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.