Essays on Knitting – Page 3 – Sycamore Cove Knitting

We’re All in One Big Knitting Guild Now

April 4, 2020Cynthia Coe

Life has changed, yet we suddenly are all connected in ways we never imagined. Like yarn spun out of the same fiber, we all share a commonality that binds us together, even as we are cut into separate skeins of yarn and knitted into individual garments.

These past few months, I’ve worked on a sequel to my book, The Prayer Shawl Chronicles. In that book, members of one small community find that they are connected in ways they never imagined. They become close friends and give to each other, both anonymously and within intimate relationships.

In my book-under-construction, The Knitting Guild of All Saints, this community has fizzled out and collapsed. Members of the local knitting guild have gone their separate ways, found they need to take care of small children or move to be near family. They’ve retired or found new community or just don’t attend any more. Yet as they all move out into different communities, the love and connections they made as part of the knitting guild move out into the world to form new loves, new communities, and new life. It’s as if the whole world of knitters and those they love have become one big knitting guild.

In writing this book during the pandemic, I’ve realized that that’s what has happened to all of us knitters in the real world as well. We may not get to socialize in person at our local yarn shops or knitting groups. But we’re still connected. And lately, many of us have sought out our online knitting communities like we never have before.

We knitters are all in one big knitting guild now. We’re all still there – virtually – to ask “what are you making?” or “what pattern should I use with this yarn?” We’re still there to cheer each other on in our knitting lives…and in real life as well.

Blessings to all my knitting friends, everywhere,

Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

Staying In to Knit? Count Me In!

March 6, 2020Cynthia Coe

As the corona virus threat looms, many of us are at least thinking about – if not outright preparing – for a long period of hunkering down in our homes. Here in Tennessee, only one case has been confirmed, but we know it’s only a matter of time before it hits.

Those of us who knit may be more prepared than most for a couple of weeks of staying home and entertaining ourselves. In fact, some of us may even look forward to a quiet period of sticking close to home. As long as we have a good supply of yarn and knitting needles, we’re good to go.

Knitting has always been something of a survival activity. In times past, people knitted to provide clothing for their families and to stay warm. In times of war, women knitted socks, mittens, and sweaters for the troops on the front line.

Experts have long predicted a pandemic that would disrupt normal life as we know it, and here we are. For those of us who knit and do other handicrafts, I’d like to believe we’re a bit more prepared than most for this time in our lives. We have something to do with our time. We have something to do with our hands to keep them from touching our faces. We have something to do that will give us peace and a sense of calm, no matter what calamities take place.

And now, we finally have the perfect rationalization for hoarding all that yarn. It’s time to knit that stash, fellow knitters!

Blessings and prayers for good health, Cindy

If you need something to do while sheltered-in-place (besides knit), please take a look at my two novels, The Prayer Shawl Chronicles and Ginger’s Reckoning, both available in e-book and paperback editions, both available worldwide.

Persevering Through Projects, One Stitch at a Time

January 9, 2020Cynthia Coe

This past December 31, I finished the longest knitting project I’ve ever done – a temperature blanket begun on January 1, 2019. This temperature blanket was “long” in more way than one. At twelve feet long, it was the lengthiest piece of knitting I’ve ever made. I also spent the longest period of time on it, one full year.

Yet the time I spent on this project actually seems minimal. I worked on one garter ridge each evening. With a hundred simple knit stitches on each row, this took me a mere ten minutes after dinner each night while watching TV.

The lesson I’ve learned through my year of knitting a temperature blanket is that even the longest, most time-consuming projects we work on are knitted one stitch at a time, one row at a time. There’s no need to rush. There’s no need to procrastinate, either. If you’re working on a lengthy project, it simply takes the amount of time it takes. You can enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet while you work on it, and it will eventually get done.

As New Year resolutions fade from initial excitement and resolve to the mid-January reality of daily work and discipline, we might remember that all projects worth doing require one stitch at a time, one row at a time. If you work on your project daily – even for a few minutes a day – you’ll eventually end up with a completed project and, better yet, a sense of accomplishment and work well done.

