In late July, after a couple of weeks of being unsure which project to start next and half-heartedly batting ideas around my head, I realized what I really wanted to make was something classic and versatile.  I wanted to make a sweater (of course) that I could throw on any given day and feel good.  

You may remember this charcoal grey yarn from the Rose City Yarn Crawl of earlier this year, and I may or may not have swooned hard at how delectably soft it is.  I decided this would be a good fit for this soon to be adored sweater.

Then, since I'm obsessed with Boyland Knitworks, I thought it would be fitting to make yet another one of Caitlin Hunter's amazing sweaters.  I've had my eye on Rock Creek since I first found out about Boyland Knitworks, and seeing that it's a little more simple in design it also felt like the right fit for what I wanted out of this project.

It has knit up remarkably quick (despite how long it had taken me to carve out time to work on it more).  

I found with each row I could feel the warmth and love this sweater would hold in the future.  I could feel all of the possible adventures this sweater might see.  I was able to watch movies with my brother while knitting on this sweater, move to a different state (again) while making progress, and the pieces of this sweater have traveled to family get togethers and meetings with new friends as if it already served as a token of joy.  One of my favourite things about knitting is that I can put so many memories in the stitches as I work on it, and it's as if I can knit the love into it before I wear it.  

Alyeska reminds me of a winter week in Montana that I'll forever cherish, taking a leap and learning how to knit from a pattern, and a fiber festival with one of the dearest friends I've ever known.

The Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong reminds me of my fervent war and eventual victory with the moths, sharing a knitting experience with someone I adore, and the wonder of watching something I made turn into something I didn't expect, while eagerly watching the same process happen for countless others who were kind enough to share their progress on Instagram.  

Sipila reminds me of riding a train out to Chicago, then driving a uhaul from there to Utah, and relaxing by paddling up a stream in a kayak and knitting as the current carried me the long way back down.  

Before I knew it the body was ready to be (temporarily) set aside so I could work on the sleeves.  

Even though I spent countless hours drawing up plans for my future, getting comfortable with the modern way of meeting people, and unpacking and repacking my life- I still worked to make this part of the whirlwind that I had been turning my life into.  I wanted this to embody taking risks, following dreams, and searching with intensity for happiness in all aspects of my life.  It may sound like a lot to put into a sweater, but I felt confident that there were enough stitches that it would all fit.

The sleeves were worked up in the dead of night by the illumination of a flashlight in my downtime on 12 hour nightshifts in the Badlands of North Dakota, and surprisingly enough didn’t turn out disastrous or riddled with dropped stitches. I would like to officially thank LED flashlights for that.

Which leads us to one of my favourite parts of knitting up Rock Creek. At a certain point everything I had worked on was all together on the needles, and I got to feel like a cartoon character that just magically knits up a sweater with no need for anything other than one set of needles. Granted I knew the truth lurking in the shadows that I had needed double points, but there was something remarkably satisfying in having everything look so tidy and whole before it was even finished. Plus there was much less of a guessing game when people wanted to inquire as to what I was making.

Despite this taking me so long to post about, I did accomplish finishing this within a month. It felt like a lofty goal at first, but it helped me appreciate how far I’ve come in the last couple years. I started this blog in a way to record and encourage further crafting adventures. When I first started knitting I was terribly impatient and gave up on just about everything I ever started. Sweaters, big shawls, tops, hoods, and all the other treasures I wanted to make seemed so hopelessly far away. I would start a simple hood and lose drive because it seemed like it would never get finished. My efforts felt minuscule, and at a certain point I decided I was just never going to be quite good enough to make the beautiful creations I dreamed of.

It’s funny how time (and goals) feels different as you get older. What once seemed insurmountable is now a breeze, and what once felt so defeating is now a sign of progress and growth. The fact that this sweater only took me a month is enough to make me glow with pride.

When I first got back into knitting it still felt like a struggle to take on big projects and see them through. I could do a 10 ft x 10 ft quilt and be fine, but knitting gave me a bit of a mental block. Kind of like life, I had a hard time appreciating that all the little things I did would amount to something worthwhile.

Along with all the other wonderful and cherished memories this sweater holds, I feel it also marks a big step in appreciating how dedication is a muscle that has to be strengthened over time with constant practice. I probably would have given up on this sweater 4 years ago, because at that time I liked quick and easy knits that didn’t require too much thought. Anything bigger than a scarf was a slog to even get halfway through.

Now, after knitting near constantly for the last year, a sweater is no big deal. I’ve made three this year, and (spoilers) I have a few more queued up already, primed and waiting to hop on the needles when it’s their turn.

Often, I think we are as capable as we make ourselves to be.

I see that now, being surrounded by my family. A group of hardworking and dedicated people who put their hearts and minds to what they do. People who have started their own businesses and persevered through thick and thin of demanding jobs and harsh winters. Individuals that know how to get the job done, even when it’s not easy.

I think we as humans are creatures of passion, and need something to fight and work for. Even if it’s just a sweater.

But I mean, come on, it’s a nice sweater.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

The second I saw Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks start posting about Sipila, I knew that I would have to make the sweater for myself.  

