Ceres

$5.00 - pattern for hat and mitts

Finally, it's done.  :-)

Ceres is a simple top-down beanie with a narrow, rolled brim and matching mitts. Its main features are the colored ridges, which are created using exposed stranded colorwork. The specific stranding technique creates the illusion that the strands are braided together. Knit in the colors shown, this piece brings to mind a plaited grass crown, or grass peeking through a light, early-winter snowfall. Hence its being named for the Roman goddess of agriculture, whose mourning brings on the winter each year. Ceres works well in a variety of colors, however, and looks as good on a man as it does on a woman.

Sizing:  garments will comfortably stretch up to a couple of inches over the measurements given here.
Small (child) - 4" around wrist, 18" around head
Medium (woman) - 6" around wrist, 20" around head
Large (man) - 8" around wrist, 22" around head

Shown in medium

Skills:  knitting in the round, stranded colorwork, simple increases.

Big thanks to my husband, who shall remain nameless, for the photography. Thanks also to acucena, curiouskate, mugginsquilts, schokolilo, lnupermom and truki of Ravelry for testing the draft of my pattern. They were extremely helpful, and I love how their projects turned out!

You can purchase this through Ravelry, or just click the "buy now" button at the top of the page. If you have any questions, email me or check out About the Patterns.

Bluebonnets is copyright Sasha Evans, all rights reserved. By downloading this pattern, you agree not to redistribute it or to use it for commercial purposes, unless you ask me very very nicely and I say yes.

Other People's Babies

Over the past month, I received news that two of my friends (ok...four, two couples) were expecting. They're all wonderful people and great parents. Both couples already have sons of about the same age, though they don't know each other, and both boys would make great big brothers. Both couples very much wanted their pregnancies, although one hadn't been sure it was possible after a bout with cancer, and everyone was excited for them.

Then, within the span of about three days, I received news that both couples had lost their babies. I am now much closer to understanding what the word "heartbroken" really means. It's shocking how something so absolutely and energetically good can just vanish. And it's frustrating not only because I have no idea what they need right now, but because even if I did, both couples (one of whom I'm very close friends with) are in Texas. There's only so much comfort that can be sent over the internet, and...it just doesn't seem a gift-sending occasion, so for now, I'll stay my knitting needles. I am, I think, going to mark the passings by lighting a candle...or something...in my own fumblingly pseudo-religious way. I don't believe that life begins at conception, and I certainly don't believe you have to be loved to have a soul, but...I think perhaps it may speed things along. These little people were very loved during their brief time in the world, and they still are.

In considerably happier news, my boyfriend (who will remain nameless) and I will be picking up his son from the airport next Saturday! He'll be with us all month, and we've decided to spend most of our time at my place, with a detour down south to the family farm (his family, not mine, but they're great). This has meant kitting out the "guest room" in the basement into something a little more kid friendly and less, well...basement-like, which has been a lot of fun! It's also involved a couple of new projects. Last summer, the incredible blond lightening bolt was quite attached to his army of stuffed animals. This summer, my boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, speculates that he may not have room in his luggage for any, as he's flying alone for the first time. Thus, currently, there is a pile of knitted, unstuffed rabbit parts. Soon there will be a rabbit. I figure if he thinks it's lame, I can foist it on my 8-month-old roommate. :-)

There is also (very nearly) a quilt (pictured above with my baby, Harlot)! I must admit, I'm making this quilt for myself because I absolutely hate my comforter. But it's occured to me that when my boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, and I finally get around to shacking up, it'll probably wind up on the incredible blond lightening bolt's bed. The overachiever who lives in my rian thinks I can have this done in time to put on his bed in the basement. The sane person who cohabitates with the overachiever in my brain is not so sure, but isn't worrying since there's more than enough bedding to go around...it's just not quite as snappy and hand-made. At any rate, it's coming along really nicely, and we'll just see when and for whom it comes out.

The Tastiest Palindrome

Haaaaallaaaaah.......

(In the interest of full disclosure, I normally spell it "challah." That's when I'm not trying to capitalize on its being a palindrome, of course).

