musings of a male knitter

My birthday was last week.  It was full of celebration, including a long awaited banana split, a corn dog and fries birthday dinner, a perfect gift in a box of Cheez-Its, and a total surprise celebration by our Sip and Knit group at the shop, Northcoast Knittery. But, after the fun came a creeping realization, like the Northcoast fog that can be seen over the bay  moving toward you relentlessly until you are totally submersed in a soaking drip.  Your life will end before you can knit all the projects that beckon, work with all those beautiful yarns, test out all those knitting technique possibilities. Forlorn melancholy…wistful sighs…edging to the brink of despair…well, momentarily.

The only thing to do is just keep on knitting, and take a little bit of time to take stock of what one has recently completed over the last year.  But truthfully, I can’t remember what all I’ve completed over the last year, and I hardly ever remember to post on Ravelry when I begin a project. (Note to self…begin to do this with each new project from now on.) Also, I can’t share with you three major knitting projects I designed and completed, because they are all designs to be published in the next two issues (Summer and Fall) of Love of Knitting. Nor can I share my latest design inspiration, because I am currently knitting it up for the winter issue of Love of Knitting.  (But I can tell you that it was inspired by a sequence in the movie/muscial  Phantom of the Opera!)

Lace Wrap, Pattern #28 in Vogue Knitting, Winter 2009/10

However, I can post a major accomplishment…this Lace Wrap from Vogue Knitting, Winter 2009/10.  I am super pleased with it.   It took me quite a while to finish it–about 18 months since it had to be put down to meet other knitting deadlines.  It is knit in two rectangular pieces, one with 3 pattern repeats in the colorway repeats, and one with 2 pattern repeats in the colorway repeats.  Then, the pieces are sewn together like an “L”.  I used three colorways of Indigo Moon Yarns fingering weight, in a sequence of Color 1, Color 2, Color 3, Color 2, Color 1, Color 2, Color 3, Color 2, Color 1.  That added a bit more length each piece.  The front piece drapes dramatically, with the shoulder piece draped elegantly around shoulders.  The pattern can be purchased individually from Vogue, linked here.

Three Colorways of Indigo Moon Hand-dyed Fingering Weight, Autumn Harvest, Northern Steppe, and Rhapsody

I think my birthday sobering sense of knitting time slipping away may have to do with having multiple projects going all at once.  It just doesn’t seem like you’re making headway fast enough when you divide your time.  Between you and me, as soon as I finish the men’s henley (I’m close—sewing together and adding the trim) for the shop, and the women’s pullover (I’m close–finishing off the cowl neck) for the shop, and the women’s rib vest (three-fourths complete) for my daughter and the banded crewneck sweater (by Brandon Mably) for me (working on the back, so still a ways to go), I’m going to pick one major  project and one minor project at a time.  No, really, I am.

(Damn, I just flipped past Josh Bennett’s men’s designs as I was putting up the Vogue issue…I’ve GOT to knit that blue-white-gray striped cardigan, and that hound’s tooth vest…)