We all get our curiosities over what we can make with knitting. That’s part of creative obsession. Amiguri is an interestingaspect of knitting and crochet. You make little animals and other small figures or caricatures of people with yarn and a bit of stuffing. Then there are those who go way beyond and take yarn crafts into the realm of art. This one doesn’t really qualify as amiguri, but maybe on a higher realm.

At THIS LINK you will find a sculpture of a complete human skeleton made with knitting. Construction details are not available. Imagine getting the pattern for this! And then working on it in the subway or such.

The work  by Ben Cuevas is called “Transcending the Material” and was installed and exhibited at the Wassaic Project Summer Music and Arts Festival when he was in residency there.

You hear a lot of people talking about using Cascade 220 superwash wool. It comes in a lot of colors, is relatively affordable.

But that’s all there is to recommend it. It’s very blah yarn. The wonderful, natural wool characteristics have been ripped from these sad fibers and what you have is lifeless, convenient yarn.

I bought three balls of slightly deep red Cascade 220 when I first got into knitting a year or two ago. I was going to make myself a neat scarf. I like red, and this seemed like a logical choice for yarn. It was recommended by my LYS proprietor. I have tried to use it on three projects so far but it’s crappy.

I’m working on a lace scarf for my niece using it. I have recently become amused by the way the holes and pattern open up as you knit lace, and thought this would be a fun experiment and a way to use up this red yarn. But as I use it I am realizing that this is overrated yarn. Along with being eroded and lifeless, it looks very dull, and on top of that I find that the dye doesn’t fully penetrate they strands in all places. Probably does for 99.5 percent, but I find here and there that some inside fibers that are lighter or even white.

For texture I liken it to the Peaches and Cream brand cotton yarn I used for some other projects. It is very “soft” but not like alpaca, which is NICE soft. This is soft because it has been stripped of most of its natural wool characteristics. I’m also somewhat intuitive and the vibe I get from this superwash is like the difference of vibe between bleached cotton and unbleached cotton. The natural-state fibers are so much more alive.

The superwash process creates a wool yarn you can theoretically put in the washer without it fulling. It does this by chemically removing or coating over the scales on the wool fibers so they can’t catch on each other and tangle. The fibers in Cascade 220 are clearly eroded and thinner. They are softer because they are thinner, and thus feel rather lifeless for wool. The tactile sense is important to me for fibers as that is the spirit and heart of the sensory experience of a fabric.

As I mentioned in another post, I am phasing out all synthetic yarns, and now any superwash – which I will be calling “superdead”. Cascade 220 is for me the overcooked vegetables of the yarn world. Eventually I will get away from synthetic dyes and maybe even dye my own with natural substances. I really like single ply yarn as it look so old fashioned. To me that is real yarn.

I stopped by Gail Knits, the LYS near my home looking for inspiration. I just finished by Christmas gift blitz of six scarves and two shawls in three weeks (all on superbulky yarn and or large needles, so don’t be that amazed) and want to knit something for myself. I’ve been eyeing a leaf lace pattern for a scarf, but try and try again I keep messing up, not liking the yarn, not liking the pattern, wanting to change the pattern and not getting it right, and ripping everything out about ten times by now. Something was wrong. I had what I’ll call “knitter’s block”. Nothing would cooperate: not my hands, not the yarn, not the pattern.

It was the fiber. I wasn’t doing what I really wanted to do with the yarn I like. I was reminded of this at Gail’s store when I found the Eco Alpaca and Eco Duo by Cascade. NIIIIIIIICE. It’s single ply, which to me is wonderful, old world, “real” yarn, not the “city-fied” stuff they make by the millions of miles nowadays. I like the feel and vibe of natural fibers, especially naturally dyed or non-dyed. I love the hand spun look of single ply yarn as well. Comparing them in the store, even the beautiful blends that have tencil or some acrylic in them, they just aren’t right. They feel like they are made of plastic, and they are. They are plastic yarn. This is not real.

