New Beginnings
It's day two of the new blog. I spent the entire day at work yesterday tickled at the thought that I had my very own blog.
Last night I sat through (and partially slept through) a tutorial by my husband on getting photos from the camera to these pages, so hopefully I will remember enough to muddle through on my own.
Since this is a beginning of one type of project, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about a new beginning for another project.
I was a prolific knitter in my youth. I enjoyed it quite a bit (in spite of the teasing from other kids), I was pretty good at it, and money for yarn (and fabric) came directly from my mother instead of coming out of my monthly allowance until I started college. One thing that I was not particularly good at (and am still not always very good at) was choosing projects that I not only would enjoy knitting, but would also look good on me as a finished garment.
Example A:
A shawl-collared, tunic length, Aran cardigan with a complicated rocking cable and wide ribs. Densely knit (I tended to knit tightly in those days) out of two strands of yarn - a worsted weight natural wool, and a medium weight wool/mohair blend (at least that's what I think it was, I didn't keep good records then). A gorgeous piece of work that I enjoyed making, but alas, it looked terrible on me:
People with wide hips shouldn't wear snug fitting tunics. (Of course, one wouldn't wear a wool tunic with shorts, but that's another matter). What you can't see in this photo is that the tunic is not buttoned - and of course I was probably 30 lbs. lighter when I made that sweater, but still, it didn't flatter my shape at all. I probably only wore it four times, and I'm not sure I ever finished sewing the buttons on.
The second big problem with this sweater is that I made it when I lived in Massachusetts, where winters are bitterly cold. Now, however, I live in Northern California, where the winters are mild. There's probably only 3 days a year when it's cold enough to wear a sweater like this.
So it sat in a closet in my parents' house for many years. On our trip East this summer I spotted this sweater in the closet, and decided that it would be a good candidate for unraveling. Since I had hardly ever worn it the yarn was still in great shape, with no worn spots. My mom shipped it out to me and I got started.
Picking apart the seams was the hardest part, but overall it was pretty easy, and went much faster than making it did! I used a metal bodkin to help pick the seams and my daughter helped me with the actual unraveling of several of the pieces. I am excited to have so much nice yarn to do something with, although I don't know what I'm going to do. The worsted is a great yarn for cabling because it has great stitch definition. I'm thinking I might do another cabled cardigan, but something much less bulky, something I might actually wear! I am in no rush, as I have many other projects and much other yarn, but it's fun to be able to reclaim something that was otherwise going to waste.
I am still not entirely done with the dismantling, however, because I need to separate the two strands of yarn. I have started, but it slow because the mohair yarn likes to grip the worsted. Plus it involved setting up both the swift and the ball winder and getting a big bowl to hold the yarn, and inevitably that's when the baby wakes up or my daughter wants a snack. So it moves forward in fits and starts. Photos of that process to come later.
Overall I have really enjoyed unraveling this sweater, and the few times I have been in used clothing stores in the last few months I have kept my eyes on the sweater racks, but nothing has jumped out at me. Still, it's worth keeping your eyes open - you never know what you might find.
Last night I sat through (and partially slept through) a tutorial by my husband on getting photos from the camera to these pages, so hopefully I will remember enough to muddle through on my own.
Since this is a beginning of one type of project, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about a new beginning for another project.
I was a prolific knitter in my youth. I enjoyed it quite a bit (in spite of the teasing from other kids), I was pretty good at it, and money for yarn (and fabric) came directly from my mother instead of coming out of my monthly allowance until I started college. One thing that I was not particularly good at (and am still not always very good at) was choosing projects that I not only would enjoy knitting, but would also look good on me as a finished garment.
Example A:
A shawl-collared, tunic length, Aran cardigan with a complicated rocking cable and wide ribs. Densely knit (I tended to knit tightly in those days) out of two strands of yarn - a worsted weight natural wool, and a medium weight wool/mohair blend (at least that's what I think it was, I didn't keep good records then). A gorgeous piece of work that I enjoyed making, but alas, it looked terrible on me:
People with wide hips shouldn't wear snug fitting tunics. (Of course, one wouldn't wear a wool tunic with shorts, but that's another matter). What you can't see in this photo is that the tunic is not buttoned - and of course I was probably 30 lbs. lighter when I made that sweater, but still, it didn't flatter my shape at all. I probably only wore it four times, and I'm not sure I ever finished sewing the buttons on.
The second big problem with this sweater is that I made it when I lived in Massachusetts, where winters are bitterly cold. Now, however, I live in Northern California, where the winters are mild. There's probably only 3 days a year when it's cold enough to wear a sweater like this.
So it sat in a closet in my parents' house for many years. On our trip East this summer I spotted this sweater in the closet, and decided that it would be a good candidate for unraveling. Since I had hardly ever worn it the yarn was still in great shape, with no worn spots. My mom shipped it out to me and I got started.
Picking apart the seams was the hardest part, but overall it was pretty easy, and went much faster than making it did! I used a metal bodkin to help pick the seams and my daughter helped me with the actual unraveling of several of the pieces. I am excited to have so much nice yarn to do something with, although I don't know what I'm going to do. The worsted is a great yarn for cabling because it has great stitch definition. I'm thinking I might do another cabled cardigan, but something much less bulky, something I might actually wear! I am in no rush, as I have many other projects and much other yarn, but it's fun to be able to reclaim something that was otherwise going to waste.
I am still not entirely done with the dismantling, however, because I need to separate the two strands of yarn. I have started, but it slow because the mohair yarn likes to grip the worsted. Plus it involved setting up both the swift and the ball winder and getting a big bowl to hold the yarn, and inevitably that's when the baby wakes up or my daughter wants a snack. So it moves forward in fits and starts. Photos of that process to come later.
Overall I have really enjoyed unraveling this sweater, and the few times I have been in used clothing stores in the last few months I have kept my eyes on the sweater racks, but nothing has jumped out at me. Still, it's worth keeping your eyes open - you never know what you might find.
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