A Word About Knitting and How I Am Insane

Darlings, talk about a horrible Blogger glitch. It was kind of like the apocalypse, but it did give me time to knit without feeling like I should be commenting on all of your awesome posts! It's like that working mother conundrum, just to make an extremely ridiculous comparison: When I'm blogging I want to be knitting. When knitting, I want to be blogging. I always want to be sewing. Strangely, the urge to parent rarely interferes with any of this. :-) Don't worry. The kid makes her needs known.

But this post is about my latest crazy knitting moment.

BTW, before we move on to the new let's do a quick review of the sweater I'm still currently working on. I've finished the back and fronts and I'm now on the sleeves. I don't intend to make the belt (I don't like it), so I'm nearing the blocking stage. Of course, every stage I near fills me with equal parts excitement and trepidation. I've talked with a bunch of long-time knitters, none of whom do complete immersion wet blocking. They feel that iron steam or spray bottle blocking has the same impact. I do want to hear your opinions pls... Oh, and don't think that I haven't considered posting photos of my current work. The thing is, it's really boring to look at a swatch of stockinette stitch. I am confident the finished product will be much more impressive.

OK, onto stories of crazy knitting (or simple craziness)...

I discovered, on Ravelry, that this sweater (which doesn't appear in either volume 1 or the soon-to-be-released volume 2 of A Stitch in Time) is being offered as an enticement to pre-order volume 2:

The Jan Sweater

OMG, really who could live without obtaining this pattern?? I spoke with the knitonthenet people who advised that pre-order of the second volume is non-negotiable for access to it (even if you just bought volume 1 two weeks ago).* Since I do intend to buy the book when it is released, it wasn't too painful to shell out the $53.00 now. And the Jan pattern arrived 5 seconds later!

This is my next project and I am so making it in yellow.

*FYI, there's a UK magazine called The Knitter which will apparently contain the pattern instructions in the next issue, to be released in a few days. I know I want the second volume of A Stitch in Time, so I don't feel like paying $20.00 for the mag now, only to buy the book later. Esp. since the Jan pattern is mine either way. Having said that, you might want to go from the mag.

Don't You Feel Like It's Time For a Pool of the Week?

Check out the whole post at desire to inspire...

Zipper Dentata

For the woman who doesn't understand zips, the lapped jeans zipper is a special kind of anxiotic. Otherwise having come quite a way with the Jalie jeans - at the regrettable, frustrating, pace of a snail, I might add - I have spent the last week contemplating its many potential pitfalls. I've read Peter's tutorial, I've read Debbie's. And, seriously, it just scares me more.

Don't get me wrong. Debbie and Peter are awesome instructors and their instruction is well-thought out and beautifully presented. So have at it, Jeans Sewists of the Future.

To me, it just looks really fucking hard.

By the end of today, I couldn't handle the suspense any longer. While, arguably, I should be knitting (more on that soon), I just had to hit the sewga room (aka lair) as soon as I got home from work. Note: Mid-week sewing is a rarity in these parts.

I brought every tutorial I could get my hands on. Combined with the (thankfully) useful Jalie technical drawings - the directions are a bomb IMO - I got with the job.

Within an hour I had sewn the zip neatly - that tape Debbie mentions is SO useful - but when I turned the whole thing over, it occurred to me that I can't tell the difference between it and a regular invisible zipper. Have I done something wrong? I'm sure I followed the combined direction to a T. There does appear to be a slight overlap on the left side (if you can call it that) but it's not very pronounced. Does one create the lap by sewing the left fly front in that ubiquitous rectangle-meets-oblong top stitch shape? I haven't done the top stitching yet. I figure I should determine whether I need to rip the whole thing out first.

I guess my problem is that, despite all I've read and the many pairs of jeans I've reviewed, I just don't know what it's supposed to look like at this point.

I would welcome any feedback.

PS - I know this would be easier to judge with photos but I just don't have the energy for snaps tonight.

Timely

Remember this book, that started it all:

A Stitch in Time by Jane Waller & Susan Crawford

Well, thankfully it arrived (finally) today, as I sit at home with a sick and clingy kid, and it's all I could have hoped for.

Some of the patterns look outrageously complicated. But I'm sure there will be 1 or 2 I can manage (after I finish my current sweater).

Whether you knit or no, buy this book. It's just beautiful and it gives an amazing perspective on fashion and body philosophy of the '20s - '40s. Apparently, it's a painstaking reconstruction of a book (the manuscript and photos of which were) destroyed by fire.

Jean Genie

So you know I'm participating in the MPB Jeans Sew Along, right? I'm using the ubiquitous Jalie Jeans pattern. Apparently, it won as Pattern of the Year.

Nonetheless I'm very pleased to have the sew along to review along with the Jalie instructions. Because Jalie has a unique way of presenting information. And by "unique", I mean "not so easy, as far as I'm concerned". This is to say nothing of the 27 sizes available on one sheet of paper. No joke - the pattern you'll use for your 5 year old is on the same page as the one you'll trace for you. That's a lot of stuff going on on one page, peeps. Tracing took me 2 hours.

Whatevs. I'm willing to work with it for its supposed awesome RTW look and fit.

I'm using a mid-weight dark blue denim with 3 per cent stretch:

Pocket positioning is an art. You have to be sure to align both pockets on the exact same part of your tush or you run the risk of looking lopsided!

Note: I've only done 1 pocket so far. The other one is staring at me ominously. Cuz, you know, jeans stare.

Not the clearest photo, but you can see the twin stitched pocket, now affixed.