Today, I am drowning in grainy goodness (I should go get a nice Heffeweisen and round things off). I've finished a hat (matching mitts to come) named after Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain and agriculture. Doesn't it remind you of woven grass? It reminds me of woven grass. Anyway. It's being tested now, and in celebration, I've decided to bake challah, and share the recipe with the masses!

Challah is rather more involved than most bread, and certainly more involved than the delightfully simple no-knead bread that I've very nearly perfected (about which more later). It has more than your typical 2 rises, it must rise in a warm oven and bake at a gradually increasing temperature.

Although I've had great luck baking Challah in a variety of shapes, it is traditionally baked in a nice, braided loaf. Furthermore, my recipe makes four loaves. That's a lotta baking! My understanding is that this is traditionally baked in quantity before the sun sets on Friday, so that there's plenty of challah to break off (not cut) and eat during the period of work-restriction during Shabbat. I could be wrong - I'm not Jewish. I just really like challah!

Today I'm quartering the recipe, and the recipe I'll share with you includes both measurements - numbers not in parentheses are for one loaf, numbers in parentheses are for four. I'll let you figure out the twos and threes and eights as you see fit. :-)

• 2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, more for dusting and adding in if the dough is too wet (10 cups)
• 1-1/2 tsp. salt (2 Tbsp.)
• 1/8 cup sugar (1/2 cup)
• 2 level Tbsp. yeast (2 heaping Tbsp.)
• 1/8 lb. butter, melted (1/2 lb.)
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. warm water (2-1/2 cups)
• 2 eggs at room temperature (6 eggs)
• optional: seeds or dried fruit, about 1 handful total per loaf
  

1. Preheat oven to warm -- 140 deg. F.

2. Mix the flour and salt in a large nonmetal bowl, making a well in the center. (I tried it once in a metal bowl. The bread started to bake prematurely along the bottom during the rise. This may have been due to a sketchy Russian oven, or it may have been due to an overly conductive bowl. I'm not taking any more chances!)

3. Many people add seeds or dried fruit to their challah. I usually make mine plain, but on special occasions, I'll mix in sunflower seeds and golden raisins. Mix about a handful of your chosen stuff in with the dry ingredients now, if desired.

4. Add 1 Tbsp. (1/4 cup) sugar to the well, cover with the yeast, and top with remaining sugar.

5. Mix the yeast with the sugar in the well.

6. Combine the melted butter and warm water, mixing as best you can.

7. Add the butter mixture to the yeast mixture and work in well with your hands.

8. Separate 1 egg.

9. Add the remaining 1 egg (5 eggs) and white of the separated egg individually to the bread dough, kneading well afer each addition, until all the flour is absorbed, about 10 minutes. As you knead, you may have to add more flour, so have some handy. The dough will be sticky - add flour gradually until it doesn't stick hopelessly to your fingers.

10. Cover the bowl first with waxed paper smeared with butter, then with a towel, and put in the warm oven for 1/2 hour.

11. When the dough has almost doubled in size, punch it down and knead thoroughly and briskly for about 10 minutes. You will soon find that kneading warm bread dough is one of the more pleasurable activities life has to offer.

12. Cover with the greased paper and towel and let rise for 15-20 minutes more in the warm oven, until it is almost doubled again.

13. Remove once more, punch down, knead again for 5-10 minutes. Re-cover and let rise once more for 15-20 minutes in the warm oven.

14. Turn the dough onto a pastry board and knead thoroughly. (If baking 4 loaves, cut the dough into 4 equal pieces using a sharp knife.) Divide each loaf further into 6 pieces. Add a little flour, and knead each portion, and shape it into a ball. Cover the pieces not being worked on with a moist paper towel.

15. With the palm of your hand, roll out the balls into long ropes about 9 inches in length. Continue until all 6 balls are shaped into ropes.

16. Place 6 ropes side by side, touching at one end. Pinch that end to seal well. Bring the extreme right rope over the next three; then bring the extreme left over three. Continue until the bread is completely braided. when no more can be braided, pinch the ends to seal together. Place on a greased and floured cookie sheet. Repeat for as many loaves as you are making.

