Knit Along: Carlina Cowl from Arcadia Knitting - Day 2

“What’s it worth to you?”

I was sitting in an excruciating meeting once, knitting, and the person next to me leaned over and said, “What are you making?”

“Patience,” I replied. I was actually making socks at the time, but what I said was true. Many times I knit for the pure pleasure of it. As a writer, knitting serves as my “anti-writing,” a non-verbal, tactile, three-dimensional creation that serves as the perfect counterbalance to the highly verbal, intellectual, invisible world I tap word-by-word into existence every day.

Knitting pleases me. But knitting also makes me a better person. I despise wasted time. Being stuck in an unproductive meeting, or forced to wait, or enduring a delay are express trains to my own doom. I get cranky, argumentative, and generally unpleasant.

This year, I have spent a disturbingly large amount of time in doctor’s offices. Waiting. Seeing to it that the members of my family get the care they need. I’m glad to do it, glad for the blessed flexibility of my writing career that I can do it, but it plays into all my weaknesses. Were it not for knitting, quite simply, it’d be ugly.

I love the sense of accomplishment this cable pattern has given me. I’ll be honest, at the end of the first repeat, I was pretty sure I’d mucked it up. It looked all wrong, which made my previous sixteen rows feel like “wasted time.” And you already know how wasted time gets under my skin.

But when I began the first couple rows of the next repeat, knitting did that thing knitting does so well--take the mountain of tiny details, the succession of little steps, and voila...transform it into something magical. The tuck of the cable was no longer a lumpy little pocket, but an elegant twist made by me. Sitting in a plastic chair at the chiropractor’s office, making patience with two sticks and yarn.

Sure, I’m making a cowl. But mostly, I’m making wonders inside the time I’ve been given. Redeeming the waiting I do so poorly. And that’s worth a million, don’t you think?

PS: AUGHHH! Just went to take photograph of my progress, realized the cowl looks nothing like the photograph, and that I’ve messed it up completely. Had to rip it out all the way down to row 5. Never mind my previous high-minded speech. I’ve redeemed nothing. Grrrr.....

Knit Along: Carlina Cowl from Arcadia Knitting and FREE STUFF!

Allie the Cable Gal...

Ah, the joy of casting on a new project. I’m loving these neck warmers and cowls--they’re such instant gratification pieces. Now, for this lovely Carlina Cowl from Arcadia Knitting, I get to resurrect my cable skills. I like cables, because like my very favorite recipes, they look impressive without actually being that difficult. People think you’re a master knitter if you can wield a cable, when actually I think there are other stitches that test you skills far more. I’m happy to be working with nice, fat (but not broomstick-ish) size 11 needles. My yarn, Loop-d-Loop Shale, is in a versatile black--which means it’ll coordinate with 90% of my wardrobe--but it’s got a sliver of grey/silver sparkle running through it to give it a hint of pizzaz. I like that. I confess I’m a little worried about the cables showing up in this dark color, but I’ll keep you posted.

Now on to the fun part: FREEBIES! For those of you who share my notions of knitting and chocolate falling near the top of your priority list, have I got a pair of needles for you! Thanks to those lovely ladies at Arcadia Knitting, I have a pair of handcrafted Serendipity Needles to give away. These have a little chocolate chip (sorry, not real, but cute all the same) at the top of each. I was just getting a supreme endorsement over the weekend from my new knitting friend Sukie (shout out to Bowling Green Kentucky!--more on that later) for this brand of needles, so I know you’re going to love them. But you’re going to have to work for them. You’re going to have to leave an actual comment on this blog. I’ll draw a name from all comments left between now and May 1, and the winner will get these beautiful needles.

Knit Along: Herringbone Neck Warmer from Nina - Done!

Victory of the giant purple earthworms!

Here is the finished product.

This is flat-out adorable. Even my teenage daughter thinks this is one of the cutest things I've ever made. And cute in an oh-wow-I-gotta-have-that way, not an aww-doe-eyed-puppies kind of way. A quick knit with serious impact. The kind of piece you plan an outfit around (and I did). If I didn't have a shirt that went with this, I would have gone out and bought one. I love it!

Completely makes up for my Easter disappointment, and that's a lovely thing.

Way off topic

I’m still making progress on my neck warmer, about six inches from the end. It’s probably the only thing that could make me grateful that it’s mid-April and near freezing rain in Chicago today. “Snow” and “Easter” are words that should never appear in the same sentence, but it’s happened in Chicago some years.

But that’s not what I came to say. I came to make the following declaration:

Knitting is disappointing.

Sometimes it’s wonderful, and I need it in my life in a way that is perhaps unhealthy, but there are days...

