First project progress

Christmas may be two months away, but with seven scarves as my goal, that doesn’t seem like a very long time. Since I’ve just started on my first, I have no idea how long it will take me to knit one. As I understand it, the bigger needles and bulky and super bulky yarn will help, but the fact remains that I’m looking at needing to finish a scarf a week. Factor in some knitting time potentially lost while with my family during Thanksgiving—talk about secret knitting if I can manage to do it under their noses!—and I’ve got some work to do.

The good news is that even though I have been knitting for less than a week, I’m really enjoying it. Knitting is a great way to unwind, not that I need to tell you. Also, it feels good to know that I’m making something for loved ones that they won’t be able to get elsewhere and will be totally shocked I did. If I have a few scarves done by Thanksgiving, it’s going to be hard to keep a lid on this secret; however, unless I get the full court press about the favorite color question I posed to them, I should be able to stay tight-lipped.

Progress on my first project was slow at first. I was hyper-vigilant about counting stitches as I went along and counting them again (or two times) when I finished a row. I wasn’t confident that I fully understood how to undo stitches, so I tried my hardest not to put myself in a position in which it would be necessary.

“Tried” is the operative word in that last sentence. Of course I made mistakes and had to attempt to unstitch my work. Tentatively I unstitched the first few, as if the whole thing would unravel or develop a yarn tumor if I did it incorrectly. As witnessed in my practice piece, a yarn tumor was a distinct possibility according to knitting genetics.

I survived undoing those first few stitches and resumed work on the scarlet chenille scarf. The more I knitted, the more I learned how to knit faster and what the best position was for the needles. I’d been holding them sort of parallel to my lap, which created the problem of the needles getting snagged in my sleeves. I started holding them more upright and working on the ends of the needles, a technique that kept them out of my sleeves and improved my speed. When I encountered stitches that had to be undone, I welcomed the chance to get the knack of it, even if I was scared each time I pulled them out one by one.

That held true until I made a couple errors and couldn’t see how I should fix the problems. Fortunately the week wasn’t short on screenings, so Kristin was there for another stealth knitting intervention out of my car trunk. Maybe some enterprising businessperson can run with this scenario—knitting repairs on the sly, from the anonymity of your vehicle’s storage space.

Over the weekend I hoped to finish my first skein. Happily, I did just that. The scarf is five feet long! My knitting speed picked up over the weekend, and I could see marked improvement in my technique from when I began. A wonderful side effect of all this knitting was increased creative energy. I had four movie reviews to write for my show on Tuesday and whipped out two of them. I can suffer from lack of motivation to write until that deadline looms like an ax, so this was quite an accomplishment.

During this time I also started this blog and completed the first four entries. (I’ve been pacing their posting so as not to overwhelm potential readers with the ridiculous number of words I’m cranking out. To think that earlier this year writing was like getting a frozen steak through a sieve... By Monday or Tuesday the blog and my knitting progress should be current.) I had floated the idea to Kristin, and she thought I should do it. I didn’t need something else to chip away at my time, but writing this blog has been a lot of fun and a good way to talk knitting with others.

Please keep the comments coming. I’m thrilled to be able to share my experiences and observations with everyone, and I’m encouraged by the commenters’ friendliness and good will. Although I know only one of you, it’s nice to know people are reading and have welcomed me into the knitting club. I never expected to join you in this pursuit, but overstated as this is going to sound, I feel like life is richer because I knit.

Next…the predicament of joining skeins.