10 Knitterly things that you didn’t know about me

Before I launch into my list, I want to thank all of you for your kind words about Serenity and the Shaped Triangle Shawl. I was pleased to hear that so many of you thought that the shawl still looked good despite the variegated yarn. At the moment, I’m still trying to figure out how to wear the shawl with style. (First lesson learned: A huge variegated shawl does not go with shorts and a T-shirt.)

Now on to the 10 Knitterly things about me!

1. I love the look of colorwork: fair isle and intarsia look so interesting and intricate to me. However, I can’t stand doing colorwork. I particularly hate doing intarsia.

2. I drool over handpainted yarns, but I rarely buy them because I never know what to knit with them. My recent foray into handpainted lace is a result of a moment of weakness. I now have to take the “no handpainted/variegated yarn” pledge.

3. After learning to knit and producing three sweaters, I stopped knitting for 12 years or so. But since I picked it up again, I haven’t stopped.

4. I first learned to knit English-style but switched to Continental after learning how to knit with both hands. But when I re-taught myself after my 12-year break from knitting, I started knitting English-style again.

5. I have difficult verbalizing knitting instructions. I’m a very visual learner and am a big advocate of learning by doing. So when I “teach” someone to knit, I show him or her what to do rather than explain what to do. When I try to teach someone who isn’t a visual learner, I get frustrated and so does the student. Because of this, I have decided to stop teaching classes, though I will help people informally if they ask.

6. Don’t own and have never owned a single pair of straight needles. The only times that I have knit with straight needles were when I was teaching someone who happened to have straight needles.

7. I love seaming sweaters so much that I once considered offering finishing services for money. Then, I realized part of the reason why seaming my sweaters is fun is because I plan ahead for seaming. If I seamed someone else’s pieces, I’m sure I would be irritated by the lack of nice selvedges and properly placed increases and decreases.

8. Sometimes when I’m knitting the back of a sweater, I’ll start a new ball of yarn in the middle of a row. But only the back. And only near the bottom of the back.

9. I want to knit a sweater for Scout.

10. My nonknitted wardrobe is very simple: solid colors, clean lines. So I’m also drawn to simple knits—you know the kind—stockinette sweaters. But when I really think about knitting those sweaters, I usually decide against it because I can’t bear the thought of knitting that much stockinette. I think that’s why I knit so many cabled sweaters. The cables keep it interesting but everything is still done in a solid color. But dang, those cables take a lot of yarn!