In June, I participated in the #yarnlove2022 challenge, hosted by Toni from TLYarnCrafts on Instagram: we were encouraged to finish a WIP, either by starting a new project or finishing an old one. I have many WIPs, but I had been aching to make a sweater for awhile, so I thought it would be fun to knit a sweater in a month. I chose the Tecumseh Sweater by Boyland Knitworks and finally got to use yarn from Aroha Knits. Long story short, I kept to my goal and finished the sweater (minus blocking) in a month. But I wanted to take some time to write out my reflections on this adventure…because I have some thoughts.
I am a many-projects-at-once kind of woman; I enjoy switching between them to keep me engaged and interested enough to finish each project. So for me, choosing to focus on just one project for a whole month was a step out of my comfort zone. At first, there was the familiar sense of wonder and excitement for the new project. As I worked through the colorwork yoke, it was exciting to see the pattern take place. It started to slog after I set the arms aside and went to work on the torso. Even though there was colorwork, it wasn’t as exciting, and the size of the sweater started to feel daunting. As a (I would say) tall, bodacious woman, I end up in the higher size ranges which always means more yarn and more time; the fact that the sweater is designed to be oversized obviously added to my materials and time. I would put off knitting for a night or two because I would get tired. Usually this is when I would turn to a different project for a while, to reset. But I had told myself that this month - only this project. So I knit. When I felt sad, happy, bored, or frustrated - I reached for the sweater. Eventually it started to feel good again - especially when I was nearing the end of the torso. However, in typical me fashion, I had procrastinated just enough and was coming up on the deadline and still needed to start the arms. By this time, I was comfortable with the pattern and it went quickly, but you better believe I was furiously knitting the last night of the challenge to finish a day or two early so I could weave in ends and block. My knuckle joints haven’t hurt that much in a while! This is where the second part of my experience begins - the aftermath.
Have you ever read a book that reached so far into your soul that when you finished it, you couldn’t pick up another book because you were still living in the one you finished? Well, that’s how this sweater made me feel. The last week especially had been a whirlwind of knitting, stress, and happiness that I felt completely drained after it registered that I had completed a sweater in a month. I couldn’t even pick up a pair of needles! I was experiencing knitting burnout and it was frustrating to say the least. My other projects (both for this business and personal projects) sat undisturbed, until I decided that I needed to get back to knitting, even if just for a few rows at a time. I didn’t get back to my usual knitting routine until the end of July, almost a full month after finishing the sweater.
Would I suggest knitting a sweater in a month? Maybe - it depends entirely on how you knit. Are you a fast or slow knitter? Will you need to make a bigger sweater? What kind of yarn are you using? How much time, in that month, will you actually be able to devote to knitting? Are you ok with working on just the one project for a month? These are all questions that I think will give you a better idea on if this experience is right for you. With all that in mind, I would suggest knitting a sweater-sized project in a month. It’s an excellent way to practice time management, get really focused on one thing, and have a large, completed project at the end of it, which does feel good. (I say sweater-sized because I think you can easily substitute different large projects and still get the same feel.) All in all, it was a fun experience and I look forward to my next month long project!