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i was meant to go to knitters guild group meeting yesterday but i have been really tired this week and a bit stressed lately (no, really?!) and i decided sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing. so i opted for a weekend entirely at home, preferably not talking to anyone. since last weekend i have been around people almost non stop, with my sister visiting. we had a lot of fun, including an afternoon on the beach
and a road trip for lunch and donuts
before the rain came back. now that its sunny again, i think i just needed some serious battery re-charging. and also to get through a lot of washing. oh the washing.
i did step out briefly yesterday to my local fresh produce market
and then this morning to take princess possum for a walk,
but then i retired to the couch where i played around with some madeline tosh ‘merino light’.
lucky i swatched and washed it
just so i could see how much it would run!
as well as grow.
not a lot on the growth. 26 stitches to 4inches before blocking, 24 after. which is gauge, thanks very much.
but wasnt i already knitting a cotton cardigan? didnt i start atelier some time ago and still havent finished? why would i start something else, i hear you ask (although probably only a non-knitter would ask that). and didnt i have A List?
yes i did, and still do. but lists, unless you are god talking to moses, are not written in stone. the purpose of this list was not because i am disciplined or a control freak. i am, sadly, far from either. the purpose of the list was really to match my favourite yarns with my favourite projects in the hope that i would get some of them knitted. i have added only two things to the list, one is an unexpected purchase (more on that later) and the other should have been on there from the start, which was a pair of boy socks.
what this year so far is telling me is that i am not under any obligation to knit from this list in order, nor to stick to something if i dont like it. the whole principle of my approach to knitting this year is to knit only what i really want to wear with yarn i really want to use. so even though atelier (in MT pashmina) and amiga (in rowan calmer) are both cardigans i want in yarn i love, the reality of my time this year is that im not going to get both of them done BEFORE i can start the one i really want.
the one i really want was a rather elusive pattern for the madelinetosh merino light in ‘ink’ thats been burning a hole in my stash cupboard. i just hadnt felt right about any of my pattern choices so far, slow line, austin hoodie… neither of them quite what was i after.
then the new knitty came out. im not a big fan of knitty these days. its a wonderful idea but i think its jumped the shark in terms of patterns. and if i see one more small triangle shawl im going to scream. however, it had this cardigan pattern in it – flaming june. it was pretty much exactly what i was looking for, a slightly open texture, a pattern that had interest but wasnt fussy, a bit of flare, a bit of fit, not a tent. so i have now cast on
i want to wear this this winter, so i am just going to stick to this, and the afore mentioned shawl i am working on, for a while. that shawl is line break in dream-in-colour smooshy (cashmere) in ‘bronzed lake’ colourway. i was tempted by this because someone was buying some and i had only bought one skein last time i was in the US and had gifted it. i wanted some for myself. and i wanted something blue. so i started it last week and promptly made a mistake (can you spot it?)
i am no longer satisfied with ‘good enough’ in my knitting, so i ripped it
and now its up to here.
isnt it lovely? i’m also noticing a shift in my colour preferences for this year. last year was all about the red and black. this year im into blue and grey. i think they are both good versatile colours, and i should wear more blue anyway with my eyes, so im lucky there’s a lot of blue and grey in The List!
the only thing that will stray from that is the ‘tarty pea’ socks if i ever finish them, and the ‘whitbys’ i need to make for a june birthday present.
maybe i better go cast them on now!
k xx
Heh heh, yes, cast them on now!
Both great new projects, lovely blues. But I think that cardi pattern is called Flaming Jane, isn’t it?! Heh!
The day a knitting list becomes enforceable will be the day I stop knitting! It would take all the joy out of it. I’m all for knitting what you want, in yarn you love; maybe we need to add “when/if I feel like it” too?
That blue smooshy is really lovely.
That cardy caught my eye too! One of only two things that did, the other a pair of socks. Will look forward to seeing your progress
It seems to have been a weekend of good decisions. Hope the week is manageable.
Definitely an approach to knitting I share – knit what you want when you want
Jumped the shark is a new expression for me but I think I know what you mean re knitty – hadn’t even really looked this time but you spotted a great looking pattern there
That MadTosh colourway is lovely, I reckon it’ll look great as a Flaming June.
I’m a list writer, but I don’t use them in the God/Moses way either. I use them to organise my thoughts if I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the things I’ve decided absolutely positively must happen. Once I’ve written the list out, it’s usually not nearly as overwhelming (and the tasks are usually not particularly urgent either!).
love the expression jump the shark – and we have a game in our house picking when a series jumps the shark!!!
Anyway the blue is just gorgeous and I am loving the list as a guildline framework to be ignored as required
yay for knitting
Princess Possum!!! She’s a star!! I love the photo of the beach, I miss having beaches just a few minutes away from home. I don’t reckon Moses was au fait knitting!! Wow, you’ve knitted so much of the beautiful blue. I agree, Knitty has far too many shawls for me but I have added Flaming June, or perhaps it should be Flamin’ January here, to my queue!!
I’m not satisfied with “good enough” either. I found an error in my Madli’s shawl and put it aside so I can rip it carefully (I’m using yarn with a bit of mohair in it) and fix it. I was going to leave it alone but I know it will bother me and if I’m going to make something, I want it to be the best I can make it.
I love the blue color of your shawl. It’s soft and feminine.
Home time is so good for the soul isnt it? especially by the beach. yes, get your peas finished so they can hang out with mine. the blue/grey thing must be in the air, Ive finally started my Kleio in grey and just onto the blue lace. Funny, I was thinking the same about knitty and it was the Flaming June/Jane that caught my attention. Will be lovely to see it knit up and in that gorgeous ink! It seems appropriate that it ran mind, too.