Complicated Startitis

The knitting goddess, Stephanie Pearl - McPhee, calls the uncontrollable urge to cast on a new project  despite the oh, 15 or 20, or more, projects already in a state of forgotten deshabille "startitis". And I've had it bad for awhile now. Now that spring has sprung, I have it even worse than before.

Since the end of December I've cast on a lace shawl, an afghan, a wee mousie, a Presto Chango baby sweater, a Knubbelchen doll, and a Baby Surprise Jacket. Only the mouse and Presto Chango sweater are completed as of now, with the BSJ approaching completion.

I have developed complicated startitis, which adds "stashitis" to the preexisting condition.  You can't start what you don't have supplies for in the yarn closets or pattern books. In 24 hours I found patterns for four stuffed toys, 2 pair of socks, and a to die for baby sweater. I passed the sock patterns for consideration to a dear knitting friendamine (see, I do have a modicum of self-control), bought the 4 toy patterns plus yarn to make all, then bought the baby sweater pattern. Even though I have a nice color of washable wool in stash that I can use for the sweater, I'm contemplating buying a tonal yarn for the sweater, but so far I can't find one that speaks to me. What???  

Appearances are deceiving

My knit to quit BSJ looks really nice, and I told Husband over coffee that I should have it completed this morning for his coworker.

I pulled out my pattern to find out where I was starting for the day. Then I looked at my sweater. Unhappily, where I'm starting turns out to be ripping back several inches of beautifully even striped garter stitch. Another offering to the Frog Prince of Knitting, who routinely sucks up yards of my yarn as quickly as Lady and the Tramp suck up their spaghetti.

At first glance, nothing seems wrong, which must be why it got this far. But a closer look shows there's no neck opening for the poor little bèbè to stick his adorable little head through. The cast off neck stitches also add inches to the width of the sweater. Oy! Munchkin sweater indeed... How did I flub this badly and not know it?

Knowing better rarely means doing better

We all know this story. Most of us have done the same thing, more than once. We knit merrily away on a pattern we know well, or think we know well. The knitting is just peachy and then something looks a bit off.  For me it was this: I'm almost to the 158 stitch count, but don't have anywhere near the 90 stitches needed between the stitch markers. To ignore this little something in the middle is to court knitting disaster, so I stop, count the complete number of stitches on my needle, quickly compare against the pattern, find the total is correct, shrug my shoulders then trust that my little something in the middle will resolve itself, much like a Who trusts that Christmas is coming all the same.

What I didn't catch was that I missed the instruction to cast off 5 stitches, keep working even until I hit 158 stitches. I can hear my great-grandmother saying "Aie!Yi!Yi! chère. You know better." as she shakes her head at me. Heaven knows I heard THAT all through my childhood. Heaven knows I say it to myself at least once in every knitting project, shaking head and all.

A bad move, nay, a stunningly bad move on my part. The only explanation I can think of is that I was seriously decaffeinated at the time, yeah that's it. So now I get to frog those lovely, lovely stripes and do them again, remembering to cast off for the neck stitches so that a) baby will have a place to rest it's precious head  and b) the sweater will be large enough to fit a real human child.

Of course, it's a recoverable error, but it's one that forces me to eat crow yet again, because Husband has likely told his co-worker that I'm almost done.

When you eat crow, does it taste like humble pie?  Why, yes it does.

What to do when you can't knit...

Can't think, can't count, can't smoke; what to do? Ahhh, needlepoint, a.k.a. color-by-number with yarn.... soothing, very soothing...

What about you?

Knit to Quit makes my house a Beast Free BSJ Zone

Yes, yes, yes, I know. October and my daughter's wedding are quietly creeping up on me. Danger! Danger! Danger! The shawl is woefully behind schedule.  But, the beast is on hiatus for good reason. (Yes, like hurricanes and ships, the beast is a 'she.') This knitter's brain is more hopelessly stuffed with fluff than Pooh Bear's head. Cutting out the nicotine will do that to a person.

