Humans are nature

Crookhook was my first foray into blogging and I only ever delivered that one post. Now though I have been actively writing about my journey towards Earth connection, deep ecology, shame and spirituality at Humans are nature. I'd be grateful if you'd join me there :)

Where it all started

My first (and last) major knitting project, how I discovered that yarn substitution is not as simple as it might seem and why I am a crocheter and not a knitter.

Intention: A knitted crew neck cardigan using a clickheaton pattern with large needles - didn't want to stress myself out, this being my first major knitting adventure, large needles = less stiches = faster to knit.

Modifications: Well the pattern called for 'Clickheatons Taboo' yarn, unfortunately Taboo isn't very racey and only comes in pastel colours. One of the things I most enjoy about knitting (and now crochet) is the feel of bright colours passing through my fingers, knitting with pastel wool feels to me like knitting vomit.

So I decided to use a lovely bluish purple that I found in standard 8 ply, Taboo is a really chunky wool, probably 12 ply so I doubled my 8 ply yarn and assumed it would turn out alright in the end (NB knitters with more advanced knowledge can probably see where this is going and are already cringing).

Some good things about using doubled yarn are: 1) you can change one thread without having to tie in ends, you can just keep knitting and it copes marvellously well 2) you can work in one yarn of a different colour giving rise funky colour combination possibilities 3) it gives you a super warm garment at the end.

Where things went wrong:

1) Well firstly I got bored (hence this being my last knitting project). It took sooo long and I got so sick of it that I decided I didn't need a cardigan and instead I'd make it a vest. So I sewed all the bits together in vest format and I discovered...

2) The back was about 2.5cm shorter than the two front panels, whoops! No amount of pulling and stretching was going to make any difference and there was no way I was going to unpick it all and start again, hello already bored.

Enter my friend crochet, I went through my bag and found a random ball of interesting wool, attached it at one end of the short panel and worked two rows of treble to make up the difference. Voila, horrible mistake becomes beautifully artistic feature. But wait there's more!

3) Now that it's all sewn together it's clear that something is seriously whack about my vest, it's way too big!! Turns out my substitution didn't quite do what I expected and it's majorly wide. hmph, turns out I could have knitted a whole lot less than I did. How annoying.

Okay, again, unpicking is totally not an option. So I play with it a bit and figure I can do a cross over front and make it work in it's present form. It does sit a little funny but I seem to be the only one that notices.

I went to the magic button shop in the city, got some black duffles and edged the whole thing with double crochet in a wild blue chunky specialty yarn that brings it all together (and makes it really really easy to do the button holes). Somehow it works, seriously, see the pictures and judge for yourself.


What I learned:
I am incapable of following patterns.
Things I make will never quite turn out the way I expect.
Crochet can fix everything.
When you knit something massive, gaining weight only makes it look better :))