17. Brush with the remaining egg yolk, making sure you get into all the cracks.

18. Place in warm oven for 20 minutes.

19. Raise the oven temperature to 200 deg. F for 15 minutes.

20. Raise it to 275 deg F for 15 minutes.

21. Finally, raise the oven temperature to 375 deg. F for 10-15 minutes, until the bread is golden brown.

22. Let cool completely before slicing. If you really can't wait and want warm bread, let it cool enough to handle without burning yourself, and break chunks off. Bread really does slice better when it's cooled a bit, but this bread lends itself well to not being sliced.

23. The baked challah freezes well.

A Quick Plug

The folks over at Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm have come up with a wonderful way to destash for a good cause: Yarn Storming. These days, many knitters have had to cut yarn out of their budget to get by - and we all know how sanity-saving a good knit can be during a stressful time. Yarn Storm's secret agents collect extra stash yarn, and then send it out anonymously to people who could use it. Read more at the website linked above, and if you're on Ravelry, check out their group! You can contribute by sending in stash yarn or by nominating a recipient.

I think this is a fantastic idea, and I already know where there's a box of yarn I keep not using in my basement that I'll send in once I'm back in Madison. Makes me wish more of my down-and-out friends were knitters. :-)

There will be another post today as well - more of the usual fare involving recipes and pictures of bread and knitting and whatnot. Stay tuned!

Knitting in Public

Today is World Wide Knit in Public Day. Rejoice! There was a group meeting at a farmer's market not far from me this morning to knit in public. I thought about going, but decided that I'm probably just not strong enough to spend time surrounded by luscious, local, largely organic produce, meats, eggs, dairy and baked goods without buying something. Particularly circa breakfast time. And have we been keeping up with how pathetically jobless and broke I am? Yes.

So I humped my needles down to the park this afternoon. I found a nice, quiet, shady spot with a good view. It was pleasantly solitary, but there were enough joggers and bikers out today that it qualified as "knitting in public."

Pictured above is your basic garter stitch swiffer cover. While I'm usually not a huge fan of garter stitch, I find it's excellent for scrubbing and picking up schmutz! I got a whole mess of Sugar 'n Cream cotton from my mother a while back. Free yarn = free swiffer covers and washcloths! This is excellent from my broke-ass perspective! I might post a pattern for the swiffer cover at some point, but it's so stupid easy, I'm not sure the demand is there.

I have a hemlock ring blanket to finish that I'm out of yarn for. A couple of hats that are almost ready for testing. A new project I can't tell you about. But today - today I needed something simple and mindless that didn't involve buying new yarn. :-)

The End is Near

Bluebonnets is officially - finally - in the testing stages (you thought I was going to say "done" didn't you? Well the piece is done - done and GORGEOUS - and so is the pattern, it just needs to be tested. I will never charge money for a pattern that has not been tested or professionally tech edited, of that you can be sure)! I expect to have the pattern up for sale next week. Winners of the "Tied Up and Twisted" blog giveaway will get their free pattern as soon as it's up.

Has anyone else noticed that I was posting more often during finals than I am now that it's summer and I'm unemployed? Yeah. Funny how that works.

Anyway. I'd also been working on another much larger-scale project that I'd intended to submit to Knitty. Life, however, in the form of externally-imposed deadlines and sudden shortages of yarn, got in the way, and it's just as well. It was going to be great, but it's going to be better now that I'm not rushing to finish it. I'll post pictures of it soon, but here's a hint: it's a one-of-a-kind original sweater, but you'll recognize it. *smiles coyly*

This Post Has a Picture

It's right there at the top of the post. Just beneath the title. You don't see it? It's easy to miss, but quite clear. It's my favorite size 6 circular needle that has SUDDENLY BECOME INVISIBLE!!! This vanishing needle made me unreasonably angry and upset last night. I bought amazingly yummy yarn yesterday for two new projects that are going to be wonderful. Both require a size 6 circular needle. I have 2, one of which has a sweater on it, one of which is now charmingly invisible. I looked everywhere. My darling boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, even searched through my car. He found horrifying tupperware with old leftovers in them, an alarm clock, a bird call and lots of candy but, of course, no size 6 circular needle. I'll probably go buy another one today after school. I can justify (sort of) buying a duplicate of a duplicate needle because I think these are both patterns that can sell. *looks at bank account and whimpers*

