Current Project: Stitch n’ Bitch Fingerless Gloves

I am currently working on making the fingerless gloves from the second Stitch n' Bitch book. Despite a little trouble with some unfamiliar stitches, I successfully made one glove. I started the second and got a few rows in, but now I can’t find the motivation to finish it. I don’t like to leave a project unfinished, but there isn’t a challenge in making the second glove. So it’s been two weeks since I last touched my knitting and I am waiting for some inspiration.

The Wedding Blanket

After a long spring semester a few years ago, I threw myself into my yarn craft. During the course of the summer I made a queen sized crochet blanket with a simple double crochet pattern of alternating color blocked stripes with a black border. The challenge was purely in the size of the project not the difficulty of the pattern of the stitches, so, before I had even finished it, I was looking for something more stimulating.

During my summer travels, including a trip to Indiana for the wedding, I began a throw blanket with a simple idea. I wanted something mostly off white with emerald green and gold highlights; the colors of mine, and the bride’s sorority. Above all, I wanted the throw to have texture.

Once you learn the basics of crochet, and are comfortable switching colors and turning corners the options become endless. For my project, I started with a thick fluffy neutral yarn, which was going to be the base color for the blanket. I alternated rows of single, double, and even triple crochet to add a subtle gradation.

One of the many differences between crochet and knitting is that with crochet, it is easy to take out a few rows without ruining the project. This makes experimenting a much less daunting prospect. When you knit, back tracking is a process and a risk, but with crochet it is much simpler. So, try a new stitch! See how something looks! Worst case, you might screw up and need to try a stitch again (and maybe even again), or you might decide you don’t like what you’ve done and you can try a different direction. The only thing you can lose is time. If your goal is learning, or making something unique, then there’s new excuse for not charging your own path.

With my blanket, switching to the green yarn was a bit complicated because the weight of the yarn was so different from my neutral color. In this case, it involved reworking the number of stitches per row. This blanket was all about try and retry, until it felt right. Eventually, I came up with the right number of green stitches per neutral stitch.

In the green rows, I also used the Puff Stitch; just to add another layer of texture. I remember coming home from a very satisfying trip to NYC, still recovering from the night before, but quite content. With two books and one hook I just decided to go for it. You can only read so much about a stitch before you have to try it.

The trick for inserting the gold strands, which add just a touch of glamour, was figuring out a wrong side and a write side for the blanket. Each time, the gold was only introduced for one row, so the stitch looked different from the front and back. I had to manipulate my pattern to account for that. Lastly, I added the border. What’s nice about a border is that it can hide a plethora of mistakes and inconsistencies. Because I used so many stitches and types of yarn the edges weren’t even. However, adding a trim brought a sense of continuity to the blanket. It made it seem finished, even before I had sewed in the ends.

The wedding blanket was about experimenting and learning; building confidence through trying something new and adapting when it didn’t work or it wasn’t perfect. The result was always supposed to be something you can wrap yourself up in and feel at home.

Past Project

The is a scarf I made a several years ago. In the beginging, I only knew how to knit or pearl in a straight line. My first projects experimented with only those techniques, until I became comfortable enough to try and learn more. I made a lot of scarves during that phase, but each one is a little different. This one I tried to make fancy by using a yarn with multiple hues and by adding fringe.