New Year, New Knitting Goals
As we welcome 2018 and set our new years resolutions, I’ve been asking some of our knitters about goals or new years resolutions for their knitting. As knitters, we have endless opportunity for growth. There’s always something new to learn and master. Having asked some of our knitters, I want to share a little of their feedback with you.
A big goal of one of our favorite people (our amazing Alex, of course!) is to learn to knit continental (and for anyone that’s not familiar with this term, it means holding your working yarn in your left hand). Alex’s motivation for this has a lot to do with her upcoming surgery, and limited mobility in her shoulder. She’s convinced that she’ll be able to knit continental style without hindering her recovery. She’s onto something – continental knitters definitely move their arms and shoulders less. Also, it happens to be much faster than English-style knitting (or throwing).
If this is something you’d like to learn, I recommend working on a project that gives you an equal amount of knitting and purling, so you can finesse your gauge with both stitches. Make something like the Easy Folded Poncho or the Twice Reversible Ribbed Poncho from Churchmouse Yarns and Tea. Gauge isn’t critical and you’ll have a good deal of straightforward knitting and purling. In addition, you’ll be learning with an easy to knit, worsted weight yarn. Try working with something like Shepherd’s Wool, Brooklyn Tweed’s Arbor, Pure Bliss Falkland or HiKoo’s Sueno.
One goal that was mentioned to me was about getting organized, specifically with circular needles. However, being an organized knitter involves a lot more than that. Check out my previous post about staying organized. I don’t have a lot to add to this previous post, but over the last year, I’ve found that keeping notes in my projects page on Ravelry is incredibly helpful in sharing information. At a minimum, keeping track of needle sizes and such means I’m never guessing when asked by a friend or customer. Keeping track of modifications also comes in useful, for those rare cases when I repeat a project – and more often when someone else asks about them.
One knitter said that she wants to make more time for knitting, and to not feel bad about it. This woman also happens to be expecting her third baby, so actually, it’s much easier said than done. Fortunately, I can completely relate and I can share my own story. When I first moved to New Jersey and was at home with a 6 month old and a 2 year-old, I was socially isolated and mildly depressed. My husband, seeing that I felt miserable, asked me about something that I could do every day that would make me feel happy. “Knitting” was my quick and simple reply and we immediately instituted a new routine. After the kids were put in bed, I got one or two hours of knitting time. (If the kids needed someone, he was on call!) I’m fortunate that my husband is my biggest advocate, and carving out that time isn’t always “easy.” The truth is, when we take care of ourselves, we can more easily take are of the people around us. Therefore, we should always feel GOOD about doing something that makes us feel relaxed, creative, productive or satisfied.
Other new knitting resolutions include trying something new, making something for ourselves, taking on color work and knitting one’s first sweater. Since these are topics that I can elaborate on in our blog over the next handful of weeks. I’m eager to hear about more knitting resolutions, so if you have some of your own, please share them with us!
As for me, I’m inspired by a knitting/yoga friend who has taken on a steeking project, and this year I WILL STEEK. Don’t know what steeking is? It involves cutting your circular color work. Since I like my big risks to take place in my knitting, I think this is perfect for me. I’ve had my eye on the gorgeous Galloway sweater from Brooklyn Tweed’s Fall 2017 collection, so I suppose you’ll hear more about that in the next handful of months, also.
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