Speaking of luscious, beautiful "money saving" things, here are some books I want. I need to be coming up with these ideas myself and not paying someone to come up with them for me. Still...inspiration...it helps a lot, particularly when bogged down with finals. I mean...Dostoevsky's idea of evil and the Late Common Slavic period of disintegration are definitely inspiring, just...not in quite the same way, y'know? A trip to the library is called for, I think. Or perhaps some window-shopping at Barnes and Noble. Then if these patterns are a) completed and b) sell, I'll splurge on some more books that I don't have room for on my shelves. :-)

Busy Weekend

Of course, I'm sitting here blogging on my laptop at the dining room table, so you'd never know it's been a fairly busy weekend, BUT IT HAS BEEN!!! Not as busy as it needed to be...but still. I've gotten plenty done, and there's plenty more to do.

Probably of most interest to you will be the progress I've made on Bluebonnets! I really like how it's turning out. I feel the need to throw in the typical "This will look much nicer when it's blocked" disclaimer, but I like how the open rib at the top mimics the fluffy, round column of blossoms you get on a bluebonnet. I'm using a slipped-stitch cable to create the stem and leaves, and I love how leafy it's turning out! I'm knitting this hairband from the center out, and I now have one side done and the provisionally cast on stitches picked up. Pattern's set, chart is drafted, all I need now is to knit the other half and pretty up the directions, and it's off to be tested!

Did my taxes. Wooooooo. Unfortunately, my former job wasn't so good with the withholding, so I owed a painful chunk of change. Turns out, though, that after finishing up my taxes today, I only owe slightly over half of what I thought I owed. That's still over a month's worth of rent, but still. I'd planned for much, much worse.

And other than that, I have a boat-load of school work to do. I've been plowing through a Dostoevsky novel, reading up on a presentation I'm giving on Tuesday about Dostoevsky's less-than-sympathetic attitude toward Jews in Russia and Europe and doing some editing and follow-up emailing for a professor. Oh, and articles on cognitive linguistics and Russian morphology. Let's not forget those.

Oh right! It's Easter! Happy Easter, everyone. It's easy to forget about this particular holiday, being childless and not really religious. But it's blatantly springtime outside, and all of my friends are posting to their respective blogs about family and food and coloring eggs with children, so it's definitely Easter. I'd been planning to make a big roast chicken dinner tonight, actually forgetting that it was Easter. My boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, is at his place, my roommates are with family, so...big dinner by myself? Woo. I'll try to focus more on the amazingly tasty food I'm able to prepare, and less on the fact that I'll be enjoying a big, Easter dinner with my cats.

Tied Up and Twisted

My "Happy Weekend" present to you: a new free pattern cum blog giveaway!

Pattern
Download the PDF here.
"Tied Up and Twisted" is amazingly quick, amazingly easy and surprisingly versatile. The twisty pulse-warmers will keep you (surprisingly) warm while the weather warms up, and the hairband can be worn in lots of different ways. There are yarn overs worked down the length of each piece, which allows you to button them anywhere along their length. Use these pictures as “serving suggestions.” There’s plenty of room for creativity!

I knit these to show off the wonderful handspun yarn I received for Christmas from Woolly Hands. Worked on large needles, this yarn knits up quickly and with lots of character! You could substitute a bulky yarn of more even thickness, but I think you’d lose some of the character of the piece.

Blog Giveaway
Remember "Bluebonnets?" It's coming along great, and I'm almost ready to have it tested. Because this pattern is slightly more complicated than my two free patterns, I'm going to charge a little for it.

Want to get it for free?

Knit up "Tied Up and Twisted" and post it to Ravelry with pictures and a rating by the end of the month, and I'll enter your name into a drawing for a free PDF copy of "Bluebonnets" when it's tested and finished. I'll draw 2 names at random and contact the winners through Ravelry on May 1. You have to be on Ravelry to enter, but this gives you time to get an account if you don't already have one (it's free, and soooooo worth the clicking and typing). And yes, I will enter your name even if you only give me one star. Be honest. :-)





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. Click here for an explanation of this term in plain English.

