nipping in

Just nipping in for a quick hello... one of the Aktion socks will be finished tonight, the Fern Glade beret is less than a row away from having the decreases started (despite what might have been a fatal error... I'm just choosing to ignore the fact that it isn't perfect), and over the weekend I got my grubby paws on the latest Interweave Knits.

There's a article in that issue that states that you should start as many knitting projects as you want to, no matter how many you already have on the needles, because it's good to keep your creativity going. For a minute there, I felt like a lifetime of half-finished projects had their purpose. But the author (name escapes me at the second, and I don't have my issue at hand) said that there's a purpose to starting something and never finishing it, to coming face to face with the idea that you're not going to finish something, and then frogging it or just throwing it out. I can see what she means -- it's like that saying, that success is keeping on trying something and failing until the last time you try and then getting it. Or, it's like Shumpeterian economics, which assert that a failed business makes it possible for other businesses to learn something and succeed, which means that the failed business isn't really a failure after all, but a learning opportunity.

Or something like that.

So, about two weeks ago I started the Climbing Vines Pullover from the Winter Interweave Knits. I had almost enough yarn in the stash to make it, and even though I knew I probably didn't have enough to finish, I cast on and kept on knitting in hopes that I'd discover that five balls of Galway Worsted Highland Heather was enough. I started with the front, and worked on the nifty lace panel, and after one ball of yarn I knew, in my knitter's heart, that five balls would not be enough. So, I made notes regarding needle size and then frogged it. I also ordered one more ball of the color, which while being similar won't be of the same dye lot -- but I've worked out how it will be used: I'll do the ribbed sections in the new yarn, and the rest of the sweater in the other five balls. Ribbing is different enough that your eye will be fooled by any change in color and it will all look the same in the end.

And then, in the spirit of the Interweave article, I started thinking about the Sienna Cardigan again. I loved knitting it the first time, but the pilly, fuzzy yarn really disappointed me and I usually don't leave the house wearing the finished product. So I trolled around in Ravelry and found that many women had used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes with success. The question remains, can I get gauge (4 stitches per inch) with WOTA without the stitches being so loose that they'll be another invitation to pill? I've got a stray ball on my knitting basket that will tell me, and this evening while I attend a talk I'll bring it with me and make a swatch.

So why do I start projects? Most of the time, I start a project because I want a particular finished product. Occasionally, I start something to learn a new technique (like the Pi Shawl) and when I think I understand what's going on, I lose interest. A lifetime of telling myself to finish what I start has equipped me to feel a little guilty for having so many unfinished things lying around, but I'm trying to think of it differently now. Maybe they're just really oversized swatches.

Or something like that.