I worked forever on my shawl for Easter. I worked so hard it became work--as in the opposite of fun. I buckled down and knitted even when I didn’t feel like it anymore because I’d given myself a deadline.

Like I don’t have enough of those in my life as a writer anyway. Clever of me, don’t you think?

I don’t miss my writing deadlines. Bad things happen if you miss those. Bad things everyone recognizes as bad things. Families will go without decent dinners, friends will let you bail on your lunch dates, and you can generally act like a cranky child and people just put it down to your highly artistic nature and hope you get over yourself soon. All in the name of making your deadline.

Fail to get your Easter shawl done in time for Easter, and people just look at you funny. They’re not nearly as understanding of your crankiness, and they are not willing to eat something microwavable just because you’ve got a whole foot of size nine needlework glaring down your proverbial fiber gun-barrel. Giant, unspoken waves of “get over yourself,” waft across the room.

As a woman of faith, I try to remember the bigger picture here. Easter is not about pastel shawls. It’s way much bigger than how I manage to drape my shoulders any given Sunday. But those of you in possession of yards of un-knit holiday themed yarn, the ones with baby blankets still needing rows even though their recipients are getting their braces off next week, the ones with one lonely Christmas sock still yearning for its mate, you feel my pain. My disappointment at not having pulled it off. My uncelebrated, missed-the-boat coming completion that will now be bittersweet even if it rocks in all its pastel artistry. You get it.

Now, if you could just explain it to the rest of the world...

Knit Along: Herringbone Neck Warmer from Nina - Day 2

Okay, the earthworm fixation is fading as I get farther into this, thankfully. And I’ve remembered why I don’t like working with large needles (the pattern calls for #19). The quick pace of the results is counterbalanced by the physical exertion of working with such large needles. Especially with this stitch pattern, where there’s lots of pulling and twisting. I can only keep it up for about an hour, and then I start getting all achy. Knitting becomes an aggressive form of “yarn wrangling;” still satisfying, but not quite as zen as working with smaller needles.

I’ve noticed a really wonderful elasticity of this piece--it stretches considerably in all directions. Useful in a neckwarmer, and especially with such a thick yarn. It’d feel a bit Elizabethan in a straight stockinette, I think. With the uber-flexible herringbone stitch, it’ll be comfortable and stylish. Definitely a clever application of stitch pattern here.

Today, I’m giving you a glimpse of the the luscious ribbon that’s going to fasten this piece. I had the most fun picking it out with the very talented and personable Maili Powell at Soutache--which is good, because I’m not good at these kinds of color things without supervision. This is going to be a stunner when it’s done. I figure I’m about half-way around the piece, so I’ll put this down while I make the mad scramble to finish my Easter shawl and see you next week!

Knit Along: Herringbone Neck Warmer from Nina - Day 1

Today we move on to the second Knit-Along from our Chicago visit: Nina's Herringbone Neck Warmer

Why hyper-imaginative writers should perhaps not knit in public...

This is one of those super bulky yarn patterns that offers instant gratification because you knit up half a foot in minutes. The exact opposite of patience-testing tiny-needled lace. Even the fact that I had to start it twice--the herringbone stitch has a few tricky twists by making you do extra things to the slipped stitches before you let them off the left-hand needles--didn’t dampen my enthusiasm.

One problem--and trust me, it’s probably not one you’ll encounter: the yarn. The Twinkle Soft Chunky yarn takes my highly imaginary brain in to an odd place. As I’m sitting in the doctor’s office, enjoying my super-bulky-quick results, I decide it looks like I’m knitting with...well, earthworms. I know, it’s dumb, but the yarn is exactly the right diameter. Perhaps the fact that I have this wonderful, lush purple isn’t helping. But it’s a great color. I love the color. I want to wear it now even before its finished. This is not at all an earthworm-y...ur...earthworm-ish yarn. It’s a fab yarn. It’s mod and trendy and artisan--all the things I love about fiber. Soft and decadent against my fingers.

It’s just a function of diameter. So what do I do about the image that’s locked itself in my brain? Well, nothing. Which leaves me giggling in a very undignified manner while knitting...

...with long purple earthworms. Long purple earthworms I’m eager to wear around my neck the moment I’m finished. Soft, lush lengths of a rich fuscia-purple that will be bound up an the most delectable ribbon you’ve ever seen. I’ll tell you, every earthworm should have it this good.

Quick, destiKNITers, give me another image. Come up with something the diameter of a pencil, an earthworm, a Twizzler...hey that’s it, an endless Twizzler. A soft, lush, silky Twizzler...hmm...