It has been since I last bought yarn!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Look How Far I've Come!

Blog posts have been brief- yes I know. Brief mostly because I am knitting the worldest longest blanket. I think I've been knitting this blanket for at least 5 years now. No- really, it feels like 5 years. HOW AM I ONLY 26 INCHES ALONG WHEN I HAVE BEEN KNITTING THIS BLANKET FOR FIVE YEARS!?!? What was my life like before I started knitting this blanket? I don't remember. Here is a photo of it in it's current status. (Goal is 38-40 Inches in length)

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Since essentially this is the same picture I showed you last time I came here to post, except with a few additional inches, I thought I'd show you something else. Something interesting... something that I haven't told you about before.

Behold! MY VERY FIRST PROJECT!

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Yes. That is a Blanket. Yes. It is knit in the most horrible acrylic manufactured. Yes- I am INSANE for thinking a blanket would be a good project to start on. To be fair, I knit a never-ending-garter-stitch-scarf of doom to learn the knit stitch- but this was my goal. My envsioned first project- an afgan. You'll notice that it doesn't look even in this picture, that's not bad photography, that's "first time knitting" skills at their finest.

This afghan took me a year to knit. Let me say that it again. I did not have the satisfaction of a finished object FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR! (Be greatful I didn't have a knitting blog then, imagine how bored you'd be!) This was knit in pieces- 10 long pieces I then sewed together. When I started, I knitted so loosely, so afraid to pull the yarn too tight. But then, as time wore on- I knit tighter, and tighter and tighter and TIGHTER so that the last piece was nearly half the size of the first piece!

To give you an idea of size- I took a photo of this so you understand my determination- the sheer size of this undertaking is knitting nievety at it's finest. This is the blanket- on my queen sized bed....

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Please do not blame this sheer insane knitting idea of mine on my Mother in Law- this is a woman who tried her hardest to talk me out of such a huge undertaking. She was also incredibly supportive- when I envitably made a mistake- I'd call in her in absolute panic. (nearly in tears) "PHYLLIS! I SCREWED UP!!!!" (Yoda like in her wisdom) "I'm sure it's not so bad Jen- we can fix it up." Calm, rational, and amazed that I was still actually knitting the damn thing, she'd meet me for coffee and pick up my dropped stitches or tink back my work to get me back on my way.

As the number of mistakes began to grow, (OH she was patient... I think about it now and I owe so much help on mistakes as karma for my own), we got creative. I'd meet her husband, (my father in law now--- don't even get me started on what a TRAGEDY it would have been for my knitting had I ever broken up with my now husband!) over lunch since we worked in the same vicinity, and he'd take it home and my mother in law would look at it and wonder what I had done now. She'd spend her evening, fixing my boo boos and my father in law would meet me the next day over lunch and deliver the goods. She always got it back to me so quickly- as if she knew if I waited to long, I'd just give up.

Eventually I learned to fix most of my own mistakes- and I'd grind out a color square a night, carving a welt in my yarn tension finger, from pulling the yarn so tight. When MiL and I would meet she'd always gently comment that "it's getting just a little tight, you might want to loosen up your knitting" as if I was mostly doing a perfect job, when in fact, especially those last few portions, my knitting is essentially bullet proof.

But- one year and a month after I cast on, (and I'd literally go a month at a time without knitting a stitch, I can't even believe that now), I cast off. And MiL was there again- helping me figure out how I was going to sew those 10 scarves together, especially when they were all different sizes, due to my ever changing gauge. I eventually finished that blanket- and we, (MiL, FiL & me) all looked on in amazement- SHOCKED that I actually finished. Thank you Phyllis and Arnold for all your support to get me hooked on this craft- without you I'd probably not be obsessed! :-)

Then I took several months off... except I missed having a project, something to do- and so I cast on again. Another blanket... that took me close to another year! So I guess knitting all these blankets is really coming full circle for me. I started out a blanket knitter- and it will probably always be a project that I'm drawn too.

Even now- I've joined the Western Canadian Oddball Baby Blanket Society (WCOBB) where I'll be knitting 6 inches of a blanket for charity. I'm slated to knit the 3rd section on "butternut" and I can't wait to get it in my hands and add my piece.

Okay- enough chatter... more knitting. THIS BABY BLANKET ISN'T GOING TO KNIT ITSELF!

1 comment:

Anne B. said...

Wow, I am in awe of how big that blanket, or ten scarves are. You are very determined. No wonder you are now knitting 22 baby blankets!