Saturday, September 8, 2007

Come Undone

This week my favorite podcasters and I were on the same track. There are times when, despite high hopes, knitting just does not work out. Maybe you looked at the cute blonde 90-pound model and thought, “It looks cute on her. I bet it’ll look cute on me, even though I’m not blonde, 90 pounds or six feet tall.” Please, tell me this has happened to you before and that I’m not the only one. Jenny and Nicole offer several good suggestions for these disappointing projects including giving them away and felting them.

Early on in my knitting career, I knit several projects like this and they sort of lay around while I waited to grow a foot taller and lose 30 pounds. Somehow, these two things have not happened. So, I’ve decided to accept my body and knit sweaters that are more flattering on ME. This decision has lead to quite a bit of ripping lately.


Back in 2003, I knit this lovely number called Cleo from Knitty magazine in Tahki Cotton Classic. It looks great on Amy (the designer), but really didn’t work out so well for me. So, this yarn has been repurposed and will become a lacy yoga mat bag for my friend Katarina with whom I did yoga in grad school.





I also have ripped the first sweater that I knit without a pattern. It’s not fancy and it probably wasn’t too smart to knit a summer tank in aran weight cotton, but at the time I thought it was so cute. Then it got stretched out and I never wore it. I’m still deciding what to do with this Rowan’s All Season’s Cotton.


I gave away a top knit from Rowan's R2 Paper to Laura (Sorry, no pic!). The next project to be ripped is Pia from Rowan 35.

3 comments:

Laura said...

I thought you were going to keep Pia? That picture doesn't do it justice. But I can see that you're in a ripping frenzy, so I won't even try to dissuade you.

Brenda said...

I've done the same. I've taken to measuring purchased clothes that I like the fit and then figure out from that what to knit and what size. We'll see how that works out!

I like the yoga bag--good re-use of the yarn.

Olga said...

Ha! What a great post! I have gone through the exact same process with my knits, including knitting a dress for my niece out of worsted weight yarn and then being shocked at how much it weighed! (Just because it matched gauge on smaller needles did not make it a good idea, har.)

I have been realizing lately that although I knit summer tank tops because of the weather here, the knits that *I* would designate as winners would be the two sweaters I've knit. The tank tops stretch out or never fit right. I'm so much better off just buying tank tops from Target, you know?

I've almost come to the decision that I will only knit stoles and socks for myself, and maybe the occasional sweater that I will wear once or twice during our very short winters.