A Good Week in Knitting History

This has been a good week in my knitting history.

I finished Hedgehog. He will be making the trip to Portland next weekend and I'll turn him over to Carissa for her new baby. I'm a little nervous because her mother told me yesterday, "Don't knit anything for Carissa unless you ask her first. She's very particular." I can't imagine that she would like Hedgey, but then again, I'm feeling very insecure now.

Whether Hedgey is loved or not, he was a wonderful opportunity for me to work on conquering my perfectionism. The fuzzy yarn for the back hides all sins, as does the felting. At one point, when working on the back, I realized that I was doing short rows on the front side, instead of the back side, and I didn't tear it out and start over. This has been a major breakthrough for me.

I finished the guage swatch and started knitting my Einstein Coat. Oh my, are there a lot of straight knitting rows!!! That can mean boring. On the plus side, I've already learned two new things: the crochet cast on; and slipping the first stitch as if to purl. The cast on is beautiful. I can't believe I've never come across this before. The slip as if to purl makes the garter stitch edges very crisp and even. Once again, I'm surprised not to have known how to do this. It just goes to show, we can learn new things no matter how long we knit.

After having success in blocking the Adamas, I blocked the Clapotis. What a difference that made. Before blocking it had an odd shape and bunched up. It never seemed long enough to wear as anything other than a bulky scarf....although I was happy wearing it that way. Now, it's longer and wider and hangs in a more fluid attitude.

I learned a lesson I should have learned years ago: Block, Block, Block. We've got to take charge of our knitting, rather than letting it take charge of us!