Winter Doldrums

I meant to knit on the blue sweater yesterday.  Being so close to finishing the body, you would think that I'd be committed to working on it.  But no.  Not me.   I really don't feel like working on it.  I am giving myself permission to go walkabout and explore something different.  Not too different but out of my routine of late.  

I am going to work on my London Fog sweater today.  If that doesn't get me past this winter doldrums, I may have to bring out the big guns and cast on something new.  

I mentioned last week that I got a gift from one of my nieces.  I debated for many days about what to treat myself with.  My stash does not contain much acrylic yarn.  I have a strong blanket feeling this year.  There are some many neat blanket patterns out there and I feel the need.  I prefer to knit blankets in acrylic, so that's what I decided on.  But not just ordinary acrylic.  I bought a huge pile of neon acrylic with a strong navy contrast.  I am so excited even if, in one fell swoop, I added a half a giant tub of yarn to my stash.  Oh well.  It should arrive next week.  

Good times.

Sometimes when your heart wants to start something new, but your head says wait, it can be hard to settle.  I tried switching projects.  I tried tidying the WIPs bin.  I tried searching through some beautiful yarn and project photos for inspiration.  Don't try this last one if you are looking to get back to focusing on what you have in hand.  

I struggled to settle.  Friday afternoon ought to have been sock time.  I did a few rows.  

Six to be precise.

I tried the blue sweater.

A few rows happened.  4 to be precise.

That was it for Friday and Saturday.  

Sunday I settled a bit and knit on my London Fog sweater.  

That went much better.  I finally found the focus I was looking for and I spent a good part of the day just knitting.

I have made a wee bit of a decision too.  This gorgeous yarn was purchased to be a sweater where the yarn did the talking.  I am going to add one small detail.  I am going to add a double row of garter stitch every 10 or 12 rows.  I'm not sure yet what the scale ought to be.  10 is what my inspiration (the Willard sweater) uses.  12 may be more appropriate for this yarn weight.  The ridges are not meant to show off anything but to highlight, to bring attention to the yarn with the smallest bit of texture.  Ridges also help make the knitting feel faster.  It's like stripes.  There is always something to look forward to.  It will help make a simple sweater in gorgeous yarn be a stand out in my wardrobe. 

As long as it's warm.  That is always my principal goal.  

   

Sticking with the plans

It was an odd sort of day.  I found myself wanting to wind more yarn.  But no.  This is not the time to do that.  I made myself go to do some knitting.  And I did.

A Hem.  The front is complete and I am so happy with it.  It looks exactly how I saw it in my head.  On to the back.  

The split hem is not as long as my original plan.  When I was talking about Vests the other day, I was wearing my purple vest.  I love the way the split is on it but I realized the front and back were a little longer than I needed this sweater to be.  I was going to make this sweaters split front 7 inches long but ended up with about 5 and a half inches.  I did a try on and it ends right where I wanted.  The original intent was to go to 9 inches from the split on the back but I am going to shorten it a bit as well.  

And then sleeves and this sweater will be done and I can cast on one of my many new planned things.  It's going to be a bit of a challenge to keep my focus on what I have on the needles, but I will have to do it.  It is also going to be a real challenge to keep my focus on my planned next up Kauni sweater or my Staffin planned sweater rather than spending my days dreaming about other future sweaters.  Like Flea.