Waterwoman Knits

This week I am choosing to focus on the lighter side of life that endures despite simultaneous darkness and suffering.

My typing hands were cold as I try to save energy cost. So I made a pair of hand warmers! I now have made the free pattern enough to be able to make a pair in two hours. If anyone would like a pair, I will be making one per day on days off work and will have them available in my Etsy shop in a range of colors and yarns. Mine here are made from Malabrigo Worsted in Matisse Blue I got on sale a few years ago. I will also make some thinner yarn versions that will be lighter. I find I can actually type faster with them on, and since I’m paid by production, speed is of the essence.

Test Knit

Test knitting is where a hand-knitter tests a design for a company or an individual designer, posts images of the completed project, and in return receives a free pattern and inclusion in a community of other test knitters. I could not resist my current test knit because the theme of the publication is “emerging from the forest” or close to that. As I always consider a day a good one if I’ve emerged from a forest, I’m on board! Honestly, test knitting is free marketing and feedback for the designer but a critical step in most well-written published patterns.

I have enjoyed the Making Stories Magazine and newsletter over the years and thought I would pay what I have received back by doing a test knit for their final publication in September 2025. See here for an explanation of why they are saying goodbye to a lovely work of heart.

(Shhh….) I rarely make a swatch before I start any project. But because a test knit requires a result as close as possible to the designer’s vision, a swatch is 100% necessary. A swatch measures the gauge of rows and stitches and allows you to learn if you need to change your needle size to make a garment the intended size of the designer. Here is my lame little garter swatch which told me I was a half-inch off in both stitch numbers and rows to make gauge, so I upsized my needles 0.25 mm and that is enough to make the desired gauge. The fabric also looks much better and more even at that gauge. While I cannot share the completed project until the magazine is published, I can share my yarn choice, which is Cascade 220 Fingering (mulesing free Peruvian highland wool) in colors Pine Grove and Limestone.

Prioritizing Projects

I am nearly finished with my Lumme pullover of last post, but have decided to pause that and complete both the test knit for deadline and my dad’s lap blanket before anything else. Dad’s legs are always cold, and he’s a gem of a person who has this week both celebrated his 59th wedding anniversary (dinosaur in American terms) and been honored by his small town’s city council for what he has contributed to his community. I’m about at 4 feet now and want to make it 6 feet. Warmth is soon on the way!

Knitting TV

For anyone interested, the two seasons of this Danish TV knitting competition a decade ago was what uber-charged my knitting mojo. It’s such fun to see what people can create on the fly that I watched an entire season without English subtitles. I had no idea what people were saying, only what they were doing. I’d love to see something like TV cooking competition only with knitting in the U.S. I’m sure there are many knitters who’d put their hat in the ring, despite a briefer historical knitting culture in the U.S.

And one more piece of knitting media from my own region, the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., the indigenous Cowichan Sweater. Someday I’d love to meet a maker and make one myself.