For a long time I avoided knit-a-longs, and in particular mystery knit-a-longs. I'm the sort of person who quite likes to know what I am going to get, and although I nearly always admired the end result when I saw pictures of the finished objects, and thought that if I had seen the picture first, I might have joined in. I envied those who could blithely trust the designers to produce a worthy design. So when I heard of A Year of Techniques (AYotT) I wondered who could commit to a year of projects without knowing exactly what they were getting into.
A few weeks passed and gradually I began to realise that this was just what I needed. I signed up in February in the middle of trying to deal with Mum’s confusion and inability to recognise me. I was finding it hard to concentrate on any crafting or knitting, but recognised that I desperately needed the therapy that only yarn and needles can deliver to the confirmed knitter. So, AYoT came along at just the right time - a pattern and yarn ready made - no decisions for me to make, a reasonably sized project that would give me the satisfaction of completing something lovely while encouraging me to develop my skills. It was also a source of great interest for Mum as she has enjoyed seeing the patterns and watching the projects take shape. Trying to continue to work full-time and care full-time, I found that my social interaction with friends and colleagues was curtailed by the caring that I am doing (and that I love to do). Taking part in AYoT encouraged me to get involved in the online forums on Ravelry that I never really understood the point of before. It enabled me to interact with so many knitters and people with common interests and has helped to mitigate that sense of isolation that can so quickly set in in my circumstances.
So what did I learn?
Helical stripes - it was difficult to envisage how this would work until the needles and yarn were in hand - but having completed these hand-warmers, I can see how the technique would transfer beautifully to socks and other small circular projects. I also learned to set in a thumb, something I had never done before.
Intarsia - my nemesis since I completed Debbie Abrahams 'Fish' blanket, I avoided intarsia in any potential project, rejecting it out of hand as not worth the trouble. This project was a challenge, but not because of the intarsia (that was the most enjoyable aspect!). The challenge was in keeping track of the pattern rows. In common with many of the knitters who worked on this project, we devised an array of techniques to help us keep track of the 600+ rows in a way that made sense to each of us. What was particularly interesting was how different knitters find different things challenging. Some sailed though with nary a second glance at the instructions while others of us pored over them trying to extract the details we needed. Please note that this was in no way a reflection on the clarity of the written instructions. It would have been impossible to publish a chart for this pattern, but I managed to get out graph paper and translate the written instruction into visual prompts and thus successfully navigated this technique to produce a beautiful, colourful cloud of a wrap.
Pinhole cast on - this was a delight - my first ever knitted toy. Tiny pieces, knitted in the round with shaping and colour work, when carefully stuffed, came to life in the form of Alex the mouse. He makes me smile every time I catch his cute button eyes. I learned the importance of attention to detail and tension, and how crucial that is in a small project. I also learned how intriguing it is to mould the stuffing to create features and expressions and conjure a personality for a toy that is unique. I just love his chubby wee cheeks. Of course, mastering the pinhole cast on was key - fiddly at first, but I can see how it could be used effectively in casting on for any project knitted from the centre from blanket squares to pi shawls.
One of the special aspects of AYoT was the release of the new pattern and the identification of the technique at the start of each month. While the monthly Ravelry group threads allowed us to share our progress, a good deal of time was spent on speculating and trying to work out what was coming next based on the lists of techniques and designers and the type of yarn in the kits. For me, at that time, the mystery was the most intriguing way to engage my mind and distract me from other pressures and stresses, giving my mind a pleasant alternative place to escape to. How far I had come in three months!
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