Wednesday 16 May 2012

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I'm feeling a bit of a fraud posting this under WIP Wednesdays as I don't actually have a project on my needles, but I'm hoping dear readers that you may be able to steer me in the right direction?

The only problem with there being so many wonderful patterns in my queue, in my pattern folder and in all the great magazines I have stored, is that now I have finished all my WIPs (yes you heard it, all of them!) I absolutely cannot choose what to cast on next. Its not that I've lost my knitting mojo I can assure you of that, its the fact that I promised myself that the next project would be for me. For some reason this fills me with indecision and major dilemma. When I'm knitting for others I find it quite easy to look at the individual, gauge their likes and dislikes and pattern and colour choices just seem to flow. When its my turn I just go all 'bleurgh'!

I'm determined though, so I gave myself a 24hr deadline (what on earth is it with me and deadlines?) to concentrate on what I needed, or would like to knit. Knitting from stash was a must as I've paid out quite enough on other purchases this month and to be honest I could knit for the next 3 years and still have plenty left, so surely there must be some yarn there for me :)

The stash boxes, baskets and bags have all been pulled out and thoroughly searched through to find some inspiration. There must have been some plan for this yarn in the past so why does it have to be so hard. 

In the depths of the stash I found 5 skeins of Stylecraft Ethical Twist in the Oatmeal colourway. Now I really love this Wool and Alpaca blend yarn and so want it to be a cuddly garment for me, only loving the yarn as much as I do makes the pattern choosing even worse. One option that I love is the Sweetgum Duncan jumper on Ravelry, but what I'd really like is a seamless cardigan pattern instead. That seems to be proving more tricky to find. 

As I'm meant to be decorating this week (no point taking a week off work and not getting it all done!) I may need to put this decision to one side and get back to my roller, brush and paint tin, at least it's still sort of creative.

All you lovelies out there must have a favourite seamless (preferably top down as I've recently discovered and love this method) cardigan pattern so do you have any recommendations for me please? Your ideas may stop me becoming obsessed with this search.

I was hoping to be at the point of repeating the mantra ok, now breathe, keep calm and cast on - sure I've heard that somewhere before! Unfortunately I'm not quite there yet!

To see lots of other real WIPs please hop on over to Tamis place


21 comments:

  1. ooh the sweetgum cardigan is really pretty, i love it - I hope you knit it at some point. I also hope you get some inspiration to knit something soon - i wish i had finished all my wips!!!

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  2. ooh i meant to add what about a small project? just to get you going? or some charity knitting?

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    1. Thanks Vicky the Sweetgum is gorgeous. My son has just asked me for a hat?! He arrived in the knick of time to keep me going as you say :) Oh apparently his friend's mum knits and he quite liked the hat she knitted him x

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  3. Stay calm. I have the same problem when I'm trying to pick something for myself :).

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    1. Oh you are so right, funny how we have difficulty picking for ourselves x

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  4. I've made a Tea Leaves cardigan, and really love that. I knit things for myself and usually end up giving them away. Maybe I'm not very good at visualizing when I pick patterns?

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    1. That's a lovely one thank you. Strange how we can visualise things on others, just not on ourselves x

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  5. wow - you've finished all your wips! well done!
    I know what you mean about choosing something for yourself - the pressure!
    I have a gazillion sweaters and cardy's I want to knit. I am about to cast on the Everyday cardigan by Mel Clark. It a dk weight, seamless - I think top down. Looks great.

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    1. I know, astonishing isn't it! First time since I came back to knitting 3 years ago :)The Everyday cardigan is lovely, simple lines but very flattering. Would go well with your new skirt! x

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  6. LOL...I'm no help, bought yarn specific for a pattern for myself MONTHS ago, then started re-looking at other patterns, have loaded about 10 or more on the computer and still haven't made a decision. Like you when I'm working for others, usually charity, the decision is easy. Best of Luck on your decision.

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    1. Thanks Sandy, we do find it tricky for some strange reason. Luckily my son has requested a hat which will get me going on something else and who knows I may reach a conclusion by the time I've finished that :) x

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  7. Ooh, that's a fun dilemma! Here are the results of a Rav search on top down, seamless, cardigan knit with DK weight yarn:

    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#photo=yes&craft=knitting&weight=dk&view=captioned_thumbs&fit=adult%2B%2B&pa=seamless%2Btop-down&sort=best&pc=cardigan

    There are some pretty sweaters there! I have soft spots for Peasy, Tappan Zee and Cherry Vanilla, myself. :)

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    1. That's so sweet of you Paula. I can see why you like those three, Peasy definitely appeals and a couple of the designer's other patterns too x

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  8. Wow, all the WIPS finished?! I can't even imagine what that's like. I'm working on Before Dark right now. It's a top down, seamless cardi, great for showing off pretty yarn. Definitely more TV knitting than focus knitting -- lots of garter, lots of stockinette.

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    1. Oh yes I've seen that and its lovely. That one is definitely queued for autumn knitting. Make sure you post lots of pics when its done. Don't you just love Veera's designs! x

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  9. I am so jealous of all of your WIPs being finished. I also love your blog background!

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    1. Ah thank you Heather. Its just a blogger background under the picture window tab (think it was in the patterns section) there are some really nice ones in there x

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  10. Wow, ALL your works in progress? I'm in awe! But I do know what you mean about not know what to do next. My usual solution is to start 3 or 4 things successively and see which 'grabs' me. Either that, or I go through the stash until a particular yarn calls to me and I have to find a pattern for it.

    Hope you find "The One" soon and good luck with the decorating :)

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    1. I know, I know, I think its the shock of finishing everything that's got to me :) Thank you for the encouragement and yay the decorating is good finally, I have colour! x

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  11. Hi Tracy! Thank you for the comment on my blog and the name suggestion for my bolero, I really like it!

    As for seamless cardigans, have you thought about taking a normal cardi pattern and making it seamless? I've done this a few times and it's surprisingly easy - I googled instructions for you and found this, which looks pretty well explained :)

    http://www.krazyawesome.com/knitmonster/converting-patterns-to-seamless.html

    Enjoy your week off!

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    1. You're very welcome, it just shouted 'Heather' to me! Well in my world it did :) Thank you so much for the link, when I've got a quiet moment I'll have a proper look as I've been a bit scared before, but I'm determined to be braver x

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