized I didn’t have a whole lot to say about knitting. Some people, like the Yarn Harlot, can talk about knitting every day for years on end and still be interesting. I am not one of those people. I was neither a skilled knitter nor a prolific knitter. There was nothing that distinguished me as a knitter; I just liked to knit.
As with most of my hobbies, I was passionate about it for awhile, and then I Â became passionate about something else for awhile, and then something else. And so on.
Of course, a wiser, more self-aware person might have considered this trait when naming her blog. She might have chosen a more generic blog name. For example, I always liked Abandoner of Hobbies’ blog. She shared that same trait with me, but she had the foresight to name her blog accordingly. (Eventually she abandoned her blog, just like she predicted she would right from the start.)
But back to the question: Where’s the knitting?
Answer: In my sewing room closet.
Let’s go visit it.
When I abruptly stopped knitting a couple of years ago, I was making a pair of socks for GC. My primary knitting affliction is that I can’t fix my mistakes, and I usually make things worse when I try. Three regular readers of this blog (Grace, Merle and Carmen) all fixed my mistakes on GC’s socks, which I never finished:
GC’s sox, with love in every stitch.
And here is my Central Park Hoodie, which I wish I’d finished because I would love to wear it. I knit 80% of it in a week, and then abandoned it:
Central Park Hoodie – all the pieces are done except the hood.
I fell in love with this basketweave vest, which I saw in a magazine. I went to great lengths to acquire the exact yarn, which is not sold in Canada and which was out of production everywhere else. My beloved basketweave vest has been 90% finished for about four years now.
Basketweave hoodie vest – I think all the pieces are finished.
This is a yoga mat bag that just needs a handle. Penelope says it also needs an inner lining, otherwise it will stretch from the weight of the yoga mat.
Yoga mat bag. Just needs finishing touches.
This was my sole attempt at lace knitting, which the woman at the store insisted was too complex a pattern for a beginning lace knitter, but I thought “I’ll show her.”
Ambitious lace shawl, barely begun.
Here’s a pumpkin hat I was knitting for my niece’s daughter, Chelsea, for her first Halloween. I completely forgot about this one.
Forgotten pumpkin hat
And here’s my stash:
My stash. I have excellent taste in yarn.
Thank you for your question, Thatdarncat. I was long overdue for a visit to the closet and a fondling of the yarn.
The Ask Me Anything series will continue for the next little while. If you have a question for me, ask it in the comments or by email at zoomery at gmail dot com. I’ll answer them roughly in the order they’re received, except when there’s a time-sensitive question. (The next question is a time-sensitive one, and the person who asked it specifically said it’s for everybody, not just me. Watch for it later today.)
I am a habitually procrastinating knitter… I knit 80% of a sweater and abandon it like you, but I generally come back a few months (or years) later and pick it up and am generally delighted to see that I have only the edging, say, to knit and then I have a whole sweater! I am in a finishing cycle now, and the next on my hit list is a sweater I started in (probably) 2006.
But that Central Park is killing me… I finished mine in 10 days back when the pattern came out and I wore it to death. It is a fabulous sweater, and you ought to be wearing it! Could you mail all the bits to me? I can finish it for you, I am after all on my finishing kick, who’s to worry about the wee details like who started the sweater?
You’d do that?? For real? I would love you forever.
Heather, if you’re serious (ie if you haven’t been kicking yourself all morning for making the offer), please email me your address (zoomery at gmail dot com) and I’ll send you all the pieces!
Heehee! Thanks for the visit to your closet. Your yarn stash looks yummy. I hope you might be inspired to finish one of those items. Looking forward to seeing a finished item sometime. I’ll be lurking!
Thatdarncat, it looks like you’ll get to see at least two finished pieces!
I volunteer to finish GC’s socks. I’ll even add love to each stitch. I’m in good practice what with daughter number 3’s man and his size 15W feet.
GC is absolutely thrilled that you’re offering to finish his socks. He says you’re the second best person in the whole world.
OMG, I’m so glad I didn’t include any reference to knitting in my blog’s title! Although I’ve lately decided to “cool it” on the personal notes there, and concentrate mostly on crafts, I expect some variety will creep in when or if I talk about other folks. Do you subscribe to more than one newspaper (include online papers)?
I have a similar pile of unfinished projects in what I call “the suitcase of shame”. Mine are quilting/textile art. I haven’t knitted since I was in my teens, and I can picture myself being absolutely terrible at it. I don’t think I could knit a sweater evenly so that all the stitches were about the same size. I’m sure one piece would have big loopy stitches and another would be so tight it would be hard to get the knitting needle into the next row.
The problem is I have great vision but not enough time to finish many of the things I start, or even enough time to start many of the things I dream up and plan in detail.
I remember when I regularly brought in projects (quilts, stained glass, screen printing) to show friends at work. The owner simply could not believe I had time to do that much. It didn’t seem that remarkable to me, even though I was working more than full time hours. However that was before becoming a parent. Now I completely understand why he was amazed.
That sweater DOES look beautiful. You’ll love having it finished.
But I had to laugh at all the knitting needles you’ve got tied up in the unfinished projects. Just think of the wealth (of needles) once they’re freed!
This is why I instituted my UFO rule (“un-finished objects) for sewing. Which is why I have a half finished shirt with French cuffs on my mannequin that has been there for months. sigh.
How lucky are you to have people offer to finish knitting things!