I have come to  a point where I am just not satisfied with synthetic fiber. As nice as it can look, as affordable, colorful and easy to get as it all is, it just isn’t real. And I think that is something of a theme in my life development. I want real. I want real me, real friends, real purpose, and real fiber in my knitting just underlines realness in all the rest.

What I want is my single ply, undyed alpaca reversible cable scarf I planned last summer but never bought the yarn for it. That will be my next project. So the other, artificial yarn I have I will use up for Christmas gifts and experiments. Yes, artificial, like flowers made of polyester and plastic. It’s not yarn snobbery, but wanting real stuff. Like real tile, not vinyl flooring, or real wood doors, not moulded mdf printed with wood grain and texture. Real chicken nuggets, not injection molded reconstituted chicken substance. And so on.

Hey there. I just wanted to let you know what I’m finding out as I work on a scarf using super bulky yarn on US 15 metal needles. The taper on the tips of these needles is kind of long, and what I’m finding is that it has me moving my hand sideways at the wrist in both directions more than on smaller needles, resulting in significant soreness in short order. I think it’s in part due to using the Portuguese style of knitting combined with these big needles.

It would take a lot of attention to make myself not do that movement. I even restarted the scarf on #13 needles in metal but they are also long tapered. My Knitpicks circulars have a shorter taper and were better, but still had me worried. So I’m using my bamboo 13s which have an ever shorter taper – altered by me last year – and paying attention. I also needed the longer needles as it was hard to do the cables fast on the circulars.

It may be that I’m a bit knitted out after xmas, having done five scarves and two shawls. I wasn’t sore when I finished them, but now I’m getting sore. Be careful and don’t think you can tough it out. If you get sore, give it a rest. I know this may seem insane, but you do not have to knit all the time.

I almost always try to modify patterns or design my own stuff. I can rarely do something as designed, and when it comes to knit ribbing my experience is that where it asks for p1k1 ribbing I know that will just not pull in very tightly. I’m currently looking for a pattern for fingerless hand warmers things and I want them to hug my hands, or the hands of whomever I’m making them for. That way sizing is not such an issue. They size themselves.

One pattern I found has some nice cables along the wrist and at the knuckles but nothing on the back of the hands, and the whole thing is done in p1k4 ribbing, which doesn’t make sense to me either. So if I use that one I will certainly reverse the locations of the cabling and switch it to p2k2 ribbing at the wrist and knuckles. I will probably change the cables to two columns crossing instead of four, or maybe find a way to transition from the ribbing to four column cables.

So be brave and smart. Try swatches of the p1k1 and p2k2 ribbing and you will see the difference.

By the way, I know ribbing can be a bother in English or Continental knitting styles, but it’s pretty easy in Portuguese knitting style. Portuguese knitting is pretty easy to learn and I always use it for ribbing or any pattern that has a mix of purls and knits. There are a few tricks, which I write about on this blog, so check it out.

Related articles

• Projects ” How-To’s ” Quick Knit Wrist Warmers (cutoutandkeep.net)
• Projects ” Creations ” Fingerless Mittens (cutoutandkeep.net)
• A Bunch of Scarves, Some Cable Knit, and a Shawl (knitforbrains.net)
• Fixing and Preventing Ladders after Cables (knitforbrains.net)

Like so many of us I am finishing a few gifts I started late for Christmas. I didn’t really get the knitting bug for gifts until a week into December and managed to bang out four scarves and a shawl in time to ship and arrive before the 25th.

I did a soft, girly, garter stitch scarf for my grand-niece Rei in Vermont. She is all of 7 years old and just the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. The scarf is made with some downy mini-bouclee yarn that is mostly white with a shifting of colors over it in pink, blue and green. No pic, sorry.

I made a simple shawl for my mom, who is all of 89 years old. You may know how it is when the right colors of yarn just announce themselves, “I’m for her” and you don’t have to think. I did this one in Homespun Tudor, which is a nice light mix of soft greens, aqua, lavender, gold, and rose. It was perfect for her. Just another garter stitch piece because I had to mail it asap. I was able to finish it in three days, with a total of 8900 stitches or so. I put a crochet chain fringe on it that I tend to favor for such things, as it looks really nice, but you also can’t do a cut fringe in this yarn as it just frizzes out.

