Can I knit this in a week? (+ a mini yarn haul) || Channel Chat 161
- Infiniti
- 14 hours ago
- 9 min read
Good day, Crafties!
The backlog has been immense and this month has honestly gotten away from me. July disappeared in a blur of family matters, tired days, and unfinished plans. After missing a channel chat, I returned to tell tale of several knitting project updates, including the infamous Shark Week challenge, progress on the Morning Glory sweater, and a colorful hand-dyed yarn haul!
The projects may feel scattered, but each one has a purpose. Some need a deadline, some need careful yarn planning, and others help bring creative energy back after a hard season.
Knitting Project Updates: The Seven-Day Shark Week Challenge
The Shark Week challenge is a knitting event hosted by my friends over at Politically Incorrect Knitters. This year, I had the special honor of being one of the event sponsors! Everyone starts a project on a set date and has seven days to finish it. If the project remains unfinished, “the shark” gets you, which means ripping the work back.
After the event concludes, participants have the chance to win from the prize pool and everyone gets stickers!
A realistic project beats an ambitious sweater...right?
I'd though starting a full sweater under a one-week deadline would be a poor choice, especially while balancing family, work, and other active projects. Figuring that a hat or other accessory would offer a much clearer finish line, less yardage, and fewer construction steps, the Helter Skelter cap fit that plan well enough.
Little did I know, at least three other participants had planned sweaters and tops. Most
impressively, Anne Pinkava hammered out this amazing America themed sweater. I mean, LOOK AT THAT!
This definitely wasn't my year to do that but I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped me looking back on this Channel Chat. I didn't know I was going to be throwing shade that heavy. 😅
Revisiting the Helter Skelter cap design
This was, however, the year to revisit an old one page design.The Helter Skelter cap was first designed around in 2020 after months of solitude and forced isolation.
The name idea came from Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. After finding the phrase in one of the books as a kid, the word stuck with me (probably because it rhymed). In the dictionary, it means topsy-turvy, chaotic, disordered, or done haphazardly.
That definition matches the hat’s texture fairly well. At the time, I also wanted to play around with factors and ribbing. Weird, right? The challenge was to see how many factors of 96 (the cast on number) I could translate into ribbing before I got annoyed. I did find my answer and ended up with a neat little hat design in the end, which I released in 2021.
Reworking it now would show whether the pattern math still holds after several years. It also gave me a chance to record a tutorial for a future Pattern Corner update and pattern re-release.
The brim appears to use 2x2 ribbing, while the crown has a more textured design. Its simple stitch combinations move back and forth, with a mix of countdowns and changing directions. The result feels jumbled and playful without making the whole project too difficult.
The Morning Glory Sweater Keeps Building Through Careful Repeats
The Morning Glory sweater has been in progress since about February. Its design combines brioche and cables in the center, making the project more involved than your run of the mill design. But that's just par for the course here, isn't it?
The sweater is being made in panels and sewn together. I usually like to construct my garments this way because it's cathartic. Particularly, this method works well for this project because the stitch combinations were unfamiliar enough to make working flat feel safer than trying an untested in-the-round construction. Panel knitting also makes each section easier to inspect. The back, front, sleeves, and neckline can be handled as separate goals instead of one large task.
The back panel is nearing the end of its sixth repetition, the front will use a similar design, but it will be shorter and should need about four repetitions. Once the front and back are joined, the sleeves and neck should move quickly. Each finished repeat creates a small, visible win, which is what I need in life right about now 😅
The project had nearly used all of a Harrisville Designs Shetland wool cone that held about 900 yards at the time of this Channel Chat. Only one full row and part of another may remain on the cone, so that was obviously an excuse to get more of it on my shelf.
A winding mistake created another small section of yarn to be clipped away from my main color 'On a Work Trip with Jesus'. I only actually lost about 4 inches of it in total which was a miracle in itself! While keeping curious Miss Pixis away from the swift, some wool caught in the winder and left about one-eighth of a cake. I'd thought that either would finish this back panel but I should have known better!
As I write this article, I'm on row 32 of 42 but I've definitely broken into that main cake. I'm so excited to cast off and am hoping to do so by time I finish recording Channel Chat 162!
Knitting Project Updates: A Yarn Haul with a Plan
The new yarn supports several projects rather than sitting without a purpose and that never happens! It included yarn for the Morning Glory sweater, the Coffee Lover sweater, a possible second sweater, and future sport-weight accessories.
Letting the community weigh in on color
A few months ago, I set up a community poll asking you all to choose between the Frida Kahlo and Fairy Bridge colorways for the Coffee Lover sweater I'd been working on. You see, your girl felted her special, one of a kind colorway she got from the Midwest Fiber Fest and with no way to replace that same yarn, I needed a substitute. Overwhelmingly, the Crafties favored Frida Kahlo, which was also my first choice first choice. I found myself still conflicted because both colors were so gorgeous.
The final decision was easy: both colorways came home.
The little felted yarn I could salvage will likely become the central stripe in the coffee-bean motif and the Frida Kahlo yarn will become my color B.
Planning a second Coffee Lover sweater
Once upon a time, I bought two skeins of Aquagoth from Awenydd Yarn & Fiber and had initially slated them for socks. Little did I know back then, this coffee bean themed sweater would put me in a choke hold. In my latest order from Tina, I got five additional skeins of it and those will become the main color for a second Coffee Lover sweater.
