Time was, I considered myself pretty hot shit, as a knitter.

I come from a very crafty family. Mother, grandmother, sister and even father are all highly competent knitters (though dad doesn’t, any more); all except dad enthusiastically pursue one or more other crafts (sewing, tatting, crochet and so on). I am the knitter. Since I took it up in high school (I also crochet; sewing, however, is to me the work of the devil), I quickly became the family’s designated Knitting Star. Because my talented family was impressed – nay, awed – by my accomplishments, and I had no one else to compare myself with, I foolishly believed I had me some knitting game.

Then came the internet.* Which quickly put things in perspective.

Looking at blogs such as that of the amazing Eunny (can you believe she’s only 23?!), and reading online magazines that feature patterns of astounding creativity and technique by “amateur” knitters, I realise just what a craven and stumbling crafter I truly am.

Here is my confession:

I use only straight needles. Double-pointeds and circulars scare me.
I generally use only one technique for cast-on, cast-off, buttonholes and so on. (One each, that is. Not the same technique for all three. That would be… interesting.)
I hardly ever create an original stitch pattern, though I adapt constantly.
I hardly ever knit anything other than a sweater.
I design all my own projects, yet I still struggle to get it right first time. Or second. Or third. I do a truly shaming amount of frogging. I haven’t yet worked out a reliable System for things as simple as raglan shaping.
I haven’t really advanced beyond two-colour-per-row knitting.
It was only last year that I finally discovered the true joy of swatching – swatching not just for tension, but to play with patterns and colours; swatching to find out what the yarn wanted to do. (Big lightbulb moment.)

Moreover, as time goes by, I find myself less and less confident in my knitting, rather than more. When something comes out great it’s a relief and a surprise. I no longer take on commissions, because I freeze up under the pressure of actually doing something according to spec.

So I’m working on this. I want to become a Proper Grown-Up Knitter, and I am challenging myself to learn something new with each project. I have vowed to start using circular needles; to use a new finishing or embellishment on each project; to learn Continental-style knitting; and most of all, dammit, to get my brain into gear so that I plan (thoroughly) first, knit second, and frog (nearly) not at all.

But every now and then, I have reason to think: huh. Maybe I do know something after all.

F’rinstance, that thing that leaves Yarn Harlot lost for (polite) words? I do that all the time.

Oh, wait. Maybe being constantly forced to correct my many mistakes isn’t something to brag about. Damn.

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* A recurring theme in my blogging, yes.

Posted by Robynn at 05:29 PM | Permalink | 9 cups of tea on the table | TrackBacks (0)

So, anybody try to access Purlescence yesterday? Wasn't that annoying? Our web hosts crashed all afternoon. Most tiresome. All is of course fine now, but I worry that we do seem to have service interruptions... well, not exactly frequently, but it's not the first time. And I probably don't always know immediately. So if any of you find the shop (and blog) disappearing on occasion, please do let me know. Action may have to be taken. Action of the changing hosts variety. I do hope not, cos that's, like, *work*. Of the boring variety.

Meanwhile, there is good news in Purlescence land. Glass needles baby! I would have let you know sooner, but — did I mention the service interruption. Yes. That, and life stuff. It's a terrible thing when life gets in the way of knitting. So anyway: glass needles are up, more funky Namaste products are also in stock and will be published online in the next day or so (viz: cute needle cases — I especially like the hard shells — and some fabulous bags). I snaffled one of the bags for myself; I'd show you, but we haven't photographed them yet. Just give us a day, okay?

And today, more big boxes arrived, with tons of Lantern Moon stuff: some old (needle vases and origami bags now available in all colours, hurrah!) and some new (a lovely thing called a cabana basket, for one, and some needle gift sets that I know are going to go down *extremely* well). Photographing must happen; watch this space to see when they're ready to buy.

Posted by Robynn at 02:52 PM | Permalink | 3 cups of tea on the table

You know when you just have too many odd balls left over from too many projects, and no idea what to do with them? You could maybe make a single sock. Or a quarter of a cushion. Or a patchwork afghan... if you don't mind patches of clashing colours, wildly differing weights and scarily unsuitable yarns.

Or you could make a door handle cosy.

Why not?! They did.

And let's not forget the now world-famous tree sweater. From a Seattle in-joke to New Zealand fashion magazine story, this little scrap of pink wool has made its presence known.

Even if you have a strict will-only-clothe-animated-subjects policy, there's scope for crazy: how about a
squirrel sweater?

And cute to revolutionary isn't that big a leap either. Check out Marianne's project to cover army tanks in pink: "The tank is a symbol of stepping over other people’s borders. When it is covered in pink, it becomes completely unarmed and it loses its authority." (Hat tip to the knittivists for the link.)

There. Don't let nobody tell you knitting* is boring.

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*Or crochet, yes, in the case of the squirrel...

