Knitter's Time

Yesterday I was all about finally getting into Kate Davie's "Deco" - my next sweater project but then last evening 'actually worked on something else.

Its another Jared Flood pattern,  "Ptarmigan", cast on right after Gaspard left the premises as I planned to work it and Deco concurrently. (Truth be told knitting the Deco swatch was actually jumping ahead of starting Ptarmigan.)

More than wanting to knit this lovely cowl, or wear it before next autumn I want to be seen knitting with the Illimani Silky Baby Lama. This yarn, among several other luxurious skeins, was given to me by Number One Son this past Christmas and I want to demonstrate my appreciation in terms to which he, a non knitter, can relate.

He has a typical "covet/need then purchase then use" mentality. One thing promptly following the next so the cycle can begin again. (Hence the descriptor "Consumer"; an ugly if apt description in my view, but I digress.)

Curiously Knitting Time (i.e. that sensation of the passage of time in the knitter's brain) seems free of this burden of speed in a way and quite distinct from non knitting activity -  little understood if even imaginable by non knitters.

"The Stash" is borne of this. Its not uncommon for knitting projects to take years to proceed from yarn or pattern purchase through the pairing process of the two through casting on and knitting to completion. Some knits even spend time in a blocking pile after the last stitch has been bound off.

"Deco" is, for me, such an undertaking - more on that some other time.

The Shepherd and Shearer Project is another. Non knitters listen incredulous when I speak of the premise wherein a knitter like me pays a lot then waits while
......sheep eat grass and grow fleece (non knitters think this is a joke!)
............designers on two continents imagine and express a design
.................Shearers shear
.........................A mill cleans and spins and skeins
..................................A "shop" ships
.............................................The mail carrier delivers
.........................................................A swatch is swatched
..................................................................(Slightly unrelated but nonetheless true) several seasons pass!

Until at last knitting on the sweater can begin and that is assuming the "queue" (aka current mood of the knitter) is ready and open to cast on that new project.

Non knitters don't understand this sometimes long search for perfect partnership between pattern, yarn and opportunity. Lets face it, some sweater projects "marinate" for longer than some Engagements last! So its no surprise non knitters need to see the connection between their yarn gift and completed knit in something closer to typical a typical retail cycle of time.

While recently working slavishly on Ranger under the direct oversight of its intended recipient, I sensed impatience tinged with disbelief at how long the thing was taking and it was the size of a small football field!

So bottom line on Ptarmigan I want to "speak" to non knitting Number One Son in the Buy-then-Use language he understands so I'm stitching on Ptarmigan to have something to show him by the weekend when he next comes home.

Deco will wait a wee bit longer - I know YOU all understand!

Thanks for dropping by!