As the year winds down, some form of end-of-year madness occupies the knitter's brain. Although the blanket was never intended to be finished in this calendar year, the thought of finishing two projects remains within the realm of possibility.
To that end, I spent a good chunk of time on Saturday with finishing the Raspberry Confection cardigan, which has been languishing in my knitting basket for nigh unto two months now.
I was somewhat worried about seaming the lace sleeves and setting them into the body of the sweater, although in retrospect that anxiety was much over-blown. Easy peasy. As often seems to be the case, more time is wasted in anxiety than in just doing whatever task comes along that causes the anxiety in the first place. The setting-in of sleeves was simple, the only problem I had was joining the neck band at the back neck, where the three-needle bind off was slightly bulkier than the rest of the seam and my fingers were a little recalcitrant. That particular seam may yet be ripped and redone, or it may simply serve the purpose of reminding myself that the best we can do at any given moment is often enough. My closet contains several purchased garments with less than perfect seams.
There remains a question concerning which part of my existing wardrobe will play nicely with this cardigan. I finished the knitting at the time of the great closet-emptying, with most of the potential play-dates going to new homes. And so, in a fit of anxious pique, the blouse shown in this photo was also altered, in hopes that the two pieces would play nicely together. That is proving to be not quite so simple: they play nicely on the hanger but not so much with the other residents of the closet.
When I was younger, I always had to let new clothes marinate in my closet for a while before I actually wore them anyway. Things aren't people of course, but it always seemed like any newcomers needed to hang out in the crowd for a while, just to get the feel of the place and make friends. Or perhaps that is all about me and not so much the clothes.
A hangar shot is lovely, but of course you cannot really see the sweater as it is meant to be worn. Enter the sucky selfie. The mirror situation and the photography situation are issues not addressed in 2021 which must be addressed in 2022.
I also finished the third square on the alpaca blanket project. There is still a long way to go: the blanket is probably about baby-blanket size at the moment, just right as a small lap blanket on a chilly evening. It looks perfectly at home on the purple sofa, where it can rest happily until 2022.
And I have resumed work on the Stephen West Mystery KAL shawl, which is, of course, no longer a mystery.
I am on clue3, beginning with the brioche section. I knit something in brioche years and years ago, perhaps when a book on the subject came out, and was not thrilled. This time however I am finding it all grand fun. I have dreams of finishing before the end of the year even though I acknowledge that this is not likely given holiday obligations, time with family obligations and scheduled travel. No complaints about any of that, but the challenge is on.
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