The dreamer in me plans out my knitting projects in advance.  Knowing the time that can be involved I vowed to start knitting my projects a season in advance.  For example, I should be knitting a spring sweater right about now.  Reality tells me that I should be knitting a spring 2011 sweater right now….. I get derailed by life, sewing projects, yarn and new knitting ideas.   I know I am not alone!

I think it was two falls ago that I drove my daughters to a university “siblings” weekend.  They were always excited to spend a weekend with their cousins and enjoy the activities the school planned for them.  On the way back I stopped at a lovely yarn shop.  I entered to browse, but had it in my mind that I wanted to knit a sweater using a tweedy yarn.

I was treated as a customer should be, because I ended up spending a good deal of money!  When I was a SINK (single income no kids) and actually used to enjoy shopping for myself, I loved going to the boutiques in the city where I worked.  They were lovely little shops with a limited selection of clothes that were handpicked in New York by the owners.  The proprietors would help me select an outfit and then accessorize me.  I always loved the result!

Similarly, at this yarn shop I expressed my interest in a tweed sweater.  The saleswoman showed me some yarns and let me browse the pattern books.  I found myself drawn to the cover sweater on this book:

I had never knit using more than one color of yarn.  I love that, with knitting, I can learn new skills.  She also convinced me to use a Noro handpaint yarn rather than fiddling with the three colors in the pattern.  I left with pattern in hand, a number of skeins of Donegal Tweed and Noro Silk Garden.
I was nervous about the project and had never worked with two colors before.  So I decided to learn this skill while making a felted bag.  I love Sally Melville’s books to learn skills while making great projects.  In her Color book

Sally gave me the know-how to make the KISS purse:

I was happy with the result and confident that I could move on to my sweater.  The sleeves moved along quickly and I got started on the body, but as winter turned into spring, the thought of working on a heavy yoke sweater lost its appeal.
Despite the overwhelming feeling of guilt and self-admonishment for not finishing a sweater, there is a plus side to knowing that there is an almost-finished sweater sitting in a trunk.  When winter descends, albeit a year later, you can pull out that sweater and finish it!  I especially love the indulgent time I took at Christmas to sit on the couch and knit.  Although we had many social events to attend, I didn’t have to cook for many of them so I had large chunks of knitting time – especially in the mornings when everyone else was sleeping or in the evenings when we enjoyed a family movie.
 
(Note to self:  Even though I knit the same sweater as the one on the cover and I’m standing next to a tree, my hair will not become long and curly, my red nose and cheeks will not turn into glowing, radiant, skin, and I will not suddenly become model thin.)
I love the finished result.  It is earthy and warm, perfect for backyard fun.  The Noro just glows.

 
Share