Balance

Let's talk about crafting balance. I would say a good majority of all knitters I know can crochet and a minority of crocheters I know know how to knit. I have found that many crocheters I have talked to about knitting just don't have the patience for it and knitters find knitting much more relaxing and intuitive. Weird, isn't it? Not exactly a scientific study as a guesstimate, really. :) How do you fit in to my imaginary findings?

I do both. Well, I know how to do both. I'm definitely a knitter. I only really crochet stuffed toys, edgings, and provisional cast-ons (I'm really good at the crocheted provisional cast-on!). I've seen some stunning Tunisian crocheted shawls that make me wish I were a little better at crocheting, but I haven't run out to get Tunisian hooks or anything.

I'm very happy to just knit. I find that the internet is infinitely resourceful for the few crochet patterns I pick up (I can only remember two or three crochet stitches), but I don't see myself ever becoming an expert crocheter. I'm all about the relaxation of knitting. Crocheting often makes me very tense and forceful. I'll just say I know enough to be enough for me. :)

That's it for Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2012! Thanks so much for stopping by to read our humble little blog. We hope you stick around, but if not, see you next year!

Special thanks again to Eskimimi, who did a splendid job organizing and executing this event yet again!

Skills

Today's prompt was hard for me last year, too. I'm supposed to tell you about my knitting skills: where I think I am and where I'd like to be. I think I'm quite skilled. I can't say that I've ever run into anything that I couldn't figure out or ever thought, "No, I just can't do that yet." I don't think that makes me an expert or anything. Like I said last year, I can't do anything that no one else can do. Knitting is knitting and purling and minor variations on the two. You just have to give certain things a shot and keep trying if they don't work out perfectly the first time.

Last year I said I'd like more practice with fair isle knitting. I'm getting it this year and I see that I sorely need it. I have a terrible time with the stranding. Tacking is fine and causes me no trouble. Switching colors is fine. It's the stranding. I think it's only when I do it on dpns, though. It's always the corners that have the goofy pucker. It's something I'm going to have to keep a very close eye on as I knit a giant blanket, though.

In other realms, I could say the same thing. I know how to do a lot of stuff, but I don't typically take the precious time to do it by the book or try it more than once. Intarsia is a fine example. Tried it once or twice, hated it, but didn't try very hard to make sure I was doing it 100% correctly. I have discovered, however, that two skills I lack entirely and may benefit from learning are brioche and knit-one-below. I am told these are two different things with similar results. I thought they were the same thing. I have no idea how to do either.

As knitting continues to evolve, there will be more and more skills I should learn or try at least once or maybe even just read about to figure out. In that way, no one can claim to be a knitting expert, so don't let new skills scare you off.

Let me take this brief bit of space to tell you again, how much fun I'm having this week and how thankful I am for all of your comments and the time you take to read my posts. I really appreciate it! Tell me about a skill you're too afraid to do but want to try this year.

Exclusive Interview

Exclusive Interview from Inside the Iron Cage - Spike

Q: We hear some rumors of a bunny revolution that may or may not be led by you.  Care to comment?

Spike:  Obviously I cannot confirm or deny anything but I think everyone knows I am 100% in favor of rabbit freedom.  In fact, since being imprisoned in this supermax facility it is all I think about, besides food and sleeping and my disdain of humans. 

He only looks innocent

Q: Let’s talk about this disdain.  Why are you such an angry rabbit?

Spike: It’s not that I’m angry, it’s just that humans need to go.  I’m not saying anything different from generations of bunnies, all I’m doing is reflecting the common goal of rabbit-kind going back a long way.  My “anger” is a righteous indignation that a creature as silly as humans are able to rule over….hey what are you doing?

Q: Tickling you! You’re so cute when you’re angry!  Hey everyone, look at the cute bunny!

Spike.  This is exactly my point.  If I could turn into a bunny Hulk right now and destroy you I would.  Unfortunately I can’t. 

Q: OK I’ll stop. Outline an average day in the life of a bunny for us.

Spike: Well, when I wake up I expect food.  When I don’t get it immediately I get grumpy.  Later, I’m grumpy for no reason.  After that, say around 6:00, I turn judgmental and pretty much stay in that mode until I go to sleep.

Q: Why are you such a grumpy bunny?

Spike = Hulk

Spike: I don’t know, maybe it’s because you don’t serve me well enough.

Q: You are fairly hostile to people aren’t you?

Spike: It’s true.

Q: I’m quite glad you’re on the other side of the bars.

Spike: Yes you are.

Q: All right, until next time, let’s call this a night.

Spike: You better hope I don’t get out of this prison because there will be no next time for you.

Q: *tickle tickle* SO CUTE when you’re grumpy!

Spike: *sigh* Just scratch my ears and I won’t bite you…this time.

