Two years ago, during the onset of Covid-19, everything went online. School, work, entertainment, socializing—suddenly I went from experiencing everything in person to through a screen and I developed a need for something tactile, something real and hands-on. That’s when I decided to teach myself to knit. It wasn’t an entirely new concept to me (my mom had taught me the basics when I was in grade three) but it was extremely challenging to learn on my own the skills I needed to complete my first sweater. Eventually I managed to complete that first project and followed it with a series of socks, more sweaters, shirts, mittens, even shorts and a pair of pants. With each project my skills expanded and I learned how to knit stranded colour work, cables, lace and bobbles. I am an experienced knitter now and I enjoy being able to read patterns with ease, problem solve on my own and come up with my own designs. I’m capable of working just about any technique out there. Except for the dreaded final skill that intimidates me despite all of my abilities…
Mosaic knitting.
I don’t know why I’m so intimidated by this technique. I’ve admired the results of it for as long as I’ve been knitting seriously. Many times I’ve stared longingly at beautiful patterns that I want to make, but I’ve always been held back by a fear of failure, a fear that perhaps this is the skill that will put me in my place and destroy my confidence. Now, I know that’s a bit ridiculous—mosaic knitting is a challenging technique but so are the other ones I’ve mastered. I think what makes me so nervous is the fact that I have no concept of how it works. When you can imagine how something might go, as I generally can with most knitting techniques, the task of training your hands to move in the right way doesn’t feel so daunting. But when I look at a mosaic shawl in the yarn store or a picture of someone working the stitch online, my knitting brain short circuits. I can’t visualize how this could possibly work, how I can physically manipulate yarn with my needles to make such a complex looking combination of texture and colour, never mind how I could actually make a recognizable or useful object at the same time.
So, this is the challenge that I’ve decided to give myself. Learn mosaic knitting and how to apply it in a finished object that I will find useful and beautiful.
The first step is to find a pattern. When I am learning a new technique in knitting I find it useful to follow a set of instructions put together by someone who really knows their stuff. It can make those confusing first stitches a lot easier when I can look at a photo of a sweater or sock and imagine how those stitches will grow into something that I will be able to use in my everyday life. Socks and sweaters, however, require somewhat complex shaping techniques which I do not want to incorporate into my first time mosaic knitting, so instead I’ve selected a shawl pattern which uses some shaping but in a much more simple way. When making a shawl fit and gauge are also not as important as they would be when making clothing.
I chose the Pressed Flowers Shawl by Amy Christoffers, which I’ve linked below.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pressed-flowers-3
My goal for this semester is to learn mosaic knitting and I will know that I have succeeded when I:
-have a strong grasp on the physical motions required to do the stitch and can do it somewhat smoothly and naturally without too much pause or frustration
-understand how the stitch makes the result that it does
-have a clear enough understanding of the pattern and charts that I can work on my project without constant need to have everything right in front of me
-have some kind of physical result of this learning, although I doubt I will have time to finish the shawl (maybe half a shawl?)
The steps I will take and the order I will do them in will be as follows:
Week 1: (Sept 19-25) Choose and purchase yarn, needles and pattern, read over pattern in depth and watch YouTube videos demonstrating mosaic knitting technique
Week 2: (Sept. 26-Oct. 2) Cast on project and try to work the first repeat, however slow or frustrating it might be
Week 3: (Oct. 3-9) Keep working on becoming comfortable with the hand motion and develop the ability to do it more smoothly and at a faster/more rhythmic pace
Week 4: (Oct. 10-16) Read and watch videos that explain how mosaic knitting actually works so that I can manipulate it to fix mistakes
Week 5: (Oct. 17-23) Work on memorizing the repeats so that I can work the pattern without always having it in front of me
Week 6: (Oct. 24-30) Keep working on shawl, improving fluidity and troubleshooting as problems come up
Week 7: (Oct. 31- Nov. 6) Keep working on shawl, improving fluidity and troubleshooting as problems come up, explore the history and origins of mosaic knitting through online research
Week 8: (Nov. 7-13) Reflect on what I’ve learned and how my experience of mosaic knitting now compares to my perception of it 8 weeks ago