Here’s a pic of Mom looking at me on the TV as we were doing our now annual Google video Christmas chat. I highly recommend it. This is the second year we’ve done it and it has turned out great. Mom says the shawl is warm. I didn’t think it would be with such a large needle. I would have done something fancier but I didn’t have time. She is also legally blind so wouldn’t be able to see any fancy stitching with her very blurry vision anyway. I was going for color and feel alone because of that.

I also did a leaf lace scarf for my other niece Erin. I did it in Thick and Quick Charcoal on 15 mm needles. It was my first serious lace and I really liked how it turned out. The large needle made for a pleasantly squishy fabric that is good for stuffing around your neck and in the opening of your coat or jacket.

The photo is not so good. I used two skeins and joined them at the finish line with mattress stitch as I liked the naturally shaped starting row caused by the pattern. It gave it two lobes that eliminated the need for any fringe. Left unblocked it had a nice, rumpled look. I will do a similar scarf for myself with another leaf lace pattern. I got her pattern from Jimmy Beans wool website under the title “Twin Leaf Beaded Scarf Free Knitting Pattern“. Here it is in case it’s not there any more. There’s a pic there of it done “normal” size.

Abbreviations

• CO – Cast On
• Dec – Decrease
• DD – (Double Decrease) Sl 2 sts together knitwise, k1, pass 2 sl sts over k st-2 sts dec.
• P – Purl
• PB – Place Bead, slide bead up next to the needle and knit stitch with bead ending up on RS of work (on DD, PB, on k st, on SK2P, PB on k st)
• RS – Right side
• SK2P – Slip1, knit 2 together, pass slip stitch over K2tog
• sts – Stitches
• WS – Wrong side
• yo – Yarn Over

Directions

**Pre string beads, by using a small needle, threaded with your yarn (250 or so) prior to CO

• CO 22 sts
• Row 1 P10, PB, k1, PB, k1, P10.
• ** all following WS rows P10, k2, P10.
• Row 2 K6, DD, yo, k1, yo, p2, yo, k1, yo, SK2P, k6.
• Row 4 K4, DD, k1, [yo, k1] twice, p2, k1, [yo, k1] twice, SK2P, k4.
• Row 6 K2, DD, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, p2, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, SK2P, k2.
• Row 8 PB, DD, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, p2, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, PB, SK2P.
• ** Repeat rows 1-8 until desired length. Bind Off.

I also did a couple of scarves for my older niece Jaimie and her Husband Morris, my first big cable projects. Here’s the (crappy) pic. I need a better camera.

They are done in Thick and quick Oatmeal and Wheat. I think I need to block the one on the right as the two cables make it curl back too much. I’m tempted to rip it out and redo it on larger needles to make it bigger and more relaxed. I used US17 needles.

I also did a piano keyboard scarf for my brother but I’m waiting for him to send me good pics of it so I can post them here. The scarf turned out great and was pretty easy to do. Stay tuned. Happy Gnu Ear.

I made this scarf recently for a gift and it turned out great. This is a squishy, loose-knit scarf and the pattern is reversible, and looks good for a man or woman depending on the color you use. You may be able to finish it in three hours or less.

There is another, newer free pattern with a hat here http://knitforbrains.net/patterns/fast-knit-manly-geometric-hat-and-scarf-but-she-likes-it-too-free-pattern/ and a Faux Cable hat here http://knitforbrains.net/?p=960

By the way, sorry I haven’t posted much lately here. I grew a handlebar moustache this summer (2010) and have been doing a lot of blogging for that at www.handlebarmoustachelife.com. Take a look.

For this scarf use just one skein of Lion Brand Thick and Quick Yarn or another yarn just as thick and long (108 yards or 98 meters) – or even multiple strands of thinner yarn, on 15mm thick needles (US size number 19) for a ~5 foot scarf about 5.5 inches wide with no fringe.

