I first began knitting as a child when my great aunt Audrey taught me to knit a washcloth. I was horrible at finishing projects when I was younger and didn’t pick knitting back up until in my teens and even then it only lasted a few months. I’ve since trained myself to complete projects by picking smaller ones that allowed for the instant or almost instant gratification of finished knits. Over time slowly working my way up; hats, toys, baby sweaters, cable socks and now an adult sweater. A couple Christmases ago my brother asked for a sweater and I scoffed at the thought “An adult sweater?! Yeah right”.
Well, I have reached the day where I am ready. More then ready. I’m not sure where this new found confidence and vigor has come from, however as soon as I had decided, I couldn’t get started fast enough. The setup had to be perfect. After spending far too long on Ravelry, I settled on Reine. I ordered a set of Knitter’s Pride Karbonz circulars and a load of Brooklyn Tweed Loft. I have been learning recently to embrace swatching, so swatch I did. After a few swatches I was ready to go. For anyone who has worked with BT’s Loft, they know it’s a very light weight yarn. It’s literally light as a feather and so squishy. The texture is delicious. It is the perfect fiber to make a sweater for San Francisco weather.
I’ve been knitting for a couple weeks now and have made steady progress. This new ambitious on taking already feels familiar. Familiar enough that I have my next sweater picked out. 🙂
If you’re like I was and have been hesitating to take the leap, I encourage you to do so. There really is nothing more fulfilling then making a hand knit to wrap yourself in and say with triumph “I made this.”.
Here are a few photos of my favorite Reine projects on Ravelry…
From the left, clockwise: by MarionTricoti, by Lapouleapetitspa, by MarionTricoti, by Alexis Winslow
2 Comments
I need to take a finish it tip from you. I have quite a few sweaters that I still need to finish. Maybe if I look at it like you do and think of how wonderful it would be to wrap myself in them, that would do the trick.
You picked some gorgeous Reine projects to be inspired by.
Thanks Andi! I have another trick to keep progress going as well…always have a small project going as well. That way you have the satisfaction of finishing something while still working on a big project 🙂