Monday, March 19, 2012

A Breather

I have just enough time before class to write a blog. Not the one I wanted to write, but there may be time yet for that one. I need to take pictures of the yarn I bought, anyway. :)

I thought I'd pick your minds about seasons and seasonal knitting. I have always just knit whatever I wanted whenever until last year, I think. That was the first year I actually ventured far enough from just worsted or somewhat lighter-weight yarns to consider what was going to be more comfortable to knit in the warmer months. I'm very cold-blooded, so I need sweaters all year long. Air conditioning is just as hard on me as winter, believe it or not! This is the first year, however, that I've started to think about what I'm knitting as what I'm going to wear in the coming season.

For example, I have a sweater-dress next in my queue, but, seeing as it's already 80 degrees out, I can't see myself knitting it (we won't turn the air on until June, I bet) or wearing it any time soon. And what's the point in knitting something you aren't going to wear immediately?! Instead, I'm going to dig out some green cotton that's been waiting to become a dress for a little over a year and I'm going to turn it into something else. A tank or tee, probably.

Here's where I need you! I was curious: how many seasons ahead do you knit? Do you only knit for winter and during winter? Or maybe you started knitting for spring in fall and you will start knitting for winter at summer's end? I'm just curious how people do this.

I think I've always been a small-projects-in-the-summer kind of person, but now that I have lacy things I can knit and wear in the spring and summer, I'm thinking more about pushing those smaller winter projects back closer to the colder months. I just bought yarn for a cowl, for example, but I decided I won't look at it again until September, at the earliest. That's hard for me! But, then again, I have a lace project that's been languishing for a year that's getting some serious face time now, so that's really exciting too. Same with a lace weight sweater I started last summer: I intentionally set it aside over winter to work on winter stuff, knowing that I would pick it up again this spring, finish it, and wear it.

Let me know what you do! Maybe you live in a season-less place or a place with indecisive seasons (I'm from one of those) so that you have to knit all sorts of things all the time. Maybe you are just like I was: you knit what you want when you want. :) I'd still love to hear all about it!


  1. I need sweaters to survive the summer too, especially when you go into a restaurant and it feels like the arctic in there. I feel ya. I personally don't have any rhyme or reason behind what I knit usually, I just knit what I'm inspired to knit. I completely understand why planning out projects would be better, I don't enjoy working with pure wool during the summer, it gets too warm to work with. I look forward to seeing what you end up doing.

    1. It's such a pain to plan ahead, that I might just knit an alpaca sweater-dress anyway. ;) What is with restaurants and offices always being so cold?!

  2. i guess i never really thought about it, and i mostly knit what i wanted, though i do find myself gravitating towards different types of fiber in the warmer months. mostly i just knit whatever needs to be knit, like someone's having a baby or getting married or something.

    1. I can relate to that! I know people who knit loads of baby things when they get a chance and just pull it out of a box to give away when needed. Many times I've wished I were that resourceful...but it somehow seems slightly less special.