Posted by Robynn at 06:31 PM | Permalink | 4 cups of tea on the table | TrackBacks (0)

One often hears knitters joke – at times with an edge of quiet desperation – about the number of projects they have on the go. I imagine a harem of woolly mistresses lounging around, awaiting their turn to be the favoured partner once more, after the latest infatuation has run its course. Never mind, they tell each other, she’ll be over that flirty little eyelash yarn soon enough, she’ll remember the value of a good solid aran like you…

I don’t have this problem. Never have had. Don’t quite understand it. I am a serial knitting monogamist, deeply committed to each and every one, even when the little bastard is giving me such a hard time. I won’t give up, I won’t admit surrender unless pushed to the very edge and beyond – sometimes not even then.

Consider the infamous Purple Monster of 2004: I spent the entire year frogging, redesigning, reworking, frogging and starting the damn thing over until I had a complete garment.

Which I hated.

This is not an isolated incident. I think it would do me good to play the field a little more, to be a bit quicker to move on when a knitting relationship isn’t making me happy. But I just can’t do it. I have tried, on occasion, to keep something on the side – a portable project to keep going when my main endeavour gets too big or awkward to carry on the train – but it never works out.

I feel so boring.

Posted by Robynn at 11:49 AM | Permalink | 4 cups of tea on the table | TrackBacks (0)

Another question from the peanut gallery. Kathy wants to know:

Do you know of any good sites that give a general guesstimate on yardage required for jerseys/sweaters in various sizes (also taking into account yarn thickness)?

Wow. What an excellent question. I don't think I've ever seen such a guideline and I imagine it would be hard to compile, since it depends not only on the type of yarn and the garment design, but also the kind of pattern stitch (more for cables, less for lace, etc — and then colourwork would just throw the whole thing out!). That’s a lot of variables.

The best way to work this out for yourself is to do some maths to get the surface area of the garment (remember those geometry classes?)*; then knit a generous sample swatch using the appropriate stitches and yarn of your choice. If you use the whole ball, you just need to divide the total surface area by the area of your swatch. If you use less, then you’ll need to cut the yarn, and frog the whole swatch so you can get your ruler out and measure how much you used. This is tedious and besides… no more swatch!

* This dress size chart might be helpful in working out the garment dimensions.

Posted by Robynn at 10:51 AM | Permalink | 4 cups of tea on the table | TrackBacks (0)

Three bags of wool is never enough, right? knitter/designer/singer/writer Wren Ross knows. (Heard on It's a Purl, Man, which has the whole song — this is just a sample, sorry — along with others, including a sung hat pattern. Really.)

Posted by Robynn at 08:38 PM | Permalink | 1 cups of tea on the table | TrackBacks (0)

Time was when I thought of knitting as an essentially solitary activity. Just you and the needles, and maybe a cat or three. Then came the internet, and the knitting boom (no coincidence I reckon, but I'll save that for another time), and stitch and bitch groups, and then came blogs, and knitalongs, and suddenly knitters seemed like the most sociable group on the web. And in the pub, and in the park...

And then we got Organised.

One crazy Canadian got inspired, and suddenly the whole world was talking about the Knitting Olympics. We've hardly recovered from that and now, the Knitting World Cup! ...in fact, there are two. This one is expressly for charity; very cool. Confusing, but cool.

If you're more inspired by cheesy reality TV than football (and who could blame you, really), there's The Amazing Lace. Except it's already started, so for those of us who haven't signed up, it's strictly spectator knitting at this point. Never mind; it's never too late to Knit the Classics — a knitalong for the bookish! I love it.

My confession? I'm participating in none of these. I watch with great excitement and awe, but I have a little commitment problem. There's been a lot to do round these parts, and knitting — dare I say it — is not top priority. I mean, obviously there is knitting happening; how else could a person stay sane? But it has to happen at my pace. Otherwise I'm just asking for trouble.

(Also, my needles are otherwise occupied with tit bits. Which should be delivered tout de suite, really.)

But in the meantime there's always Worldwide Knit in Public Day. And this weekend promises to be gloriously sunny. Show your sticks, knitters!

Posted by Robynn at 11:11 AM | Permalink | 4 cups of tea on the table | TrackBacks (1)

I think I have by now made it clear that I'm a fan of patterns that aren't. And I'm sure Jo has sorted herself out with a pattern (or vague instructions, if I've succeeded in swaying her over to my way of thinking) and hence there is absolutely no excuse for this.

But. It's a watermelon hat. How could I resist?

Posted by Robynn at 04:06 PM | Permalink | 2 cups of tea on the table | TrackBacks (0)

I would like to state for the record that the very sexy copper colour had absolutely nothing to do with my choice of new laptop.

I would like to. But that would be a lie. Are we not all about style, we knitters? (Or is that just me?)

In the background, we have Harvey, showing his complete lack of regard for such frivolities. Smart cat. (You know, I did wonder how long it would be before the fluffies made their appearance. I'm sorry to be so unoriginal — a knitter with cats; puh-leeze — but there it is. Anyway, a blog has to have cat pictures. It's in the rules.)

Posted by Robynn at 11:59 PM | Permalink | 3 cups of tea on the table

Late addition to Jo's baby beanie brigade: Live dangerously, don't swatch hat from I'm knitting as fast as I can.

That's my kind of pattern: this is how. You sort out the details. Perfect.

Posted by Robynn at 12:32 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)