Why, you might ask, is the swoosh on the pocket in sassy orange, while the pocket side stitching is "jeans blue"? Well, the orange thread is very thick and the denim (or the machine) just can't take it. Especially when it's being twin stitched. I learned this, painfully, over the course of an hour. I could start from scratch and go find some less thick, similarly orange thread, but I'm not displeased with the blue. It's much less conspicuous - which isn't a bad thing on one's first attempt.

I'm opting not to flat fell the seams, but to twin top stitch them. It will give me more latitude until I perfect the fit on me.

On the topic of sizing: I cut the V, though I think - unless these fit small - I might have to serge off quite a bit on the side seams. The U might have been better, but I'd rather start off too large than too small. I changed the arch of the back crotch. I didn't touch the front because I don't understand, exactly, how the fly will influence fit. I'm just going to have to use this pair experimentally. You know how I love that.

Update: I have now stitched both back pockets at the expense of 3 twin needles. And those suckers aren't cheap. I think I'm out 20 bucks... Note to jeans sewists: Go out and get an actual denim twin needle. It's unlike me to be unprepared in this way - and to sacrifice, not 1 but 3, needles to my impatience - but I'm over it. Another 10 dollar needle is in my future - this time of the correct gauge...

Nature Vs. Knitter

The reason you haven’t seen much of me around here for the past few days is because I’ve spent every waking moment (not otherwise accounted for) knitting this freakin’ sweater. My child has eaten an array of questionably appropriate dinner foods: hot dogs, take-out Indian, cheese and crackers with carrot sticks. The laundry is unlaundered. My (vaguely old-looking) hands are truly cramped by the time I retire – 2 hours later than I can generally keep my eyes open for – at approximately midnight.

Do you ever play spider solitaire and find yourself unable to quit. If you lose, you think “just one more game; I know I’ll be a winner next time”. If you win, you want to see how long the streak will last. That cycle can go on for a good hour. C’mon, you do that. I know you do.

You’ll be pleased to hear that I don’t gamble. I don’t buy lottery tickets. I don’t go to the track (though, really, it might be just the place to knit!).

My friends laugh (a kind of rueful, knowing laugh) at my type A knitting style. But what can I do? I come by it honestly. Apparently, it’s not very knitter. Apparently, knitters are gentle creatures who sculpt their laid back world views in a woolly canvas. On Wednesday I had the most fun at a knitting night at Lettuce (a veritable hotbed of serious fibre art crafters). What welcoming and friendly women! What gynocracy! Alas, as so often happens, on some fundamental level, I felt removed. And not because I’ve been knitting a week and these women have been doing it for a combined 200 years. (Moreover, who, more than I, loves to talk parenting and politics with a bunch of smart women, drinking booze? Isn’t that kind of like paradise?)

It was when I queried a couple of them about how long they’d been working on their items – for how long they imagined their (many complex) projects would continue – that I felt the encroaching divide. I assume I'm paranoid, but at that point, I think I might have seen the slightest inkling of a questioning look. And I just could not relate to the claims that these knitters couldn’t say, that they work simply according to their natural pace, that time is not really relevant. Seriously?!

Call me a (goal-oriented) philistine, but how the hell does anyone do anything without considering their investment of time?

Let me break it down for you (and I know this because I’m keeping a line-by-line ledger of my every row):

• I started this project on April 30.


• I started over on May 1.


• It took me 15 hours to knit the back of the cardigan.


• It has taken me 7 hours to knit one side of the front – and I estimate another half an hour before it’s done.


• While this is entirely speculative, I surmise that it will take me another 7.5 hours to knit the other front half.


• And probably 5 hours to knit each sleeve.


• I’ve opted not to make the belt – I’d prefer to use another closure – probably one of those wooden knitting pin closures. I’ve always wanted one of those!


• Blocking will take approximately an hour (followed by time to dry).


• Then I’ve got to sew it all together (by hand). I don’t know – maybe that will be 3 hours? (Sewing things up with wool is apparently quite easy). Of course, it could take forever and I’m deluded.

Since no one seems to be able to give me any feedback about how long it takes to knit a simple sweater, I’m going to make my own guess: 50 hours. That’s if all goes as planned (stifle your giggles please). Note: I'm entirely new at this. I'm sure a seasoned practitioner could do this in less time...

Maybe I’ll never be a real knitter (or a real sewist, for that matter) because I’m not doing this for the simple pleasure of working with my hands. I make things because I want to make things. I want to see how they start from nothing and turn into practical and (hopefully) beautiful products. I want to systemize my skills by deconstructing them in notebooks that I can look at again and again. I want to keep lists – to itemize where I’m at. I do not want to work on the same sweater for 6 months, picking it up and dropping it according to my momentary interest or schedule (which secretly and judgementally I see as a code word for “whim”). Maybe that’s eventually how it will go. Maybe I’ll get with that casual (supposedly happy-making) philosophy over time, but I can’t imagine it. Odd as it may be, for me, the joy in craft is in doing it regardless of how time-consuming or overwhelming or scary it is. Call me crazy, but I enjoy those feelings. They make me feel engaged. They give me a rush.

I'd love to hear from the knitters and sewists and those who engage in other craft hobbies. Are you type A too? Do you sense I'm corrupting the artform with my hideous attitude? Can you explain to me how you analyse "crafting at your own pace" (whatever it is for you)?

In the meanwhile, excuse me while I go ice my hands.

Another Kind Of Spring Leaf

My pastry guy, Joe, has done the most fantastic tutorial on my fave mille-feuille - the Napoleon. You've got to read the post...

Yes, he made these!

It's aspirational baking at its best. I can see project this in my future...