July 10, 2007

THE CHALLENGE

How can we do it, how? How can we hope to squirrel away our wintry wool projects when it’s too dang hot outside to touch them?? It’s so understandable, the usual pattern we observe among knitters (and of course, ourselves). Warm and cozy sweaters are often begun late in the Winter, as opposed to late in the Summer…and often, they can remain in our closets unfinished for awhile. We call them affectionately UFO’s (unfinished objects), but I think it does make us sad. Especially when a sweater really has the potential to be great, or even just very good (doesn’t the model look so happy in her Norwegian cardigan?).



Anyway, that’s what I pointed out to my sister Rachel when I recovered this abandoned beauty recently (circa 1995)!!! And I challenged her to finish it, “like now!” I said. It turns out that it wasn’t even the intimidating steek that she will have to do that caused her to put it aside lo these many years; it was simply an error in the spacing of the increases. She is up to the challenge, and urges you to revisit your favorite UFO (send a photo if it helps).



More on this topic soon, when I get some photos of my other sister Mary’s new project,--she’s knitting a beautiful Winter Rowan design with Mission Falls cotton and Summer Tweed. So smart, so tricky!



Okay, mixed message now: of course, some of you might prefer knitting (and hopefully wearing) this tube top from Stephanie (Glampyre) Japel’s new book “Fitted Knits”, it’s great in cotton and I would love to see it done in the Hemp.