Tuesday, February 8, 2011

TINK is a four-letter word, but so is WUSS


The last time I checked Ravelry, 3106 people had posted Saroyans. That is a lot of love for one free pattern, my friends, and there's a reason why. It's a lovely knit--simple, fast, and beautiful. Of course, when so many people knit the same pattern, somebody is going to come up with mods (modifications, for you non-knitters.)

This is the first side-to-side scarf I've knitted, and I love the construction technique. There's something about decreasing to the bind-off that I adore. The rows keep getting shorter and shorter (and faster and faster) and before you know it, you're binding off. Initially, you increase until the piece is the width you want. Then, you coast along, knitting evenly, until it's time to start the decreases. When I first started the decrease section of my Saroyan, I wasn't happy with the way it looked. The original pattern calls for a k2tog (knit two together) decrease. While I love this decrease for sweater armholes, I didn't like the way it looked for this scarf. To my eye, it really doesn't match the increase--m1l (make one left). But of course, I kept knitting. It's like a recipe, right? The first time you make it, you follow the recipe EXACTLY.

A couple of inches later I came to my senses, and did what I should have done before I started my Saroyan. I went on Ravelry and read about how others worked theirs. When I saw this one, I ripped back and started the decrease section over again, and I'm glad I did. I really like the mods sushikette came up with, and I'm going to keep them in mind when I make my next Saroyan. You can't have too many of a good thing.

My initial foray into Saroyan got me to thinking about how I approach knitting in general. I'm not a novice knitter. I need to be brave and follow my instincts, think outside the box. THINK before I start. I know enough about shaping and cast-ons and bind-offs to know that one method doesn't work for all patterns. I might not go where no knitter has gone before but I don't have to be a sheep either. I have skillz and I should trust myself to use them. While TINK is a four-letter word, it's not the worst thing in the world. To rip off a phrase--knit on!

8 comments:

  1. Your Saroyan is beautiful! It obviously built confidence in your knitting. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amen! In knitting (as in life) there's usually more than one way to get to any goal and we all have our own preferences. Why spend the time, money, and effort to make things unless we love what we're doing? Besides, adding our own touches makes the piece uniquely ours... and usually makes the process more fun, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i admire you and other knitters.. I have to follow the instructions no matter ........I get all caught up in the WORDS

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love your scarf! and like you I make the "recipe" as written. Then make changes to it. But I'll now take a page from your book and if I think I should make a change (mod) I'll be brave enough to do it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your Saroyan looks lovely! I'm quite intrigued by the side-to-side construction and may wind up knitting one of these soon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just wish I would always remember to check revelry before I start something new. I love that Saroyan.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You are so right!!! Go with your instincts - you know so much. Your scarf is beautiful, by the way.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your Saroyan is gorgeous!

    You're right when you say that you can't have too many. I'll make another and it'll be in a single color. It, too, will have the same decreases as yours. My first one is finished. I just have to take a picture and blog about it.

    ReplyDelete

A few people seem to be having problems leaving comments. I have no clue why--Blogger doesn't make it easy to figure these things out. If you are having issues, you can always email me. Thanks for commenting, or trying to...