One of the things I’ve realized about myself is a knitter is that I really like epic projects, or sequences of projects.

Before my knitting hiatus, I bought a kilo of undyed sock yarn--because I liked the fiber content, and I wanted to explore knitting sweaters at finer gauges, because heavier weight yarns always made sweaters that felt too warm. Seemed like a good project. Due to a sizing error, I was only really able to get 2 sweaters out of the cone of yarn, but I think in the future three sweaters from a kilo seems useful. There’s something epic about this as a project, and I definitely intend to knit more sweaters in this vein. I was thinking about “epic knitting projects,” and came up with the following ideas:

  • 10 identical socks: After many years of having a somewhat hodgepodge and recently well worn collection of socks, this year, I purchased 14 pairs of new socks and it’s been great, both because nothing is teetering on the edge of being worn out, and I decided to buy 5 pairs of two different kinds of socks that I like a lot, plus 4 of a heavier weight, and I like that every day is a “good sock” day. I also like that having a bunch of identical socks socks makes it easier to wash and pair them up. I’ve never really knit more than one pair of socks that matched so it seems like a fun challenge.
  • Knit all of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Yoke Sweater shaping variations. I think I’ve made about three of them, and none of these yoke sweaters have really ever entered more regular rotation. I think knitting them in lighter weights, and reducing the yoke depth a bit to fit more could help a lot.
  • Knit a collection of sweater’s inspired by classic Alice Starmore patterns, but modified for modern sensibilities in terms of fit and shaping. I’ve knit three patterns (Henry VIII, Norway, and Faroe) and would gladly knit them all again and I’d love to try the cabled sweaters as well. While the designs and stitch patterns of these sweaters are compelling the fit is not, which is probably a feature of these patterns being written in the late 80s and early 90s. I think the changes would be mostly to knit things at a finer gauge (Faroe, Norway, and the cabled sweaters,) but also to modify the shaping for better fits at the shoulder, and maybe modify neck shape for v-necks or open necklines.

I’ve also thought about knitting a bunch of lace, but I lack the floor space in my current apartment to actually block any kind of lace shawl reasonably.

Anyone else have Epic-scale knitting projects for this list?