Community post
Doldrums
Today, I brought my sweater to the gallery to be juried. Even though it was basically finished a month ago, I left small things to wrap up and postponed some final decisions until a few days ago. It kind of jammed up the project flow, so now that it's gone, I can begin thinking about another project.
I'm thinking small and easy. I still have 350 grams of the wool from the sweater left, so perhaps I'll knit arm warmers using the motifs of the sweater I just made. Or a pillow?
I also have some yarn that I recently bought at the thrift store that I could use for socks.
I just need a small, quiet project to get me going again.
I don't understand why the sweater threw me into the doldrums, but here I am, and I'll get out very soon.
I decided not to add closures. I just blocked the front band a little. So glad I don't have to mull over it anymore!
Probably leaving those loose ends for a month created this malaise.
Replies (13)
The sweater (cardigan to me) looks great and you should feel really happy it's done now, @kimmac :D
I think I understand how you feel though; sometimes we just have a 'vision' and what we make doesn't match it up. As we don't know what your vision was, we just enjoy the colours and the shape of your creation.
I am with @cryptocariad ... To my eyes the sweater is an amazing piece of art, but I do not know how much pressure you had making it or if you had a different idea about its appearance. I love the Color combination, the tailored fit and the pattern. I cannot imagine to knit something so complicated.
And with the left over yarn, as I like the colours so much and seldom wear arm warmers, I would knit a sleeveless sweater (I don’t know the right term... in German it would be ‚Pullunder‘)
I said it before: stranded knitting is not for me, but I admire those that do it. Love the patterning, love the colors, love everything!
And those who know me don't have to guess to know what my suggestion is: socks! That vibrantly colored Regia should make a nice pair of socks. Regia is not the most soft yarn, but it's durable and "Kaffe Fassett" promises non-boring colorwork even if you knit what we call "Stinos" in German: "stinknormal" means something like boringly normal or plain vanilla.
Seeing the mats you use for blocking: do you think there are some of these that are actually used by children playing on them or are they simply for needleworkers?
Thanks @neumannsalva! A Pullunder is a good idea. I pretty much wear wool and layers year round, so it would get a lot of use. I still have the buckets of dye, so if I run out of a certain color, I could dye a little more.
Thanks @muscara! Yes, they are children's tiles. I bought them at a thrift store instead of purchasing the blocking tiles. 😊
I swatched for the socks last night, and because I was going to use the machine, I used the green from the sweater as waste yarn, and I kind of like the color combination, so I might use the green for ribbing, toe and heel. The rest with the Regia.
I love the term stinknormal!!
Thanks @cryptocariad! I'll find out Friday if it's accepted. I can honestly say that I like it for myself. I think the gallery setting made me feel differently about it.
I suppose it's some sort of withdrawal symptom after finishing a big project, I sometimes get a sense of emptiness after completing something big...
A different project always helps. Hand warmers are great idea, I personally use them all the time in winter.
Understand the doldrums, hope you are free to move forward :) the sweater is lovely, but I laughed when I saw the photograph - I have a pair of handknitted socks exactly like the ones in the picture :)
It’s funny that we have the same socks. Or at least the same yarn in our socks. I’m on an island off Seattle and I think you’re in the UK. 🙂
I’m glad to hear that it’s not uncommon to feel this way. Thanks and I will get started on something today. I swatched for the socks yesterday, but that doesn’t mean I’ve abandonned the idea of arm warmers.
That's right! I didn't like the way it knitted up at first, the green especially was a little lurid, but I've grown to love them and they're my house socks, ones I wear in the house over bamboo liners.
Crochetiful Cardigan! Hahaha really like that after accomplishing big project, we think of quick and easy projects again
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Or Knittiful!
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