Pondering the Knitalong

[neadods]

I'm beginning to miss knitting. I am not, however, missing the generic little squares I was knitting at ChicagoTARDIS, nor any of the other projects that I've poked around while going through my knitting stuff. (I think one of my tasks this weekend is going to be looking at everything on needles and deciding which stays and which is unravelled for scrap.)

Today is "odd job" day in the daily cleanup rotation. The chosen odd job has been to reverse engineer Cottage Crafter's Rambling Rows Afghan of which there are two pictures here. (Isn't the organic cotton one just beautiful?)

Anyway, I have the booklet with the pattern... somewhere... but it's supposed to be in only 5 colors and done in mitered blocks that are picked up directly from the previous block. (The first picture is an excellent example of what that looks like when you're done, with that ridge in each piece.)

Well. I have lots and lots of different yarns to Do Something with. And I don't like having big projects to haul around when I'm knitting just one little bit, as the Doctor Who scarf taught me. So, like I said, reverse-engineering - not just to figure out which pieces I'd need to do the original pattern in separate blocks, but also how many different colors can be used while preserving the general symmetry.

Because I'm thinking that this is probably an excellent new idea for the knitalong blanket project. It would use up a variety of yarns, the pieces aren't the same shape (to keep from being bored) and there's nothing stopping me from using a different stitch pattern with every change in color (to REALLY keep me from being bored). (19 colors, in case anyone was interested, and any given color/pattern need be used only 4 times, maximum.)

Now the question is deciding what to do with what I've already knitted for the original knitalong checkerboard pattern. I may lay out the pieces and see how many more I'd need to do a lap quilt and then just set aside the yarn for that, as opposed to push towards a full blanket. Or see if I can simply take some as the smallest squares for the new idea. ETA: Yup, they'll fit beautifully... and there are just enough of them already done.

Which is nice, because that means that I've already gotten a start on the project. And knowing how long it took to make them lets me know how long I'll take to make the rest of the quilt, assuming garter stitch - a not-scary-at-all 104 hours, plus sewing together time.

In other news, I can hardly wait until the Burger King "Big Day" ad goes off the radio. It's okay when the pilot says he ate at BK and his "Big Day" will be taking a 747 in a barrel roll. It's just that whenever the rodeo guy says he ate at BK "...and today, the bull rides me!" my mind goes straight to The Bad Place.

Comments

[beledibabe.livejournal.com]

my mind goes straight to The Bad Place.

And this is bad, how? ::g::

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'd really rather be imagining other people doing other things...

[beledibabe.livejournal.com]

Good point!

[fyrdrakken]

I know that feeling, about not being enthusiastic about any of the projects currently on the needles, and dying to start something new instead. I generally am able to take advantage of my need to finish one thing before going on to the next by setting myself the rule that I'm not "allowed" to cast on for Project Y until I'm done with Project X -- for example, I expect to go nuts with the socks on the week after Xmas (assuming I have all my gifts done by then), but I'm going to allow myself no more than three new sock projects at once, and probably going to make myself finish the Thelonious pair before casting on for the second (and hopefully the Bayerische mitts before starting the third). (And give myself a week of socky goodness before starting a new sweater on Jan 1st, ah ha hah!)

I feel no real love for my knitalong afghan -- in that, I don't look forward to picking it up with enthusiasm, but I look forward to having it done, and at least I've gotten so used to the pattern that I only need to consult it for a small segment of every odd row. And I'm used to having that little quota of eight rows apiece on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays -- the idea of tossing that out for the next couple of weekends is killing me (though largely because of the painful prospect of having to catch up on that much of the panel during my Xmas week that was supposed to be all about the socks).

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm not "allowed" to cast on for Project Y until I'm done with Project X

I tried that once. Didn't last long. :>

I don't look forward to picking it up with enthusiasm, but I look forward to having it done

And that right there is the problem. I look at the squares and think "meh;" I imagine the completed object and think "meh, squared." I can't bring myself to continue a project that isn't bringing me pleasure nor will result in anything I'm excited about. Thus the shift, with would either be to the Re-engineered Rows or a log cabin (another project I really want to try, which will result in something I want to have.)

As for the stuff on needles, there's a mitered square blanket in alpaca that does nothing for me, a one-skein scarf I only started because I didn't know what to do with the skein, an Irish Chain for which I don't have enough yarn anyway, and a Feather and Fan shawl that would be nice enough, except for the part where I bought much nicer shawls in Rome. Each of those was started mostly for the sake of having something on the needles than for love of the finished object. (The alpaca I would like a blanket of, but then, I can once again subsume some of the finished squares into a future blanket. I don't have to sentence myself to making miters long after I've lost interest.)

Starting over again attracts me because I've loved the Rambling Rows pattern since I saw it (ditto log cabins, a favorite quilt), and it would allow for lots of variation in yarn and stitch pattern... I could do garter until I want to spit, then do some seed stitch, or a miter or two, or even try my hand at cabling one of the rectangles. I would care about the finished project. Even though I'm drowning in blankets, but that's a different issue.

[fyrdrakken]

Drove my mother nuts as a child -- she couldn't understand why I insisted on eating every bit of one particular food item before shifting gears to the next thing on my plate, when it was "all going to the same place" and probably mingling juices on my plate to boot. Multitasking in the computer age has made me a bit quicker to have multiple projects on the needles (and to shift around between courses as I eat, for that matter), but I can still revert to "one thing at a time" if I choose.

I think I'm a bigger results-based knitter than I am a process knitter: I make things because I want to have the FO, and if there's a thing I want to try doing but don't want for myself then I look for a potential giftee who would want it. (Which is also why I don't get as bored doing the same pattern more than once, if I liked it that much and want it in different colors.) I'm kind of bored with the afghan but I want it because it's going to be gorgeous, and because eight rows a day on weekends is easy enough to dedicate towards one day having it.

I do have a fair number of skeins where I bought them and then couldn't think what to do with it. I've also got enough projects speaking to me about wanting to be made that I don't try to force it when I don't have a clue what to do with something -- either an idea will come, or I'll find a setting to unload it on someone. (The stash function on Ravelry has been helpful, not only letting me see what other users have done with this particular yarn to get some ideas, but also letting me classify a few skeins as things I'd be glad to unload on someone if they wanted -- I've even had a couple of people buy some yarn off me.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I could push myself to do quilts that way, and costumes, but I've been flailing a bit in the knitting department to get something that I really wanted in the end. I think I've found it. I hope.

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

It's just that whenever the rodeo guy says he ate at BK "...and today, the bull rides me!" my mind goes straight to The Bad Place.

I wasn't aware it had ever left...

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I usually keep it on a leash at work, and that's where the radio is playing!