Monday, August 13, 2018

Knitting Mojo

You might have noticed that I've shown very few finished projects, or even works-in-progress, with my knitting lately.  It's not like last summer when I was knitting a lot of baby shower gifts and couldn't show anything until after the shower - nope, it's because I've been off my game when it comes to knitting.  I have only completed a total of three projects so far in 2018.  Three!  That's weird.  And what is weirder is that I haven't had any inclination to knit for months.  I know that part of this is due to our renovation, when all of my yarn was packed away to keep the dust out, and seeing how bad that dust infiltrated every nook and cranny of our house, I'm glad I did that.  But after I unpacked everything, I still didn't pick up my knitting.

Well, my good friend and the person who taught me how to knit, Debby, sent me a knitting book last week, and that finally sparked my knitting mojo into action again.  This is the book she sent:
Japanese Stitches Unraveled, which is a translation of Japanese knitting patterns.

What is really cool about this book is that previously I couldn't have understood how to incorporate these patterns into a knitting project without a specific pattern, but now that I have over six years of knitting under my belt, I get it.  Still, at first I was wary because I can't read charted knitting patterns - I'm a written pattern person, which makes sense if you think about it because charts are full of symbols similar to advanced math, and I am NOT a math person.  But when I started reading the book, I was surprised to see that the patterns are both written and charted, which makes it work for everyone - here's an example:
See for the Arrows pattern, how the pattern is written out right next to it?  And on the facing page, there's the chart.  Actually she has it written and charted for all directions, which is so nice - depending on what you knit, or your preferred style, it's covered without you having to fiddle with the pattern.

So getting the book sparked my interest, and in looking at the first chapter of patterns, I thought to myself "these would make a nice throw pillow" - and then I turned to the last page of the chapter to find instructions on how to make a pillow, ha!  I need throw pillows for our new sofas, so I went through my yarn stash and pulled a skein that I think will look good with them:
Good old Indiecita colorway - my first, and still my top favorite color from Malabrigo.

At the same time as the pillow idea was forming, I got a notice that a shop I follow on Instagram had replenished their stock (a lot of the smaller yarn dyers sell out very quickly), so I ordered some self-striping sock yarn:
This colorway is called Jelly Belly so of course Shelley who has a belly full of jelly (thank you to my brother for that childhood nickname) had to order it.

And then Madelinetosh had a huge weekend sale, so I had fun choosing some yarn and making a list of what I wanted to knit with it.  As I write this post, I'm itching to finish it so I can grab my needles and cast on - and I'm hoping that I'll have at least one work-in-progress picture to show you on the Friday Mishmash.  I think my knitting mojo is back, woohoo!

22 comments:

  1. You finding your knitting mojo gives me hope that one day soon I may find mine. It will be a year next month since I finished my last project. Its like a switch was flipped off and I was done with knitting after hitting it pretty hard for three years straight. This last year I have really gotten into genealogy research I think that is what has taken knitting's place in my life and honestly I don't see it leaving anytime soon. I know there are little corners in my day where I could probably knit if I wanted to but instead I have cranked up my reading life so I don't know I may well and truly be done with knitting at least for now. However, I am excited to see what you knit next.

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    1. Interestingly I have been reading as well, which I pretty much stopped doing when I was knitting. Hmmm...

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    2. I hear that you can listen to books while you knit and that it counts as reading. I haven't tried that yet but I might one day. I also hear people listen to podcasts while knitting so it doesn't have to be either or you can do both at once who knew?

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  2. Welcome back to the knitting mojo!!!!

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  3. I love that yarn and can't wait to see what you make!

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  4. That Malabrigo yarn will go perfectly with your new sofas!! And that sock yarn is just yummy. Can't wait to see your new projects!!

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  5. I LOVE Must Stash Yarn! I was fortunate to snag a sock set of Dark Side of the Moon a few years ago...I still haven't finished that pair of socks!

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    1. Nice! I didn't realize that Must Stash was located in San Antonio when I placed my order - love supporting a Texas yarn dyer. I'm looking forward to getting these socks rolling.

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  6. I can't wait to see the pics on Friday!

    I love when they have the diagram and the words. I feel like the diagram helps me do the math for the written version, as I am planning!

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    1. So many designers only do charts - for example, I love a lot of the designs from Baby Cocktails, but they are only charted...so I don't buy them. :(

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  7. Woo hoo for mojo! I picked up a crochet hook for fun, but it's not something I'm really going to get into - at least until I retire, whenever that might be LOL.

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    1. I have never used the words "crochet hook" and "fun" in the same sentence - I am all thumbs when it comes to using the hook...which is not good because to do a provisional cast-on, you use a crochet hook.

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  8. You are so talented! I can't wait to see what you create!

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  9. OK, every time I clicked here yesterday, it was your previous post. I'm sure it wasn't you, it was the browser/blocker at my job - haha that's what I get for reading your blog at work.

    Anyway, Shelley Jelly Belly, Helen Helen Watermelon is really glad to see you are getting back into knitting. Maybe the impending "cooler" weather is more conducive anyway!

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    1. I was standing in line at Target, reading comments on my phone, and literally LOL'd at Helen Helen Watermelon! That is a new one to me...and no wonder we are friends, suffering through childhood nicknames like that!

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  10. YAY! I always love to see your projects! I bet those pillows are going to be gorgeous!

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