The Challenge Behind the Challenge

When I agreed to knit a sweater in 30 days, I thought the challenge was going to be the sweater. I have no garment experience and little enough experience in knitting anything else except something flat and garter-stitchy. After wrestling with starting my sleeve in the round, I was able to look ahead through the pattern and I became less intimidated by Maeve. The pattern is well written, with a straightforward construction that an advanced beginner can maneuver with a little help or easy access to internet tutorials. 

It turned out that the real challenge was the ability to make the sweater my biggest priority. It's tempting to say that the challenge was finding the time. But I had the time to help with my sister-in-law's wedding, which was a huge priority, and I had various appointments and dates and life changes and things which were a priority, too. So it just came down to the fact that a lot of life-stuff was more important than knitting in October. And that's okay. It might be the case that my sweater gets to be my biggest priority in November. I would really love to wear it for Thanksgiving!

While I wasn't able to make my sweater my biggest priority this past month, I consider my sleeve a great accomplishment. Before I started at Anzula, knitting was another craft that I probably wasn't going to get to in my long list of crafts to try. But once I started working here, I needed a reason to buy the yarn (because it was so beautiful, it had to be mine!) so I started knitting on an overnight trip the team took. The sleeve I've finished, and the garment it will eventually be, is a huge jump in my knitting ability and confidence, and I'm really excited about it. Even if it takes more than 30 days.

May I Introduce Kelly

From the moment I moved Anzula out of my home and into our first studio in 2010, I knew I couldn't do it all on my own. As we grew, I found people who had strengths that would compliment the team. I have been so fortunate to build a team of smart, competent people who run the office, process the yarn, and ship to shops. But the dye room had still been largely my domain.  

Kelly & me.

Now the time has come where I am no longer doing all the dyeing. This was prompted because I was injured at TNNA in May. I strained my hamstring which made it nearly impossible to walk, let alone dye yarn.

Kelly in the Yarnover Truck at Stitches West.

You may have met Kelly at one of our events or trunk shows. An all star reskeiner, I pulled her in to the dye room, intending for her to be there a month or so at most. But once she settled in, I gave her the freedom to dye some variegated yarns as a limited edition project and and the entire team was excited to see her color sense and creativity. If you attended any of our trunk shows this summer, you might have spied our limited edition variegated yarns.  

A few of our OOAK variegated skeins.

Kelly has been dyeing for us since May, and I feel the transition has been seamless. Giving someone else the keys to the dye room can be a bit unnerving, but Kelly and I communicate wonderfully and we share the same vision for our colorful future. She's working on a palette to be released in January at TNNA in Phoenix, and we can't wait to share it with you. I am endlessly inspired by her colorways.  

Victory!

I managed to finish the Baby Sophisticate sweater on November first. One day after the deadline! Not too bad. I was knitting furiously on the sleeves in between trick or treaters all Halloween night, but couldn't quite make it happen. 

Now ends have been woven in, and the smallish holes in the underarms have been sewn up. I still haven't found the "perfect" buttons though. I luckily have a few months to hint around!  

This was a fun and relatively painless knit, although I have a confession to make:

After a solid decade as a knitter, picking up wrapped stitches after "wrapping and turning" is still not something I'd describe as a strength of mine. As there were plenty of "w&t's" involved in the formation of this shawl collar, I still don't consider it a skill that I possess,  but I at least managed to muddle through.

I'm so happy with the way my tiny sweater turned out! I know silk and camel isn't the most practical choice for a baby garment, but I adore Oasis and it is so soft and scrumptious- I consider it an heirloom that is worthy of some extra effort and handwashing.