October 7, 2003
Holographic Home Stretch
Almost there! I actually completed the first page of instructions for this sweater tonight. At this point, I am about 22 rows from binding off. Carolyn left a comment on my last post about knitted holography. I think that describes this sweater incredibly well! I think from now on I will refer to this as the Holographic sweater. It definitely has an extra, unexpected, dimension.
Over the weekend, when I needed a break from the sweater and while we were out running errands, I switched over to socks. I'm now the proud owner of one finished Regia MultiEffekt sock. Very fall, don't you think? And having finished a sock for me, I went back to the Opal socks for John. This helps me solve that second sock syndrome.
I've become shameless about knitting in public. While wandering around MicroCenter or Costco, I just knit away while wandering through the aisles. My felted daypack is an excellent knitting companion in this respect. I hold my needles and keep the skein in a zip lock bag in the daypack and just pull on the working strand as needed. I'm probably getting a few very strange looks, but I don't notice because I am too busy knitting. Just say knitting geek. Yep. Yep. Yep. Almost anything I do, I take to geek proportions.
I've been asked by a couple of people "How in blue blazes do you knit so fast, woman?" To be honest, I never really thought of myself as a fast knitter until recently. I am not sure I have a great answer to this question, but here are a few things I can say about it:
- I don't mind knitting in public. I'll pull out my sock knitting any where. Chicagoans don't seem to phased. Maybe they all like hand knit socks.
- I am a product knitter. I enjoy the process, and I love to learn new things, but I really really want to be able to wear or share the thing I am knitting. When I get close to the end of something, I get totally revved up to get it finished. I stay up late, I get up early, I just get in this mode where I want the creation to become reality. I don't know if this is latent goal-orientedness from my PhD training or just me. All I can say is don't get between me and a sweater I really really want.
- I have no children and I am married to a man who not only cooks, but can look after himself. John never gets irritable when I sit and knit, even when I do it compulsively. I try to do the same for him when he is diving into one of his hobbies. We love to be together, but we love to do our own things as well.
- When I first learned to knit, my dear knitting teacher tried to convince me that if I held my yarn better I could improve my speed and tension. I ignored her because it seemed too hard. This fall, I decided to take her advice and get some better yarn control going. It took a little while to get used to knitting and purling "the right way" (I hate to say that because I think any way that works for you is the right way) but once I got it down, I saw a vast improvement in my speed and in the quality of my knitting. Definitely a double bonus.
- I am definitely in obsessive compulsive mode with my knitting hobby right now. It's been a while since I bought a computer game or read straight through a book. I keep finding new things that I want to try, new clothes that I want to have in my wardrobe.
- I've had a lot of stress in my job lately, and knitting helps take the edge off. I can come home from work, sit down in front of my 21" window on the electronic world and immediately move my mind from the days problems to somewhere entirely different. It's very meditative for me.
I think this all boils down to one fact: I spend a lot of my free time knitting. Speaking of which... I think I hear some soft seductive voices from my knitting basket....
Whoops, I meant how did you change your knitting to becaome faster.
I am interested in learning to knit faster. What made the difference for you? You are knitting continental, right? I am trying to practice but I'm having a hard time getting my tension right. It's either too loose or too tight. And yes, I have three kids and a husband who likes the house neat (and does lots of housework himself but frowns on knitting when there's laundry to be done!!) Argh.
We sound so much alike--I knit obsessively and for new clothes, just like you. I just have to work around the kids who actually worry when I'm not knitting.
PS My yarn for Culdesac arrived today--but I have to finish a few things before I start.
i took up knitting when i retired because it seemed to me like a very good way to slow down, it was the slowest art form that came to my mind at the time (my work was as a potter, where i felt like a factory most of the time) so i began by really appreciating the slowness. i didn't know that knitting would become what my retirement is about. karly has his retirement passion too (tug.org and other free software programming) which he seems to be able to do happily as many hours as my knitting takes up each day.
for me, knittedwings helps in keeping me focused towards finishing up projects. and other peoples knitting journals add so much inspiration towards future knitting.
I am so intrigued by the photos of the holograph sweater. I'm always trying to find more time to knit. I taught myself continental so I can do two-handed knitting and it is definitely faster.
So well written... I am compulsive about knitting, too. I also knit in public, anywhere! My husband is very tolerant of my knitting, he gets most of the reward by wearing hand knit things. He even chooses what he wants and what color and yarn. He doesn't mind the stares and seems to be proud when people ask him if I made his sweater, etc. My LYS knows him by name, too. Knitting is fun!
Laura -- how I held the yarn in my left hand determined how fast I was able to knit. When I first learned, I would physically pick up and move the yarn with my whole hand. When I improved things this fall, I learned how to wrap the yarn around my left hand fingers (like you see in the knitting books). Because the motion was more efficient, it improved my speed. It had a the pleasant side-effect of keeping my tension more consistent as well.
Karen -- stick with it and it will come to you eventually. A great way to get used to it is to do a felted project that is worked in the round (like the BoogaJ bag). All you have to do is go around in circles with the knit stitch and the felting hides all the flaws. Once you get more used to it, you'll find it hard to do it the old way (at least I do).
Steph: I wonder if it's a PhD thing or a neurological wiring thing. In my program there was always a lot of "eyes on the prize" mentality. But I don't know if I always had it or if I learned it. Glad to hear you got your yarn. I'll probably cast on Culdesac soon, too!
Nanette: it's wild stuff to watch. I went out to see if there were other good resources on it, but couldn't find much.
Chery: I want your husband to hang out with mine. He likes hand knit socks but doesn't want anything to do with yarn stores if he can help it. But he doesn't mind driving while I knit and he loves to watch when I am doing something unique with it... I think he likes the engineering aspects of it.
So Theresa...how exactly do you wrap the yarn around your left hand fingers? I can't seem to find anything that works well enough to give me anything approaching an even tension. I've even tried wrapping twice around my pinkie...no good. So I still throw with my right hand, and it is so slow...especially for ribbing and moss stitch.
I too am shameless about knitting in public. On the metro, at the movies, readings... I try to knit at meetings at work, but they don't like that. Stupid meeting people. =)
Sock looks very cool! What did you change? Do you knit continental? I've been trying to swtich over, but get lazy and go back to throwing. Sigh!