I Stole a Moment - a moment to be helpful, a moment to be quiet, a moment to be sad. A moment of selfishness, a moment of uncertainty, a moment to be glad.

I Stole a Moment - a moment to be grateful, a moment to be hopeful, a moment of respect. A moment of production, a moment of indignation, a moment to reflect.

I Stole a Moment - a moment to acknowledge all I feel, and then I stole another one to make those feelings real.

About

I Stole a Moment is a deeply personal journey to design something that was an allegory - for me - for my bipolar disorder.

For most neuro-atypical people (meaning those people who are diagnosed with or simply experience a variety of medical conditions such as autism, Asperger’s syndrome, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or even anxiety) life can be like a hazard course that they must navigate. Often though, this hazard course contains unseen challenges that other people don’t face doing the same activities.

I’m a ‘lucky one’ in that I have a mild form of bipolar disorder and I say that sincerely. The struggles that other people, with more severe illnesses, face are daunting and can be demoralizing and I’m grateful that I’m not among them. However, even mild forms of mental health conditions can offer frustration, annoyance, and consequences that may span days or months or even years or a lifetime.

I really felt like moving back and forth between the lace and the stockinette represented, for me, the back and forth between mania and depression. And in the color, you can see that although the panels and colors are completely different, some traces of the colors reappear in both panels, illustrating that even when experiencing one of the aspects of my illness, it often contains elements or shades of the other.

If you’re interested in learning more about or getting involved in supporting people with mental health conditions, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a great resource for education, involvement or finding resources if you have a mental health condition or someone you know does.

If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, or you know someone who is (and you live in the US), this website offers information about crisis resources.

The reason I named this design “I Stole a Moment” was because I wanted to celebrate womanhood. As a woman, and belonging to a community of women, every moment we take for ourselves feels as if it’s been stolen. Stolen from our children, our spouses, our employers, our parents and from our social groups. It feels as if we’ve been conditioned by the world we live in to feel guilty for wanting things and working to make them happen, for ourselves. So I gave my design a name that encourages us (female, male, or non-gender binary) to ‘steal’ moments for themselves.

I’d love it if you would tag your finished garments and works in progress on social media with the following hashtag:

 #knitworkdesignstudio

Yarn and Gauge:

For the fingering version, I used 1 skein each in two different colorways. For the DK version, I used 2 skeins each in two different colorways. A looser gauge may put you closer to jeopardy; a tighter gauge may result in more leftover yarn in your stash.

For color selections, I have this to say: choose colors that make you happy.

I chose colors that I loved but also spoke to me and were meaningful representations (to me) of my bipolar disorder. One of my test knitters chose colors that, to her, represented a struggle she was facing. Two of my other test knitters chose colors that they liked in a combination that felt was striking and visually interesting when paired together. Yet another tester used handspun yarn in her project.

If you want to use this pattern to explore your struggles, triumphs or anything else, you should do so. But it’s certainly okay too, just to have fun and choose colors simply because they’re pretty or flashy or whatever. And you don’t have to justify or explain your choices - even if they are meaningful to you. That can be a secret you choose to keep, or not.

Gauge

Because this item is not a fitted garment, the gauge is relatively unimportant, except in relation to how much yarn you will need to complete your project.

Fingering Gauge:
Lace: 20 sts x 36 rows = 4”
Stockinette: 22 sts x 44 rows = 4”

DK Gauge:
Lace: 20 sts x 36 rows = 4”
Stockinette: 22 sts x 44 rows = 4”

Yarn

Although I did use a plied yarn for the fingering version of this design, I think it would be remarkable in a single-ply. This is why I chose a single-ply DK weight yarn to make it in for the heavier version.

Fingering Weight Yarn in two contrasting or coordinating colors, 100g each
Used:
Barnyard Knits Sock/Fingering(463yds/100g) –
One skein each: Main Color (MC): Woodsmoke, Contrasting Color (CC): Cabin in the Snow

OR

DK Weight Yarn in two contrasting or coordinating colors, 2 100g skeins each color.
Used:
In the Deep Hue Sea Hermosa(260y/100g) -
2 skeins each: Main Color (MC): Chasing You, Contrasting Color (CC): Thinking Out Loud.

Contributions

Professionally tech-edited by Sue-Cat
Patterns are not written in a vacuum, and I couldn’t do this without the help of a literal tribe of people. People who test knitted, people who knit samples, others who modeled, tech edited, copy edited, provided resources for a variety of information, people who held my hand, wiped my tears and assuaged my anxiety, people who took photos. Heartfelt thanks go out to each and every one of them for whatever assistance they provided, intentional or otherwise. Especially thecamaslily for modeling for these photos.

Special thanks to In the Deep Hue Sea for providing yarn support for the DK version sample.

Special thanks also to Nate Bowman for photography, you can find other amazing pics by him weldscientist on Instagram.