The color has enough personality to work as a strong background. The thinner neon green may need to be doubled to match the weight of the other yarn but I think the color combo will be well worth it!
Keeping staple sport-weight yarn on hand
I ordered three more black cones of Shetland from Harrisville Designs for the Morning Glory sweater. Not that I intend to use it all for that purpose, I'd just wanted to be more safe than sorry in case my design mutates somehow.
Sport-weight yarn may also become useful for some future projects since I've been on a generational run with these 2.75mm needles! 😂.
A Fourth of July Pre-Order Adds Color and Useful Tools
The order included colorful mini skeins, bracelets, stitch markers, needle protectors, and stickers.
You can find 4 out of the 5 colors from the 100g mini skeins in full size in her shop!
A free shawl pattern on the dyer’s website uses the set together, it's called The Knit Through All Things Shawl Knitting Pattern and you should definitely check it out!
The pre-order also included bracelets and a new ring of stitch markers. Tina’s stitch markers have become a regular part of the collection because they are distinctive and useful across many projects. The patriotic needle protectors were especially welcome because they fit my 2.75 mm needles. Protectors made for smaller needles can be hard to find. They help keep stitches secure when a project leaves the house, especially when the needles are narrow and stitches can slip easily.
Multiple Works in Progress Show a Changing Creative Process
The Morning Glory sweater has become the main project, even though several other designs are waiting nearby. The sweater has been set aside a few times, but it never stays forgotten for long. After all, I'm trying to complete it for a MAL/contest due at New Years' 2027. I'm not too confident but there's always hope there! That makes it the creative anchor of the year.
Giving WIP baskets more structure
Competitions aside, sometimes the piece with the strongest pull is the one worth finishing first!
Earlier in my creative process, a new project usually began after the last one was finished or nearly complete. Now, I've got several WIP baskets sitting around the studio, along with planned designs and a secret project that has not started yet. 😅
I try to arrange my WIPS in order of priority and deadlines but here lately, I've been working on projects based off of vibes. I never used to be this way but I guess it's part
of my character development arc.
The Helter Skelter cap may become a gift for my younger brother who recently started his first job. Since the brother and stepfather both shave their heads, a nice wool cap may make excellent gifts for them this winter. They have this whole father-son matchy thing going and I think that's charming.
Creative Recognition Can Bring Back the Spark
Last but not least, a few months ago I shared a local feature of mine in VoyageSTL and recently I received my physical prints! This opportunity offered a welcome reminder that creative work can reach people beyond the studio. The local publication highlighted businesses and creatives in the St. Louis area.
Despite having a decently sized community online for a single creative like myself, it can become quiet and lonely. Features like these are reminders that people are still seeing and appreciating my work and I'll be forever grateful for them lending an ear to my creative processes.
The written interview covered my fiber-art work, origin story, crochet course, designs, & more. They also inquired after industry specific insights which I was more than glad to speculate on. Printed copies were ordered for personal keepsakes, with some possibly going to family members.
Artistic work needs both feeling and structure
Creative work calls for two different mental strengths: One side handles math, planning, and details, while the other makes sense of color, flowers, texture, and freedom. Both sides matter when art becomes a business or gig because, unfortunately, that artistic side will never be as valued by society as the former. In my own practice, I've had to focus on the actual art secondarily
at times and switch over to the more analytical side that focuses more on numbers and practicality rather than passion.
One clear example of that is the content creation side of Infiniti Crafting Co. Once upon a time, I could simply work on a concept and put out videos based on quality and merit. While that's still my main goal, with the uprising of short form content, I now have to focus on the law of large numbers to maintain minimum viewership, which never used to be. So now that looks like making one or two really decent videos in a month and then chopping them down to size, in hopes that viewers will migrate over to the full episodes.
Will it pay off? Who knows? Soon that burst of energy will subside and I'll go back to my hobbit hole of creation once more. Social media is undergoing so many changes with their algorithms that it's hard to keep up and easy to fall into soul sucking monotony with trying to keep up. And I'm not particularly keep on living there.
Small wins help protect creative energy
A two-year break from active creative work showed me how quickly the spark can fade when there is no outlet. Returning to stitching, designing, and sharing small projects helped bring that energy back. When I came back last October, my objective was clear: Put your best foot forward. So much of the previous track of my creative journey had been geared toward giving my all and hoping it stuck. What it turned into was massive burnout and heart break when what I needed most fell short.
My first small win was starting again. With this new focus of Channel Chats and Pattern Corners, I feel like I've been able to redirect and capture the part of my community that showed up because of the person rather than the service if that makes sense. I've had a couple of features and gallery displays since 2024 that made my craft work worthwhile at the time. And if I were to talk to any working artist now, I'd say to try and pursue that which makes you, you.
It's hard, yes. But to go through life unfulfilled is harder. It wasn't until I started stitching again that I realized how hollow I'd felt without creating something and from that moment, I said, "never again."
Creative work is often undervalued, and progress can feel slow. Obtaining a feature, finishing a project, gallery opportunities, or supportive craft group can offer enough encouragement to keep going. During busy seasons, a low-pressure practice still counts: knit one repeat, organize your skeins, sketch a design, or attend a virtual stitch group, one brush stroke!
The goal is to keep making room for the creative work, even when life interrupts.
I hope you enjoyed this Channel Chat & blog today, Crafties!
Until next time, Happy Making!
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