A Victory

I feel really great this morning.  

I finished the Blue Cones sweater and it's a winner.

It fits just right.  It's a really lovely blue.  It's exactly the right length.  Yes it needs a good wash to get the spinning oils out but it is otherwise quite perfect.  I am weaving in ends as I write.  

I don't know how other knitters feel when they finish a garment but I feel deeply fundamentally satisfied.  I took these cones of string things and turned it into something that is uniquely mine.  I made every single stitch, even the error stitches and no one will ever knit a garment exactly like this again.  This is me, jumping up and down inside my heart.  No one can take this from me ever.  This is success.  This is achievement.  This is the pinnacle of everything I ever dreamed I could do and be.  I clothed myself, a very powerful thing. 

And when I put that sweater on, I am armored and protected from the rest of the world.  Knitted garments, handmade garments have always been that to me.  It's odd but I remember the first time I wore something knitted to work and stroked it during the day, and remembered who I was.  I needed that so badly then.  

Ah well.  That was then.  I am not that person in so many ways any longer, but parts of her remains. It is a layer of long ago memory that is only part of who I am now.    

I am going to put in a good bit of time working on My London Fog sweater today. That one is starting to feel as if it is working up fast.  Yay me.

Blue Sweater

Another sleeve!

Another day or two and it will be done.

I haven't made many posts the last while with chat.  I haven't been feeling too chatty I suppose.  I waffle between contentment and curmudgeonly ness.  Joy is easy to chat about.  Curmedgeonlyness?  I'm not sure that anybody needs more misery in the world right now.  I have no patience for the stupid thing people do and I am pretty sure  my anger isn't going to improve things.  

The other part is that though I feel grumpy as often as most people, it's easier now that I am older to just dump those feelings.  I just decide not to carry the misery.  I still care deeply about things and still feel the same sorrow and anger but I can put it down and put it away.  I choose to look for the good in the world.  I look at snowflakes and water drops and I contemplate their shape and size.  I play with bubbles in my bath.  I breath deep the smell of my coffee.  I watch the sun rise up and the world awaken every day.  It makes my life better.  

I have the power to pick what I will be in the world and today I will be a person with a nice cup of coffee and a sleeve on a pretty blue sweater.

Feeling good

I had a great weekend.  It was one of those weekends where I could knit for hours and still felt good at the end.  Plus it has been light when I got up which means spring is on the way... Even if it's snowing this morning.  

I did knit for a while on socks.  Friday morning till lunch time so not too long but it was enough to remember that I really hate magic loop.  Oh well.  It's working better than with dpns at the moment.  

And then it was time to knit anything else.  

I thought that I would work on the yellow, but my hands ended up with the London Fog sweater. 

I was on the first row of garter ridges when I stopped on it last and now after two great days knitting on it, I am a row from starting the third ridge set.  Last night as I was putting it away for the night, I realized it's now sweater.  

Can I just say again how lovely this yarn is.  It's a speckled yarn and I completely went against the speckles trend, but now that that is over, I get it.  It makes a tweedy looking fabric.  I still could never do a pink with speckles or yellow with speckles, but this gorgeous grungy green muddy grey, with tweedy sparks of teal and mustard and green and garnet.  Now that's a thing I get.  I love how this looks.  

Knitting this is also interesting to alternate to the more rustic blue yarn.  It's so soft and springy.  It's makes me feel delicate and gentle when I am not normally gentle or delicate.  I am more of a mule I think or a bull in a China shop.  Feeling delicate makes me giggle at myself.  The yarn is nice and I appreciate that different sort of cozy.

It's chore day and time to get moving so I can knit.