I did this one with a simple looped cast-on of 12 stitches so followed the pattern in sets of 4. You could make it wider but the scarf would be shorter if only using one skein. If you are using all wool you can make a nice invisible splice of the yarn – looks like no break at all – and add more for length or width increases, but I used just one skein and got a nice scarf good for cool nights. It would be very suitable as a muffler to fill in around the neck to keep someone warm. I like the squishy-ness of it and will make a similar one for myself when all this darn knitting for gifts is done.

The pattern is simple. I’ve heard it called a dragon scale stitch. It forms a pattern of right triangles that have great texture due to the proximity of knit and purl stitches above, below, left and right in the grid. You have to pay attention or you can easily get mixed up. Once you get a repeat done you can use it as reference for the next set of rows in the pattern.

I actually tested this pattern that I typed and had written it all backwards at first, so now what is below is correct. Again, once you get a couple sets of rows done you can use them for reference as to what you do next rather than having to read the pattern constantly. Just be sure you are building your triangles in the right direction if you are doing it by sight.

You might balk at the pattern because it switches form purl to knit a lot, but I did it with portuguese knitting style and it wasn’t a problem. The texture is rich and looks great.

OOPS! I originally posted this with “repeat three times” instead of the correct “repeat two times”. Sorry.

You can alter the pattern if you like by adding stitches to each repeat and rows to match, so it could be 5 stitches by 5 rows instead of the 4 and 4 I have here, but write it out and test it, of course. You can also make a wider scarf by adding another block of 4 and cast on 16 using the same row by row instructions below, but it will use more than one skein of Thick and Quick – or make a shorter scarf.

Cast on 12

Row 1: K12

Row 2: *K1, P3*, repeat two times.

Row 3: *K2, P2*, repeat two times.

Row 4: *P3, K1*, repeat two times.

Row 5: P12

Row 6: P12

Row 7: *K3, P1*, repeat two times.

Row 8: *K2, P2*, repeat two times.

Row 9: *K1, P3*, repeat two times.

Row 10:  K12

I hope this might help you with some last minute gift needs. It’s pretty easy on the fingers with the large yarn and needles. I was getting sore doing another scarf with the same yarn on size 15 needles. Happy Holidays!!!!

Here’s another, crappier picture of the texture.

How to save the planet with Knitting.

More and more lately I’ve become irritated by the prevalence of plastic in my life. Even when I try to buy less plastic, more of it comes home with me. I’ve been trying to use less, as well as shift to BPA-free containers. I stopped drinking out of the large plastic tumblers I’ve been using for years now. I won’t store food in plastic unless it’s just in the freezer, and I’m no longer buying baked goods that come in those plastic boxes at the grocery. For a while I was still buying my croissants there and couldn’t bring myself to throw away the tubs, which are about six inches deep, fifteen long and twelve wide. I have a stack of six of them with their lids and hope either to find a use for them or a friend who has recycling in their neighborhood.

So what about knitting in all this? I have all these plastic grocery bags. Yes, I can take them to the recycling box at the store, and I keep some in the car and take a few in to use when I shop, but I came up with another idea for recycling these spawn of petroleum.

Last weekend one of my cats, Lucy, got hold of a ball of yarn and was nuzzling it to death. I rescued it before it became a hopeless tangle and gave her a small ball of Wool-ease bulky to play with, but she wasn’t crazy about the acrylic any more than I was, so I sat down and crocheted her a ball out of the wool she was nuzzling. It is just a simple free-form ball you can make up as you go, so don’t look for instructions here. Anyways, when I was done I stuffed one of my stash of grocery bags inside and crocheted it shut.

Lucy loves it. The plastic bag inside makes a soft rustling noise, but the toy is soft and squishy and she can nuzzle it all she wants and it won’t come apart.