Sneak Peek

New pattern, coming soon! This right here is only 1/3 of what you'll get. *smiles coyly*

Another "To Knit"

This thick, delicious wool was spun for me by a friend (with the help of her son) as a birthday present, and it has "thrummed mittens" written all over it! The yarn is a bit scratchy, but not unpleasantly so. It's not something I'd want to have next to the skin on my forehead necessarily, but it's a good, sturdy yarn with character. This will make wonderfully warm, water-resistant mittens, and a layer of soft thrumming inside will keep my hands feeling warm and cushioned! I think a nice bright green roving would look nice with this yarn - spots of green on a field of rich brown, like the buds that really really really really really need to start poking out of the mud here soon.

My "To Knit" List

I'm focusing very deliberately on my own designs these days (many of which I can't tell you about yet, but boy am I getting this coy smile down). As a result, it's been sort of a while since I've knit a pattern by anyone else! I think it's important that I continue to knit other people's designs not just for designer solidarity, and not just because there are so many beautiful things out there that I want but did not design. Knitting other people's patterns is how I learn new techniques and construction methods. It's how I push my envelope, and it's how I'm able to expand what I'm able to design myself.

I've been drooling over some patterns by Ysolda Teague, for instance. I've never knit toys or anything stuffed before, and I know at least two little boys who really need a handmade stuffed elephant. I've not knit a slouchy, beret style hat either, and she has some really nice ones. I'll go with a lacier one, I think, maybe Ishbel because I need to flex my lace chops some more. I should try out a shawl too, circles and triangles. Maybe Bethany Kok's Shipwreck.

I've never done much with color, but I'd like to work it into my knitting more. I may start with Paper Dolls, by Kate Davies. Owls (scroll down from "Paper Dolls") will happen as well, oh yes it will, though I don't need practice cabling. I just love it, and it needs to happen.

It will be a slow, slow process, working through this list, both because it's a rather expensive list and because I do intend to continue focusing on my own designs.

On and Off the Needles

Did you think I meant that I'm on and off the needles? Because that would have been a hilariously inaccurate misconstrual! I am very much on the needles. On them like a drug. Here's what's off, though:

That's my Foliage. I wore it on the bus this morning, and who should step onto the bus as I sat in my morning fog but some random stranger wearing the same hat in a nice, warm yellow! I was delighted, and kept awkwardly trying to catch her eye to flash her my "Hey, we have the same hat which is cooler because we both obviously made the hats as well!" smile, but to no avail. She never looked at me, and I started to feel weird and stalkerish, so I gave up. It was a bit of a let-down, in the end. Now for what's on my needles:

Meet "Bluebonnets." If this turns out as nicely as I think it will, I may offer it for sale. We'll see. It's going to be a headband with two lacy bluebonnets knit down its length. This should be a great beginner lace project, and a really quick knit. I'm knitting it in Paton's bamboo/silk blend. It's shiny and slippery and smooth and silky and I'm really falling in love with the idea of bamboo yarn, not just from an ecological standpoint, but from a purely aesthetic one as well.

I have a number of larger-scale projects in the planning and knitting stages as well, but I can't tell you about them yet. Rest assured, I am smiling coyly as I type this.

Oh yes. There will be a quilt.

LOOKIT I HAVE FABRIC!!!

I obviously went with cotton over silk or velvet because I am rather fond of my kidneys, thank you very much. I'm also aware that cotton is quite a bit easier to work with than silk or velvet, and given that I suck at sewing, I thought I'd spare myself the angst.

My boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, was very helpful in picking out these fabrics. Having someone whose taste I trust to bounce ideas and possibilities off of helps me overcome the paralyzing indecision that tends to strike me in fabric stores. Also, he helped with the math.

I am nearing the point of project-saturation. Right now, I have 3 knitting projects, two of which have deadlines (albeit not for a while), one of which is not my design (so it's very much at the bottom of my knitting basket). Then I have another very simple sewing project (also with a deadline), and this quilt. Meanwhile, school must continue to come first. Knitting is portable - I can get knitting done on the bus, or sitting around waiting for class to start (I tend not to knit during class. Only when we're derailed on particularly inane tangents will I knit surreptitiously under my desk). Quilting will have to stay at home, obviously, and I really just need to bang through this other sewing project...maybe today.