New Year’s Blessings, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

Knitting Christmas Gifts – Are We There Yet?

December 2, 2019Cynthia Coe

Hello, Fellow Knitters! It’s now less than a month before Christmas, and I’m knitting my little fingers off.

For those of us who knit, this is our season. Not only do we actually get to wear all the lovely knitted garments we’ve worked on this past year (no small thing for those of us in warm climates), we also get to use our knitting superpowers to actually make our Christmas presents by hand.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been rather busy. Fortunately, I started around October. After asking what family members wanted in the way of handknitted gifts, I got orders for two pairs of socks, a cowl, and a scarf, plus a couple of surprises for someone who reads this blog. As many of you know, socks take a long time! I’m delighted to make them, and they look fabulous, but I’m sure glad I started early.

At this point, I’m wondering if I’ll get my knitting done by December 25. “Yes, I will,” I tell myself! There is no alternative. So every chance I get, I’m stitching away.

And when my last handknitted gift is finished, I’ll sigh a long sigh of relief. I love knitting, and I’m delighted that my family members actually want me to make them something. But on Christmas afternoon, I’ll be knitting very, very slowly…and making something for myself!

Holiday Knitting Blessing to All,

Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

Five Reasons to Go to a Knitting Convention

November 6, 2019Cynthia Coe

Hello Fellow Knitters! I’ve just returned from the Vogue Knitting Live Convention in Columbus, Ohio, and I’m bursting with new ideas, skills, and enthusiasm for the craft of knitting. Have you ever attended a knitting convention? If you haven’t, here’s why you should:

The Sheer Geek-Out Factor: High quality yarn everywhere you turn, like-minded new knitting friends, lots of new ideas, knitting fashion shows, and it’s perfectly okay to sit and knit at each and every event.
The Classes: Take classes by well-known, highly skilled teachers and learn advanced knitting skills – mosaic, double knitting, brioche, you name it. Plus hear talks on knitting fashion trends, design skills, sustainable wool production, and more.
The Marketplace: Find all those small but crucial niche products you need for your knitting but can’t find locally. Try out those new-fangled knitting needles you’ve had your eye on and buy directly from the manufacturer. And did I mention the yarn? Lots and lots of yarn.
Meet Craftspeople Who Make Knitting Possible: Talk to the actual craftspeople who dye the yarn, make the wooden buttons, and even raise the sheep. Put a face with that yarn you’ll use for your next project and those handmade buttons you’ll put on your next cardigan.
Re-charge Your Knitting Life: All of us need new ideas and skills to revamp, re-charge, and re-invigorate our hobby once in a while. By immersing yourself in all-things-knitting, you’ll discover new ways of practicing the knitting life you’ve always loved. It’s the ultimate “me time” for knitters.

I’ll be blogging more on what I learned and observed over the next week or so. Follow this page or the Sycamore Cove Knitting Facebook page for info on latest knitting fashion trends, product news, and how I flunked Brioche 101.

Happy Knitting! Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

How Many Knitting Projects Do You Need? 3. You Need 3.

October 26, 2019Cynthia Coe

How many knitting WIPs (works-in-progress) do you currently have going? In looking at the online knitting forums, the answers vary widely.

Most of us knit for several reasons. It calms us down in an overly busy, wired world. It gives us something to do while we’re waiting to see the doctor, waiting in the pick-up line for kids to come out of school, waiting for a meeting to start or the bus to come. Most of us start with something simple, but eventually, we need to bump up our skills and learn something new. Portable projects are great for on-the-go knitting, but many of us will want to knit a blanket, sweater, or other project that takes up to half a room.

