What garter does.

As much as I am loving the garter on the pretty shawl, I really should be knitting the sweater.  It just isn't that long till Easter, and I do hope to have it done by then.

Shawl knitting, specifically garter stitch,  worked its magic once again.  It has given me the time to get back into the zone and understand why it isn't going so easily. Instead of thinking about why I am in a knitting funk, it gave me time to pick apart all the reasons and sort it out in my head and get over it.

When you knit, particularly if you are part of the online knitting community, there are some things that you know you can't bring up in polite knitting company.  Things like what kind of needles you prefer over others, and whether your style of knitting is the right way, and knitting versus crochet.  Silly things, but things every knitter has an opinion on and isn't afraid to express it.  It is really quite silly but then...

There are certain things that just feel right to me, things like metal needles for most knitting and bamboo for lace and slippery things.  Things like my preference for double pointed needles and one at a time when I knit socks.  Things like a little cotton in the blend being very good for socks and how bamboo isn't sturdy enough for any socks I am going to knit.

The things I prefer come from small differences in how muscle and bone are put together in my hands versus anyone else's hands, like how different needles sit in my hands and the unique way each of our brains are wired and the different experiences that determine how our brain interprets all sorts of different things, like  how cotton feels right at home as it runs through my hands and not so much in someone else's.

When I knit socks, I prefer to use double pointed needles.  They just feel right in my hands.  All the fun of it, the rhythm of it, the knit knit break, knit knit break of it it part of my sock knitting pleasure.  The joy of it goes away fussing around on that long loop thing of magic loop or fight past the which needle should I be grabbing now problem of 2 circulars.  There is no rhythm in those other methods of working socks.

And so it is with a bottom up sleeve, that other tube I knit a lot, on 1 short circular.  Not so much fun at all.  The knitting is looking better on the 4.5 mm needles.  It has lost that stand at attention look and become a nice causal fabric that suits its tweedy nature and the relaxed look of Brownstone.  But though these things are good, I am not really enjoying this way of getting there.  Oh for a spare pair of double points.  It might be very worth it to spend an evening locating one of the two sets of 4.5 mm dpns or even a mix of 5 of the 4.5 mm needles to get it moving along faster.

Plus, I did the increases too fast on this half done sleeve and have to rip back and go a little slower.  Yeah that makes is a lot less fun.

At some point I am going to have to stop playing on shawls which are just for fun and sit down and work on the sweater.  Wishing has never knit a sweater (but wouldn't it be nice).

And such is the path that a little garter stitch set me on.  Its like a fresh breeze clearing the cobwebs out of the corners.  Good for the soul.