So my next thought is that a great way for us to recycle these bags is to use them to stuff pet toys and kids toys and even pillows. It occurred to me that the bags would shift around a bit in a pillow so, thinking about plarn, I came up with the idea to knit or crochet a pillow blank from bags to make a stable foundation for a pillow or other toy. Crochet is easier to do for this and all you really need is structure, not appearances.

But as you know, plarn can be laborious to make. So I came up with Super Plarn. To make super plarn take a bag and find the two insets or gussets on either side of the bottom of the bag. Pinch them together and then pierce a hole across the bag with your fingers. Then take the handles of the next bag and thread it through this hole. Next, thread the bottom of the second bag through it’s own handles and pull it tight. Keep repeating this until you have enough to work with. Because of the varying thickness of the result – handles are less bulky – it won’t look so good but this works fine for stuffing material since it won’t show.

Because of the bulky linking “knots” you may not love the feel if you draw them very tight, but if you keep those links between bags a bit loose it won’t be bad. You could also just cut the bags sideways in very wide bands and link them that way but you would be wasting the handles and bottoms.

Here’s a pic of five bags finger-crocheted together:

I tried crocheting this with a size Q crochet hook but it was difficult and tight and not really necessary. Just finger-crochet a chain wide enough for your pillow, chain one or two more, then turn and skip one or two links and begin either a chain stitch or single crochet back in the other direction. IMPORTANT: start crocheting or knitting with a handle end of the super plarn chain so you can add more bags to the bag-bottom end if you run out.

Keep going until you can fold up this pad to the bulkiness you want for your pillow or toy or whatever. The result will be a stable, squishy pillow form with a soft crinkle sound that will remind you of how you are saving the planet, one pillow and dozens of plastic bags at a time.

This post was updated March 23, 2012 with better instructions – I hope. Let me know if you have questions.

I’m working on a Glengarry hat from the book Folk Hats by Vicki Square. I want it to wear with my kilt on occasions, and I find it an interesting learning experience. It’s also my first major encounter with short rows as they are used to shape the curved top of the sides of the hat.

This is a fancy, commercially made Glengarry hat.

Short rows are stopping short in a row and turning the work to knit back in the other direction. To do this you have to anchor the working yarn or you will get a hole where you stopped. Most books teach the wrap-and-turn method, which I tried and find seriously lacking. What you do is slip the next stitch, wrap the yarn around it and slip it back, then turn and knit. Problem is that it usually pulls the loop it’s wrapped around and makes a hole anyway. And even if you work the wrapped yarn with the loop it’s wrapped around (on your way back across) it is visible as a diagonal strand of yarn. I don’t know why this method is in books.

So I got to thinking and reasoned that if I just knit or purl into the loop below the next loop after my stopping point, then slip that loop up onto the left needle so they are nested like spoons then you have a nice secure anchor. The doubled loop is not so visible, especially on a knit side, and you don’t get a hole. Once you turn the work pause to make sure the loop you just made isn’t loose. Snug it up normally, then start knitting in the other direction.

Improved instructions:

Again, what you do is, if the next stitch after your stopping point is a purl, insert your right needle from the back through the loop below that next stitch, wrap your yarn and push the loop through to the other side. Lift that new loop and put it on the tip of the left needle, turn your work, snug it and start working in the other direction.

If your next stitch shows as a knit on your side, insert your right needle through the loop below it from the front – your side – and wrap the yarn, pull a loop through. Now it’s a bit different: insert your right needle knit-wise into the last loop on the left needle (the one above the one you just pulled a loop through) and slip it off the left needle. Then back up and slide both of these loops back onto the left needle in the same orientation – don’t turn them – but with the new loop behind (to the left) of the loop you just slipped off the left needle. You’re just sneaking the new loop in between the last and second to last loops on the left needle. Both loops are now on the left needle, with your last loop nearest the tip of the needle and the new loop behind it. Turn the work, snug the new loop and start knitting in the other direction.