Originally I was going to do the classic black and white that the original sweater was done in, but upon arrival at Knotty Lamb in Forest Grove, Oregon I knew that this green with dashes of pink/red was the soul mate to this project.  

This sweater has been across most of the continental United States with me.  It has been with me on a train from Utah to Chicago, Illinois, then on a drive from Utah to Oregon.  It has been with me on a kayaking adventure when trekking a beautiful lake with my brothers.  

It has been with me on kayaking adventures, as my brothers and I, along with some dear other people, voyaged across a lake some lazy Sunday afternoons.  

This sweater has also been what's on the needles as I make all of these huge life changes.  

This sweater, in a way, has been my active metaphor for all of the progress I've been making with changing my life.  Yet when it got to the last sleeve's cuff, I stalled for days on end.  I kept reminding myself how close I was to finishing it, and somehow managed to keep pulling away from that last inch and a half of cuff because it was yet another end.  

Much like making difficult decisions in life, even if you know it's for the best or your own happiness, ending things is a challenge.  I've only been working on this sweater for 2 months and some change, yet it feels like a part of my soul.  Giving it a conclusion made me realize how many things I am closing the chapter on as I leave Oregon.

I couldn't let that hold me back though.  

Change is daunting, but also invigorating.   Change allows for new and better things to come into your life and can be the catalyst for happiness and fulfillment.  

It would be ridiculous to leave this sweater on the needles just because I was anxious about things ending.  Sipila deserves better than to be something that was never seen all the way through.  

So today I powered through the uncertainty, and cast off a sweater that makes me realize how far I've come in the last 2 years as a knitter.  This sweater can now not only be a symbol of progress, but also a symbol of all the good that can come of following through things even if it's difficult.  

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

There have been a lot of things going on in the last couple of months, and through better and worse I have been dedicating much of my crafting time to the first pattern I've ever attempted, Alyeska by Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks.  

The best part is that I wasn't even going to do this sweater at first.  I thought it was beautiful but having previously quite an aversion to knitting patterns (note this being my first pattern work, despite you hearing about the Lunar Phase MKAL first) I assumed that I would admire it on Instagram and pursue it no further.

The influence of my magnificent crafting friend and accomplice, Alexis, is the dear soul who drove me to taking the plunge, and by the plunge I mean she had me come along to Starlight Knitting Society where they had kits on sale and a demo version on display for viewing and cat-hand-scrunching pleasure.  While I didn't buy a kit then, I knew that I would have to make Alyeska.

I went home and began to plot.  I gathered some yarn to dye for the orange and white-speckled, and then bought the brown and charcoal yarn to make up the rest.  

To be totally honest with you, in the past when I've read knitting patterns I'd look at about 4 rows of instructions and then promptly get annoyed that it was in shorthand that I didn't understand and would walk away.  I am the same person who will watch Youtubers I like play a game of UNO on xbox for nearly 3 hours and be perfectly content.  I'm not sure why knitting patterns got none of my patience in  the past, but I was effectively a petulant child when it came to not understanding patterns.  That is, until Alyeska came along. 

There's something about how all of these colours started coming together, having one of my dearest friends working on it alongside me, and having this strange obsession of starting this project in Montana (back in the end of February) that created an eagerness to learn and not feel frustrated that I didn't already know how to do everything.  

Plus the colour work made everything feel like it was knitting up so much more quickly.  I love checklists and marking things as complete, so working the chart made it possible to see the very real progress I was making.  I love simple and straight forward designs, but I have a tendency to get bored if I work on them too long because doing the same thing over and over again can make me feel like I'm going nowhere.  

With Alyeska the progress felt more tangible.  Before I knew it I had a super cute crop top that I had to talk myself out of leaving like this, because I am a menace and thought it might be fun to leave it just like the picture below (with a little ribbing at the bottom of course because I'm not a total monster).

But I (sort of) knew that was silly and that I would be happier to see the project fully through.  In no time the body was complete and it was on to the sleeves.  

And yes, I'm glad it's not a crop top.  Sort of. ;)

The sleeves came together quickly, which was good and bad because I got halfway through on both only to find out I needed to make the next size up for my sleeves and had to tear it back to where I started and then try again.  

Silver lining:  I needed bigger sleeves because of my biceps being too big for the x-small sleeves.  Which is definitely something I take a lot of pride in!

I decided for the final detail of the sweater I would stray from the pattern a bit- the cuffs are supposed to be only 1" but I far prefer long cuffs, so I did several inches of cuff.  Otherwise though, I successfully followed the pattern all the way through.

No tantrums, just glowing tears of joy to have seen this remarkable project through.  The sweater that I have now had numerous dreams over and couldn't be more happy to be able to wear.

In fact, a friend who is deeply dear to my heart is now the official godparent of this sweater because let's face it, while the miracle of childbirth is unparalleled and rightly so, this sweater is a treasured piece of my soul brought to life.  If something happens to me, I need to know it will be taken care of and loved by someone who understands what it took to get here.  

Obviously with the posts from the Lunar Phase MKAL I've been working on other patterns now, and have broken free from the odd impatience I had, and I plan to do more of Boyland Knitworks' patterns because clearly Caitlin Hunter is a magnificent genius who works hard to make amazing patterns and I need more of that on my needles and in my closet.

Until next time- stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.