So for those flummoxed by why some of us have several projects going on at one time, here’s (generally) the three kinds of knitting projects most of us really need in our lives:

A Meditative Knitting Project (also known as “Medknitation”): Mindless knitting just to knit and unwind requires something simple, something we don’t have to think about. Prayer shawls, simple blankets, scarves, or even a simple placemat can fill the bill. The idea here is to tune out, knit, and rest your mind. Repetitive patterns requiring little or no counting work best. Knitting while watching TV is included.
A More Challenging Knitting Project: Meditative knitting can get monotonous, so we need something to challenge us once and awhile. Everybody needs to keep growing and expanding their skills. Working on a new knitting technique or stitch keeps us mentally fit and interested in the craft. These projects might include learning to make socks, learning mosaic or brioche knitting, or making a sweater with challenging stitches or techniques new to you.
A Portable Project Kept in Your Purse or Car: For a knitter, nothing is worse than finding yourself in a waiting room for more than ten minutes without a knitting project to work on. No, you don’t want to read the magazines on offer. You want your knitting needles!!!! So most of us keep a small project in our purse, tote bag, or even in the car for such modern inconveniences. Personally, I keep a placemat project in my tote bag, using circular needles (harder to lose than straight needles) and cheap cotton yarn. If it gets stained, dirty, or lost, it’s no big deal.

Many of us, of course have lots more projects than three on the needles. There’s that project you lost interest in, the one you ran out of yarn for, the one you somehow misplaced or forgot about. No judgements!

And if you just have one project on your needles, consider another one. For those who do meditative knitting, try something challenging. As if you’re lost in a difficult project, slow down and knit something simple. But always have a project you can pick up and take wherever you go!

Knitting Blessings, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

Knitting is Primal

October 18, 2019October 19, 2019Cynthia Coe

Why do we knit? Almost all of us could cloth our bodies and those of our families by buying manufactured goods at a store. Our clothes might be worn or second-hand, but most of them originated at a factory.

Knitting takes time, lots of time. It would be much more efficient to buy a sweater, hat, scarf, or socks at our local big box store – and likely cheaper, too. But still, we knit.

We all have basic needs, and the need for warmth is one of them. After the needs for food and water, the next basic necessities for life we humans have are for shelter and clothing. And to feel loved.

Knitting satisfies our human need to be warm, both physically and emotionally. And physically providing this warmth with our own hands for ourselves and our loved one is something we’ve done for our families since the dawn of time. It’s part of being human – making blankets, clothing, and maybe home décor as well. The handmade nature of this task infuses that extra special showing of love and care, demonstrating to others our emotional connection with them.

This is likely why many of us take up knitting or step up our knitting efforts when we expect a child or grandchild. It’s the primal mother or grandmother in us, wanting to make sure our children keep warm, both in body and spirit. We knit as part of being human.

Blessings on your autumn knitting, Cindy

Recommended Knitting Resource:

Baby’s First Knits by Debbie Bliss: Baby’s First Knits is a great basic knitting book. If you’re expecting a child or grandchild – or want to knit for babies for whatever reason – this is the book for you. All the basic techniques are included. Author Debbie Bliss starts with instructions for a slip knot and the basic knit stitch, taking you through the process of making a basic baby blanket. From there, you can increase your skills with a hat, a rompers, pants, a poncho, and more complicated sweaters. If you followed the progression of patterns in this book, you’d become quite an accomplished knitter by the end of the process.

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

Legal Disclosures: I provide links to products (including books I have written), and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases (which means I may get a very small fee if you click through the link and buy something).

How the Internet is Saving Traditional Crafts (Like Knitting)

October 4, 2019Cynthia Coe

The internet is accused of destroying many things (quality family time, the dinner hour, peace and quiet, etc.). But ironically, the internet may save traditional crafts – including knitting.

Last week, I read the galley proof of a new book on heritage crafting, “Spinning and Weaving” by Lynn Huggins-Cooper. It’s an interesting history of textiles, commercial knitting, and fabric production in the UK. The second part of the book profiles a number of British women who engage in the traditional crafts of spinning their own yarn and making fabric out of it.

What struck me as most interesting about these traditional crafters is that many of them learned this heritage crafts on the internet, some of them completely self-taught. This made sense to me. Most of us probably don’t have someone around in our neighborhoods, towns, or cities who still know how to take a wad of raw wool and turn it into something you could actually knit into a sweater. But do a search on the internet for how to do such things, and presto, you’ll likely find videos for each step of the process.

