knitting projects – Notes from the journey…

Catching up

Back in November I wrote about knitting hats for hatsgiving.org, a charity collecting hats (homemade or store bought!) to send to pediatric cancer treatment centers across the country. They collected eight thousand, nine hundred and eighty-nine (8,989) hats for children with cancer this year. It turns out that knitting a plain hat in the round (ribbed edge, stockinette for a few inches and decreases at the top, like the Purl Soho pattern “Basic hats for everyone”) is incredibly soothing, and a very satisfying, quick knit. So satisfying, in fact, that when I realized I didn’t have a lot planned for family Christmas gifts this year, plain hats in nice yarn colors became the default. Deep green with an Army patch for the youngster who headed for basic training last summer, shades of blue with a Yankees logo for my mother-in-law, deep red with matching mittens for a friend’s toddler (who got a couple of pairs of mittens mid-winter last year and wouldn’t take them off).

And, lingering in the work-in-progress pile: three little sweaters for one-year-old triplets, intended for their birthdays in August, then for Christmas presents. Finally off the needles in early January, in time for me to catch up on a present I’d had in the back of my head since last February (and also intended for Christmas): a pair of convertible fingerless mitts/mittens for a friend’s teenager, who seemed to be forgetting to wear her existing gloves because she “needed” to be able to use her phone. Convertible mittens are possibly the most clever knitting pattern I’ve come across yet: fingerless mitts, with instructions where to put scrap yarn to pick up stitches across the back of the hand for the mitten top. Advised that her favorite colors in previous years were olive green and purple, I was (astonishingly) able to find a gorgeous green, purple, and turquoise fingering-weight yarn from Knit Picks (Hawthorne fingering, in “Vancouver”). For these, I’m adding an i-cord loop at the end of the mitten top along with a button on the cuff so that she can button the mitten top back when she’s busy on her phone, but wear it flipped over when her hands get cold. The pattern is from glennaknits.com – https://crazyknittinglady.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/podsters-dec15-13-pdf.pdf. I’m enjoying making them so much that I’ve already been gifted an appropriate skein for a pair for himself (from ramenneedles.com), and have selected a Done Roving skein from the stash for a pair of my own. And then I’ll get on with the rest of my list of planned projects (sweaters for other infant cousins, a cowl from yarn I was given for Christmas, a gorgeous scarf/shawl kit also received at Christmas)…. after I finish a couple of pairs of tiny mittens and a little hat for a friend’s toddler.

Birthday traditions (or, the annual handknit top)

Back in spring 2018, after having been a knitter for about seven and a half years, I decided it was time to try my hand at knitting myself a top for my birthday. After some looking around online, I fell for the Derecho pattern from Berroco (link to the pattern on Berroco’s website). A gorgeous circular yoke (I didn’t want to attempt any seams, though I’ve relaxed a bit on that score since, having learned the three-needle bind-off) and some flattering shaping, plus I was keen to try their Remix Light yarn partly for its linen content as well as for the fact that the fibers are recycled. The pattern was a joy to knit, and I was delighted with the results (though further scrutiny suggests I missed a row or two in the yoke directions somewhere- not that anyone would notice).

Last year I decided to do it again, this time in a gorgeous green shade, making some improvements on my pattern-following skills along the way. And while I would happily knit it many more times over (there are so many delightful shades of Remix Light, too, and I’m a fan of finding something you like and having it in multiple colors for simplicity), I decided this year I’d make something completely different. I had purchased Remix Light in a light purple shade from the delightful Spinning Yarns in Dover, NH, on a trip a couple of years ago and decided to use it for the “Mapleshade” pattern by Sloane Rosenthal (link to her blog, her post includes an embedded link to Ravelry). I’ve discovered over the past year that I quite like knitting a raglan construction, having attempted one for an infant cousin last year. The pattern is delightful – there’s a diagonal cable on each side to keep things interesting, and the accompanying spreadsheet (to keep track of repeats) is a lifesaver – it seems extremely complicated at first (cable section plus adding/removing stitches to make the diagonal, and some A-line shaping) but that made it all make sense. Very clever, clearly written, and actually much easier to knit than I was expecting. It’s been a little too hot to wear it much over the summer (it’s a short-sleeve top, but the sleeves are long short-sleeves) but I’m very much looking forward to having it in frequent rotation over the next few months!

Knitting projects: Mags’s shawl

One of my favorite knitting projects, particularly in summer, is a good fingering-weight shawl. A close friend of mine celebrates her birthday in July, and I think a shawl is the ultimate all-season gift: perfect for wrapping around your shoulders if there’s a chill in the air (or some serious air conditioning), it can also be worn in cooler months around the neck for warmth.

This year, what with coronavirus lockdowns and a strong desire to keep my family safe and avoid interacting with people wherever possible, I decided to knit from stash as much as I could (I could also probably use some newly-reopened stash space for future purchases, to be fair). I happen to have a decent size stash of yarn – Rhinebeck hauls from previous years, visits to local yarn shops on various trips, and a healthy relationship with the yarn shops closest to me mean that I have an adequate amount of yarn to handle my normal volume of knitting for a while if needed. After a good search through my stash, I found this gorgeous Corrie sock yarn (colorway: “cowboy”) from Flying Goat Farm in Frederick, Maryland. It’s beautiful to work with – super soft, and the colors reminded me as much of the ocean and a visit to the beach as they did cowboys and denim.

When I was looking around for a pattern in late May, I specifically wanted to support a Black American knitting designer with my purchase (and I plan to continue to support more diverse makers in the future). I knew about Jeanette Sloan’s list of POC designers and crafters from previous discussions online about diversity in knitting, so after some time perusing the various links I quickly fell in love with the “Nyah” shawl pattern from Tamy Gore, a designer in neighboring New Jersey publishing as Narrow Path Designs. It seems appropriate to note that although it’s not required to pay for use of the POC designers list, it’s generally a good idea to pay people for their work, and you can buy Jeanette Sloan a coffee to thank her here. (The POC designers list has evolved into the searchable BIPOC in Fiber website).

The “Nyah” shawl pattern is a delight to knit- enough fancy needlework to keep it interesting with the lace in the middle, and enough garter stitch to make it easy to cruise along for extended periods (such as, say, meetings where I’m not required to present anything). And I adore a picot bind-off; there are some that may say it takes a while, but in my (knit-nerd) opinion it is such fun (fancy footwork, as it were).

I typically bring my knitting just about anywhere, and in summertime there aren’t many greater pleasures than sitting by a body of water or kayaking out on a calm pond/small lake with my knitting while my husband fishes (it’s handy to have a partner whose interests work well with your own, imo). This particular project came along as we discovered Lock Five on the Champlain Canal in Schuylerville, NY, and when we investigated the fishing possibilities on the Hudson at a little out-of-the-way spot on the Mohawk-Hudson Bike/Hike path in Watervliet, NY, as well as a few hours on the Mohawk/Erie Canal at Peebles Island State Park, across from Waterford, NY. I like the idea that my knitting has already had a few adventures, so it’s imbued with the enjoyment of those hours to be shared with the recipient in adventures to come.

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