In this episode I chat about sweater weather, a colorwork Lopi project, steeking and what it's teaching me about seasons, both in terms of this podcast and in terms of recovery.
Music Credit: "Day Trips" but Ketsa
In this episode I chat about sweater weather, a colorwork Lopi project, steeking and what it's teaching me about seasons, both in terms of this podcast and in terms of recovery.
Music Credit: "Day Trips" but Ketsa
[instrumental intro music, upbeat with trills and bells
Music Credit: Ketsa, “Day Trips”]
[Holly 00:34]
Hello! How are you? It’s been a minute (as the kids say). How’s your September going? Mine is jam-packed. I always forget how stressful back to school is especially for working parents. But I am here and I am happy to be here. I’ve jugged the schedule a bit. It’s actually a Friday morning. Our weekends are super jam-packed because the kids’ hockey has started back up. And so it’s just as busy on the weekend as it is during the week. So I’m going to try to juggle my time and steal a moment on Friday mornings to chat with you all.
[Holly 01:31]
I am feeling overwhelmed and it’s showing up in my knitting. Oy. I’ve had some failures (laughter). That may also be why I haven’t been here. I’ve been working on—I have this beautiful yarn that I got from an upcycle spot and I’ve been working on the Marin shawl by Ysolda Teague. It’s gorgeous but it’s challenging. It’s designed to be double sided so you kind of have to think. And for whatever reason my bandwidth wasn’t aligned with the pattern. So I kept remaking it to have it come out right. I was also playing an epic game of yarn chicken… and I lost! I had like reknit this thing 2 times and got 2/3rds of the way done and I had done all the hard parts. It was just smooth sailing ahead. And I ran out of yarn! And it was so sad. I tried to reorder yarn that was similar but of course it wasn’t. And I ended up spending money on yarn I didn’t need and wasn’t enough to do the Marin anyway. I had originally thought I’d do some version of helical knitting. But it just looked junky. It didn’t look as pretty as I had imagined. I frogged it. And I made a simple ribbed hat. It was beautiful and it gave me a lot of pleasure. But you know it wasn’t the dream.
[Holly 03:13]
But I was feeling all along that I really wanted to be knitting a sweater. You know that feeling… that sweater weather feeling. I was feeling a bit grumpy and I was indulging my inner child. I wanted it to be complex but simple and satisfying and easy and… cheap! (laughter). These things But of course there are no perfect projects. So what I settled for instead was the project I had. I had bought the yarn years ago, I had bought the pattern. Oh! I can’t remember the pattern name. It’s a lopi color work sweater by Mary J. Mucklestone. It’s one of the kals organized by Fringe Association for steeking. You know I bought the yarn but it’s just been sitting in a tub in a closet because Lopi’s an acquired taste. But you know it’s a sweater’s quantity of yarn and I’ve got the pattern. I’m in a tight financial spot so I can’t really afford to go out and indulge myself with a sweater’s quantity of yarn. Of course I could upcycle yarn but you really need to be creative about how to put those materials together to make a sweater and my recent failure with the shawl made me gun shy about casting on a funky, techni-color sweater. I’m sure there’s a Steven West pattern I could have used. But I just wanted it to be simple, easy, and satisfying.
[Holly 05:34]
So I’m casting on a Lopi sweater. I knitted a Lopi sweater before. I knit the Felix sweater. I knitted it in a cheap Lopi not the Istex Lopi. It’s fine—it’s black. It’s very warm. It’s like a really amazing sweatshirt that I wear to hockey practices (it’s perfect for the cold arenas) But it’s scratchy. You really need to wear a layer... or two (laughter!) Like my kids refuse to hug me when I wear it. It’s like a hair shirt. Laughter. And you know Lopi has its purposes it’s lightweight and warm.
[Holly 06:12]
This Lopi yarn is Istex. I knitted the swatch and blocked it and it did get softer and nicer. So maybe there’s something to using the name brand Lopi. The other sweater was Reynolds brand lopi. So I’m hoping this sweater will be wearable. So I’m excited for sweater weather.
[Holly 06:34]
It’s three-stranded color work (laughter) so it’s nice and easy. (Sarcastic tone/Laughter). But I have different projects for different moments in my day. I can only really steal a few moments here and there for my knitting. But I’m so busy that if I don’t carve out some downtime I might break in half from stress. So the sweater weather project is for right before bed, watching a tv show, getting ready to fall asleep.
[Holly 07:24]
It’s going slowly. My gauge is changing. My swatch gauge was really loose. My sweater gauge is really tight. This could be an epic fail. I took precautions. I did my math! I blocked my swatch. I even blocked the sweater yoke. I’m about to separate for sleeves but it looks off. But maybe that’s the steek? I’ve never steeked a cardigan before so maybe that’s why it looks weird. So this is an experiment. With sweater weather, you know, the risks are higher but the rewards are greater. (Laughter)
[Holly 08:24]
It’s reminding me of the joys of the season in a good way. I’m trying to counterbalance the stress of September with the change in the season. One of the things I’m realizing is that I have a personal goal to get to 50 episodes. But once I do so I’m going to switch to season 2. It won’t mean much to you; I’m not going to take a break (Laughter) Obviously, I mean, I take breaks when I need to (laughter) but I think the season of the podcast will reflect the seasons I’m in. Because this is a podcast about making and recovery, the seasons will reflect that.
[Holly 09:08]
Right now, I’m in a different season than I was when I started this. I was waiting out the pandemic, in the process of getting a divorce, I was dealing with becoming a single mom, watching my partner spiral downward with his addiction. And over the past 18 months I’m in a different place. In terms of work, I’m back to teaching in person. I’m in a different place as a single mom; I’m still a single mom and the pressures of it are really hard but they’re different than I thought they would be And I’m in a different place with my partner. We’re divorced now. And he’s a little more stable and in his own definition of recovery which is important. It may not be mine but it’s his and that’s what matters. And I’m trying to balance all of this and it’s less like a waiting game but it’s just… this is like just my life. Like things aren’t going to change that radically. I don’t want to, as my friend says, spit into the air or anything but this is a different season and I’m hoping that I can learn to take my recovery into this season as well. And sweater weather is such a great knitting way to get excited about fall and seasons.
[Holly 10:32]
Sometimes in recovery I just tell myself that I just have to get to this point or I just need to hold on until this time period and then everything will be fine. But it’s just that process of dealing with denial—denial of reality and denial of my needs in order to get by. And I’m trying to do something different and keep my serenity in this busy work season. Keep up with teaching in person, keeping up with my research, and helping my kids transition as well. There’s just a lot of stress right now. I’m seeing it in my kids' school and with my own students and I’m certainly seeing it in my work. And it’s coming out in my knitting! Laughter! My gauge is super tight!
[Holly 11:34]
I will check back in when I’m ready to steek. I’ve never steeked anything before. I’ve never steeked anything before. Even if the project is terrible. Unwearable, Scratchy, ugly too small and I somehow manage to cut off a sleeve as I’m trying to steek. I’m telling myself it’s a learning experience and there’s joy in the making.
[Holly 12:12]
I hope you are having a better September than I am. I hope that you have a beautiful sweater cast on for sweater weather if you’re in the northern hemisphere and a lovely tank if you’re in the southern hemisphere. Something linen maybe? Yeah! I’ll check back soon.
[Holly 12:34]
Take care! Bye!
Music Outro [instrumental upbeat music with trills and bells]