What’s on your needles this summer? Many knitters and crocheters put down their needles for the warmer months and only come back to their projects when the cooler weather comes along.
Me? I think I have at least four projects on the go of which 2 are summer knits and 2 are winter knits. I have a summer tank that I am designing in a cotton wool blend ( mostly cotton), a linen, cotton blend tee, an almost finished chunky sweater and a of course a pair of socks. One of the disadvantages of summer knitting is that it is finer gauge so it takes longer but there are also more lacy summer knits.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEss12/PATTgemini.php Gemini Tee knit in cotton linen blend, Zooey, which I have on my needles.
Juniper Moon Farm Zooey
Turtle Dove sweater knit in chunky weight yarn.
How many projects are too many? Even though I have 4 projects on the go that doesn’t stop me from itching to start another project. Because I teach knitting, I am always on the lookout for new projects to help teach techniques or just fun projects that I think people will want to take to a class to learn. I like to have a technique that I can teach that may be new for some knitters. Sometimes I see a project and think ooh that would be good to teach as a class. Other times I look for or design a project specifically to teach a technique.
I am one of those knitters who doesn’t like to knit the same pattern twice ( no twenty of the same item for this knitter) so I have to come up with new projects to teach techniques like Fair Isle. For the past couple years it has been Fair Isle hats- this fall it will be Fair Isle mittens in a chunky weight yarn.
Some knitters or crocheters like to work on only one project at a time. The satisfaction of finishing the project is what drives them. For me, it is learning a new stitch or seeing how a new yarn knits up. It helps that I have to come up with projects to help sell the yarn or would be good for a class.
I get bored once I have figured out how the stitch pattern works. The tank I am designing has reached the point where the stitch pattern is so easy for me that I am getting bored and I still have more than 30 inches to knit ( the top is knit from side to side and it overlaps ( it seemed like a good idea when I started it). So I am already thinking of what else I could cast on, like those Fair Isle mittens. What’s on your needles?