knitting philosophy

I have been test knitting this week--no photos or details on that right now, but I did want to write a little bit about what I have learned about myself as a knitter this past week. So here goes.

What I have learned about myself as a knitter

* I might be a process knitter after all. For so many years I thought of myself as a product knitter. I want something so I make it. While I do like what I'm knitting this time, it isn't stuff I usually wear, and yet I am having a lot of fun knitting it.

* I am bad for gauge. I tend to do gauge swatches and sometimes decide that I like the feel of a fabric better at a different gauge and work around that. I also tend to be very slapdash about gauge for my own purposes. No wonder so many of my knitted things don't fit the way I want them to.

* I tend to think of patterns as jumping off guides. In this instance I find myself reading this pattern and following it to the letter, but several times I've had to reign myself in from going off in another direction altogether.

* I'm a loose knitter. I don't know what to say about this except I didn't think I was. Oh and we used to make lots of loose jokes at the LYS I worked at so go ahead.

* I knit faster than I think I do and I actually have more time to knit than I realize. This has been a tight deadline, and I discovered that I have more time to knit than I ever thought I did.

*I get more distracted in my knitting than I had always thought. Maybe the positive thing is that I zen out, but then realize I have no idea how I got to the point I'm at. but it leads to ...

*I'm pretty good at reading my knitting. I always thought I was, but this has helped me knowing where I need to backtrack to if I need to.

* I maybe think reading patterns is kind of fun. I realized this when I realized I know a bunch about style of language for patterns. Clearly that means I read a lot of patterns. I may or may not read patterns I do not knit. I'm not saying.

* I have a lot of yarn that I bought for projects that never came to fruition. I pulled out 400 yards of worsted weight yarn and didn't even bat an eye... one skein I could not even remember the intended project. I'm sure other people have stash issues like this, but generally I don't buy yarn for the sake of yarn, generally I buy it with a plan. A plan that may never ever see the light of day, but still. Oh yes, my yarn is totally paving the way to hell.

Overall, I've had a blast with this test knitting, I hope I get to do more in the future because I think it is having a positive effect on my knitting.