Right, so deadlines. I've decided to submit some of my designs to publications to see what happens. So obviously, I'm not going to tell you about them for a while. :-D I have two designs to submit at the beginning of March and two to complete by June. If nothing comes of the March designs, I'll post them here, but my fingers are crossed.

Is this sketchy? I think this is sketchy.

I saw a wonderful hat on the bus this morning, so I sneakily snapped a photo of it with my phone. Is posting it here the sketchiest thing I could possibly do? I kinda think it is.
I've tried to crop it to minimize the presence of innocent bystanders and anything remotely identifying about the woman...even though it was snapped from the back anyway, and the most identifying feature she had going on this morning was definitely her amazingly wonderful hat. Amazingly wonderful hat lady, if you read this, please know that in my heart of hearts, I do respect your privacy and anonymity, and I admire the buhjeezus out of your taste in hats! :-)

It looks a lot more blah than it did in person. Less soft, the colors less rich. But still. It made my bus ride.

It's the Little Things

My boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, went back home this morning after spending the weekend here with me. This always kinda gets me down, for obvious reasons. My room suddenly seems so empty and quiet, and of course, we have a tendency to...rather...mess things up while he's here. ;-) Instead of cheering me up, all of those little pieces of weekend-evidence just remind me that I'm alone in here again. It'll be a happier space once I've got it straightened back up (and once that French press is empty). Also, I find it fascinating that all of my cookbooks are some form of red or pink (even the Japanese cookbook, not shown). I wonder what market research led to that decision!

Lemme tell ya what else cheers me up, though, and it's something I didn't really anticipate when I started this blog. You guys! (Whoever the hell you are out there reading this blog). I love waking up in the morning, checking my Google Analytics page and seeing what cool, international readers dropped in during the night. Y'know, I don't expect to be racking up hits and getting all internet-famous or anything, and I'm not. But do you have any idea how cool it is to see that your blog is being read by people in Poland? And Greece? And Germany? And Great Britain? And Slovenia? That's just freaking spiff!

Also, since putting my hot water bottle cozy pattern up on Ravelry, it's started showing up in queues and favorite lists, and that makes me smile a little bit too, in a silly, small-time kinda way. It makes me excited to share more designs, as they pop out of my head, and they are popping in, at least, at a faster than normal rate. I've relied very heavily on other people's patterns, of course, for most of my time knitting, and it's so cool to make something that's really yours, from conception to creation to writing up. It just makes me all smiley and stuff.

Pattern: Hot Water Bottle Cozy

Download the PDF here.
Errata available here.

You guys...this is my first pattern! :-D I hope you like it, and I hope it's clear. Please feel free to email me if anything isn't. Also, if you do knit one of these cozies, feel free to share pictures with me! I'd love to see what people wind up doing with this pattern.

I do request two things, however, of those who make use of this pattern. First, please don't use this for commercial purposes. Make it for yourself, make it for your friends, but don't put it up on your Etsy shop, right? Second, I'm offering this pattern for free, so you're welcome to share it with your friends, but please don't alter the document in any way. By all means make alterations to the pattern as you knit, and tell your friends (and me!) about them if they work, but leave the PDF itself intact. That way my pattern stays my pattern and your innovations stay your innovations. :-)

This pattern is knit in three pieces, and I like to think there's a little something for everyone here. The front and back are knit flat, and the cap is knit in the round. If you really hate seaming, you can easily adapt this to be knit entirely in the round. If you're not comfortable knitting in the round, you can skip the cap. It's pretty much a cosmetic feature - the opening of a hot water bottle doesn't get particularly hot, I find.

The bottle is held securely in the cozy by the flaps that button over the "shoulder" of the hot water bottle. I find that it's easier to slip a bottle full of scalding water into the cozy given this nice, large opening than given the tighter, neck-sized ribbed opening common to a lot of other patterns. There's some subtle shaping around the shoulders that keeps the cozy snug around the bottle, instead of sticking out under the flaps at the corners.

