Virginia Real : Switch Knitter…

March 20, 2014

As I’ve grown older, I’ve noticed little aches and pains that weren’t there twenty years ago…or even ten years ago...or even five years ago...uhhhhboy! I guess that’s the trade off…as time goes on you gain wisdom, but lose that agility you had as a young adult. Oh well, no matter, my new-found wisdom is helping me to find work-arounds to deal with issues like this. Ain't wisdom grand?

Coincidentally, I recently came up with the brilliant idea of learning the “Continental” style of knitting. It is supposed to be faster than my usual way of knitting (English style) and it’s supposed to be easier on your hands. I told myself that this is just the thing I need to help with those little aches and pains in my hands. All it will take is a little practice to get used to holding the yarn differently and making the stitches in a slightly different way. It will be a challenge to change the way I’ve been knitting for years, but I’m convinced I can do this. I firmly believe that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

But what to practice on? Hmmm…I thought for a while and came up with the idea of making dishcloths. They’re small, simple, and portable. However, I don’t want to end up with 50 dishcloths that I don’t need. So I put my thinking cap on and came up yet another idea. I’ll make enough dishcloths, put them together and turn them into a spring sweater! This project should take long enough to get me accustomed to knitting in the Continental style and I should have a useful product when it's done.

So then came the design phase. What dishcloth pattern should I use? How should I piece the dishcloths together? What colors should I use? Since the main point of this project is simply a learning exercise, I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of money on it or spend a whole lot of time developing an intricate design. Another consideration is that the project has to be portable. I use up my extra bits of time (while waiting for appointments, during meetings, or riding in the car) to work on my knitting projects.

The parameters of the project were outlined. Then came the time to make the decision on what the sweater should look like. I finally decided on a pattern that is all over the Internet. According to what I’ve found, no one seems to know exactly where the pattern originated, but everyone seems to have knitted it at least once. It is a simple dishcloth, knitted diagonally that uses "yarn overs" around the edges to form a border of sort. As all of the stitches are knitted, the project should give me plenty of practice.

Over the past few days, I’ve had enough free time to make several of the dishcloths, using the new method of knitting. I took a few pictures and made a quick sketch, using the “Draw” feature in Microsoft Word. The sketch at least gives me an idea of what the finished project will look like. Unfortunately, the "draw" feature doesn't seem to want to copy to this blog post, so a description will have to do for now. Although it is taking a bit of getting used to, I find that knitting Continental really does speed up my knitting and seems to be less stressful on my hands. I just love “win-win” situations! During the process, I am diligently writing down the pattern instructions and will post them after the project is finished, along with pictures.

Diagonal Dishcloth Sweater

The loose-fitting sweater will consist of 15 diagonal dishcloths (12 for back as well as 3 on right front and 3 on left front) in Sugar ‘n Cream Emerald Isle. The three middle dishcloths on the front of the sweater will be knit horizontally. The top dishcloth on the center front will be a contrasting color (probably sage green or white) and will have a simple motif (possibly a leaf, heart, or star) knit into the square’s design. The 2 dishcloths below that will be knit in the Emerald Isle color. Bottom ribbing, neck ribbing, shoulder shaping/ribbing, and sleeves will be knit in same contrasting color as top, front dishcloth.