My knitting projects, recently (and currently!) have been big not just “knit sweaters out of fingering weight yarn on US 0s, which I’m certainly doing, but big on another scale. I’ve written about this kind of project as epic knitting, but I’ve really gone down the rabbit hole on this one. I’ve started thinking about knitting projects less bounded by a single object or garment, and more as a “meta project,” here are the two examples:

  • All socks are hand knit. Right now I mostly wear machine knit socks. I have about 10 or 12 pairs of wool socks, and I just wear them every day. The thing I like about my current socks is that they’re comfortable, easy to care for and very easy to match up when I’m folding laundry. I also have three weights of socks, and the heavy and medium socks are definitely good even in warmer months.

    To avoid needing to buy new socks when the current batch wear out, I probably need about as many socks (10-12, maybe a few more to cover light weight cases,) and a slightly longer laundry cycle if I want to segregate sock laundry. But the project isn’t exactly about “just enough” socks, but also about having socks that are mostly the same, not just in terms of pattern, but also in terms of yarn content.

    In persuit of this, last week I sat down with a 1.5 kilo cone of sock yarn (merino, bamboo, nylon) and cast on for a sock, and I’m already on the second sock, of what I expect will be many. Gotta figure out some situation for dying them all the same color.

  • I’d kind of like to explore some more corners of the seamless yoke sweater paradigm. I’ve made, I think, 2 raglan sweaters ever, and a few of the “set in sleeve” type and that’s it! I don’t know that I’ve ever made saddle shoulders! I’ve also gotten into the habit of wearing sweaters more often these days, I think I’d like to do something more comprehensive along these lines. Having really nailed down a sleeve, as well as a way to shape the body of a sweater, it seems fun to explore different shoulder shapes for variety. The truth of the matter is that I really like knitting plain sweaters, so this gives some exciting opportunity.

    There are other kinds of sweaters that I’d like to get better at: cardigans, mostly, and also I think I’d enjoy exploring hems that aren’t ribbing, and also finding ways of knitting crew necks that I’d enjoy knitting.

In persuit of this, as alluded above, I’ve acquired a bunch of un-dyed yarn, in interesting fibers to knit “a few” sets of socks (maybe some gifts!) and to really get some practice in on these different sweater types. I’m definitely hunkering down into knitting at this scale and thinking about the ways that this broader

Even if it makes for somewhat less exciting blogging about knitting.

“Ah, yup, just knit another white sock.”

Anyway! I hope, if you’re knitting, you’re enjoying it as much as I am.