This is very easy and quick. I did a search after I thought of this and found that there are several methods of turning short rows. I found a slight variation on my method on http://techknitting.blogspot.com/search?q=Short+rows%3A+method.
There is a good method called yarnover shortrows explained nicely at http://www.cocoknits.com/info/tutorials/shortrows.html but you have to recognize your yarnover on the way back and work it together with the stitch beyond it to close the gap. With my method the two loops are spooning each other and you can’t miss it. Japanese short rows are supposed to be good but I haven’t tried them.

Here are a bunch of links. Enjoy!

http://sameknit.blogspot.com/2007/04/yarn-over-short-rows.html

http://www.cocoknits.com/info/tutorials/shortrows.html

http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2005/04/japanese_short_.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu5YAKsAEpY

http://www.woolywonder.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6828&page=2&highlight=unwrapped+technique

http://www.cosmicpluto.com/blog/as-promised-a-short-row-heel-tutorial/

Sometimes when you’ve been knitting a lot you get to a point were you just don’t want to do it, but you’ve got three or six or nine projects sitting around and all that time and money invested, and you know you enjoy knitting. So why can’t you knit now and what can you do about it?

Well, sometimes we just need a break. You need something different for a while. Really, your brain and psyche and spirit do need variety. Yes, some people can knit until the cows come home, but remember everyone is different. You know about how people with different astrological signs can be do different? Well, that applies to knitters as well. Not everyone is made to knit until the cows come home, to the sheep or alpacas or whatever. You are unique, so see that maybe you need to break it up a bit. Find other things to focus on periodically, with the intention to refresh yourself so you can get back to knitting happily. Read something – that’s not about knitting! Spend a little time on a craft that doesn’t use yarn. Do some gardening or other creative things that are distinct from knitting to refresh your tastebuds and you will enjoy your knitting more when it’s no longer stale on your palate.

And this uniqueness extends not only to knitting itself but what and why you are knitting. Here are a few variations on that:

Are you knitting to “save money” on gifts? You should know by now that knitting is not a great way to save money. Yarn doesn’t grow on trees, unless it’s part silk and part mulberry fiber and that’s another thing altogether. So if you do it for some back of the mind idea of affordable home made gifts and garments, you might want to think again – or plant mulberries. Or cotton.

Are you knitting for others and not yourself? Ultimately you should be knitting starting with yourself, if not literally, then experientially, meaning you need to enjoy it. What are you getting out of it materially? Have you knitted anything for yourself lately? Or are you being a servant of sorts to others, making gifts, fulfilling requests, answering promises or other “obligations”? How fun is that? If so, you need to rethink. You are not a knitting manufactory. You are a person. Unless you knit for a living, you don’t have to do it.

Handcuffs are not knitting tools.

Firstly, remember you are not truly obligated to knit something you don’t enjoy knitting for someone who asked you, and if you “promised” you can change your mind about it. They don’t own you. And that boring scarf you decided to make for someone – do you really think they want you to suffer through that and be unhappy for that long so they can have a scarf they may not even love? I don’t think it’s a good idea to knit in a bad mood or knit something you don’t like in any case because it puts bad vibes into the piece. Unless that was your intention, and I don’t think it is.  You can, in fact, put good vibes into a piece deliberately by repeating prayers. I read about a woman who repeated the mantra OM for each stitch she did in a shawl for a spiritual teacher she was going to visit and he was able to feel the good vibes that were embedded in it.

And just because someone asked for a hat or something that you agreed to make because it’s “small and easy” doesn’t mean you have to do it, not even if you do it because you are generous and love to knit, and not even because you said you would. Again, they don’t own you. If you are spending all your time knitting for others you have become a servant and not a person who loves to knit and you will suffer. “I said I would do it for them.” Well, now you can tell them you changed your mind because there are other things you want to knit for yourself. Self-affirmation is good for everyone, and teaches others not to be slaves to petty promises.

And another thing about knitting for others: are you knitting to impress them, to be part of a group, to keep up with the pack or fit in somewhere? If you are at all knitting to be liked in some way then you are not being a strong, self-affirming person. I don’t want to be around you – other than to tell you to cut it out. Think of the heroes and others you admire: they are strong, self-affirming people who do what they want and don’t run around trying to please and impress. It’s fine to knit because you enjoy it and enjoy the company of other knitters, but look for the real reason under that and be sure you are coming from your center, not their favor.