And now, further remarks on seaming: Ok, I hate seaming too. I suck at it. The beauty of this pattern is that the edges are reverse stockinette, so even if your seams are ugly as sin, they'll be lost between the big, pretty cables and no one has to know! Also, the cables make for handy guides to keep the front even with the back while you seam. What could be better? For a very clear and thorough seaming tutuorial, see this article from Knit Simple.

Anyway, I hope you like it, and I do hope you'll be in touch with me if you have any comments, questions or ideas. Again, this is my first pattern, and any feedback I can get from the knitting community out there will only make my subsequent patterns better!


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. Click here for an explanation of this term in plain English.

The Economics of Knitting Part 2

Yarn
When I first started knitting, back in college, it was with...like...Lion Brand and Red Heart acrylic stuff. The cheapest stuff I could get my hands on, essentially. Since then, I'm afraid I've developed rather more expensive tastes in yarn. This wasn't such a problem back when I was working full time, but now that I'm back to being a broke-ass student, well...yeah.

I'd say that my strongest preference when it comes to yarn is natural fibers. I realize this is somewhat arbitrary. There are some nice synthetic blends out there. It's part a crunchy-granola thing, and part the fact that I grew up in The Land of Spontaneous Brush Fires, not far from The Land of Spontaneous Hurricanes, where we have a deep appreciation for the miracle that is 100% cotton. But cotton isn't all that's good and pure in this world. Natural fibers in general breathe better than synthetics, and even in winter, when you're wearing layer upon warm layer, acrylics will make you sweat when wool won't.

I'd like to be even pickier in my yarn selection. I'd like to buy more locally produced fiber, wool from manufacturers with documented humane standards of treating their animals. I'd like to buy organic cotton and yarn dyed with the environment in mind. There's lots of locally, responsibly produced wool to be had in my area, and some gorgeous hand-painted artisan yarns. I'd like to focus on these, to help my community and vote with my dollar, but damnit, I can't afford to.

Not only can I not afford to, being a responsible consumer sometimes seems like an impossibly daunting task. A lot of people are faced with unacceptable choices - if there's not much locally produced organic produce to be had, for example, your decision to buy organic might send a message to the industry that buying local isn't important to you. If you want to buy locally, you may be sending the message that there's no demand for organic produce. Industry can spin your economic vote to further restrict your choices, if it's in its own financial best interests, and that is so frustrating when I think about it. I'm lucky, in that I live in an area in which I can buy my produce at farmer's markets and, during the right time of year, not spend any more than I would at the grocery store. Locally produced wool, however, is still beyond the reach of my wallet.

So...unfortunately, regarding this area of the economics of knitting, I just don't have any answers. I'm not going to give up my knitting because I can't afford to be as responsible a consumer as I'd like. That's not going to happen. I'm obviously not going to give up my graduate studies so that I can make enough to afford all-natural, organic, humane, locally-produced yarn. And I'm not going to start knitting with cheap-ass acrylics, which frankly, for all I know, could be environmentally destructive to manufacture (I really don't know. If you do - comment!).

It goes back to my reasons for knitting. It's a sensual experience. If I hate the yarn I'm using, I won't enjoy it enough to continue. But I also hate the idea of spending more than I would for a store-bought garment. I can pretty much knit small things, hats and scarves and whatnot, for considerably less than what I'd pay in a store, but I start to get diminishing financial returns when I move up to, say, sweaters. Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and pay through the nose for what you love. But I will not pay ~$100 for a sweater no matter how nice Rowan Cocoon is!

So I continue to bargain hunt. Every once in a while, you'll find some nice, yummy wool in a gorgeous color for $6 a generous skein, and then you buy those puppies up! I'm going to start looking in thrift stores for sweaters to frog - we'll see how that goes, I'll post about it here when I get around to it. Gift cards to yarn stores allow me to splurge. Felting being all the rage these days, the big yarn companies are coming out with more 100% wool yarns, so if I'm knitting, oh, say, a blitz of Christmas gifts, I can actually find wool that's worthy, nice and not too expensive at my local big-box fabric store. I'd still rather support local businesses and...y'know...shop in a store that feels like a store and not a warehouse.