However, the beast has little forgiveness for the dumb and dumber mental fuzzies that come with quitting smoking. She's a jealous little wench who wants all of you. And right now all of me is a few attention spans shy of her mark.

Knit to Quit?

Having learned to knit, I can believe that learning to knit pushes one towards a cigarette, not away from them.  I hear that lots of people take up knitting to quit a bad habit like smoking.  Having joined the tobacco repentant crowd for the fourth time in my adult life, I can see the boon of having something to do with your hands instead of reaching for a smoke. But, in my befuddled tobacco free state of mind, the most complicated thing to which I can attend is garter stitch. Thank heavens for the BSJ I cast on for beast relief!

6 days ago

Here's my BSJ before I quit ( I finally figured out how to get pictures up here!):

Today

My BSJ 6 days into my quitfest (ye gods!):

Cute little origami sweater, right? 100% garter stitch is perfect for the quitfest.  What you can't see to the left of the BSJ is my newest quit smoking aid - a drinking straw. After 6 days at ye olde feedbag, it's time to find another way around my oral fixation than food. Drinking whatever floats your boat through a straw tricks your mouth into thinking its smoking when it's not - a handy way to steer clear of the dietary shoals that most of us face at quitting time. And it keeps potato chip crumbs off of my BSJ...

Have you used knitting to quit a bad habit?

A Beast relief expedition: It's a BSJ day or two

I promise I'll figure out a way to get photos up here. Until then, let's chat shall we?

Back in December I cast on my first big project, Susan Pandorf's In Dreams  shawl for my daughter so that I had plenty of time to complete it for her wedding in October. It has come to lovingly be nicknamed "the Beast," for a few reasons. It is my first expedition into knitted lace (brilliant of me, eh?) and has 9 charts, and 2 are always worked at the same time. I love the beast, but it's a big honkin' thing worked in cobweb silk with a bad attitude.

So to maintain my sanity, I go on beast relief expeditions.  Simple projects in larger yarns with at most one chart.  One is another big project, Totally Autumn by Anne Hanson, a gorgeous lacy, leafy afghan in bulky yarn. But I get the "completion urge"  monkey on my back from time to time, so until the Beast is completed I'll always have a third much smaller project going. Which brings us to the BSJ day or two.

I just love Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ).  It's an origami baby sweater and a beloved marvel of knitted engineering by the baby knitting brigade.  All garter stitch and only two seams for those of us who'd rather have a root canal than sew up an itty bitty baby sweater. Definitely an attraction for me... the two seams, not the root canal.

The BSJ was my first EZ pattern to knit up. After I saw it for the very first time, it became my very first "I MUST knit this" project for my great nephew. During the knitting, I became convinced it was a trick project she pulled from a topography textbook. You know, that geometry stuff where spheres are really donuts? All I could think as I worked was "How will this turn into a baby sweater?" and "If the knitting gods are kind, they'll turn this sweater-thing into a donut, I can't drink wine and knit at the same time."

But, it turned out to be the smartest pattern decision I ever made. From the shaping, I learned much about just what can really be done with knitting. And the sky and your imagination are the limit to what can be done. From Elizabeth herself - and I paraphrase her here, it may look odd but press on - I learned to TRUST THE PATTERN.

I so fell in love with the BSJ that I made two for my grand nephew, and I just cast on #3 for one of Husband's co-workers who is expecting his 6th child.

What's your favorite go-to pattern for your beast relief expeditions?

Portuguese Knitting

I learned to knit English. And yes, I was grateful to be able to do it, still am. Tortuous, slow, and limiting as it was for me. Knowing that I could do English led me on a search of other ways for me to knit faster and easier. Continental was out (and yes, I tried) because I can't manipulate my right fingers or feed stitches down my right needle. So I kept looking, and am I ever happy that I found Andrea Wong's Knitting Daily TV spot on YouTube. If you're willing to explore new ways of knitting, take a gander at it and give it a go. I think you'll be more than pleasantly surprised.

