I’m obsessed with data and finding ways to quantify and analyze behaviors. I also have a fairly torrid love affair going with Excel, so I finally answered a question that had been rolling around in my mind for a while:
What projects do I actually finish?
I looked at the 70 projects I’ve completed over time, and I broke them down into types.
Percentage-wise (rounding up and down) it’s approximately:
| Accessories | 3% |
| Baby | 3% |
| Hats | 17% |
| Scarf / Wrap | 16% |
| Shrug / Bolero | 13% |
| Socks | 35% |
| Sweaters | 10% |
| Tops / Tees / Vests | 4% |
I found this breakdown fairly interesting, as one of the main reasons I wanted to learn to knit was so I could make sweaters and shrugs to wear over dresses, yet combined they comprise less than a quarter of my knitting output. Of course it can be argued that counting each pair of socks as a project is disproportionate with the arduousness of creating a whole sweater, but math-wise, I seem much more likely to finish a pair of socks than anything else.
Next I considered whether I am as selfish a knitter as I think I am, and if that has any influence on the types of projects I finish.
11 gifts and 59 projects for myself. Yes, I am knitting about as selfishly as possible.
I am most likely to make you a hat or a scarf / wrap if I’m knitting you a gift.
And I am most likely to make myself socks or wintry accessories (hats and scarves). Even though I really want sweaters.
So without further sorting the data and filling in a bit of subjectivity, I seem more likely to finish smaller or easier projects (hats, scarves, socks) whether they’re for myself or others. Not a huge surprise there. And while I didn’t compile data on it, I know that I almost never wear any of the non-sweater tops I’ve made, whereas I wear the sweaters and shrugs quite frequently. They may be a larger time investment and a higher degree of difficulty, but I get a lot more enjoyment and use out of them, so that’s time and energy sometimes better spent.
Then I turned to pattern sources, to answer a secondary question inspired by the amount of money I’ve spent on magazine subscriptions and books over the years.
What pattern sources yield the most finished projects?
I would have guessed that I knit the most projects from knitting magazines, but I would have been quite wrong.
I knit about 39% from independent or self-publishing designers, 17% from online magazines (Knitty, the late MagKnits, Knit on the Net, and so forth), 14% from patterns I made up, 13% from magazines, 11% from yarn company patterns, and only about 6% from books.
I was quite surprised because of these sources, the books tend to be the most expensive, followed by magazines, yet my habits tend to be inversely proportionate to the cost. Whoops. I was also surprised by how many projects came from patterns that I had devised, but these were obviously quite a bit simpler (scarves, bags – essentially big rectangles that may or may not have had lace patterns incorporated).
And, I can’t forget, I’ve started a lot more projects than I’ve actually finished. But that was exactly the intent of this analysis. My hypothesis was that I’d be much more likely to finish patterns from paid sources, since I was literally more invested in them, but surprisingly, the split was 80% free patterns, only 20% paid.
And now I see where my apparent love and support of independent designers is not actually what it seems. Most of the self-published patterns I’ve finished were free. Otherwise, the free patterns came from online magazines and yarn companies (Cascade, Berroco, and Lion Brand, specifically).
And of the paid patterns, I was right, that I mostly finish those from magazines (almost exclusively Interweave Knits) followed by books and every once in a while I support an indie designer financially as well as in spirit.
So while there has been an excess of pie charts, I actually learned a lot about myself as a knitter. I may have a library full of magazines and books, but I am much more likely to finish free patterns I dig up from self-published sources and independent designers online.
I knit way more socks than anything else, although what I really want to knit are sweaters and shrugs.
And I could really stand to finish a few more gifts and pay to support all these independent designers whose work I obviously adore.
