Three Levels of Knitting

This morning, as I shuffled down the pathway to my office, I decided to take a moment to ponder what knitting projects I brought with me. Perhaps it was the early morning sun awakening my curiosity or the crisp breeze reminding me that winter is on its way.

In reality, it was because I was early for work and wanted to take a moment to verify that I brought enough projects to work on during lunch.

Wait. (Insert tire screech sound bite.) Enough projects? More than one project is required to fill a one hour lunch break, in which eating must also be a part? Yes. The answer is yes. I carry at least two, if not three, small projects in my knitting bag, each a different skill level, attention demand, and overall ease of knitting rating.

For example:

Level One: Attention-Grabbing-Don’t-Lose-Your-Place-Or-Even-Breathe-Knitting

Size 3 needles (size 1 for the ribbing), cables, DK weight yarn. These reversible mitts (yes, reversible because the last time that I made non-reversible cabled mitts I put the thumb on the wrong side) have, thankfully, been a breeze to knit now that I have learned the magic loop. This time, no yarn was harmed in the making of mitts.

Level Two: Only-Look-When-You’re-Sure-You-Dropped-A-Stitch-Or-Missed-A-YO-Knitting

Size 5 needles, lace, slipped stitches, DK weight yarn. This cowl is easy to knit as the two-stitch repeats are quick to memorize and flow across the needles rather swiftly once you get going. If I just so happen to miss a yarn over during the lace section because I was watching Kirk get his butt kicked by a Gorn, well…that’s my fault.

Level Three: It’s-So-Easy-You-Can-Basically-Sleep-Through-The-Repeats-Knitting

Size 9 needles (the first ones I ever bought! Aww…), reversible cables, worsted weight yarn. This wide scarf starts with a tapered edge that will (eventually) tuck into a hole on the opposite tapered edge. I could knit this bad boy in my sleep. No joke. The bearded fellow brought it to my attention. I gave him the crafter crazy eye. And then closed my eyes and kept knitting. Crazy person? Maybe. Crazy simple scarf? Definitely.

Random information alert: I just noticed how different each of the backgrounds look in the photos. That is actually the same table, appearing in three very different colors depending on the project color. Color theory, in action! The more you know…