Ok, ok, I knit a cozy!

It's a hot water bottle sweater! Aint it cute? My boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, thought it was a sleeveless turtle-neck when he first looked at it. Heh.

Anyway, just a quick post to say, "Holy crap! There's room in my life for a cozy after all!" The thing works great. The bottle warms my sheets up just as well as ever, but now I can also snuggle my feet up to it, if I want to, without burning myself. If I want to move the bottle while it's under my sheets, I can just nudge it with my feet. Before, my feet had to find a kind of sweet-spot where they were close enough to the bottle to be toasty, but far enough away that they wouldn't accidentally touch it in the middle of the night (which happened one time. Didn't scald me or anything, but I definitely woke up going, "OOOOOOOOOOOW!!! What gives?").

Anyway, I maintain my general attitude toward cozies, but I make an eager exception for hot water bottle cozies. And motorcycle cozies, but we've discussed that already. :-)

I'll post my pattern here soon, if anyone wants it.

The Economics of Knitting Part 1

Why I Knit
I knit for 4 main reasons, at least...4 that I've been able to think of just now.



1) Relaxation: If you've read Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, you may remember that when Morgaine spins, she enters into a sort of trance state. I'm not saying I have visions when I knit, but it is definitely a meditative experience. When I knit, it gives my mind a chance to wander, to passively mull over things that are on it, rather than actively stressing about them. As my mind wanders undirected, it often finds paths that wouldn't have occurred to me in a more deliberate, active frame of mind.

2) Luxury: Leaving aside, for a moment, the delicious things you can get as a result of knitting, knitting is a pleasing sensual activity. Yarn is nice. It comes in pretty colors, yummy textures, it feels good in your hands and it looks luscious as the fabric you're creating grows like some living thing into whatever shape and pattern you've chosen for it. Yarn is soft and pretty and good.

3) Creativity and control: Once you get the hang of it, making things for yourself ensures that what you end up with is exactly what you want. I don't have to spend lots of money on a beautiful scarf that's kind of itchy, or a wonderful sweater that fits not quite just right. Fine, shaping and fit is something I'm still in the process of mastering, but in a materialistic sense, knitting and making things makes you the master of your own fate. This is where my reasons for knitting really intersect with my reasons for making things in general. If I want legwarmers to match my hat perfectly, then I shall have them! If I want carbonara that won't kill my boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, with cholesterol, then I shall leave out the egg yolks! If I want a pot-holder that matches both the mustard yellow of the kitchen counter and the avocado green of the stove top, I shall make it so! Creativity is liberating.

4) Saving money: As you may have deduced elsewhere on this blog, I am a broke-ass graduate student. Saving money is, for me, a necessity, but that doesn't mean I can't still have nice things in my life. I can knit myself a matching hat and scarf pair that's nicer and cheaper than one I'd find at, say, The Gap. I can make really great shirts and skirts out of old t-shirts that I never wear (more on that when it warms up outside). I can't afford to eat out much, but that doesn't mean I can't afford to eat well at home.

I know that I won't always be a broke-ass graduate student. At some point, I'll have the degree and the job and the house and the disposable income. At this point, I expect my first two reasons for knitting to really start conflicting with the last two - actually, more just #2 with #4. I think, however, that even then I'll value knitting as a means of saving money, and not just out of habit.

As much as I like pretty things, I have a definite anti-consumerist streak in me. I like showing "The Man," "The Powers That Be," "The Gods of Capitalism," or whomever that I am not a slave to the market, that I don't need what they're selling, that I can do perfectly well for myself. There are, of course, limits to this. I'm not about to run off and start homesteading. But I take pride and a subversive glee in not being a predictable consumer. If a company wants my money, they're going to have to put some effort into it, and not treat me like a non-existent generic member of my demographic. Give me real options, or I will make my own!

The next two installments of this series on the economics of knitting will deal with being a responsible consumer within this framework - because even as an independent, unpredictable consumer, I am still a consumer of yarn, of materials, of patterns, of ideas. But it will always boil down to why I knit.