Summer Knitting

 

Up on the North Coast of British Columbia some might successfully argue that we haven’t had summer. So far we’ve managed to maintain a balmy 10-12 degrees Celsius, which keeps pace nicely with our winter mean temp. Having said that it is sunny today, it was sunny yesterday and it may be sunny tomorrow, tomorrow I love ya tomorrow…but I digress. Where am I going with this weather forecasting? It's my awkward segue way into summer knitting.

If you could look at the stacks and stacks of magazines I’ve purchased or perused (which you can't because I donated most of the them to the library) over the years you would notice an obvious lack of summer issues. For the most part summer issues (roughly May to August) hold very little interest for me. They tend to be full of flimsy little numbers that would take days to knit and by the time you finish summer’s over. Certainly they include the odd pair of socks, string bag, toy or placemat, but the clothing options are rather retched. Having said that, consider the source, I’m a meat and potatoes type of knitter or for my vegetarian knitters I guess that would make me a tofu and tomato type of knitter. Summer or winter I don’t waste my time on trendy difficult items that are likely to fall out of fashion before I can finish them. In other words I rarely knit anything from Vogue Knitting magazine. Do the editors of Vogue Knitting actually think people will knit that stuff? Sorry, I rambled off into a rant there.

So what do I knit in the summer? I tend to use the summer as a time to experiment with stitches and patterns that are small and relatively quick. This summer I’ve got a few small projects on the go. I’ve stumbled into Entrelac knitting after years of avoiding it like the plague. A tour around the Ravelry website will show you a number of do-able entrelac projects that look nice too. I’ve just finished an entrelac cowl with a Noro yarn and all it’s rich colours. Now I'm contemplating a scarf.

Learning to knit and purl backwards was an interesting challenge and not nearly as difficult as it sounds. It's a skill that is handy when knitting short rows as I found out with my other WIP (work in progress). I'm working on a lace shawlette that involves numerous sets of short rows The shawlette pattern is in the early fall 2012 issue of Vogue Knitting magazine...Okay so not all their stuff sucks, she muttered (but note it is a fall issue not a summer issue).

I've set myself the goal of getting a handle on machine quilting this summer. I know, it's not knitting, but variety is a great thing. Besides, when I end up with another rats nest of threads on the back of my practice quilt, it will be nice to go back to knitting and feeling successful.

My other plan is to knit something with beads, I've got a few ideas in mind but no beads. If I find myself in range of a bead store I'll remedy that, but for now that project whatever it is, is on the back burner.

I'm pondering doing little knits for the Hospital Auxiliary store. I had a chat the other day with the volunteer working in the little booth and came away with a few possibilities. Might as well knit for someone else's baby as I don't have any of my own (and by the way that is not longing, nor is it a hint to my children). I'm just saying that knitting for babies is cool, because it's small and cute, just like they are.

You will have noticed a shocking absence of photos for this blog post. I apologize for that, but it is July 13 and as I write this blog there are 164 days, 3 hours and 12 minutes until Christmas. What does Christmas have to do with summer knitting and Leah's lack of photos, you wonder (as you curse me for bringing up the "C" word). Summer is the time of year I start knitting gifts for the yuletide and if I show you photos of my WIPs Christmas will be ruined. So maybe you should get started on a holiday project or two because now there are only 164 days, 3 hours and 5 minutes left until Christmas.

The Prince Rupert Library Knitters are still getting together through out the summer. Call the library for times and dates. Happy holidays! (summer holidays of course).

 

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