Monday, December 03, 2007

Breaking the "UFO" Habit

The “UnFinished Object” Habit, that is (knitting lingo, y’know).

I am not a prolific knitter. I have a long-standing issue with hats; they either turn out waaay too big or too small, and if I can tell that before I finish them, I just stop. And the yarn languishes for years that way; stuck in a half-way-too-big hat. I’m not a fast knitter, either, so it just seems like too many hard-won stitches to rip them all out. It’s enough to send me running to the polarfleece!

I’m trying to get more efficient with my time and/or yarn. I have “thrifted” a bunch of rather sub-standard (acrylic from the 70’s) yarn that clutters up my space; I plan to get rid of that soon. I also buy nice yarn from time to time with the best of intentions, then don’t use it. I intend to try to use that stuff up before buying more (yarn is expensive, and I spend too much time stressing about our money future lately).

But with baby on the way, I really feel this is the time to do a bit of knitting (I know, all stereotypical and stuff). Hey, I’m just thrilled to think of SMALL sweaters and small projects that I have some hope of completing in a weekend or week or so.

So, I am pleased to announce my first finished project in a quite a long time: simple booties! These came from a free pattern available here. Organic cotton yarn, purchased long ago with vague plans of washcloths (my typical mindless knitting project).


These were very simple and quick, and good practice for the more “advanced” (for me, anyway) knitting in this lovely vintage book:


Alison at Brainy Lady was kind enough to mail it to me all the way from Montreal; I was the lucky winner in her comment contest last month. I love getting mail from afar, and this really will inspire me to do a bit more knitting. At least one of the sweaters is in "plain knitting" so it is within my skill level, I think. So, thanks,Alison- and here’s to wishing for some more, efficient knitting to come!

4 comments:

willow said...

Theres something about baby shoes and bootees and those are so sweet. The first thing my husband bought when I was expecting our first was a tiny pair of newborn size socks and although the recipient is now 6ft 4ins, I still have those first socks!

Alison said...

You're very welcome. And those booties are just adorable. :)

Anonymous said...

Love the booties! they are so elegant and sweet. Well done!

gtr said...

Thanks, all!

They really are basic, but it's fun to have the first item ready. They are a bit big, so they'll fit for a while!