Now what?

As I mentioned before, I finished the red scarf.
Then I finished the green scarf.

I have cast on for the second sock, but progress is a bit slow. The math question was solved with "subtract one stitch per inch", so I am going to get this bit finished.
I am still working on the blanket and the laundry soap bag should be finished after a few more weeks (remember, I am only knitting on the bag when I am at the laundry mat).

This means I only have three projects in process.
For some people, this would be enough. Many would say it is more than enough. To me, it means I need to get planning my next project. I don't think I am feeling like a productive knitter if I have less than half a dozen or more projects stacked up. It means it takes longer to finish any given one, but if timed correctly I can get a whole week of FO joy, one right after the other.

So I have been flipping through patterns again, going through my stash and trying to pair things up. I think this is the part of knitting that is the most fun. I have some really, really nice yarn stashed up and there are some great patterns out there and sorting through them all fills me with hope and inspiration and almost lets me forget that on this second day of March everything outside is covered in ice.
As I am typing this, it has started snowing again.

While I was moving through patterns and looking at my Project Queue '09, I started eying the shawls I have lined up. They are top down, but apparently top down means the last rows are even longer as you knit down and up the triangle sides, which kind of goes against my idea of purpose of top down shawls (which is shorter rows as you reach the bottom tip). In general, the starting section confuses me a lot. A really really lot. I shall be needing help to translate what the pattern wants me to do.
Thus, I started looking at different patterns for some of the other yarn I have. I looked at a very nice beret/tam had done in entrelac, which I have yet to try.
Then I got to looking at knitted bags and such and queued up a market bag for some aran weight cotton yarn I have. The pattern is nice and just about screams for some improvisation. Which lead to me thinking about designing.
I do plan on being a designer and I need to increase my knitting skills to get there. I also need to get done with other patterns I need knit up and write out. For example, I have a few variations on my wine bottle that I want to work on. I want to make some adjustments to the pattern and see if I can make more and better wine bags.
This got me thinking that maybe I need to make a list of knitting skills I need to practice and things I need to learn to knit:
Entrelac
Drop Stitch variations
Color work
Sweaters
Top down shawls
Gloves
Cables

I am considering re-doing my Project Queue '09. As long as I knit from stash and have a minimum of one project per month (which I am already a bit ahead on), then I will be keeping to the original plan.

The other day I was lamenting to my friends that I have yet to actually knit myself a warm scarf. (So far I am planning on keeping the silk scarf, but it is not warm, really.) Of course, my knowledge of knitting has improved enough that now I can't settle for just a garter stitch scarf. Nor will I knit myself a scarf of a pattern that I have already done a few times. I think, in order to make a scarf I will be happy with keeping, it will have to be a self designed scarf.
And it will need a matching hat.
Perhaps even gloves to go along.

I think on my next day off, pending it is not a beautiful weather day that begs for outdoor exploration, I am going to pull out all my yarn and reorganize it.
I also need to recount my knitting needles as I seem to be missing some.
This will be an all day affair.

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Stay tuned: Big news coming later this week!

Scarves for the sake of it

Mentally, I am in a weird place right now.

In knitting terms it means that I am not working on the projects that are on needles. I think they understand this in their little fibers as they are all sitting quietly on the sidelines, waiting patiently. The blanket, the sock, the curtains and such have all become silent witnesses to my simmering mind.


That is not to say I am not knitting.
Rather, it means that instead of having a diversity of patterns in my mind, I am focusing on the last pattern I have memorized. I have added a garter border to the Isobel pattern so that I can avoid blocking and can easily get away with a thicker yarn.


Years ago I started knitting and I asked my Grandma what her favorite color was. She likes green, a deep forest-y green. I told her I would knit her a scarf.
I have cast on and am a good ways in.

A few days ago, my roomie's mother sent me a text asking if we were still alive or had forgotten her. The "mother's guilt" did not stop there. When we talked on the phone she mentioned that she was still wearing the scarf I had knit her years ago. (Which was actually a project she was supposed to do but she couldn't get into knitting and had me knit if for her. She was taking a class and happily displayed the scarf as her own.)

The fact is, it was my first fun fur scarf on size US15 needles and started the craze as all kinds of co-workers saw it and wanted one of their own. It really is a flimsy, strangely colored scarf and not one of great pride. The nice thing is that size US15 needles and thin novelty yarn hide all possible gauge issues.
But I know the truth.

