pepperknit

It’s one thing, certainly, to show off a completed sweater and revel in the successful way it came out. It’s quite another to wear it for a full day and deal with whatever surprises come up.

The x-back held up quite well, I must say. I was a little self-conscious, mostly for the same reasons I’m always self-conscious when wearing a selfmade item. (I feel as if I’m showing off or something.) But also because a tug at the bottom or a twist in the wrong direction would have revealed a bit more of my bra than I’d like. The whole thing started to feel a little loose by the end of the night, but whenever I saw myself in a mirror, it looked fine.

It does give me pause, however, for making a second one. Is it really necessary? I like this one a lot, don’t get me wrong, but do I like it enough to own another? Will I wear it, or will it be just a little too ridiculous to have knit myself two identical tank tops in different colors?

Is there someone I should (or could) make this other one for instead? Or is there a way I could tweak the pattern to make it somehow different. If not x-back, maybe halter top. It’s worth playing around with, I suppose. But that will make me completely rethink the whole process. I’ve started this one, and could go merrily along on it, but now I think I should stop and think some more.

I used the joann.com promotion code (50% off a single item until June 1) to buy myself one of those mechanical ball winders. In the past, I’ve just gone over to Sophie’s Yarns and asked to use theirs, but I no longer live two blocks away.

I’m very excited about this, because for $30 I just got something that will save me so much time. Obviously, it’s not difficult to wind the yarn myself, but it’s such a chore to do. At knitting group last fall a friend was so excited to start knitting her first item, but the group of us told her she had to start by winding the hank into a ball. What a downer that was for her!

I’ve been knitting since I was 8 years old, and track most of my projects in an old blank lab notebook. But it might be nice to start to take real project notes in one condensed spot, for all to see. It’s a thought, at least.