OK, maybe not the enemy, but it is temperamental. It’s bumpy. It calls into question my skill as a knitter.
BLOG QUESTION!!!…….. My LYS owner says that perfect, even, and completely uniform stitches are not the goal, because “who wants to knit something that looks like it came off a machine?” I on the other hand, strive for perfection, and think that if it doesn’t look handmade, then I’ve succeeded in life and can strut around triumphantly with my head held high. What do you think?
Here is a picture of my cotton sweater progress so far. It is actually starting to look like a sweater. This is very exciting to me. My gauge was a little off for the first few inches (oops, I forgot, it’s a brit pattern, so it would be the first several centimeters) and so I tightened it up a little bit. I hope it works out.
I wanted to ask any mercerized cotton experienced knitters out there how my stitches look, but I forgot to take a detail shot, so you’re off the hook. For now. Compared to my wool knitting, it looks like crap. But I’m thinking that cotton is just a different beast, and therefore should not be compared to wool. I also think that when hanging on a body, it’ll look a whole lot better. Go ahead and tell me I’m delusional if that is the case. It’d be better to frog now than later.
In other news, I was told that the birthday gift doll was well received. I’m happy about that. At Jenny’s request, here’s a group shot….
Next, I’ve read on some blogs recently that they can tell who is reading, or at least how much traffic they are getting and where it is coming from. I have no idea who is reading my blog or how many of you there are, aside from those that stop by and comment. Is there a way to tell that someone wouldn’t mind sharing with me?
Finally, and this is mainly for Grandma’s and Pete’s benefit, click on the link to see some pictures of the girls.
July 26th, 2004 at 12:09 am
Hi Laura! I’m with you on the neat and uniform stitches! It distresses me when I find a stitch that is not like the others, and have sat and tweaked the stitch in every direction to make it look better.(even my youngest son has sat and tweaked stitches for me, as it obviously bothers him as well!) I just washed a tank top that I made in worsted weight cotton for my daughter, and I think that evened out any odd stitches. But really, when my daughter had the tank on before washing, all I noticed was how nice it looked over all. She loves the tank and even wears it TO WORK! Thanks for the group shot of the dolls. They look so very nice! Jenny
July 26th, 2004 at 12:41 am
Laura, about seeing how much traffic your blog is getting…I am by no means an expert, pretty new to this actually, but I can tell you what I’ve done. My host (geekhosting.com) has a control panel I can login to and see how many visits my page has had, how much bandwidth I’m using, etc. Before I had hosting, I used http://www.statcounter.com
July 26th, 2004 at 7:16 am
Hi laura,
Not that this helps you with your stats at all but I have been reading your blog! I live in Seattle too and have an almost-2-year-old guy named Sam. We live in the Mt. Baker area (Rainier Valley). I am a new knitter and the only projects I have under my belt are 5 1/2 baby hats and 1/2 scarf that I got way to bored with. I would love to expand my ‘portfolio’ but when??? How do you find the time to knit so much with your 3 girls!? I love your dolls – do you use a pattern? And where did you get it?
Anyway, I enjoy reading your blog…thanks! 🙂
Allison
July 26th, 2004 at 9:08 am
I have to say I’m more inclined to agree with your LYS owner. Or rather, I think perfectionism is a terrible thing to do to yourself. I knit because it gives me tremendous pleasure. I try to do my best work and learn and grow but I don’t beat myself up about my knitting. It wouldn’t be pleasurable anymore and I would quit.
Having said that, the cotton stitches will even out a great deal once you wash them.
July 26th, 2004 at 3:27 pm
Thanks everyone for the input.
Allison- I find that knitting is a great hobby to have with kids because while my hands and eyes may be busy, I can still listen to, interact with, reprimand, etc my children. My brain is still in the room, it’s just my hands that are busy. Having more than one child might help, in that they play with each other. I also take my knitting with me wherever I go, and so any down time while out and about becomes productive.
The doll pattern is in the Summer 2002 issue of Interweave Knits. I bought the back issue on their website a few weeks ago. It arrived very quickly. Thanks for reading!
July 26th, 2004 at 4:01 pm
It is pretty funny to see how many ther are visting your homepage. I have som counters on my page, but unfortunatly their are in Danish… But try to seak for “counters” on google, their are at lot off them you can use for free.
I dont think a haved introduced myselfe. I am a “new” Danish Knitter, 24 years of age. I am reading your blog almost every day and I certenly enyou it. My blog is in Danish but you can have a look in “strikkegalleriet” – the Knitting Galery…
July 27th, 2004 at 2:33 am
From Denmark? Neat! Welcome!
July 27th, 2004 at 5:40 am
I agree with your LYS owner and the other reader about making sts perfect. I don’t do it. Yet at the same time I want it to “look goooooooooood” LOL! So, for me, I say I’d like for people to be able to tell that it was hand stitched but then hope they’d think it was equal to or better in quality to something you’d buy. Funny, all my life I’ve been making hand made gifts as my gifts to other people. Although I personally hardly ever receive a truly handmade object myself I’d always prize one over anything they could buy me in a store, perfect or not!… oops, sorry for rambling there.
August 16th, 2004 at 10:50 pm
Oops! Big time perfectionist here. My knitting must look as even as is possible and if the tension is wonked out over too many rows, I frog it and reknit it. Even when I didn’t know how to knit, seeing excessively uneven knitting or bad seams on hand-knit objects made them look a bit sloppy to my untrained knitter’s eyes. Of course, if it is a kid who knits, then it’s alright. But a seasoned knitter?
I *love* your best friend dolls. So glad that Alison linked them!
August 16th, 2004 at 10:51 pm
I am a new reader, just came via alison at the blue blog…
I use statcounter… it is free and easy, you just sign up and give them your blog URL and they do all the tracking for you, including the Google search terms folks used to find you (I found out I am the only match for [“compulsive knitting” help anonymous> I hope he or she eventually found some actual help… 😉
As far as the stitches, I hated HATED the stitching on this huge old cardigan I just finished, but everyone told me that the mercerized cotton would relax and even itself out after a wash. I am crossing my fingers. From the distance, yours looks good.
If you get a moment, can you tell me where this pattern for the cute cute little dolls comes from?
August 17th, 2004 at 3:31 am
Love the dolls – they’re adorable. this is why knitalongs are so great – you get introduced to new fun blogs and people.