Should We Learn New Things?

 

I started this post writing about provisional cast ons and why they could be better than picking up from a cast on edge. As part of my thoughts on this I started to write about learning new things in your hobby and I decided that was actually a better idea for the blog.

What I was wondering if knitting is a hobby and a hobby is something we do for fun should we keep learning new things to do in this hobby? - at what point do we stop trying to learn new things in our hobby? And does it matter? If this is something we are doing for fun is it OK to get to a certain point and say I'm good I don't need to learn/practice anything else. And I would say, it is something you do for fun and, therefore, it should be whatever you want it to be.

But where I would say there is a problem with this, is when the hobbyist (knitter in this case) doesn’t want to try anything new, but expects everything catered to their level of expertise. By choosing this route everything is dumbed down and there is nothing new for those who do want to learn.

What started this thought process today (although it has been on my mind for a while) was an influencer claiming they hated every provisional cast on in the world and in their latest pattern they just had you cast on and pick up from the cast on edge. This is fine but they are a relatively new knitter so after how many cast ons did they decide they hate them all? Also as a knitting influencer, they have monetized their hobby, so, yes, they should still enjoy it but what about learning new things and becoming more proficient? I fear in this case it is a good example of human nature, s/he who sounds most confident is the one listened to, even if they are wrong.

Finished a Vacation Project

 I started this project while still on our trip and have just finished. In my last post I said that I took five skeins of sock yarn away with me. One problem I had was that I kept second guessing if I wanted to make socks with any of the yarns. With the last two skeins, one of them I could envisage as a particular pattern, a colourwork pattern, so not only did I need another ball of yarn it was also not a pattern that I was likely to knit on a trip. The other skein was a self-striping yarn that I had been given that I could not picture as socks. In the end I decided to make the mitten pattern that I had made on last year's trip. This is a relatively easy pattern and this year I had remembered to bring scrap yarn so I was able to work a provisional cast on. And fortuitously I had packed extra needles.

Once again, I made changes to the pattern. I decided not to make them as long as my first pair, and to make the turnover flap longer to really cover the thumb and to make the thumb opening closer to the edge  - although I managed to mess that up. 

The overall length is about 1 1/4 inches shorter than my first pair and I really need to wear both pairs (one of each?) with a jacket to get an idea of my preferred length. The turnover goes fully over my thumb and I could possibly make it a bit shorter - with the shorter total length of the mitt and the longer turnover the mitten is mostly turnover and I'm not sure if that is strange but is definitely preferable to the first pair with the shorter turnover. The pattern as written has the thumb hole centred. This does put the thumb in a strange position when the turnover is, well, turned over. The designer does say you can move the thumb hole without giving suggestions so I moved it one stitch in from the edge. The first mitt turned out well. The second mitt I remembered to move the opening to the other side of the palm but did not take into account that I had worked a different provisional cast on, resulting in working the mitten from the other end. So by moving the opening to the other side as you would normally, I had put it on the same side. I didn't notice until the mitten was finished. Usually I would undo and reknit but I couldn't face the thought of making sure I didn't lose all the provisional stitches. When I wear it, it feels like when I wear the one with the centre opening so not the end of the world, just don't look closely at them.

 

 

What I Knit on Vacation

 In my yarn planning post, I said I was just going to take 4-ply (sock) yarn with me. I packed circular needles for sock knitting as well as a couple of crochet hooks and a couple of larger size needles - just in case which I did end up using and five skeins of yarn. 

I cast on the first pair of socks using yarn I had purchased on a previous trip to the UK. To make life easier, i.e. not having to pick up heel stitches or graft toes, I decided that regardless of the pattern I would work a Strong Heel and a star toe. Although I have a pattern featuring that type of heel, I opted for the heel in the pattern Vanilla is the New Black. Now having worked that heel I want to compare the two patterns to see how the application differs as I felt that I ended up with a slight gap with the new pattern. Although my intention was to use this heel on all socks for the next two pairs of socks, I used the heel in the pattern as they looked interesting.

To make life a little easier for me - not sure that it worked - in choosing patterns I went with the suggestions from Sock Knitters Anonymous. We were leaving on 1 April and the first of the month is the start of a new challenge, but I did not want to start something new on leaving day so I cast on a few days before we left to have something already established. This did mean that I only had a month to complete the challenge instead of two. For March the theme was Nature and I chose Waterspout socks. I chose this pattern as it looked easy, so easy that I was worried that they wouldn't be allowed for the challenge but they were approved by a moderator. I made a small but significant change in the pattern to make it even easier. As written the pattern is a repeat of four knit stitches and four purl stitches offset by one stitch on subsequent rows. This is an eight stitch repeat which fits in with standard sock cast ons of 64 or 72 stitches but does mean that you have an extra pattern stitch at the start of each row in order to move the pattern over. To overcome this I decreased one stitch and then worked the same pattern row for every row minus the last stitch. This meant I could just knit round and round and not have to think how to start each row. It also means that I have no line to indicate start of round. 

 

I managed to complete these before the end of April so I was able to start a new pair for April's challenge which was Returning Designer. I used the Life in the Long Grass yarn which I purchased in Cork, Ireland last year - my just in case purchase that I wound by hand at our next stop and then didn't use. The pattern is Trillusions and I am really pleased with how they turned out; in fact I am thinking of making some fingerless mittens with the left overs. I kept the heel as written in the pattern as I do like the garter stitch edge on a heel flap.

