Sunday 19 October 2014

Product or Process Knitter?

I've been thinking about this a bit recently as I've had limited knitting and spinning projects available to me, since all my stuff had to be packed up to be shipped to Jakarta. It also came up on episode 5 of the Stitched Together video podcast and I thought I'd talk a little about it here. 

When I've thought about this before I've wavered between the two and there are probably some times when I am both. Recently, however it's become pretty apparent that I'm mostly a process knitter. My Rivoli shawl and the Curious Collective Shawl have really proved that to me, as I have no reason whatsoever to be knitting shawls, but I want to for the sheer pleasure of doing so! I love to knit lace and really enjoy the challenge of it. Of course I love the finished products and I will keep them around when the air conditioning gets a bit chilly but if I don't enjoy knitting something then generally it either gets frogged or it takes an age.

My Custom Fit Cardigan will be lovely when it's done but that doesn't appear to be enough motivation to continue with it! The yarn is gorgeous and I really like the colour; yet it's sat untouched for weeks now! How do you motivate yourself to finish something you're not enjoying but know will be great when it's done?   

Hand knit socks do seem to be the anomaly though. I find them quite satisfying to have and to complete, yet they seem to take forever to knit and I enjoy the product more than the process in this case. 

Just for fun I've set up a little poll to find out how many of you are process or product knitters. If you'd like to share your thoughts in the comments then I'd love to hear them!


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Friday 17 October 2014

FO Friday #6



 




























It's been a while since I've had an FO and I'm really pleased to be showing it to you today. As was inevitable, I got bored of my current WIPs and have shamefully ignored my cardigan (and various other WIPs) in favour of something a little more interesting!

A few weeks ago I received some Juno Fibre Arts Alice in the Moss and Stone colourways. I bought it so I could knit the gorgeous 2014 Curious Collective Shawl. This is the first time that I've knit using the recommended yarn and that I've completed a KAL in the time frame and I'm so pleased with the result.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the shawl check this blog post out for an explanation. I hadn't voted right at the beginning as I was late to the party, but did vote for a couple of aspects of the shawl. 

The pattern is very well written (and charted), with percentages alongside the pattern instructions so you can keep track of how far through you are, as well as allowing you to keep an eye on your yarn. I ended up with a shawl a bit smaller than the original but I'm OK with that. Potentially I could make another one with the left over yarn, but the opposite way round. 

The yarn, a delicious blend of 70% alpaca, 20% silk and 10% cashmere, was a sheer delight to knit with. It's so warm and has a slight halo about it from the alpaca but also has a little bit of sheen from the silk. It works so well with the pattern and since it's been blocked it's held it's shape well. I'm very sad that Juno Fibre Arts is closing as she is a very talented dyer. I'm sure the loss of her yarn will be felt by her fans. 

Of course it's far too warm to be wearing it here in Jakarta, unless the air conditioning is very chilly, so it will just look beautiful until I get a chance to wear it!

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Sunday 12 October 2014

A Little Adventure

Right now I am feeling very accomplished indeed. My husband and I have had our car for a while now, got our driving license a few weeks ago and have talked about taking the car out ourselves. It's half term at the moment so what better time was there to have a go?!

Having watched my driver a little bit I felt OK about braving the roads where we live. First though, we (my husband and I) took the car around the estate a few times just so I could get the feel for the car and remind myself how to drive again. It's been nearly two years since I drove so I was a little nervous, but soon all the muscle memory came flooding back and I felt confident about driving the car....the roads were another matter though and I felt quite anxious about those!

The one thing that really helped was knowing that you sit in traffic for a great deal of time, meaning things happen quite slowly. Having never driven in Asia I wasn't as aggressive as perhaps I needed to be, but I'm sure as I drive more here I'll learn what's necessary to do. 

My biggest concern was the motorbikes. They come round you from all angles and if you leave a big enough gap between you and the car in front then they grab that chance to overtake you. It's incredibly important to have quick instincts here and close gaps when you can so you don't get stuck! Not only do you have to contend with motorbikes and other cars, there are the pedestrians and food carts to be aware of also. There are no crossing points around here on the smaller roads so to cross the road you have to get to the middle of the road when you get a chance and then the rest of the way. Normally raising your hand will stop cars but the locals often just start to cross, expecting you to stop. As you can imagine it makes for a tiring drive! 

However, after contending with all of the above we made it to our destination, a local shopping mall. Admittedly we missed 3 entrances to the mall carpark (this didn't matter as it's enormous and spread out on both sides of the road) and also ended up with me having a mild panic as I'd missed the U-turn lane and had to just do it anyway...luckily the oncoming traffic was stopped at this point but it was not one of my finer driving moments!

After a wonder around the mall and some lovely Indonesian food in the food court (Gado-Gado lontong; vegetables, prawn crackers and tofu in peanut sauce (totally amazing, aside from the tofu!!!), goat sate, goat nasi goreng and sweetcorn fritters) we decided it was time to head back home.

The way back was far more challenging! We didn't go the same way back and this wasn't a problem...until we got around the back streets of our estate. Most of the drivers here prefer to go out the back and not the front of the estate, as it avoids traffic and going over the nearby train tracks. The back street, however, is full of twists, turns and littered with dozens of speed bumps! Now, I have no problem with speed bumps but these are high and short, rather than low and long. Going over these smoothly was for some reason exceptionally difficult, even very slowly. My poor husband did really not enjoy this experience and nor, I expect, did the car behind me. It was by far the worst, and most stressful, part of the journey and I'd probably rather sit in the traffic! 

Anyway, I'm really glad that I did it and will definitely drive here again, perhaps not too far just yet though!  

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