I sing Andrea's praises to all who will listen.  Visit her at andreawongknits.com for more information. She's a really nice lady. Thank you Andrea!

Lions and Tigers and Knitting Gauge, Oh My!

The gauge swatch, speaking frankly, is the bane of new and not so new knitters everywhere. We knitters chat incessantly over making gauge, not making gauge, whether or not we have to make a swatch. I hear groans from new knitters already - UGH! Do I REALLY have to do that? Can't I just start knitting? 

Well, yes... there are no Knitting Police. But I generally recommend that you start knitting your project with knitting that swatch. Especially if you're new to knitting. Few of us are Elizabeth Zimmermann's, though many of us (myself included) are EZ wannabe's. 

Gauge really does matter

Knowing your knitting gauge (usually quoted in patterns as X sts and Y rows per 4" or X stitches per inch) can answer a multitude of questions that likely never come to mind until you cast on and start working. Until you've worked with a yarn enough to have a feel for how many stitches per inch you'll likely get with a certain size needle as EZ did, a gauge swatch is your playbook for your project. Want to know:

How many stitches should I cast on?
How wide will my project will be? 
How many rows need to be knitted? 
Can I skip that repeat? 
Can I use a variegated yarn to make this?
Will the sweater fit?
How much yarn should I buy? 
Do I even like working this pattern stitch? 

Your gauge swatch gives you these answers. And for a new knitter, the swatch gives you more time on task, and therefore more experience knitting. More time on task and the above list are the pro's of the gauge swatch. The biggest con is that a gauge swatch isn't really usable for anything other than that project, and who wants a bunch of little 4" squares all over the place? Even if you can make a blanket out of them, how many blankets do you really need anyway? The other con is that for slower knitters, knitting gauge swatches to try and make gauge takes time away from your project.

I've picked up a couple of helpful hints over the years to get around the cons that I'll share.

Cotton is King!

To answer the "do I even like working this pattern stitch?"and "how will a variegated look?" questions:

Work your swatch in cotton yarn and make a dishcloth out of it. A ball of cotton worsted is much less expensive to try out a new stitch pattern. If you like how that comes out, the sweater you planned using the stitch pattern will be an enjoyable knit even in a different weight yarn. And you have a nice twofer freebie in the dishcloth.

I will add one caveat here. The colors in variegated yarns pool, sometimes in odd ways. Unless you're using the same cotton yarn for your project and swatch, do your swatch in the yarn for the project. You can always rip it out and reuse it, especially if the yarn is expensive.

Garment pieces can be a gauge swatch

If you're committed to the 'I just HAVE to make this!' sweater, use your sleeves as your gauge swatch. (Thanks, EZ! You were a smart, smart lady...) No little 4" squares cluttering up your place. This works especially well for baby garments, which are small. For larger garments, it can be fairly easy to quickly see if you're even approximating the stitch count per inch you need. In that case, its much less to rip back and start again.

Should I or Shouldn't I swatch?

My general rule of thumb is that there is a difference between having to make gauge and having to know my gauge for a project.

Making Gauge

To knit fitted garments such as socks, sweaters, gloves, mittens, for example from a pattern and have it fit correctly, I have to match the designer's gauge, or "make gauge." If I have to make gauge I always swatch. If I can't make gauge, and still want to do the project, I'll have to break out the calculator and adjust the pattern.  That's an UGH! for another day.

Knowing Gauge

Most other items, such as dishcloths, scarves, hats, afghans, and toys for example, have more leeway. They don't have to be a particular size to be used and loved. For these projects, I measure my gauge in the project pieces themselves, if I even bother.  Sometimes it really doesn't matter. Knowing my gauge is useful if I want to change the dimensions of a project such as making a blanket longer/shorter,  narrowing a scarf, or adding more ribbing to the cuff of a sock. And that can give me enough idea of whether or not I need to buy more yarn, and if so how much.

'Nuff said on gauge. I have some knitting to do today. You probably do too. As EZ said, "Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises." Words to live by.