I’ll have to admit, my knitting skills have improved exponentially this past year, mostly due to resources available on the internet. For Christmas last year, my husband bought me a shawl kit from an online company. It scared me at first, forcing me to learn new techniques and stitches. But I soldiered through it, and I’ve now mastered mosaic colorwork and include professional looking I-cord edges on all my work. I’ve even learned to make socks (!) in the past few months, using free videos available on YouTube.

Better yet, I’ve connected with many of you, swapping stories and photos, ideas and resources. With all this combined wisdom floating around on the internet, I would bet the collective skill level and availability of knitting resources has never been stronger!

Happy Knitting and Sharing! Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

Knitting in Ninety-Five Degree Heat

October 2, 2019October 2, 2019Cynthia Coe

Knitting in 95 degree heat is not fun. With a stash full of new wool yarns, I looked forward to starting my fall knitting soon. I planned two sweaters for myself, an attempt at my first cardigan-knitted-top-down, and socks for all the guys in my family. But the daily highs are in the mid-nineties, and working under a pile of wool does not appeal.

We keep the air conditioning set on 70 degrees and all the shades down to block as much sunlight as possible, but it’s still uncomfortably warm indoors. All I’ve managed to knit are socks. Not that I anticipate wearing handknit wool socks anytime soon, but socks are small enough that they don’t take up much space while knitting. The heavy shawl I’m making actually makes me sweat, the larger it becomes. I’m looking forward to casting that thing off double-quick!

I love to knit, but I’m thinking I’ll need to re-evaluate what I knit as the summers get longer and longer and as we get less and less snow here in Tennessee. After making several sweaters I felt really proud of last winter, I have to admit I stuffed them in a drawer at the end of January and haven ‘t seen them since. I wear cardigans quite a bit, and I’ve decided to re-route my efforts into garments I can easily peel off this season. While I love to knit pullovers, I have to acknowledge that they will get limited wear.

Will the pattern designers get the message that those of us in the South don’t need sweaters anymore? I was delighted to get a pattern and yarn for a sleeveless tunic from a knitting subscription company last month. A sleeveless sweater in October? Actually, it’s too warm for such a thing now, but in December, a sleeveless wool sweater with a cardigan over it or t-shirt under it will be just what I want to wear.

Patience, fellow knitters! Even here in Tennessee, it will get cool enough (I hope) to wear a hand-knitted wool sweater without melting inside the thing. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll soon see designers and yarn companies offer more goodies for us to knit that will be lovely and useful in warmer weather.

Happy knitting, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

The Story Behind Every Piece Of Knitting

September 18, 2019Cynthia Coe

As I cleaned out a closet today, I found the very first baby blanket I knitted for my son. It’s a small, lacey, baby blue blanket blessed by one of my favorite priests and taken all the way to the Arctic Circle when we adopted our youngest child. It was the first “prayer shawl” I ever made.

Pulling that blanket out of the closet, I noticed a couple of crooked seams and a section of the blanket that badly needed blocking. But that didn’t matter; it was the story behind that baby blue blanket that mattered more than anything.

As soon as I had that baby blanket in my hands, the whole story of becoming my youngest son’s mother came back to me: the waiting, the paperwork, the trips to the homeland security office in Nashville to get his citizenship lined up, the cold trip to the Arctic in the middle of winter. I could smell the diesel fuel during a long flight delay in Paris. I could see the faces of the doctors, drivers, and adoption agency staff who shepherded us along the way – all from taking one glance at that baby blanket I had knitted.

Don’t we all have stories woven within almost all of our knitting projects? We remember that Harry Potter scarf knitted for a son when he was in the second grade. That confetti-sparkled hat knitted for a daughter when she was a pre-teen. That hat your husband wanted for his camping trip last fall.

As I began my book, The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, I realized that we all have rich, often poignant stories behind our knitting projects. When we give our knitting projects as a gift to someone else, it becomes part of their story, too.

What’s on your needles now, and what’s the story you’ll remember months or years from now? I hope your stories will be tales of overcoming the stress and challenges of daily life, woven with the joy you get from knitting.

Blessings, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.