Skip to main content

How to Become a Prolific Knitter

We who knit know all about those certain people.  The knitters who seem to create a new sweater every week while we poor mortals finish a wash cloth in the same time frame.  When I was recently at the farm Mom took me to her knitting group and introduced me to the woman there who has some newly completed large item each week.  Mom wondered how this woman did it then complained about how she completed only a baby cap or two a week.

So those of us who aren't so prolific may begin to feel inadequate.  If only we used Continental instead of the English technique to knit, or took our knit everywhere we go to sneak in a few rows or quit the day job and knit full time, maybe then more projects would be completed.  (As for the latter, knitting too much can cause pain, so be careful what you wish for.)

Interweave, a magazine for those who knit, crochet, bead and more, recently put out an article called, 10 Ways to Become a More Prolific Knitter by Sarah Rothberg.   There were a couple of suggestion in the list that struck home for me.

Image from Interweave
The first one about having more than one project on the needles at a time.  Rothberg states variety of project types, some with a short-term commitment, some with long-term, some with easy techniques and others more challenging, can help a knitter always continue knitting.  It is true any lace knitting I do is at home, while a less mind-taxing project is taken to Knit Night.  Many projects have long stretches of garter or stockinette that I find boring so if I can break that work with something more challenging I am likely to knit more because I can go back and forth between or among the projects.

Right now I have five projects on needles, but two of them are coming out.  This leaves me with three items to move among, and this works for me.  I know, I know, those of you who stick to one project (monogamous knitters) are shaking your heads, but as I just said this variety works for the type of knitter I am.

The second suggestion is one I have not done up to this point.  It is to use Ravelry to assign yarn to a specific project (this works of you have your stash online in Ravelry, I don't) or to use a three-ring binder to put patterns and yarn swatches together.  Too often I have purchased yarn with a particular pattern in mind and then a year later when I want to use that yarn I have forgotten the pattern name or location.  This suggestion would help minimize the amount of time spent searching and increase the time knitting.

So review those 10 suggestions and see if you can find the ones that will improve your knitting output.  In the meantime, access your own project production carefully, don't compare.  Just keep knitting.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms.  (BTW
2 comments
Read more

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and
1 comment
Read more

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or how about the longest piece of finger knitting that measured 4,321.4 m
Post a Comment
Read more