There has been enough commitment phobia around here of late. It was time for it to end. I present a beginning:
I have started the Anny Blatt sweater I posted about a few weeks back. The yarn was aired out and some of it was reskeined, washed and then wound back into balls.
This will not be a speedy project. I am working on size 3 needles, which is good for me as the pattern is written for size 4 and I ONLY WENT DOWN ONE SIZE. Even so, I am using three different yarns and the pattern involves a 9 row pattern repeat which includes garter stitch, one row which is bound off purlwise, and then three rows of crochet before the stitches are picked up again and the entire process is started over.
When I started the swatch I was grumbling constantly. primarily at that point about the binding-off. I don't like binding off purl-wise, but already I am getting pretty adept at it, and certainly by the end of the sweater it will be completely natural. I also had trouble seeing the stitches to pick up for the crochet rows, but navy is difficult to see, not perhaps as impossible as black on aging eyes, but still. The light at Thursday night knitting class/group is not good for this and this will not be a Thursday night project. This of course means that I have to find a Thursday night project, a task not yet accomplished.
So although I grumbled, I am in fact enjoying this project very much. I moves s.l.o.w.l.y. It requires light. It requires attention. Even though I could crochet before I could knit, maintaining gauge in crochet does not come as naturally to me as it does with knitting. Still, I am happy and calm when working. It will be a pleasure. I like the process. I like the fabric I am creating. It will be a joy to wear the finished cardigan, whenever that may be.
Expect to see several other projects in the meantime.