Dear Kay,
Big big big news! I just took a piece of lace off the blocking board. I know. Huge. Such a before and after. Such a payoff. It never fails to be one of my favorite moments in knitting.
You knit along, for days or weeks or months, with lumpy progress in front of you:
It’s never going to work. You cannot spread it across your knee often enough to persuade yourself that this gnarled mess is going to result in anything good.
Or maybe you knit with the smug satisfaction of a caterpillar eating all the fennel in the garden, knowing that the transformation is ahead. Keep chewing.
(I think of Hubbo’s grandmother whenever I block something. Her pins and her pincushion—MJLW in needlepoint—are my blocking companions.)
This little cowl, Hortensia by NellKnits, has been one of the quieter things I’ve made. No drama, nothing crazy. The yarn, Little Fox Vixen, is such a cool, wintry color, Blue Boy.
At least two places in here, I blew the pattern and didn’t see it until it was pinned out.
Oh well.
Mostly I see what happens when you combine a bunch of knits, slip slip knits, yarnovers, and knit two togethers.
It’s simple stuff. But so very addicting.
What are your favorite aha moments in knitting?
Love,
Ann
Gorgeous cowl!
Beautiful cowl and love the color of the yarn ????
Your cowl is absolutely beautiful! My favorite aha moment is one that happened after knitting, not during. It was the first time I wore hand knit socks in the snow…..just a few weeks ago. I’m from Perth, Australia, where hand knits are a fashion statement, not a necessity! My aha moment was when I was tramping round in the snow (it’s a thing of wonder and amazement to Aussies! My friends here in NC put it down to being a crazy Aussie thing.) wearing galoshes and my first pair of hand knit socks…..My toes didn’t feel like they were going to snap off at any second! It was a moment of sheer delight at being in the snow and wearing something I had made myself that was not only useful, but pretty much a necessity, not an accessory.
What a lovely cowl! Nell has such clever designs. I seem to have the same aha moment over and over. It goes like this: I can’t believe I’ve been knitting for thirty years and I just learned (magic loop, this cool cast on, American style knitting, etc etc). I’m constantly amazed by how much there is to know. I will never tire of this craft.
Me, too, totally! I’ve been knitting for nearly 60 years, and I feel the same way. So many new things to learn! I love it.
I’m with you Amy. It’s endlessly fascinating, isn’t it?
love the cowl – so pretty! My favorite aha – washing denim yarn.
ME TOO, Mary. And wearing it.
The same moment as you – the magic of lace.
I had the exact same experience in the before and after process of blocking a beautiful lace caplet; a Di Gilpin pattern, yarn by Jade Sapphire. Although I tried, I can not upload a picture of it. It was a real challenge for me and the transformation (and relief) were memorable.
Blocking lace is a marvel. Another very satisfying transformation – with bonus comedic value – is knitting some deliberately massive and ungainly garment and then felting it to a state of cozy usefulness. Just one more example of fibery magic.
(For a quick experiment, I recommend slippers. The before-felting items are floppy clown feet! The after-felting items are soooo snug and cozy 🙂
Unfortunately, I’ve had the diametric opposite of your moment and I still start twitching when people mention felting. I spent months knitting a circular cardigan – over 550 stitches when I cast off – and it was a thing of beauty. A word to the wise – don’t put your washing on when you’ve spent 12 hours travelling to get home and are so exhausted you forget to check a) what you put in the machine and b) what setting it’s on. My much shorter friend loves her new cardigan!!!
Starting, ending and sometimes the in between.
Blocking is always and ah ha moment. Or at least an ahhh moment :-). Nice job!
A gorgeous cowl! I have never made one as I feel we don’t need them in my area of Texas. But I think you are wearing me down. And blue…swoon!
Beautiful lace work! A recent ah-ha moment for me was applying the button band on a toddler’s V-neck cardigan sweater. All that rolled edge on the fronts transformed into a neat and tidy sweater by picking up stitches every 4 out of 5 rows (a guess) and it worked!
Anytime I try something new – socks, mittens, lace, Stopover sweater – and it actually turns out beautifully – that is when I have that feeling!! I try to challenge myself to try something new each year and knitting certainly offers many skills to perfect. Your cowl is beautiful!!
Blocking yes. But for me…..even after close to a hundred pairs of socks, I still get that aha moment when I turn the heel! Such joy!
After all of the socks I’ve knit, I still get a cheap thrill out of turning a heel. It’s like a first kiss, every time.
Aw, what a sweet analogy. Like a first kiss but nobody has braces lol.
For me, EZ’s baby surprise jacket. You talk about a mess. It looks like an amoeba. Then suddenly it’s a sweater. Magic!
My favorite moment is when I try on the completed garment and it fits and looks great. It doesn’t always happen needless to say but it just did — when I put on the Stopover I’ve just finished. Yay!!????????????
A sweater that fits is always akin to a miracle. So glad Stopover is working out for people, fit-wise. Good swatching and size-selection paying off!
Yes, I had the same initial thought when I read this entry!
My “aha” moments recently have included seeing how nicely the tubular cast on looks and using techknitter’s hint for avoiding color blips in ribbing (do the first row after a color change in stockinette) –little tricks that make the knitting look so much tidier.
Blocking lace, for sure. It’s magic! Looking for that magic on my current knitting, which looks like it can’t possibly be big enough. Also: Heel turns, 3NBO, and making three tubes into one while BANGINGOUTASWEATER!
That lace is so pretty! I am consistently amazed by two things: 1. turning a heel. You knit a corner! Whodathunk? 2. Following directions in a pattern and it just works. Sometimes you just have to have faith and follow the directions. It’s crazy. Then a lot of times, there’s a little nugget of a new trick in the instructions.
Absolutely fabulous. Love the color and the open knit pattern..
The alchemy of felting. It is always thrilling to see what happens!
Beautiful cowl. There are so many great moments in knitting, I don’t think I can pick. I also love the transformation in lace, but since I’ve made more socks than lace, I’ll go with that. I love the accomplishment of knitting socks that fit and are useful and so comfortable. I’m happy that everyone I’ve given hand-knit socks to has asked for another pair. I’m amazed at the warmth of the natural wool fiber – my husband has expressed this sentiment at least 15 times this winter.
I always feel great when I try a technique or knit something that, when I first began knitting, was completely unthinkable: cables, socks, a sweater, using charts.
I love the moment when a pattern becomes second nature and I knit without thinking. That’s usually followed by the scary moment when I realize I needed to pay attention a little more carefully, of course. I am an expert frogger.
First off, that is a pretty cowl. We get the thrill of the Aha moment just seeing the pics of it in the various stages of progress leading up to the finished blocked piece.
My Aha moments come through the meditative aspect of knitting. The first thought for me of an Aha moment is tough for me to explain. It’s when my mind is “lost” in the knitting and suddenly I am aware of the rhythm, the little miracle, of pattern and hands moving together. I also love that moment at knitting group when someone says that it’s almost time to stop, because it is always a surprise, a kind of shock, that its time to go (always feels as if I just got there). The “Aha” here is the realization that somehow time stood still for a little while, for a little while I have been lost in the pleasure of sharing (knitting, and life, and stories), that I could actually “just be”, just stay in the present moment. Amazing!
Blocking lace for sure. You take this god awful ball of wet yarn and it comes out supple and beautiful.
Your cowl is gorgeous! I have a skein of Vixen in a ball all ready to cast on for my own Hortensia but I’m still slogging away at a shawl that I HAVE to finish before I can touch anything else. Blocking is amazing. Definitely one of my favorite knitting Aha moments! I really want to go cast on right now!