Most projects
Have you noticed how the most popular patterns on Ravelry are for shawls and socks? The obvious reason for this is that most knitters don't have much time to knit. Hence they prefer to work on small, fast to knit projects, instead of spending months, or even years, knitting something big, like a sweater or (don't even think about it) a queen-sized blanket.
There is however another and much less obvious explanation for this.
I consider myself a knitter who above all else loves to knit sweaters. So I was a bit surprised when, looking at my projects, I found out that I have knitted more shawls and scarves, and as much socks and hats and even home decoration items (this last one really surprised me), as I have knitted sweaters. The reason for this is quite simply that even if I've spent a lot more time knitting sweaters, I've finished other items a lot faster. In addition, I have the habit of, whenever a sweater starts feeling frustratingly endless to knit, I stop for a while and spend a few days knitting a hat, or a pair of socks, or a scarf. The result is that I knit a few other items in the process of knitting a sweater. Another factor is that sweaters are, not only longer, but so much more difficult to knit, thus they're a lot more prone to mistakes and the need to frog. In my case, I think I've actually frogged a lot more sweaters than I've knitted them... Which means the number of sweaters I've knitted is about twice the number of sweaters I've knitted. I know this doesn't make sense, but it is still true.
The conclusion is that if you count knitting time, I'm definitely a sweater knitter, but if you count number of items finished, I'm a hat knitter in the process of becoming either a sock or a scarf knitter. Time will tell. And I think I'm not alone.
So you should take the rankings of most popular patterns on Ravelry with a grain of salt. Those socks and shawls may not be as popular as the numbers tell.
There is however another and much less obvious explanation for this.
I consider myself a knitter who above all else loves to knit sweaters. So I was a bit surprised when, looking at my projects, I found out that I have knitted more shawls and scarves, and as much socks and hats and even home decoration items (this last one really surprised me), as I have knitted sweaters. The reason for this is quite simply that even if I've spent a lot more time knitting sweaters, I've finished other items a lot faster. In addition, I have the habit of, whenever a sweater starts feeling frustratingly endless to knit, I stop for a while and spend a few days knitting a hat, or a pair of socks, or a scarf. The result is that I knit a few other items in the process of knitting a sweater. Another factor is that sweaters are, not only longer, but so much more difficult to knit, thus they're a lot more prone to mistakes and the need to frog. In my case, I think I've actually frogged a lot more sweaters than I've knitted them... Which means the number of sweaters I've knitted is about twice the number of sweaters I've knitted. I know this doesn't make sense, but it is still true.
The conclusion is that if you count knitting time, I'm definitely a sweater knitter, but if you count number of items finished, I'm a hat knitter in the process of becoming either a sock or a scarf knitter. Time will tell. And I think I'm not alone.
So you should take the rankings of most popular patterns on Ravelry with a grain of salt. Those socks and shawls may not be as popular as the numbers tell.
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