Day 6 in the knit and crochet blog week, and this topic calls out to me. Other than yesterdays, the freeform … not only did I find out about this whole blog week only a few days ago, I’ve been suffering from The-Cold-That-Never-Ends. Hence my inspiration is running on an all time low.
But it will be a cold day in hell when I have nothing to say about improving my skills, and my laptop can come to bed with me, so here we go.
My first project when I picked up the needles after a nearly 20 year hiatus was a cardigan. I did not have a pattern, other than my favorite high street cardi, which was slowly falling apart. You know that feeling, right? It wasn’t expensive, it wasn’t even NICE, but it was my favorite cardigan. So I decided, having once been an avid knitter, that I’d replicate it.
I bought yarn – cotton, can you believe it? Clearly I had forgotten how unforgiving cotton is, showing the tiniest irregularity in tension without mercy! – and needles, took same rough measures, and started to knit.
And I knit, and knit, and knit … I actually did finish the cardi, I do love it, but you will not ever see me wearing it outside my apartment. It’s not a total failure, but it’s a testament to the level of skill I was operating at.
Now, this is not something that bothers me. I’m not good enough to make this? Well, then I’ll be in a month. Or a year. Sometime in the future. Maybe never. Won’t stop me trying 😀
Now, more than a year later, I have a much nicer cardigan to show for my efforts, the CP hoodie (sans hood, in my case), many very pretty lace shawls, and I almost exclusively wear handmade socks these days. I even purchased not one, but two pairs of Mary Janes to show them off.
I’d say I’ve come a long way.
I’d also say that there is a long way to go still. And maybe it’s time to set some goals.
1) I want to make a felted cozy for my (soon arriving, I hope) new smartphone, and since I already told you about how I want to tackle fair isle, this will be it. Felted fair isle – it’s small enough to not drive me bonkers, and should be sturdy enough to offer some real protection to my phone.
I will give myself a month to achieve this.
2) Make yet another version of the cardigan, this time fit for public use. I’ll give myself a year to achieve this.
3) A “real” lace shawl. With, you know, lace pattern on every row. Which is something I shied away from so far.
I will give myself 3 months for this one.
Come back in 1, 3, 12 months, and see how I’ve fared! (Actually, it would be lovely if you came back more often to hold my hand. Really. I’m not scared of not being good enough, but that does not mean I don’t need your support.)
3KCBWDAY6 – see other posts from today.
The Very Best Jumper 