Do This First
Have you ever wanted to make a particular project but felt it was beyond your ability so you gave up on it? However, you kept thinking about it and couldn’t get it out of your mind? That type of project falls into the category of ‘one day’ projects; projects that you want to make one day but not right now.
It’s good to aspire to a project like that; something that is beyond your current ability or comfort level. It can give your knitting a sense of purpose in addition to ‘just’ finishing projects.
Flying Geese Cowl, designed by Mary Jane Mucklestone and Town hat, designed by EweKnit Toronto
Say your ‘one day’ project is a colorwork sweater, possibly one of the ones we have on display. Right now it’s intimidating and overwhelming and you think you’d never be able to make it. First of all, see if there’s a class in the near future. If not, the place to start is with a small project; a hat or cowl would be perfect! A small project allows you to try out colorwork and see if you even like it. You can experiment with holding your yarn in different ways and find out what works best for you. In short, you can get comfortable with the idea of making a larger project. You might even want to try two projects, a simple one and a more complicated one before you go on to your sweater!
Artin Hat, designed by our own Alex Epstein and Highway Hat, designed by Jonathan Tollow
What if you want to make a gorgeous cabled sweater with all sorts of different cables? The same theory applies; make something small first! Hats are an excellent way to practice cables and there are so many of them! If this is your first foray into cables, you might want to choose a hat with just a few to begin with. If not, jump into a heavily cabled hat and you’ll know if you want to make that sweater. You also might want to practice making cables without a cable needle.
And what about brioche? Brioche gets a bad rap, probably because it’s different. I think most of us tend to overthink this luscious, squishy technique and make it more daunting than it needs to be. I’ve fallen into the ‘brioche is intimidating’ train of thought myself even though I’ve made a few cowls. I do have a popover that I’d like to make and I think I’ve done enough small projects to start it.
Cape Lookout Shawl, designed by Lindsey Fowler
Are you someone who wants a stunning lace shawl to casually, yet oh so elegantly, throw over your shoulders on a summer evening? You know where I’m going with this…how about making a shawl with a lace border if you don’t want to do a hat or a cowl. This will give you good practice getting comfortable with a chart and making different types of increases and decreases.
All of these ideas will give you the foundation to confidently choose the yarn for your ‘one day’ project and cast on! ‘One day’ projects can’t be hurried but they are so worth it!
We’ll gladly help you find designs that will lead you to your dream project!
Happy knitting,