Nothing for you. As I said, what do you get out of it materially? My cousin recently admitted that she has not made one thing for herself short of a couple of dishcloths and washcloths – woo hoo! What remains of her nicer finished projects in her house is something she made for the cat. Believe me, your inner child or inner adult wants something knittied for her/his self. “I want one too. What about me?” Give to yourself of your knitting as much or more than you give to others or you will probably, at least subconsciously, feel cheated and left out.

Another reason we balk at knitting is we don’t love the yarn or the color. I have started at least two projects where I had to force myself to knit with the yarn, and then when I realized I didn’t like the color or fiber in yarn for this or any project I canned it. Does the fiber feel good, does it make sense, is it made of what you want to knit with? I’ve decided that for the most part I’m going to knit with organic, unbleached, naturally dyed fibers. Bleaching is needed for dying, and dyes are synthetic and synthetic fibers, pesticides and other dye chemicals all come from petroleum, so there you have it. Eventually I want all my clothes and bedding to be the same, in hemp, cotton, wool – of course alpaca!

On that point, here is a picture of what I call my hamburger scarf because the colors look like old hamburger you find in the fridge and need to throw out – blackish brown, meat-red brown, tan and so forth. I had a small quantity of this hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn in strange colors. I bought it on clearance for a gift for someone else, but one day I just needed something simple to knit at work, and I needed a scarf for myself. So I made this. I like the yarn itself but don’t like the colors. Everyone else loved the colors. It was okay for mindless knitting, and now I have a strange scarf that I like because it is strange, and it reminds me that what I think I don’t like, about myself or anyone or anything, is not a universally unlikable thing. It wasn’t a mistake; it was a life lesson. Yes, I will wear the scarf. Until I make my natural alpaca one with reversible cables.

My hamburger scarf.

Or maybe you just want to experience some exotic yarn once and then you will be fine with your more common yarns for a while. Get it out of your system.

The pattern is too hard or too plain or too repetitive. I had a scarf pattern I was going to do. It was complicated. Involved lace and small cable like cross-overs. It was mind-bending to do this pattern! Needless to say I have ended the adventure. The same can be said for the boringly repetitive scarf or whatever. I’ve looked at scarf patterns with lengths of cables repeating on and on and on and think to myself that I would have to keep changing the pattern so the cables did different things every 4 to 6 inches. I absolutely would not do a 4 to 6 foot scarf in all the same pattern. That’s what machines were invented for. I’m not a machine.

You don’t love the piece, the stitch pattern, the stitches in it. How interesting is this to you? Does the garment flatter your figure? Is the pattern not particularly exciting? If you do actually secretly want to impress others, will this do it? And do fear or dread the stitches? Some people love cables but not doing them. If the stitches are an issue, dive into some stitch practice swatches and see if you can learn a better way to do cables or whatever the challenge is.

You don’t need the piece. Motivation of some sort has to be there. Do you actually need another sweater in that color? Maybe you feel you have too many already but do want this one. Then find one or two you don’t love and give it away or frog it out. Thus you clear a space for the new one and create motivation for yourself to do it. Think of something you haven’t knitted for yourself and would like or could use and make that instead.

It’s nothing new. How many of these garments have you done? Why are you doing so many of them? Maybe you are actually the sort of person who needs to do one or two of a lot of different things. Explore and expand. Maybe a different garment or item would be more exciting and motivating. Try different stuff.

Tired of running with the pack; everybody does these pieces. You are an original and maybe you need to find your own knitting niche. Break the mold, break formation, break into a new to you and maybe new to the world field of knitting.

