Mossy Cottage Knits

The Blanket Gives the Travelocity Dwarf a Run For its Money

I wanted to address Kmkat’s very thoughtful comment about how it was slightly out of the knitting-community norm for me to help seam the blanket together (although she came to a lovely conclusion about this all by herself, one I hadn’t even thought of). Although these types of projects are usually done in secret—the thought being that the last thing a grieving or distraught person should be required to do is work on her own blanket, and that there’s nothing better for a group of supportive friends than the moment of an all-at-once and completely-out-of-the-blue “surprise!!”—I was thrilled to be involved in this project from beginning to end, even to the point of helping with the seaming (and even finishing the seaming, just Janine ‘n’ me, on Saturday). Being able to see each square as it came in, being able to talk about it on and off over the months, being able to post about it, and being able to be with my friends as we seamed it, and not just have it be a one-shot experience—all a crucial part of the comforting effect the blanket has had.

The blanket has been by my side since Janine and I finished it. Sunday I had a session with a grass-roots “divorce” support group I belong to. I had brought the blanket to show the other members (two of whom are knitters) but, since the new place where we are meeting is cold, I snuggled under it for the next two hours, dangly white name tags and all. The blanket has a a luscious, lovely drape that causes it to hug every inch of your body. Very cosy.

Yesterday, I brought it to work to show the knitting friends I have here, and last night I took it to Ferals to show the Feralites. And as we speak, it's at the mechanic's because I forgot to take it out of the trunk before I dropped my car off there this morning. The blanket is becoming very well-traveled.

Picture soon!

I very unscientifically won the swatch/gauge battle with the fake-o gansey by fudging things a little, sticking my fingers in both ears, muttering “la-la-la-la-la-la” to the Universe, closing my eyes and leaping in with both feet. (Let us pause for a moment and acknowledge that in this one sentence run metaphorically amok, I managed to cram in the words “fingers,” “ears,” “eyes” and “feet.” I’m gooooooood.)

Back to the gansey…

I figured that if I had correctly used two 6s for the swatch, the swatch woulda come out slightly larger, so I arbitrarily removed a few stitches from the stitch count (this maneuver was performed by a highly trained stunt knitting person; do not try this at home), which had the indirect benefit of giving me an ideal number of stitches for the motifs, and now things are humming right along. Despite the capriciousness of all this, I think it’s going to fit. I’m too excited. My nose is twitching like Kevin the rabbit’s.

(Question: What are the rules, spoken and unspoken, for copying photos from Ravelry? I want to share my gansey “vision” but, since some people don’t have Ravelry accounts, the only way I can do that is via the questionable “copy ‘n’ paste” two-step. So I’ll plow ahead and if this is a boo-boo, someone will let me know, yes?)

I found this beautiful Man’s Cardigan Vest pattern from “A Close-Knit Family” being knit by knittingpark (dunno her) on Ravelry and stole recreated the stitch motifs for my sweater.

I’ve made a few tweaks to the motifs and am knitting the sweater in the round, based on instructions and sizing from this Drops pattern.

All this fussing around has led me to the official name for the Project, the "Good-Enough Gansey." Years ago, I read an article about being a good-enough mother (although I wasn't a mother at the time and still amn't but it intrigued my feminist side all the same) which encouraged perfection-obsessed women to be satisfied with “good enough” because sometimes that’s all you can do, and often it’s more than enough, and aiming for perfection from yourself and your family will lead to neurotic children and an early grave (ask me how I know. In my absence, ask my sister.). And that’s my hope for this project, that it’ll be “good enough.” If it’s too big, I’ll wear it anyway. If it’s too small, I’ll just stick my tightly sweater-clad boobs out at the world and say, “Whatchoo’ looking at?” If it has a mistake in it….well, okay, maybe that’s too much to contemplate. Drat. I seem to be destined for an early grave.

Anyhoo, this picture shows the color, more-or-less…

...and this picture shows the motifs:

Two more bands have been added since this picture was taken so there is actual it-might-get-finished hope for this project. Woot!

I can't end today's entry without saying, please go congratulate long-time reader Anj and her partner on their wedding!

Posted by Ryan at October 21, 2008 01:43 PM