Hey, its been a minute
Hello friends, I’m working on some additional, longer, blog posts currently but it was unfortunate that I spun up a new version of this site only to immediately run dry on content. 2025-02-04
Here’s to fix that! Part of the content drought has been driven by my current hobby/project, knitting. I’ve also recently been embracing The Cult of Done and the related precept “Done is Better than Perfect.” Knitting has been a way to practice these principles in my hobby life, as preparation for bringing them into my professional life. As a recovering perfectionist, I’m trying to live with the discomfort of imperfect in favor of the clarity of done.
Some side notes: All these knitting patterns are available for free on Ravelry, if for some reason my progress pictures inspire you to make something of your own. I’ll have links at the bottom of this post. Also, feel free to give me a follow over there, if you’re interested in keeping up with the projects I’m working on.
This page also has external links to some of the materials I discuss. I don’t make money from anything here but I also don’t believe in gatekeeping.
Show me the projects
Spurred on by the recent cold snap in Indianapolis, I’ve returned to one of my oldest interests, knitting. Sub zero temperatures and “snow days” called for a new hat and matching set of mittens. I had started the hat back in the fall, as part of a friend’s biweekly craft night. A small group of introverts gather on the couches to spend time working on separate projects - crochet, embroidery, knitting, etc. - and I had just fallen in love with a skein of beautiful egg-yolk golden yarn. It was January was the time to be Done with the hat.
The mittens were my first chance to work in-the-round (using double pointed needles) and I enjoyed documenting the process for my friends on snapchat.
A pair of mittens is a great way to practice, for instance, 3**. There Is No Editing Stage.** Tris at No Boilerplate says “Don’t tweak what you’ve got, make another one.” Once I powered through the first mitten, it was on to the second.
In knitting you have very little forgiveness for error. In a “knit until the palm of the mitten measures 7 inches” any missed, twisted, dropped, or otherwise incorrectly done stitch will be immediately visible: There is a disruption in this pattern. You have some options, the most drastic of which is frogging: pulling the single strand of yarn to unravel all your hard work, back to the problem spot, picking the stitches back up on your needle, and continuing the work from there on.
You can also make peace with the mistakes and soldier on: 8. Laugh at Perfection. If I spent time frogging back to every mistake I made on these mittens, I would still be working. They don’t have to be perfect or beautiful or commercial grade. They have to keep my hands warm. Mittens warm my hands when they’re done.
Additional mitten pictures because I have them:
The thing you’ll (maybe) notice is that the second mitten is (gasp with me here) better than the first. I had sent a version of the left photo to a friend with the self-deprecating caption “suspiciously mitten shaped object nears completion” and he wrote back “Ben, its a mitten.” I
The cool part about immediately finishing a pair of mittens that match your hat is that you might have some leftover yarn that you want to use up, and that leads you to a scarf. 13. Done is the Engine of More.
Of course a lifetime of being interested in knitting (I think I picked it up in 5th grade? and had a resurgent interest while in college) is that I had a ton of scrap yarn laying around. Leftovers, and skeins that I had never gotten around to using for earlier projects. Perfect for a scarf, which knitters call stash busting.
And of course being Done with something is nice, but also, especially with knitting, you end up with functional clothing pieces as well.
*Insert photo of Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor*
By this time, the hyperfixation truly has a hold on me. I’m continuing to raid my stash for material. I needed an accessory bag to hold all the knitting notions I’ve acquired over the years. I have a wonderful canvas tote bag from the Strand Bookstore in New York which I use to carry active projects, yarns, and knitting needles around. But the fiddlier bits: tapestry needles, plastic stitch markers, crochet hooks, and double pointed needles of various sizes (collectively known as notions) need a home. For the longest time I kept such objects in a ziplock bag, and well, I can do better.
My friend Tucker once said, of carpentry, that the first thing carpenters will do with their tools is build a place to put said tools. Why shouldn’t this apply to me? Enter the Tweed Stitch Project Bag which took less than the runtime of Netflix’s Kaos to knit.
This was first time working with two colors and I LOVE how this turned out. The pattern was relatively simple to execute once I got the groove going. I also decided to combine this with another skill I’ve been developing in the past few years, using my sewing machine to add a liner and zipper to the pouch.
This was also my first time working with a zipper. Thanks to one of my favorite sewing tutorial creators, Tock Custom for the instructions on zippering. I unfortunately did put the zipper on upside down, but I’m making peace with that because 10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
Not bad for something I knocked out in two days, I think! Don’t tell my mom, but she may be getting one of these for her birthday.
On to the next project. (I’ve lost count, honestly.)
My trend is functional-objects-that-aren’t-clothing. I’m also running a D&D campaign for my friends. So, lets make a dice bag!
I adore this green yarn, I used it for a section of the scarf and realized I needed to save it for use elsewhere, such as the notions bag, and now this. It has a deep sage color and almost jewel tone to it as well as being silky smooth.
Of all my projects so far, I think this is the one that I struggled with the most. Once again working in-the-round, with multiple colors, and also adding a new stitch to my repertoire - the honeycomb brioche stitch.
I’ll be honest, this stitch defeated me. I do not understand how it works, how to work it, anything. I accidentally stayed up until 4 am Monday morning working on a swatch of this stitch trying to get it, to what feels like no avail. Breathe.
4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.
And so I did it. Badly. Whatever. It’s done, and like the mittens, I know I’ll be better on the next one. It would be self defeating to list all the things I did “wrong” on this project. I’ll tell you what, it holds dice just the same.
I suppose, if I were inclined, I could embrace 7. Once you’re done you can throw it away. But for now, I’m holding on to the little guy. Maybe someone in my d&d party will want it.
Anyways, that’s what I’ve been up to for most of January.
Knitting patterns in this post
- Men’s Basic Hat by Caron Design Team
- Alex’s Mittens by Rebekkah Kerner
- Tweed Stitch Project Bag by Yarnspirations Design Studio
- Dice Bag of Minimal Magic by Diana Keyson
Upcoming projects?
I plan to make at least one more dice bag, to see if I can master the honeycomb brioche technique.
I’ll be making an additional tweed project bag for my mom.
I have a very advanced (for me) shawl pattern that I’m working on. It has a design like feathers, uses fingering weight yarn, and itty bitty 3.5 needles. (Remember, 4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.)
