2010 – the year of the sweater. Or not.
The promise that I made to myself was to stop knitting so many accessories and to produce some proper knitting this year. Sweaters. Things to keep me warm. I have yarn for several lined up and I desperately want to spin enough to make myself a homespun sweater. It’s a goal.
Here we are, in mid-January and so far this year I have produced half a cowl, a mobius scarf and matching mitts, plus a beaded lace triangle.
Not too late to redeem myself, maybe.
But
Isn’t there always a but?
This but is called Haruni
It’s a beautiful but.
How, you might ask. Why, you may also ask.
It just looked at me. Beautifully. I couldn’t resist.
It gets worse.
Whispers: I seem to have signed up to 10 shawls in 2010
Sheer stupidity? or maybe just carelessness. or perhaps indicative of an addictive personality.
So, not the year of the sweater then.
Well, ’tis done now – though not, I hasten to add, with any deep sense of committment. I shall not be upset if I “fail.” It’s just that it’s only mid-January and I have a shawl and a half done already, ten shawls seems both tempting and feasible. And it’s fun, planning for ten. Well, eight now. It didn’t hurt just to join the group. I’m not making anybody any promises…
My rules:
- knit only from stashed yarns or yarns I may spin from stashed rovings or fleeces.
- Make all ten from different – and new – patterns. No repeating exisiting successes.
- Include a variety of shapes.
- Return to salvage some previous disasters
Their rules:
- cast on and off this year
- min yardage = 273 (250 metres)
- 8 shawls may meet the minimum
- at least 2 shawls must use at least 546 yards/500 metres
- any shape will do (does that mean a scarf counts?)
- WIPs at 01 Jan do not count
So… decisions, decisions!
I’m not going to be rigid about any of this, other than my stated rules. I have some froggings I would like to return to and demonstrate success this time around – the ill-fated Laminaria, and the Autumn Arbor are definites for this project. I would like to knit the Queen Anne’s Lace that I swatched for – that will give me a circular shawl. I would like to knit my first full square shawl and I would like to make a natural coloured homespun shawl. I may combine the two and try a Shetland traditional Hap shawl, though I am very keen on Brooklyn Tweed’s Bridgewater. One or more of the shawls, I would like to make in heavier weights for use as throws and snuggle blankets. Wings of the Dove is a definite, weight and use to be determined. I would also like to include one pattern from Victorian Lace Today, probably the Lady’s Circular Cape as I have yarn to hand for that. And I’d like to do one of those crescent-ish Estonian-type shaped shawls. Oh, and I really want to do Aeolian…
There should be a show stopper included, should there not? I have my eye on one, but the pattern is not yet released and seems to be very slow in coming. I don’t have yarn for, and doubt there would be time to do, my favourite show stopper – Something Wicked This Way Comes – but would that not cap the year off nicely?
Of course, no amount of early planning can possibly cope with the almost certainty of Something Better coming along during the year. There’s always something new at Ravelry, sitting up and begging me to knit it right NOW.
The Management reserves the right to substitute any or all of the planned projects.