Time for Personal knitting!

Finding the time to knit is a constant problem for professional knitters.  There is so much to do, and so little time to do it.  It’s true for all knitters, but at least if it isn’t a job, you are in control of what you knit and how long you take to finish.  When you are knitting for work, there is always a deadline – a class coming up that needs hand-outs and samples, or a publisher waiting for patterns, charts and samples.

I have tried through the years to do as much personal knitting as possible.  Following another designers’ pattern feels like a Knitting Vacation, and I love to do it. I had an existential crisis a few years ago, when I wasn’t knitting at all for myself, and my stash of patterns and yarn was just lying there, lonely.  I was pretty depressed about it, which I admitted to my best friend/daughter/therapist.  She made me promise to always have a Personal Knitting Project (PKP) on the needles.  And I have, although sometimes they sit long enough to ALMOST qualify as an unfinished object (UFO).

My current PKP is Diagonal Ribbons, from Knitters 112, knit with yarn I bought at Stitches West back in Feb. 2014.  I blogged about starting it here, on June 23.  Since then, I’ve worked on several different projects, but all having to do with class preparation or Annetarsia.  That has been enjoyable enough that I haven’t really felt deprived, but eventually it will catch up with me, and I have to do better.

This week, I got an e-mail that put my butt in gear.  Blue Moon Fiber Arts has a new fingering weight yarn, Yaksi, and Shannon Squires has designed a pattern for it.  There is going to be a mystery knit-a-long.  This is motivation!  I’m only allowed one PKP at a time (as I have a strict no-UFO policy, and 2 PKP’s would be asking for trouble) so I have to finish Diagonal Ribbons.  Plus, I have a place that I want to wear it in a few weeks, so that is motivating me, too.

This piece looks easy to knit, but that is deceptive.  The sock yarn sections are linen stitch, worked on the bias, which is tricky.  The stainless steel is thread-like, but sharp on the fingers, and that is tricky, too.  The needle size is a bit small for the linen stitch (which makes a dense fabric), and a bit large for the stainless steel, which makes a loose fabric.  Working on the bias makes it hard to see what the fabric is going to look like, and the huge variance in the yarn weight adds to that.  So, the fabric looks REALLY rough, right now.  The vest is meant to look deconstructed, which is the only thing that gives me hope.  But, I should be done by the time I need to wear the vest and the KAL starts (the middle of September).

Diagonal Ribbons - Knitters 112 diagonal ribbons close-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Annetarsia Knits is doing great!  Amazon keeps asking for more books, it is staying high on the Knitting best-seller lists, and feedback continues to be positive.  My favorite thing is to have people order the book here, so that I can autograph their book and send it personally.  I am so grateful for all of the support and encouragment.  Thank you, everybody!

Also, I will be teaching my new Basic Annetarsia workshop class at For Yarn’s Sake, on Sept. 20 and 27th, 3-6pm.

And, thanks to Tammy Burke, I now have a Ravelry group!  That is a great place to ask questions, and connect with other folks who love knitting and working with color as much as we do.  Join us!

1 Comments

Leave Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *