Projects in Rotation: Dec 10th
What I am working on &/or avoiding this week.
I am working on three projects this week, one that is sinking fast to the bottom of the pile (but its so close to being done!) and two that I am smitten with.
Little Camaro sweater
I started this Little Camaro sweater 2 months ago, and it’s so close to being done, but I just can’t bring myself to work on it. Its still out, next to my stitching chair, getting a few rounds at my knitting night. I had it with my on our trip out west, and it was flying off the needles for 3 weeks straight. So, what happened? I had a bunch of silly errors on the ribbing at the bottom, and I had to undo the ribbing a few times. I lost steam, and the ribbing was just a little annoying, and I was therefore slightly annoyed every time I knit this sweater. Knitting is supposed to be fascinating or meditative (for me), but annoying? I don’t want to feel annoyed. I set time aside to work out the problems, listening to an audiobook or something to keep me entertained, but still I just didn’t feel pulled to the project in the way I had.
Then I had a problem on the sleeves - it looked very narrow and a try-on confirmed. So, undo the sleeve. And then let the sweater rest a week. Or let me rest a week. Either way, I picked it up again last week and knit 3/4 of the sleeve, but I just don’t want to work on it.
The good thing is that I know there is not a lot left, and it would be fun to have it done for Chanukah, so maybe when we watch a movie tonight I’ll see if I can get the first sleeve done and make progress on the second one. Then, I can find something I want to watch and finish it up one evening in the next week. So, since I have a plan (and that plan involves crafting-bribery) I feel no guilt about working on the projects that I am thrilled about - because those are the ones that I wake up thinking about, excited to work on them, even if I only have 5 minutes - which also means that they are making progress at a satisfyingly quick pace.
Pattern is Little Camaro, I am using leftover balls of Germantown and Hudson & West, plus my own Rocket Sheep yarn in Cocoa (all of these available at Beetle & Fred)
So what is drawing me into their orbit?
Giant green scarf
This project is one I have been thinking about for two months - about the same time I started the sweater, I found this 55 inch x 55 inch square of fabric sitting at Beetle & Fred, the last of the bolt. It’s so soft and I was smitten with it immediately. I don’t usually buy fabric without a plan, but this one was calling to be a whole cloth quilt or scarf. I wanted the expanse of fabric preserved in the project. I would have immediately made it in to a scarf, except the light green is not a very flattering color for me, so I was hesitant. But eventually I decided a) fuck it, and b) a dark backing color would be a good balance.
Its a ton of fabric already, so I didn’t add any batting. I am stitching circles that I drew out by tracing dinner plates, using some embroidery thread that I dyed last year in an exhaust bath - I think I was actually dying fabric green, but the exhaust bath was a blue (that was the color left after the yellow pigment was absorbed).
I have actually worn this as a scarf already - home from my stitching group, but still, love it. Not sure how I’ll finish the edges though. Bias? Or trimming the blue flannel and folding over the green?
Cloud cave stitching.
Sigh. I love this little stitching.
I don’t really know what to say about it. It feels like I am telling myself a story more than I feel like I am telling *MY* story. I used wool thread for the green plant, and I used some of the same hand-dyed thread that I am using for my giant scarf. The little person I made a few weeks ago with no real plan, but it seemed like they were looking for something, and that thought that lead me here. Seeking. The curiosity to discover what they are seeking for. So, maybe it is my story, too.
Aside from the sweater, I am not working on any gifts. Am I a terrible person? A “selfish” crafter. Nope. That kind of longterm plan, and definitely project repetition, tends to kill my drive to make things. It feels like a job and I don’t want to go. I love homemade gifts, but I prefer to make gifts in the kitchen.