Good Morning All,
Last night I spent far too long attempting to put together my first sweater for The Elizabeth Zimmerman Challenge. I mean between 10 different gauge swatches, attempting patterns, planning patterns on graph paper, I must have spent 6 or 7 hours just on that.
So this morning I woke up early, (I have a rehearsal for a concert...did I mention I sing?) and I started back on the sweater. Luckily I had found some patterns that I liked. In my gathering of resources I had found a book I rather liked. Now it is not Elizabeth Zimmerman, but I think she would be proud of me either way. It is an Aran sweater, that I will be knitting and I feel she would be proud in just that.
Now in The Knitters Almanac, Ms. Zimmerman discusses how to knit, but more importantly how to make it your own art form!
Today, a lot of people knit but they use some one else's patterns. The tradition of Aran knitting, and really any traditional needlecraft, not just knitting, is not given to you in a pattern but rather self created. In Aran knitting the patterns were passed down within a family, Italians have a different dialect in each region, the Irish have a different stitch for every family. Knitting to the Aran people was a way to express something. It was just a mixture of knits and purls.
So what I am saying to you is, KNIT! but, make your knitting your own and change the stitch pattern up, or change the sleeve, or the neck line. Trust me, you can do it!
Happy Knitting,
Old Niagara Outfitters
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Elizabeth Zimmerman Challenge January
Friday, January 2, 2015
So today is January 2, 2015 in case you didn't know that. Here in Buffalo it is a little cold, but not terrible. It is just like every other winter I can recall to be honest, but aren't here to talk about the infamous Buffalo winters.
I can recall in the late summer months of 2014 friends of mine saying how they wanted to learn how to knit, maybe even get together some October evening with their first skein, a pair of knitting needles, and myself there to teach my group of friends how to knit. Well, October has passed, but again we are not here to talk about the great passing of time or the passing of New Years Resolutions. We are here to discuss a new project, or rather a group of projects!
Yesterday, January 1, 2015, I began what I have dubbed The Elizabeth Zimmerman Challenge. (this is when you comment, raise your hand, drop me a line, send me a telegram, etc. and ask Who is this Elizabeth Zimmerman?)
Well to answer your questions about this post...
Elizabeth Zimmerman was a wonderful knitter and author and spinner! She just so happened to have written a few books, but at the moment we are only concerned with one, The Knitter's Almanac.
Originally published in 1974, The Knitter's Almanac is a book with projects for each month of the year (how fitting since it is the beginning of January). Now I've added a link to Amazon just in case you don't already own a copy of the book; you can also get it on your Kindle.
Towards the end of December I thought, why not go through the Almanac?
So why not?
Her first project is an Aran sweater. I didn't know what exactly an Aran sweater was so I did some research...only after I started knitting.
To many people an Aran sweater may be more recognizable as a fisherman's sweater, or an Celtic sweater. They're commonly made from wool and have cables and bobbles and what not all over them. Now I must admit that while I love Ms. Zimmerman, I'm not all that fond of the way she wants you to make this first sweater by cutting it and inserting the sleeves, but well get there in a few weeks.
In the mean time I have my yarn, blue wool that I recycled from a sweater that my sister's boyfriend gave to me. I have acquired numerous, well 5 books from the library on Aran knits, and now it is up to me to figure out what stitch patterns to use. I have already started gauge swatches, 3 already, and still I don't have the right needles (sz 6 to be precise). Ms. Zimmerman gives very good advice on the swatch and that is to do it in stocking stitch, instead of your pattern stitch; just in case you don't like the pattern stitch she's chosen.
So next week, and every week here after, I will post my progress, hopefully with pictures too. But for today, think about your next project, instead of a resolution. You may start something you love and beginning forgetting something you don't.
Happy Knitting!
Old Niagara Outfitters
I can recall in the late summer months of 2014 friends of mine saying how they wanted to learn how to knit, maybe even get together some October evening with their first skein, a pair of knitting needles, and myself there to teach my group of friends how to knit. Well, October has passed, but again we are not here to talk about the great passing of time or the passing of New Years Resolutions. We are here to discuss a new project, or rather a group of projects!
Yesterday, January 1, 2015, I began what I have dubbed The Elizabeth Zimmerman Challenge. (this is when you comment, raise your hand, drop me a line, send me a telegram, etc. and ask Who is this Elizabeth Zimmerman?)
Well to answer your questions about this post...
Elizabeth Zimmerman was a wonderful knitter and author and spinner! She just so happened to have written a few books, but at the moment we are only concerned with one, The Knitter's Almanac.
Originally published in 1974, The Knitter's Almanac is a book with projects for each month of the year (how fitting since it is the beginning of January). Now I've added a link to Amazon just in case you don't already own a copy of the book; you can also get it on your Kindle.
Towards the end of December I thought, why not go through the Almanac?
So why not?
Her first project is an Aran sweater. I didn't know what exactly an Aran sweater was so I did some research...only after I started knitting.
To many people an Aran sweater may be more recognizable as a fisherman's sweater, or an Celtic sweater. They're commonly made from wool and have cables and bobbles and what not all over them. Now I must admit that while I love Ms. Zimmerman, I'm not all that fond of the way she wants you to make this first sweater by cutting it and inserting the sleeves, but well get there in a few weeks.
In the mean time I have my yarn, blue wool that I recycled from a sweater that my sister's boyfriend gave to me. I have acquired numerous, well 5 books from the library on Aran knits, and now it is up to me to figure out what stitch patterns to use. I have already started gauge swatches, 3 already, and still I don't have the right needles (sz 6 to be precise). Ms. Zimmerman gives very good advice on the swatch and that is to do it in stocking stitch, instead of your pattern stitch; just in case you don't like the pattern stitch she's chosen.
So next week, and every week here after, I will post my progress, hopefully with pictures too. But for today, think about your next project, instead of a resolution. You may start something you love and beginning forgetting something you don't.
Happy Knitting!
Old Niagara Outfitters