I know what I have on hand yarn in terms of spun fibre stashed in the basement. I'm certainly not interested in any yardage total competition. By some standards some would consider my yarn stash meagre but for me it's yarn that I bought over the years of working in great yarn stores, that I love for it's quality, softness of hand and colour and I just want to knit it into something I can be proud of and wear!
Being in a thrifty mode of living, I'm determined to get this yarn that I do have knit up and knitting it all by hand won't accomplish this. This being the year 2012 inspired me to set the goal of 12 machine knits in 2012. That's a realistic goal I think I can achieve.
On the knitting social network Ravelry we have organized the "12MK12 KAL" for those of us who belong to the general Machine Knitting Group. We are machine knitters from all over the world and don't care about total yardage, forms to keep count of, etc., we have simply set a personal goal of completing 12 projects in 2012.
Some of us have taken this a step further by pledging not to buy any more yarn until we work through the yarn for these 12 projects. The only rule is you must complete 12 projects by December 21, 2012. Not one per month, just 12 in the coming year, in whatever order you feel like. Gauge swatches are not permitted in the count but other than that it's up to the individual to decide.
I've taken inspiration from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, who is a knitter, designer, teacher and author here in Toronto, who organizes her sock knitting projects into kits with the yarn and pattern and any additional accessories or notions. Stephanie then organizes these on one shelf for the coming year and as one Sock is completed, she will pick a pack from this organized lot and work on that Sock next.
Taking my cue from this great example I have organized my yarn and patterns into project packs, which I will place together on one shelf at home, and I can either follow a list-order (I have written everything out on paper) or I can pick a pack from this project shelf at random and just work away. Either way everything that I will need to make the projects is all together in one bag . This is such a great method for getting it yourself organized - especially if that is not generally how you think of yourself - vs. wasting time looking for the yarn, the pattern and notions when you are motivated to start a project. So that's another great feature of the 12MK12 KAL - being organized. It's a good feeling.
Over the past few weeks as I've spent time finishing some 2011 projects, I've also been going through my yarn bins, reacquainting myself with yarns bought long ago when I worked at Village Yarns and other yarn stores around the province. You work around yarn you buy yarn. My former boss Karen retailed beautiful hand knitting yarns and had some great sales over the years and we staff members were spoiled by choice. Once I had grouped my yarn into sweater lots - meaning enough quantity of one colour or colours of a particular brand of yarn to make a garment - I then began pairing these yarns with appropriate knitting patterns.
I really enjoyed this part of the process as I gave a lot of thought as to the best pattern or garment shape for each individual lot of yarn. If you are a knitting junkie like me, fibre speaks to you; even before it's knit, just holding a ball of yarn and the tactile sensation will sometimes instantly communicate what the final product should be.
Often that message is "simplicity". Meaning that if the yarn you have bought is super soft and has a very silky, luxurious hand to it, then a simple pullover with maybe details at the neckline is all it requires. Why take away from the innate character of a beautiful yarn by adding fancy, textured stitch techniques when what attracted you to the yarn in the first place was how silky-smooth it was!
Keeping it simple in hand knitting often means working Stocking Stitch, which is the most basic stitch a home knitting machine can produce, and the one stitch that after a few rows, bores many Hand Knitters to tears. Why? It's too repetitive, especially with finer weights of yarn. Knitter's don't feel like they are achieving anything as it takes a fair investment in time to see results knitting with fine yarns on small sized knitting needles. Yet the majority of us love to wear fine gauge knits; sweaters, t-shirts, blouses, etc. How to get around this? Enter the Home Knitting Machine!
Hand Knitters would gladly knit miles and miles of Stocking Stitch if it didn't take so long when using the popular fine thicknesses of hand knitting yarns such as Lace Weight, Sock Weight, 4 Ply Fingering and Double Knitting (DK) yarns. If you are considering returning to machine knitting or acquiring one, keep your approach simple to start and consider all the knitting patterns you'd love to make but avoid due to the high concentration of Stocking Stitch. This is where you would start when beginning to make projects using a knitting machine. This is what a Home Knitting Machine was designed to do: make the process of Knit a row ~ Purl a row less tedious and boring.
So let's put to bed once and for all the old, tired adage that machine knitting is "cheating" and blah blah blah. Please! I will acknowledge that machine knitting is not for everyone, that yes, there is a learning curve but you did learn to type, knit, crochet, sew, weave, spin and other activities. Correct? Well, machine knitting may work for you. It is such a great tool for stash busting. Explore it one day if you haven't.
If you knit frequently as I do you accumulate odds and ends of yarns over the years. I have two "Oddball Yarn Bins" for leftover yarn; one for Black + Grey yarns, the other for Purple + Pink coloured yarns. Those are the colours I knit with and sampled the most over the years and so the leftovers go directly into one of these two bins. I decided to include these assorted leftovers of yarn as part of this challenge and make something to wear, either for myself or possibly as a gift and I have a specific knitting machine stitch technique in mind for these two leftover lots of odd and ends. More about that later.
Most of these 12 garments will be for my personal use; both to wear as clothing but also to use as samples, as I hope to one day return to teaching machine knitting and you need completed garments to demonstrate your proficiency at knitting; of specific techniques, at knitwear construction and at finishing. So I consider this an investment in my future.
Enjoy the storyboards I've put together of the various yarns and patterns I've chosen. Maybe this will inspire you to join myself and other machine knitters on Ravelry for the 12 MK12 Knit-A-Long.
Take good care.
1 comments:
Excellent plan. You make me want to own a knitting machine. Looking forward to seeing your work, and thanks for the project pointers, you knitting guru.
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