I once worked with one of my friends. We worked closely on a team where we often had to rely on each other in order to get the job done. And we quickly discovered that we had different work methods. He would dive into our work with a sometimes exaggerated level of self-confidence, making snap decisions, and moving on. However, one little problem or bad word uttered in his direction could potentially ruin his entire day.
I would question every little detail as is the habit of a perfectionist. Sometimes I would second guess myself a bit more than I should, but I would get the job done--albeit slowly and steadily. I was able to take the problems and unkind words and move on to the next task. In fact, I seemed to thrive on the stress.
Over time we found that our interactions with each other became less friendly. And then one day, I put a label on it by identifying our problem with each other: He is a moody person, and I'm neurotic. It was kind of odd. Once we labeled it we were able to get along better. We learned to work together and became quite the team. And we're still friends today.
A while back, I puzzled about a label for my knitting tendencies. I don't feel that I fit either of the common labels of either a project or process knitter. In working on the Snowflake Sweater, I think I've uncovered the label that defines my brand of knitting: I'm a buzz knitter. I knit for the buzz one gets when beginning a new project or working on a short project that knits up quickly.
The Snowflake Sweater provided this buzz because there were many elements involved--ribbing on the bottom and neckline, stockinette stitch on the body and sleeves, color work, and decreases to shape the top of the sweater. Just when I figured one thing out, I was up for a change in the pattern. Once I hit the color work, every row was different.
I found that I really dig the challenge and the need to pay close attention to detail. I was actually a bit sad to bind off. This has been my favorite project to date.
THE SPECS
PATTERN: The Winter Snow Scene in the January 2006 issue of Creative Knitting. I've never knit anything from this magazine before, but a couple of items in this issue caught my eye.
YARN: I'm using Cascade 220 from my stash in shades of blue (and cream). I really didn't have a lot of choice in these colors as they were about all I could find locally when I shopped for this yarn back in December. Apparently, there had been a run on blue and this is what I was stuck with.
NEEDLES: US 6
TIME: I was able to complete this in about three weeks of knitting whenever possible.
MODIFICATION: I modified the amount of ribbing on the bottom of the sweater, going for 1 1/2 inches of ribbing instead of three inches.
LESSONS LEARNED:
"Invisible" Decreases -- I really like the method for decreases used in this pattern. We slipped two stitches as if to K2tog. Then we knit one stitch and passed the 2 slipped stitches over the knit stitch. This made the decrease stitch virtually invisible, which was important for this project because the decreases all occur during the color work.
Cascade 220 -- I've never used this yarn before. It's sturdy and it knit up really well. I'm not sure if it will grow when I wash it the first time, but I really enjoyed working with with yarn. I think it's a very practical, affordable, sturdy, yarn choice.
The Yoke -- Whenever I hear yoke, for some reason I think of the word yolk. The yolk of an egg is not my favorite thing. Maybe that's the reason that I read the directions for the yoke and thought it had to do with the collar of the sweater. So, I ignored those directions when I joined the sleeves to the body. This leads to the next thing I learned.
Steeks -- I had to use the steek technique to get the sleeves in because I ignored the steps for the yoke. It wasn't very difficult because they were very small--probably 6 stitches on each armhole.
Color Choice -- I've learned a valuable lesson about selecting yarn for a project. The Cascade 220 was a good choice for this project, but I wish I had selected better colors. The body of the sweater is a brilliant, royal blue. I don't typically wear this shade of blue. I wish I had gone with my instincts and continued to shop around for the yarn. I love this sweater, I'm just not too fond of this shade of blue.
