Extra Spicy Wannabe
You know how Knitty rates the difficulty of it's patterns - Mellow, Tangy, Piquant, and Extra Spicy.... Well, we all remember Ella, she was only Tangy and nearly killed me.When I told Kaity I was going to make Spring Fling, her exact words were, "Mom, are you kidding- you are NOT piquant."
Well, maybe I'm growing as a knitter. Maybe I AM piquant. I've looked at the pattern, I can obviously do the simple lace pattern, and I think the piquant part is that this sweater is made in pieces and then seamed together. Now, I've only made the top-down, bottom-up, sleeves included - whatever-they-call-that.... that kind of sweater before, but I've done a lot of sewing in my day and know basic and even advanced (read, piquant) garment construction and think I'll be okay.
Yeah- I'll let you know when that little piquant factor shows up and bites me in the butt.... I'll be whining about it to all of you, just wait. But, for now - so far, so good. So far, I'm piquant.
but.... and you knew there was one.... I SOOOOOO want to be Extra Spicy!!! Every day I go on the blogs and drool over what some of you are making. I plan, I dream, I say to myself.... someday. Someday maybe I really could make something like that.
Have you seen Theresa's Am Kamin??? Absolutely gorgeous. I want to do that SO BAD! And, Heather - she's starting this beautiful sweater.... I REALLY love this one - I want that Demi sweater so bad there's still drool on the keyboard. So Extra Spicy. Don't even get me going on the stuff Eunny creates - unbelievable. Not only does she knit the most beautiful stuff I've ever seen, she usually makes it up herself!! Or, Wendy and her amazing ability to make her visions real, and then turn them into patterns for the rest of us! Then, there's Jill - who can wrap her head around all the math part of knitting. I just love her, and you know what - I don't care HOW Extra Spicy I get, I'll never get the math part of knitting - I was dropped on my head and damaged my "math section" when I was a baby - so that's just not gonna happen (a story for another day).
That's just the tip of my wanna-be iceberg. And, you are all so nice and encouraging... telling me I can do it.... Really - do you think I'll ever be Extra Spicy??? I so want to be.
We'll see how piquant I am first...
posted by Lynda @ 7:04 AM
5 Pair - hey, it's a start
First Place, Gospel Light
The Way of the Master
23 Comments:
Of course you'll be "extra spicy"! You're already way ahead of me...I'm stilly tangy!
You'll most definitely get there. You're already spicy. You just need to add a few more spices and marinate a little more.
Oh, me too! I want to be extra spicy too! That's so funny, I grade myself with the knitty guidelines as well. I even catagorize my collection of knitting patterns according to mellow, tangy, piquant and extra spicy.
You will get there, every time you knit something the next pattern that seemed so tricky last time you looked, starts looking so much more doable.
I would say I am tangy taking steps into piquant.
Ha! I KNOW you're already Extra Spicy. I know ES things about you, and I won't remind you here.
I just saw that the Jaywalker socks I'm almost finished with say "intermediate"...and I was THRILLED!!
Hey!..Looky me! I'm "Intermediate"!!! Whhoooooooyah
what!? whatever, lynda, you are muy caliente! talk about hot hot hot like fire!!! :) i concur with tabbytuxedo: you just need to marinate a bit ;)
by the way, my mom dropped me when i was like, three months old. several times, actually. she would put me to sleep over her shoulder, then she'd sit down and fall asleep and let go. surprisingly, i haven't seen any effects yet...other than a mean temper, but i like to think that comes from the korean side ;P
that lady bug is sooooooooo cute cute cute cute cute! and i can't wait to see your spring fling! the yarn is so pretty...i love the colors you pick for your projects.
It's all about how long you marinate it.
And while we're at it, I need to go rip out 10 rows of neck shaping - maybe I'm not as extra spicy as I'd like to think!
Just remember, every single knitter was Mellow at some point! You are entra-spicy - you do socks, lace, garments, etc! Get on with your paprika self!
BTW, how do you pronounce "piquant"?
You can do it! (Said in the way that the guy in the movie "The Waterboy" says it.)
