Confession #1: I have knitted more than just scarves before, I had just forgotten about it (or forgotten that I had pictures of it, anyway). One of the first projects that Kaity did in her knitting class was a backpack, knitted in the round (on circular needles). Knitting in the round is really cool, because you can make stockinette stitch with no purling. Since I was a noobie knitter at the time, being able to create stockinette stitch without actually learning a new technique was perfect. I had a bunch of leftover yarn that Grandma had given me (thanks Grandma!), and I thought little backpacks would make nice gifts for my nieces for Christmas.
She was not so thrilled. But I made them, and they turned out nice. I even stitched the I-cord for the straps. Very cool.
Confession #2: I’ve started on my hat, which is also knit in the round. I was sitting in my office today for office hours, after lunch, knitting. Yes, knitting, and going through my lecture. I’ve been teaching the class for a month, ne’er to have a student darken my door. I’d been in my office for an hour and a half, no students, even though they had an assignment due today. I had had my knitting out for ~10 minutes when *knock knock*. One of my kids had a question about his homework. There’s my knitting, laying on the table, exposed. My student probably thought I was nuts.
Confession #3: I love knitting. But I can see it developing into a compulsion. I used to be that way with books. But now, once I start on a project, that’s all I want to do. I can hear it calling to me. I resumed knitting after my student left, and then knitted a bunch more while sitting in the waiting room during Kaity’s dentist appointment. I’ve made a lot of progress today. Roll brim hat, here I come. And hats are fun. So if this one works out, guess what everyone is getting for Christmas?
Confession #4: I fear I may be creating a gigantor hat. I did a swatch, sort of (who wants to knit 40 rows just to measure an inch?). And I came up with ~3.5 stitches/inch. Then I measured my head. It’s nearly 24 inches in circumference. To figure out how many stitches to cast on, we just multiply the number of stitches per inch times the circumference of my head (3.5 x 24 = 84 stitches). That sounds like a lot. Maybe too many. Or maybe it will actually fit my giant head. The jury’s still out….
