![\"Photo_091509_002\"](\"http:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/Photo_091509_002-300x225.jpg\")
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So, the knitting.\u00a0 Knitting is how I relax when I’m too brain-fried even to write a blog entry. It’s soothing with enough repetitive motion to calm me down while I watch Torchwood.<\/p>\n
Last summer I sewed a series of garments in a plan called a SWAP<\/a>. (Sewing with a Plan).\u00a0 Basically the idea is that everything is supposed to mix and match well with everything else<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 I had garments in black, burgundy and a floral\/Japanese print.\u00a0 This winter I added a capsule to it in dark forest green.\u00a0 So, I have this great, basic interchangable wardrobe.<\/p>\n In cotton.<\/p>\n For the most part that’s fine. Between the fact I made shells and jackets, this means it carries me through a lot of seasons.\u00a0 What it doesn’t help a lot with is those cold months of a New England winter.\u00a0\u00a0 Luckily,\u00a0 I knit.\u00a0 Getting good sweaters is no more difficult than following the Seamless Yoke pattern that Elizabeth Zimmerman explained in Knitting Without Tears<\/em> and adding whatever colorway and yoke design takes my fancy.\u00a0 I’ve done pirates, Heathen symbols, abstract symbols and Autobots in the yoke and turned out some warm, unique garments.<\/p>\n What I don’t have (yet), are several sweaters in my SWAP color palette.\u00a0 Oh, I’ve got a gray, purple and burgundy one that goes okay with my black and burgundy pants and skirts.\u00a0 I have a gray and purple one that goes okay with the black, but nothing else.\u00a0 This sweater I just made will go with all the skirts and pants I’ve sewn quite well.\u00a0\u00a0 I need to sit down and plan two or three more over the course of the winter.<\/p>\n The thing is, these babies are warm, warm, warm.\u00a0 Stranded knitting (that’s how you get the colorwork — strands of yarn carried behind the main fabric) of various sorts is definitely popular in the colder countries for a reason.\u00a0 You basically have two layers of yarn for a much warmer garment.\u00a0 Nordic sweaters look the way they do at least in part for practicality.\u00a0 If you’re lucky enough to own a real one, you know what I mean.\u00a0 So, they’re not something I wear year-round, but only when it gets really<\/em> cold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are times when I am very glad I learned to knit. This week has been fantastic from a professional point of view, but teaching a week’s worth of all-day classes is exhausting.\u00a0 I don’t know how full time teachers pull it off and not burn out.\u00a0 That’s some high-energy stuff if you want to … <\/p>\n