With a quarter of the year already gone, it is high time to look back at the Christmas season. As the festive season drew nearer, I found myself debating which advent calendar to get. Knitting again? Or go back to spinning?
I was leaning towards the fibre calendar but by the time I was ready to buy one, it was already sold out. So knitting it was.
Once again, the colour ranges offered by Garnmanufaktur were stunning and I settled for the one called glacier, a range of greens and greys.
I picked the set by colour and chose the yarn type I had used before without checking the project as I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.
December came around and I was determined to stay on track this time. The previous year, the project had started out simple, building slowly to more extensive knitting. I expected more of the same and was surprised at the amount of knitting called for right on the first day. As a result, I fell behind right from the start, unable to finish the first section.
This time I had joined the accompanying Facebook group and quickly realised I was not alone in this. Over the following days, people kept posting their progress and a lot of us were usually behind.
I tried to catch up for a few days but eventually realised that it was a lost cause. Accepting the inevitable took some pressure out of the project and I settled for finishing whenever it would be finished. At this point I still thought it possible to get it done by the end of the year, like last time.
I soon found out that the project was going to be a scarf. At the beginning I wasn’t particularly thrilled, as I have several handwoven scarfs and really did need another one.
Soon the pattern printouts were piling up and I moved from one to the next at my own pace, trying to not let the gap get too wide. Working like this I had to remember to change the colour with each new pattern.
This time each section had its own pattern. Some I got through pretty easily, some were more challenging and some had me on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But I got through them all and learned a lot in the process. Some patterns involved techniques I had never tried.
I finally finished the project by mid-January. The result looked amazing and I loved the interplay of colours and patterns. As a scarf it was rather long and as mentioned I didn’t need another one. So I went for the option of sewing it into a loop.
It turned out to be quite comfy and I am sure it will get a lot of use once the days turn colder again towards the end of the year.
So, to sum up, what did I like about the experience?
- The design of the project was stunning.
- I liked the group dynamic of everyone working on the same project sharing successes, failures and helping each other out with questions.
- The project took me out of my comfort zone and through that I learned a lot.
- The result is quite nice and something I would never have attempted otherwise.
Things I wasn’t quite happy with:
- I missed the calendar feeling. Everyone else in the family had one where something new waited behind a door each day. I missed that feeling of discovery as my daily experience consisted of printing another pattern for the pile, and I never looked at the more closely until I started knitting.
- Working on the calendar took away time from other projects and it didn’t even pay off as I was never able to catch up.
Will I do it again next year?
I truly don’t know. I might be tempted but then again I might go back to spinning fibre again to change things up. Or do something completely different. Only time will tell.
Oh, and the bonus project to use up the leftover yarn, yeah, I am still working on that.
Snathanna 