So today I cast on another Isobel-variant scarf, this one with the borders and one less repeat, in my red Classic Elites Yarn-Lush. I picked the red yarn because red is her favorite color and it was either the beautiful angora that was going to be a hat for me or the Dark Horse Fantasy yarn that I am hoping to make a sweater or vest with (as soon as I learn this color thing.)
Marvel at the wonder of "mother's guilt" and how it can part a knitter from good yarn!

Sure, I could have gone out and purchased more yarn, but a) I am really trying to cut down the stash b) if I get this done with one skein I might still get away with a small hat for me (it will have to be knit top-down for safety.)
Besides, I know I still have other precious yarns.

My knitting right now will be simple scarves of the same pattern with minor variations because I don't think I could handle any thing else right now. The stitch repeat in this pattern is fast. The fact that it is a scarf with 37 sts per row (31 sts on the red scarf) also helps make it relatively fast. Quick easy projects for me right now. I think I am needing the comfort of productivity and visible results to sooth me.

I am re-learning why so many knitters start on scarves and stay with them for years. There is a lot of options with scarves, really. There is a whole bunch of little changes you can make to increase ones skill or even just to play around with. Most people love scarves and they are easily adapted to many other tasks, besides warming necks. You can decorate an room with scarves and you can make them any size you want.

Scarves are like the dogs of the knitting world; loyal and unconditionally loving
us, even if we say mean things. The scarves wait for us while we go off to work on other things and are right their waiting for us when we want adventure or relaxation.

Scarves are typically not very demanding projects. They tend to be friendly, cuddly projects (unless it is a deviant pattern or it is paired with a deviant yarn) that welcome you to knit at your own pace and try different things as you go.

For example: This scarf pattern has happily allowed me to get more practice knitting backwards (which, for me, means moving stitches from left to right). When I did my variation to add a garter edging with the green scarf, I finally got to learn how to purl backwards, incorrectly and then correctly. I can now comfortably knit either way. With the red scarf, I practiced yarn overs from left to right and was rewarded with proof that I now get how other people wrap their yarn on the needles. Some day, I'll figure out what most people are talking about when they say clockwise/counter-clockwise, but not today.


When my brain begins to feel better I'll get back to work on my existing projects, the Project Queue of 2009 and perhaps even get that second sock cast on. Right now, it is better that I don't think of all of those things.
Better for me, the simple unconditional love of the scarf.

Some Statements on Sinister Knitting

I recently got involved in a discussion about Sinister knitting in Ravelry on the On The Other Hand forum (a group for left handed people who knit and crochet).

A left handed person, we will call them B, had joined the group and in response to a thread that dealt with a new knitter learning Sinister knitting, piped up to say that she should be given an option of right handed knitting so that she doesn't have to deal with issues reversing patterns.
In a way, it almost seemed like flaming and a few people did react. After a few posts where B said they were being attacked, I put in my two cents as follows:

I think part of the issue here (and this is my view), is that some of the things you are saying is the same things many of us have heard in our lives which threatens to drive us away from other people and bonds us as a group here in OTOH.
Thus, some of your statements push buttons.
For example:

“Knitting is a two-handed activity”
Sure, and so is playing guitar, but that does not change the fact that some people are more comfortable doing where the left hand will be doing the more intense or precision or the larger amount of work. Putting a stick in a small hole of yarn does require a bit of eye-hand coordination, thus while both hands can be used (some knitting styles don’t use both hands) one hand needs to be more involved and therefore the knitter needs to use the hand that they are comfortable with.
While people can overcome discomfort through practice and repetition, many of us believe that overcoming left handed leanings (even as a simple suggestion) is offensive.

“you can only ask online and hope people give you good advice”
That I can simply disagree with. A person can learn by trying and swatching and practicing. This will allow them to not only figure out the question, but also to learn something knew which can apply to future projects or designing patterns. There may be some people who would rather have all the answers handed to them than to risk trying on their own, but there are many who will bravely move forward even if we can’t find a helping hand. I learned to knit all by my self with no one to ask what the small pictures meant. I don’t know if knitting help was available back then, but it sure didn’t cross my mind to check. Instead I just tried and tried until I thought I had it right. I made scarves that got better each time. Now I can teach right handed people to knit, and not just the basics. A person is limited to the basics if they are not willing to experiment. Before I ever got a pattern book, I was fiddling with yarn and figuring out many different ways to increase and decrease, wondering if what I was doing had a name or if I had discovered a new technique.

