What a Life!

The Charcoal Slog-a-long at one of its glorious stages.

I’ve decided that the Charcoal Slog-a-long I was knitting for Steve is going to bite the dust.

There were a number of problems with this project. I make the neck in front too deep and really needed to re-do it. The sleeve I had half-finished was not growing at the correct pace and I needed to re-do it with a different interval between the increases. And while those problems wouldn’t be enough to kill a project, the fact that I was bored out of my mind with it was what finally pushed it over the edge.

I’ve only knit one sweater for Steve – Galway Guy from Interweave Knits Sprint 2005. I gave it to him for Christmas 2005, though I had to re-do the sleeves so he didn’t actually wear it until last season. Here you can see him wearing it on Christmas Day 2006.

It was my first “big” project – as in, something that wasn’t for Ben. The largest project I had done to date took about two skeins of worsted weight yarn, and that sweater took ten skeins. Then since it was a surprise for Steve, I had to work on it during the day (I don’t usually knit during the day – just first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening). I even took it to a Mary Kay retreat with me and worked on it while I listened to the various speakers [I was running short on time to complete it, and I listen better when I knit anyway]. I loved it because it looked great and it was very interesting to knit with all the different stitch patterns and such.

Prior to that sweater, Steve said he hated hand-knit items. His grandmother was also a knitter and made him a sweater every year when he was a kid. Those sweaters, though, were 100% acrylic which makes you sweat but isn’t worth two cents when it comes to keeping you warm. Wool, on the other hand, doesn’t make you sweat but keeps you nice and warm or just plain comfortable wherever you are (otherwise, how would sheep survive the summer with their wooly coats?). So even though he had sworn he wouldn’t wear a sweater if I knit him one, I knit him one anyway. Out of Plymouth Galway, 100% wool.

He likes it. It doesn’t make him too hot. He wore it quite a bit last winter. When we went to special occasions such as Christmas or my Grandmother’s funeral. He also wore it at home when he was studying. It’s a comfortable sweater. And did I mention that I love how it looks?

Here it is, once more, in all it’s glory.

Steve even said I could knit him more sweaters. With one change, though. He would like them to be more plain. I’d show him pictures of sweaters in various magazines, and while he said he’d wear them if I made them, they were never plain enough.

So I decided I would knit him a plain sweater. I got a good deal on a stack of Cascade 220 Charcoal Heather 100% Peruvian wool, and I started to knit it up for him in a plain, stockinette sweater. I measured shirts and sweatshirts in his closet in order to determine the right size. And I knit, and I knit, and I knit.

I’m telling you, it was the most boring thing I ever worked on. Not only did every row last forever, every row was the same as the last. If all knitting was like this, I would not be a knitter. I know some knitters groove on this type of knitting because it is mindless – it is simply too mindless for me.

Even though I was interspersing working on it with working on St. Brigid (a project that is very complex), the mere thought of this project fills my mind with dreaded loathing, and I simply do not want such feelings to be associated with the person I am knitting this sweater for. And thus, I have decided to let it rest in peace.

Yes, I will be frogging the Charcoal Slog-a-long.

Not to worry, though. I have plans for all of the yarn – both what I’ve used so far and what has not yet been knit up. What I have used so far will be knit into projects that are felted, such as another LTK Pack-Pack like the one I made for Ben. (Once yarn has been knit, frogged, and re-knit, it can be a little more fuzzy than yarn that has only been knit once. Using previously knit yarn for felting, though, is just fine since the process of felting is really just making the yarn so fuzzy it sticks together.) I should also have some of the Cascade 220 Sapphire Heather yarn I’m using for St. Brigid that I can use for the lid. I think that will look good together.

I want to use the yarn that has not yet been knit to make sweaters for the boys. Sweaters based on brooklyntweed‘s Cobblestone Pullover in the latest issue of Interweave Knits. [I showed a picture of this sweater to Steve to see if it was plain enough and he said “yes” except for “all that stuff up at the top.”] There is a produce farm on north 84th (Sunwest Farms, I believe) that has hayrides and such in the fall. I want to take the boys there, in their jeans and sweaters, and try to get some Christmas-card-worthy photos of the two of them.

As the Charcoal Slog-a-long has sat in the corner as a UFO (unfinished object), I’ve thought long and hard about what it is that makes things worthwhile for me to knit. On one hand, I don’t generally like simple projects. The Cobblestone Pullover may be fairly simple, but it also has some neat features that make it more interesting than it might appear at first. Plus, knitting them for the boys means they’re fairly small and will be done rather quickly. On the other hand, I also have difficulty bringing myself to knit something if it will just be in my way when I’m done. I want to enjoy making the things I knit (the process), and I also want them to be things that I (or someone else) will use and love (the product).

I cannot be too hard on Steve for liking plain things. I, too, have a rather plain wardrobe. Basically, if Land’s End sells it, I wear it. Plain jeans, t-shirts, and button-down shirts are what you find in my closet. I’m not big on accessories. I don’t go out and buy the latest fashions every season. I have decided, though, that knitted items are my accessory. If I need a formal gown, I shall get a long black sleeveless sheath dress and then make a beautiful shawl to go with it (such as this Morning Glory from knitspot). I’m currently making the Nantucket Jacket for myself, which I will wear with a plain button-down shirt and a pair of jeans, probably. St. Brigid will be another piece in my wardrobe that will go well with a simple pair of black pants. This is my new philosophy when it comes to selecting future knitting projects (and weeding out some of the old ones which have stalled).

So for now, the Charcoal Slog-a-long will lie in a corner in its current state. At some point I will actually frog it – perhaps because I’m ready to use the yarn for something else, perhaps because I simply want it out of my way. Ultimately, it has been replaced with projects which I am more excited about, projects that better fit into my newfound philosophy of selecting knitting projects.

Rest in peace, oh Charcoal Slog-a-long.