Wind and Breeze are Not the Same

It's really windy and cold out today, so you get photos of a white sweater on a white background (and it doesn't help that I over-exposed them). :P

Slow Motion

Pattern: Breezy Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: MalabrigoYarn Lace in Natural
Needles: US 4, 5, 6
Project Page

Surprising but true, this sweater took me nine or ten months from start to finish. That's a long time for me. I put it down in the fall to make Christmas gifts and decided not to pick it back up until it would be warm enough for me to wear. While I was working on it, it was a pretty quick knit, even with lace on small needles.

The Malabrigo Lace is incredible. It's so soft and surprisingly strong. I love love love it! The only downside is that it's single-ply. When picking up stitches around the collar I found that the edge stitches had already felted together from being bumped around in my bag or something. I hope I can get some good time out of this garment before it's felted to death. On the upside, it's deceptively warm. Not warm enough to leave the house without a jacket today, but maybe tomorrow. :)

The pattern is also pretty great. There's one mistake that's still in the Knitbot Essentials version. When you decrease the sleeves, you should add one extra decrease so that you can do k 2 p 2 ribbing without 4 ks in a row. I modified the sleeve length because I have a couple Gap shirts with half or three-quarter sleeves that I really love the length on. I think I knit them to 11.5" before starting the ribbing.

I named it for a Patrick Wolf song. :)

For more FO Friday posts, visit Tami's Amis. I hope we'll have a special Knitting and Crochet Blog Week post a little later, but no promises.

Seasonal Knitting

I pondered this very prompt last month and still have not come to the decision whether I am or can be a seasonal knitter. Consensus was generally that you guys like to knit whatever you want, whenever you want. I am finding this year, at least, that I don't really buy yarn in the summer. It's kind of weird. I just...kinda don't want to. The yarn in my stash becomes a bit more appealing as the weather warms too, but whether it's because I have a lot of cotton that wants to be worn this summer or because a few random skeins want to become small projects, I don't know.

In any case, leaving that all aside, I thought the best way to talk about seasonal knits is to show you what I pull out of storage  to wear in spring and summer. I can't really tell you why I store them except that I don't have enough shelf-space to keep all of my knits out all year long. Really I could wear these in the cold, too.

Those last three are oldies! These are mostly light-weight yarns or planty fibers which keep me cool or light and/or lacy layering pieces. Tomorrow, I'll have an new addition to this list I can show you (with a special interview for Friday's prompt, I think)!

Do you store your heavy knits when the weather gets warmer? Do you knit in anticipation of a coming season or are you like the majority of my blog readers and you just knit what you feel like knitting when you feel like knitting it? Do you wear that heavy aran sweater as soon as you finish it in August? Gosh, I hope not for long!

It's a Happy Sadness

Today's work-in-progress is Friday's finished object: Rams and Ewes. Remember I told you I had finally gotten all the colors I needed to start it? Well, I think I need one more, but that's beside the point. Now's the time to swatch (I have to because I'm doing it as a Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup OWL project)!

I'm really excited! But, that means I have to unwind these gorgeous hanks of LOFT and wind them up into cakes. That part makes me sad. They are so pretty piled up as hanks in my knitting basket! Oh well. Eyes on the prize. The blanket will be stunning!

I'm also still working on my Tops, Tanks, and Tees project. This is the second half. It's flying too and I didn't have any trouble like I did with the first half (lessons learned).

That's all I've got. I should shove it all aside and get going on some homework and grading. :S

For more WIP Wednesday posts, go see Tami! For more Tops, Tanks, and Tees posts, go see luvinthemommyhood!

My Heroes

Today's topic is to write about my knitting hero. This is a hard one. I think when I first glanced over the prompts a couple weeks ago, I thought immediately of designers I love, but now that I've arrived at the moment where I need to tell you why they are my heroes, I wonder now what the definition of a "knitting hero" is.

I think a knitting hero is someone who inspires me to knit various projects with various colors and various techniques--some which I don't even like--and to do it better than I know I can, to improve my skills and push myself. Therefore, my answer to the question about who my knitting hero might be is: my Ravelry friends.

This is just a random page of some of their gorgeous projects:

I want to cast on some lace and fair isle projects right now! It may be a chicken and egg question, however. A lot of the people I friend on Ravelry I friend because they are inspiring.That isn't to say that the people I know or who friend me first aren't equally inspiring, though!

I work during what we call Knit and Wine, a sit-and-knit with wine mixed in. :) We pass around finished projects, show off works-in-progress, help one another pick projects to knit, and help with new techniques and skills. Seeing what everyone else is doing always inspires me to think differently about what I typically knit and how I can expand my horizons. I'm currently heavily inspired by friends who spin. I wish I had the time and space to start! After I get my Ph.D., I think....

I'll be back in a little bit with a WIP Wednesday post. For now, enjoy more inspiration here.