The project lacks true creativity or self expression. One of the things that keeps me going is inventiveness. I love to take a pattern and modify it, sometimes on the fly. I’m making a Glengarry had from the Folk Hats book by ____ and the first issue is it’s too small. I made one exactly as the book instructed just to figure it out, and didn’t like some of the features. So I have the exploration of how to make it my size, plus I get to change the pattern in a few ways to suit my creativity. I changed the bottom edge so it won’t curl on me, I’m putting diagonal ridges in the sides using carefully placed purl stitches in a field of knits, plus I am using short rows to make the front band taller than the back of the had, which is more like conventional Glengarrys. And for the top I’m going to make it all full of holes with yarnovers so it’s cooler in the summer. I may put holes in the sides for ventilation and decoration as well. So maybe you, too, need to inject some of yourself into your project. Then you get to learn and invent and have the mystery of how will it turn out ahead of you.

Nothing to learn. I like to learn new things, so if I’m doing the same thing over and over and not extending or expanding myself it gets boring. It becomes a chore. Find projects or things you can add to the project that will make it a growing experience for you. This motivation makes your knitting more valuable to you. Have you tried intarsia? Entrelac? Colorwork? Break your bounds and explore. Even if you don’t intend to do anything with a particular technique you will feel more complete and confident as a knitter when you master more skills. And you may discover a new knitting avenue to fire up and inspire your knitting.

You don’t have a great place to knit. So make yourself a knitting place. Where do you like to sit. Is it comfortable, warm or cool enough, lit properly, quiet enough. Maybe it’s too lonely. Find a knitting friend or circle. If it’s your space, fix it up, neaten it up and make it work for you. I used to knit with yarn in Ziploc bags. Not very romantic, so I found some fabric lined baskets that nest, and I like the look and vibe of having my yarn so contained while I’m knitting and the look of it when I’m not, and I like to knit on my couch with classical music playing. My cousin Leigh knits out of select pieces of her pottery collection at her dining table with good lighting. Don’t just plop down anywhere. Make it a pleasure to yourself.

My knitting awaits me.

You knitting energy is literally too dispersed. I believe it’s possible that if you have six projects going it can stall all of them. It is good to have maybe three so you can give yourself variety, but maybe you are the sort of person who needs to learn not to have too many irons in the fire. There are too many wips and not enough energy for any one of them because the energy you have is spread too thin. This could also be a sign of indecisiveness or poor choices and you aren’t knitting for some of the reasons on in this article.

You just have no real reason to knit. Well, if you do generally like to knit you can just knit nothing in particular. Just practice stitches and learn new techniques with swatches, and someday you will have those skills when you have a reason to knit.

Another way is to make it meditation or concentration practice. We all know how relaxing knitting is. If you are a bit stressed knitting can bring you back to center. And the effects of neuroplasticity will actually train your brain to support you in being generally more calm. With neuroplacticity you actually grow brain cells that make it easier to be relaxed.

You can also use knitting to train yourself to concentrate better by focusing on the stitches. Pick a more complicated pattern and stick with it to train your mind and grow your brain into shape. Better concentration has a powerful benefit and your life would be improved in many other ways. It develops the will and that is central in self-affirmation. Often when we are knitting we are thinking about several other things at the same time and listening to other conversations. See if you are able to think only about your knitting.

Talk about not being able to get knitting out of your head...

Remember that just because you started a project or are half way through you don’t have to finish it if you aren’t enjoying it. Either find a reason to enjoy it or cut your losses. And if you can’t find a reason not to enjoy it maybe you just need to learn to finish things. This can be a challenge, especially if you have a lot of Aries energy in your chart – like me. Pisceans are good at finishing projects – not like me. Believe me, your astrology does affect your knitting, so don’t blame yourself. Learn who you are, what works for you and how you work and learn to make knitting enjoyable.

So how do you get back into knitting? Knit what you love. Knit with yarn and needles you love. Knit for whom you love. Knit with whom you love. Knit how you love to knit. Knit where you love to knit. Knit with love in your heart. Knit as a gift you yourself. Know and love who you are. Make a happy, fulfilled self your gift to the others. Remember: you are the one knitting, and it’s your life.

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