Jillian asked how you pronounce "piquant"...I have heard "pee-KAHNT" and "PEE-kint". It's originally French and they would say "pee-KOHN". Sorta.
I too was dropped on my head as an infant Lynda! Slid right out of the infant seat as my mum held it and talked on the phone at the same time (or something like that, I think). Yep, right onto hard tile floor!
I think we all tend to underestimate ourselves from time to time as knitters, which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- it just gives us the added bonus of being "pleasantly surprised" when we can actually knit a pattern that we thought was beyond our skill level. That's what happens to me anyway ;-)
Your Spring Fling is looking quite "spicey" to me!
You are so on your way to being extra spicy! You are not afraid to try new knitting stuff, so it's just a matter of a little more marinating. Heck, you've done entrelac!
i think the ratings in Knitty are often quite subjective. For example, the Honeymoon cami is supposed to be piquant but Julia has mentioned that several first time sweater knitters have successfully made this sweater. So while Julia may have thought it was piquant, these other knitters apparently didn't!
I think it's all about what you're good at. If you have a lot of sewing background and can set in a sleeve with fabric, then you're probably going to do just fine setting in a sleeve on a knitted sweater. hence, playing to your strengths, this piquant pattern is probably closer to tangy for you, but piquant to the rest of us sewing imbeciles. It's like rock climbing. There are climbing problems that because I'm short with small, fingers of steel, I can walk right up them without nary a blink of an eye. But my DF, he can't even get off the ground. And vice versa. Because he's so tall, he can just stand up and reach for things that I have to lunge, fold myself into a pretzel, or hike my feet up over my head to even have a remote chance of reaching. It's all relative.
The point being, knitting, like so many other things in life, is not a competitive venture. If you enjoy what you make and are happy with the results, you are already extra-spicy!
You bet you're extra spicey. Of course you can handle it. I concur with all previous comments.
You will most certainly be Extra Spicy some day . . . we all be . . . and we're getting there through the help and encouragement of each other. So glad to be on the journey together!!
you can TOTALLY do piquant. i conquered it last summer (with only 10 months of knitting experience under my belt) and you've done plenty of shaped garments, you can do it, NO PROBLEM. =)
I've always considered you to be piquantly extra spicy. ;)
I wanna be extra spicy too...I don't think I'm as far as you though...don't think I'm piquant just yet...someday maybe LOL.
Of course you can be whatever you want to be. Just jump straight in, and you'll get there. I'm with you about the math, though, that part is so challenging to me too. Oh one little thing about spring fling, my friend knitted it and said the difficult part was seaming because there is no edge stitch and you just have to wing it without it looking ugly.
Hey, you're a mom, which my default means you're "extra spicy"!!! Great job!!
You're already spicy, missy! ;-) You've got your own hot and spicy flavor already stewing... you're probably already extra-spicy and you just don't know it yet! I don't know where or how they come up with those "heat" ratings, but I don't think there's any piquant or extra-spicy project you couldn't handle. Some may certainly be harder than others, but that's not to say that you're not capable of doing an extra-spicy project at all!! Look at how much you've already tackled successfully!! You're habanero spicy in my recipe book, girl! ;-) Take care, Lynda! :-)
You can totally do extra spicy, Lynda. Just try one of them! The first sweater I ever knit was one of the "piquant" variety, and I survived.
That is a darling pattern! I just took the link to knitty to look at it and fell in love. I think I've seen it before but after looking at the close ups of yours in cotton fleece i"m hooked! I'll have to add that to my list of to do projects! Found you from a comment at Knit and Tonic... love your blog!
I am a stronf proponent of the "if you can knit, purl, and read a pattern, you can knit anything you set your mind to" school of knitting. I say don't even look at the "level" you need to be at to do a knitted piece...you want it, try it. And "p-shaw!" to those who would be nay-sayers. At the very worst, you'll need help and learn something...right?
You ARE extra-spicy, dear Lynda!
Hey, it wasn't me, the dropping on the head. I'll bow either to George, or maybe your dad when he'd pull the hood of your jacket on and you'd fall of the porch. All of which I'm so glad you don't really remember, just the stories.
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