Monday, March 18, 2013

Plugging Away

My friend Barbara shared with me one day that she was knitting through television commercials, and it was surprising how much knitting she could get done that way.  Just getting a little done every day adds up!  Barbara is a big-hearted and prolific charity knitter, plugging away and getting a lot done.

Everything takes longer, at least for me, than I ever estimate.  It's true for me at work, where I think I'll do a couple of small projects by lunch, and find that I did one and handled three interruptions.  It's true when I knit, as well.  I have never done needlework of any kind rapidly, but always use it as a way to relax and take my time.

As I plug away on the Knit Leader course, today was typical.  After work, I did a few chores and then headed to the project.  I steamed the back and the two fronts lightly, looked at the clock and saw that 15 minutes had gone by.  Went to the machine thinking I'd put one shoulder together, but I put both shoulders together, and 45 more minutes had gone by.  Tomorrow, I'll hang an armhole and start a top-down set-in sleeve.

By the way, I put my shoulders together this way.  I like the shoulder join to be sturdy, but not too tight.  

I elected to do the sleeves top down (like the video I put up recently) works just fine with a Knit Leader pattern.  I hope to add value to the Knit Leader course by including lots of techniques.

Besides, doing the sleeve from the top down means I'll do decreases the sides instead of increases.  Decreases are a little quicker to work.  I'll do the ribbing last, too, which is always a good technique to teach.

3 comments:

  1. Hi,
    I just watched setting in the sleeve and knitting it in upside down video.

    Would the needle combinations you used be the same for most sleeves given the standard shape of them? I know you only made a small garment sample, but the basic concept of the combinations, would they be the same.

    I'm just wondering how to convert this informtion to patterns that do not give you the instructions on knitting it this way.

    As always, your videos are spot on. Very clear and full of information. I love them.

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  2. No, it's just a general idea of the shape. The needle increases would be quite different in a different size and gauge.

    I think I'm going to knit my sleeves bottoms first after all...want the fair isle to match exactly, and couldn't think of a simple way to explain it upside-down on this particular course.

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  3. Great idea to use the waste time of the tiresome and boring tv comercials!

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