“having to translate all the patterns and most of the instruction books”
This is just untrue and has been mentioned already. MOST patterns do NOT need to be translated. (Caps used for stressing the word, not yelling). Most patterns can be knit up just as is with no changes needed. None. At worse, the ws/rs is flipped, but since MOST patterns don’t even mention ws/rs again it does not matter and no changes are needed. Any person with enough braincells to rub together will learn while knitting, in whatever direction, and end up being able to figure things out, or have friends to ask, when they do get to the more challenging things like lace.
For the record, lace is challenging no matter which way you knit. Left handed knitters don’t seem to be asking unique questions on knitting technique, but rather benefit from getting answers that do not include “You’re doing it wrong” “you need to learn to knit right handed” and so forth. OTOH provides an arena where we can ask questions and not get our knitting style attacked.
Also, many patterns have errors. So even right handed people with only a grasp of the basics are going to have to ask for help or try to ‘fix’ the pattern in order to make the project work.

I hope this helps.

The response I got involved B saying that I take disagreement as an attack, claiming that I was easily offended because right handed people are the majority, that someone who chooses to knit left handed will ALWAYS have to translate patterns and that is a BIG DEAL and finishing with more statements about me being easily offended.

So I gave this response:

I do not interpret your disagreement as an attack, I’m sorry if you got that impression some how. I was trying to point out how some things you have said would bother some people. I am not trying to change your views, only trying to provide some perspective.

I am not offended that the majority of many countries is right handed. I am not offended by people being right handed or any such thing. I said it can be offensive to be told to do something that is uncomfortable just to make life a wee bit easier. Life doesn’t get easier just because you conform and doing things in a different way that is comfortable means carving your own path. I have no problem spending a little bit of energy to follow my natural inclinations and I still have energy left over to knit and do other things.

You are welcome to make your own choices. Freedom of speech means you can voice the advice that you thing is good, but it also means other people can disagree with you. Funny you say that it is a big thing for you, yet you wonder what a person is doing wrong if they turn being left handed into a big deal.
I think it is amusing how many people make a big deal out of knitting right handed and make it sound like it is such a better way to do things. If it is better for you, that’s great, but it is not better for everyone. The big deal about doing something left handed is dealing with right handed people constantly shoving out the same advice as if it was something new. It really does get tiring to be told about pattern difficulties, especially when so many left handed people have not had such a difficulty.

“You seem to be so invested in your left-handedness that you want to deny that this choice exists.”
First, you are not me and you do not know me or how I think. I do not go around telling people to knit left handed. In fact, handedness only seems to come up when someone else points out which hand I use. I am not invested in left-handedness, I am supportive of people who do things the way that is most comfortable for them. If the ratio was reverse and I heard someone telling a right-handed person to do it left-handed I would defend that person’s right to be comfortable. I do not deny the existence of choices and how you got that is a mystery to me. Considering your previous statement about the majority of the “world” being right-handed coupled with being left-handed runs counter to the idea of denying a choice. Rather, my statements have been the opposite. People should have a choice and those options should be provided without scare tactics attached. Telling someone to do something one way because the other way will make their life harder is not a balance explanation of the option.

I have never said I was offended that people need to choose nor that they may choose something different than me. I’m sorry, but I’m not that ego-centric. If someone makes a decision to do something how they want to, I’m OK with that. It is their choice. I think it would be even better if they tried out both options first. It’s not like a person will be limited to knitting only one way for the rest of their lives.
Frankly, I don’t care how you chose to knit. If someone asks because they are trying to decide, then great and whatever decision they make is wonderful. Unfortunately I have met many people who are very insistent that left handed people have to learn right hand knitting and if they learned left handed they have to relearn everything JUST so they can avoid the cliched line of problems with patterns. People who act that way bug me, because frequently it is those same people who want left handed people to eat right handed and write right handed and everything else.
A lot of people in this group have run across the same issues.

The purpose of my post was simply to try and shed a little light as to how some things you said can lead to the reactions you have gotten. If it is accidental flaming, then now you know that maybe you could consider what you are saying and to whom. That doesn’t mean you can’t say what you want, but don’t be surprised or get your hackles up if someone disagrees with you. Advocating right-handedness in a left-handed forum (especially since there are so many people on the main forums who do it all the time) is going to get people going.

