Monday, August 13, 2007

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back


I guess you could call me a Luddite. I design on the needle, never use a computer....I sketch first....usually...Next I chart...Then I swatch....a lot...I make frenzied calculations....I draw up a schematic....And then I begin.
I am often using yarns I haven't used before and I find the nature of every yarn is different, some have lots of stretch, some stay firmly in place...Some are lofty and light, others heavy and solid. Still others are coarse until you wash them..I always wash my swatches. I never know until I knit with a new yarn how it will behave. I can guess, but it's crazy how those little balls will surprise me!
And then, swatch done, knitting happily away, I periodically take the item off the needle to see how it's coming along, and have you guessed what happens next?
Despite all the prep work, the yarn has done it's own thing, gotten VERRRY wide, or sometimes it is a stiff little tube, suitable for a Christmas cracker.

So I rip it out and start again. With new calculations.

and sometimes I'll have to rip it out again.

Not always...but lots of times,

There you have it.

PS. My camera is broken and I'm filled with panic and lazy sorrow at the same time

1 comment:

Gina said...

I like the lack of technology employed in your knitting. The pattern looks very interesting.