Caroline
I love our bi-weekly Tiny Stitchers check-ins. Writing these blog posts gives me the opportunity to really reflect on the things I’ve been working on, the things I want to work on, the progress I’m making on, well, making. The start of the year has me trying to focus on the goals I set for myself, specifically trying new things like experimenting with designing my own projects. I’ve got these ideas in my head and am trying slowly, but surely to figure out how to make them a reality with my yarn and my knitting needles.
Ok, so I think this is a real long-winded way of saying that my check-in is really just about frogging. Frogging, frogging, frogging. I’ve frogged two of my own designs, and I’ve frogged the same pussyhat twice now. To say it’s been a frustrating process is probably obvious to you all, but I’ll say it: it’s been real frustrating. I remember the first time I frogged a sweater a big project. It was my first cardigan and I had been working on it for about a month. It was not looking like a sweater at all. I took it to an open knit night at my local LYS in Brooklyn, and even the woman who was there to help had no idea what went wrong. I remember sitting at the bar (yes, there was a bar and cafe in this particular LYS complete with a wooden ball winder installed), with the misshapen olive green knit fabric slowly unraveling, I remember feeling very at peace with the fact that even though this was a month or so of work, it had to be undone because I couldn’t move forward with the pattern. I remember feeling so very zen about the whole thing.
And I am trying to channel that zen feeling again as I start, frog, and restart my own pattern designs (except the pussyhat, that was just a lot of changing minds and miscounting.)
Ashley
Man, these last two weeks have been a whole lotta “close but no cigar” for ya girls! Like most maker humans, I am horrible at designing sleeves, yet I still decide to wing it for 2 sweaters, one worsted and one bulky. Why? Maybe I think I’m going to stumble upon the answer and discover the most perfectly constructed inset sleeve?? No chance!
While I sit here looking at my two VESTS that now need the back and two fronts frogged to the armhole, as well as both button bands, I can’t help but be proud of myself. I KNOW that I’m going to redo these, and I’m going to redo them this month. I’m actually going to work extra hard to get these puppies ready for test knitting by the end of the month, and while I might miss that by a week or so, I will try. This patience is something only knitting has taught me. Like most of us, this craft that is so unforgivingly made up of one piece of string, is the main reason we have any patience at all, haha. In a world where our attention spans are ever shrinking, it’s pretty cool that we are willing to rip apart something that we’ve spent so much time on, in order to make it right and beautiful. Now, mistakes are beautiful too, don’t get me wrong, but my babies, you gotta see these sleeves and sleeve holes. They bad.
After a sleepless night, and an actual dream about sleeve construction, I finally studied up and know where I went wrong and where to go from here. Designing is a bitch, but boy do I love it with all my heart.
Tiny Obsessions
Caroline
Guys. This week my dog, Bucket, turned ONE YEAR OLD!!! He’s my little baby Buck and is the sweetest, derpiest dog in the whole world. I cannot believe he’s one year old already. We got him when he was 12 weeks old, so I have a feeling we’ll do a bit more celebrating for his adoption day than his birthday, but it’s still weird that he’s just growing up. He used to be SO SMALL. He was smaller than the cat! And now he’s a small/medium sized pupper who likes to sneak his way into the bed and will sleep in any nook he can find and thinks that every single person and dog is his friend — especially the white fluffy ones. Enjoy these photos: (I LOVE YOU BUCKET BOY!!! – Ashley)
Ashley
My current obsession is the STEFON DIGGS DID ANYONE WATCH THAT GAME?!?!?! I’m a pretty big sports fan, and feel like I’ve seen many an insane buzzer beater, but my God that was amazing. The fact that this gets them one step closer to playing the Super Bowl when the SB is in Minnesota is so huge, it’s never been done before! And look at these fan reactions! I tear up every time I watch haha.
I think it’s safe to say that America is rooting for a Jacksonville v Minnesota Super Bowl, and we* deserve it!
*Ashley is a lifelong football fan that no longer enjoys the game because of the fatal injuries, brain damage and the poor (to say the very least) way the league handles major crimes like domestic violence, all while pumping these athletes full of drugs and pain killers. She is trying so hard to ween herself off of the sport, but it’s going to take a while and for that, she apologizes.
TINY STITCHERS 