 

These were finished before the end of May and for May I chose Literature & Mythology as my challenge with the pattern Katniss, using some old yarn that I had purchased in a sale in 2021. I did not change the heel on this pattern as I liked the way the rib continued into the gusset. This is the eighth pattern I have made by this designer.

I did not finish these until July and by then I needed a change from socks so my next cast on was fingerless mitts (glad I packed bigger needles which gave me this choice); an easy garter stitch pattern just right for travel knitting.

I will work on these at home and not wait for more travels to finish them. 

 

 

Try Not to Look Like a Tourist

Because we are planning our travels, all sorts of travel related posts come up on my social media feeds. One that appeared recently was asking about pickpockets, I think in Italy and if it had got worse since their last visit three years previously. 

A couple of things struck me in the responses. Firstly, how lackadaisical people are about their personal belongings in their home town. There are opportunist thieves everywhere so you should be careful wherever you are. Although it is easier to replace your lost items in your own country especially where there is no language issue.

Secondly, although most of the responses were helpful there were a few that said “don't look like a tourist”. And that misses out on the whole point of visiting other places. You want to look up, around, stop and take in all you see. Look at a map, nowadays on your phone, but many people still carry the paper maps issued by tourist information. In other words by not looking like a tourist you miss out on the whole point of being somewhere else. There was one response that said they totally look like a tourist, they take photos ask others to take photos. It was a change for a realistic response.

While I was composing this post, I received a message from a friend about what shoes to wear in Rome because she didn't want to look totally like an American tourist. An interesting question because she's going to be touristing and as soon as she speaks it will be obvious she is not local. I refrained from advising her to not be an obnoxious American and not to expect everything to be the same as home.

Yarn Planning - A Year Later

Last year I wrote a post about choosing yarn to take on a trip where luggage space 

was limited. Here we are a year later getting ready for another trip and the changes

 I am going to make based on last year's travels. I am still in the position of wanting

 to use stash and not having to buy yarn, although souvenir yarn is a possibility. 

My notions bag is the same as last year except this time I remembered to add a small

 amount of scrap yarn and I added a small sticky pad and pen. 

Last year I took a set of interchangeable needles and a set of crochet hooks. I have 

decided I do not need to cover for all eventualities and if I do need a different 

needle size I would probably be buying yarn anyway. To limit the needles I would 

need, I will only take 4-ply weight yarn and probably only knit socks. Although my

 preference is DPNs I will take long circulars as there is less chance of dropping them. 

The yarn I am taking is the yarn I wound last year but didn't take plus a couple of 

skeins that I purchased on our travels. In last year's post I commented that wound 

yarn took up room but I really do not want to wind thin yarn by hand. I'm sure I am 

taking too much yarn but that is something I do not want to run out of. 

I am also going to take a couple of crochet hooks in case I decide a crochet project 

will be a change. 

Why I Hate the Self-Indulgent Knit Along

 

Today’s post is brought to you by a Substack essay. Disclaimer:- I do not know anything about the author; I was sent the link.

I have written at various times about groups on Ravelry and the make-alongs they run and I might participate in. It is no secret that in previous years until I got my WIPs under control, I loved the WIP make along. But one knit along I will not join is the Self-indulgent one. When it was first introduced it started on 1 January, and then it was moved to 24 December; the idea being that you had finished your gift making now to do something for yourself. (The start date has now been moved to middle of December to fit in with the end of another make-along.)

So why do I hate this make-along? Easy answer, crafting is a hobby and although I wouldn’t call hobbies self-indulgent per se, they are definitely for your own pleasure, in whatever form that takes. In other words, if you are not doing it for yourself, then it is a chore or unpaid work. That doesn’t mean making things for other people or for charity is wrong or shouldn’t be done but is still under the heading of doing it because you want to. And sometimes that “want to” might just be “because I love my sister”.

I keep records of what I have made, read, exercised. But I always have, before there was an app for that. I don’t do it to compare myself to others. Maybe I compare myself to myself but mostly it is a record to look back at for pleasure or to get information on what size needles I used or what route I ran.

Here is the link to the Substack. Tell me what you think, have hobbies been ruined?

The Latvian Mittens

After much mumbling – I mean was it teasing or hinting – or just plain deferment? I am now ready to show the Latvian Mittens. These were made from a kit I purchased on our trip last year and can be truly called the one true souvenir purchase.

The kit came with yarn and pattern, and assumes you have knit mittens before. The pattern says to use 1.5mm needles and although I got gauge with this size it was so uncomfortable to knit with them that I went up a size. Despite that these mittens only just fit me and I don’t have big hands. I do not know what other people do as the pattern comes in just one size. I added extra rows to the cuff as I felt it was not long enough, otherwise overall the mittens do fit.

This was not a pleasant knit. You are knitting a colourwork pattern on small needles at a type gauge which requires concentration but also I could not work on them for too long at anyone time as my hands would start to hurt. I would say to myself to finish these by the end of the month I need to work x rows per day – and then didn’t. In the end I told myself I had to work five rows a day to get them finished. It didn’t help that these are mittens that won’t be worn much so there was no incentive to get them finished apart from the finish itself.

I started them on 11 November 2025 and finished all the knitting on 5 February 2026 but spent just 43 days actually working on them.

Would I do this again? As a souvenir I would. But I would definitely think more about the process and make changes for fit rather than trust the pattern.