A Grand Sort of Day

It is really interesting to me that some days, my little bit here and there knitting seems to produce nothing and then whammo.  All of a sudden a thing is getting pretty darn close to completion.

As evidence of this truth, after knitting forever and a week or two, this sweater was magically at the point where I had to decide what I wanted it to be.  

I love tunic length tops.  With slim fitted pants such as I now have in my wardrobe, they look marvelous.  They look pretty good with wide legged pants that seem to be coming into style, or at least it seems to be happening in my wardrobe.  (I hope that it becomes like skirt length finally has: anything is available and it is all ok. That is very different than the way it used to be)  I have been wearing my wide legged pants all summer and they are so much cooler to wear than my closely fitting pants.  While a tunic top looks good with both, a more cropped top looks seriously fine with wide legs but on my body shape, really bad with fitted pants.  But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't consider wearing cropped things, only that in my style adventures (still blown away that I am having style adventures!), I will probably feel more comfortable wearing a more cropped top with wide legged pants.

In the end, that really is what the conversation is about:  What are you comfortable in?  All summer I have been thingking of giving a more cropped sweater a try.  I have been looking at Soldotna and Sipila and those gorgeous designs by Jacqueline Cieslak, Rift and Ursa.  In truth, I come fairly close to cosidering Cieslak my guru in a way of my all style adventures, but I digress.  As I was sitting here knitting, I realized that this sweater, is so close to the point where it was ready for the choice of cropped version of not to be made that I took a good long look at it.

I did some measuring and some comparing with other patterns, and to the Rift pattern and Ursa, I was at the optimal length for a nice cropped top. Or I would be once the bottom ribbing was knit.  But I still have my problem of a chilly back.  I wanted to go longer at the back so that when I sit, I still have a nice bit of sweater preventing a chill on my lower back while I wear my sweater and lovely wide legged pants.  I used short rows to make a nice slow slope for that back and made the back a good bit longer.  And then magically, it was time to start this:

It really is magic.  I knit a couple inches on the body of the sweater yesterday, then knit the short rows to make the back longer plus about 5 rows of ribbing in a single day, and the kids are here.

My house of course is a disaster.  The kitchen was the drink station for the herd of kids (the regualr kids next door and the new little girl who just moved to the other side of us)  that were playing and there are juice makings on the table and glasses everywhere. Cassie and Marcus understand the word stranger very well and know that it doesn't apply when a little girl is looking longingly at your chaisng around on the sidewalk in front of your house.  They went right over, introduced themselves and the kids from next door and pretty soon a good time was being had by all (As interepid local reporter on our local newspaper used to say) We had a surprise supper from Uncle Keith last night so I didn't have to look at the table and could avoid the mess for the evening, but today...today we meaning me, must do the adulting required and clean up the icky sticky mess.  But the kids had fun and I had a chance to really get in some good knitting time when I needed it most.  

A grand day was had by all. It really truly was.  I wasn't sure I would ever say that about this certain August day again, and yet here we are.  It really was grand.