Hopefully you understand that there is no personal points being made here. I’m not attacking you and I don’t think you are attacking me. If you read this and still don’t understand, fine. We can agree to disagree, and may again in the future.

B came back saying that the standard way of knitting was not necessarily right handed (a confusing statement, really). B then said their point was that the new knitter had to choose how to knit and our group was obviously on a crusade to make the world easier for left handed people and that not telling a new knitter that they would have to translate patterns and reference books is dishonest.
B went on to say we were "downplaying" the issue of patterns and that it was equally as wrong as not telling a left handed person that standard knitting would be awkward. B stated that they had given their advice and opinion and had gotten attacked for it, sited posts that were considered attacking and said they were done with the conversation.

I got the impression that B was claiming to wash their hands of the issue as an emotional response and probably wasn't done stating their side. Thus, the next response:

I understand you are willing to drop this, as am I.

Yet I think in our discussion we have one basic disagreement that we are dancing around but not directly addressing with each other. If you don’t respond I’ll understand and I won't push.

You seem to believe that all or most of the patterns will need to be changed or adjustments made.

Based on my experience and taking other people’s statements into account, this not true.

Patterns that need adjustment are actually not something a beginning knitter is likely to run across. By the time they pick up a pattern that really needs an adjustment, they will already have been knitting left-handed.
Often, there are decreases that do not make a difference in direction, so it no adjustments needed.

I understand you are left handed and, if I recall correctly, you knit your stitches from the left needle to the right needle. If this is correct then you knit right-handed and that is great, but that means you follow patterns as written. So your statement that most patterns would have to be adjusted is based on a belief and not experience. I’m not saying that as an attack, rather just to clear things up a bit, but if it is an accurate statement then perhaps you might take in to account the views of people who have been knitting sinister (aka, from right needle to left) for years when we say that the pattern issue really is not a big deal.
Most patterns work just fine. Left-handed knitters ask for help on the same techniques that right handed knitters ask and have equal amount (if occasionally different reasons) of problems with patterns. Frequently, the way you knit, does not make a difference with the pattern.

If there was no support for someone to get pattern help then the occasional issue would be more of a big deal, but that is not the case. Just as a beginning knitter often needs help, if they can get the help then any difficulty is reduced. If someone in Florida wanted to learn downhill snow skiing and they have people to answer questions and give support then it is not as hard as someone in Colorado trying to learn it all by themselves.

The existence of our group helps reduce any difficulty for other people who knit sinister. It’s part of why we are here. It is not about changing the world, but rather supporting each other in a world that often seeks to change us.

B then quit the group then made a final post on the subject claiming that our group was holding a belief that knitting stitches from left needle to right was right handed and knitting from right needle to left was left handed and B just could not accept those terms as B did not believe the direction of stitches to be related to right or left hand knitting.

That blew my mind and I made a final reply stating that we did not make the rules, or in this case the definitions, but that we live with those terms.

After all was said and done, I felt there was some good points worth posting here. The claim that all patterns have to be adjusted if you knit sinister is WRONG, just plainly and simply WRONG. I would be nice if we could lay that excuse to rest and move on.

Coming up:
The really delayed post about the Yarn For Breakfast X-Mas Party.

What is Sinister Knitting?

In the world of knitting, most terms are very clear.
Except Left handed knitting.

Continental Method, aka German Method, is also known as left handed knitting. Simply put, it is holding your working yarn in the left hand.

For most of us who are left handed, this term is not an accurate description of how we knit. Rather, when we knit left handed, we move our stitches from the right hand needle to the left hand.

There is a group on Ravelry for left handed knitters, named On The Other Hand, and we ended up discussing the confusion of terminology. Annekaelber suggested we use the term Sinister instead.

I like the idea and have decided to use the term for my knitting blog, being as I am left handed and Sinister is how I knit.
I am not limited to Sinister knitting. Mostly I do Sinister Combo style, but I have mastered Continental Method and am working on learning even more styles.

It is a wonder that there are so many different ways to turn strings into clothing and other stuff. But end the end it a basic process that we all share.
To quote Antimony from Exotic Knitting Styles group on Ravelry:

"When you create knitted fabric, all you are doing is interlocking each row of yarn into the one below by pulling through each of the loops on the needle.
If the yarn is pulled through the loop from back to front, it's a knit, and from front to back, it's a purl."