Working on Impulses

While there are always a thousands things I could be doing, and while I am prone to following my impulses in what I choose to knit, January seems to be a month where I am particularly apt to follow an impulse.

A while ago, I purchased  some lace yarn to make a sweater.  I purchased three colours and the plan was to use it, tripple stranded and to change out the colours one strand at a time, to get a lovely soft gradient effect.  That didn't happen, because I did not read closely enough, and the balls were only 25 grams and 200 metres, rather than my expectation of 400 metres and 50 grams. I have had 6000 metres of lace sitting here on the shelf wondering what I would do with it.  The idea of triple stranding got in the way of chossing something different for a very long time.  It sat and I looked at it.

And then  last winter, Brooklyn Tweed published this pattern, Agnes.  Just a nice comfortable casual fitting t shirt style garment.  It was particularly striking for me because my lace weights without a plan are exactly these three colours. And there is enough to double strand all three colours to easily knit version two.  I desire version one though, and hope to get enough yarn, by mixing a strand of a subtly different black with a strand of the homeless lace and alternating rows.  I am short only about 500 metres, so I know I have a black somewhere that would work.  I have to test it, but there is no reason this shouldn't work to resolve my slight shortage of the black.

Anyway, I was sitting here yesterday, debating starting a sweater for myself, and what would I knit, when this popped out of the long list of favourite sweater patterns on Ravelry, I jumped.

That is exactly how it felt.  I jumped from my chair, grabbed the yarns, confirmed that there was enough and off I was casting on.  and then I cast on again.  And again.  

The pattern is written bottom up, in pieces, and I just do not want to start from the bottom.  Fitting is so much easier from the top for me so I am converting it to knit that way.  I am also going to knit in the round once I am below the arms.  There is just no reason not to. that I can see yet.

Anyway, I am off and running today. I am winding the yarn for my daughter in law, Amy's sweater today.  She fell in love with Pole  and she absolutely adores the soft grey lavender Madelinetosh I have for her.  Another Joji pattern!  Hooray! I had meant to start her sweater yesterday but...

I didn't need to start a sweater for me.  I really was just meandering while I took a break.  A sweater for me just fell out and there it was.  Impulses. Not always a bad thing.