(Hoodie from Silk Oak.)
Ezra got his hat - just like Harper's, complete with a pom pom on top. I think Ezra pulls off the slouchy hat with pom pom quite well. That Ezra has a way. It's fun to make things for him.
So the hat knitting is coming along smoothly. A few more have been cast on and promptly cast off, but they best be kept top secret what with these holidays coming and all.
I also had a little dishcloth making motivation a few weeks ago and got right to it. I don't usually love knitting with cotton, and I do believe that enjoying the process of knitting is just as important as the finished knit...so it took a little bit to find the cotton just right. I landed on Classic Elite Mesa, which is lovely, and this pattern became committed to memory quickly enough. I had grand intentions of making ourselves a big tall stack of dishcloths. But after two, well...maybe it got boring? Yes. A little bit boring. And you know that I believe handknits should be worn and used and loved and not treated so delicately, but still...I couldn't help thinking (knowing) exactly what kind of use and abuse would be in the future of these dishcloths. And then I realized the price per skein/washcloth and my interest in making more waned even more. At least for now.
Which left me just hat knitting. And it turns out, that's just not enough. I was feeling twitchy for something bigger, something that didn't require stopping and starting over again so frequently. With my goal still of not buying a whole sweaters worth of yarn, I began to really dive into my stash in a bit of desperation. There must be something in there, I thought. And that's when I found my long-abandoned Eternity cardigan, which was turning out to be taking me an ironic Eternity to knit. Somewhere along the way, I had decided I didn't like it at all...and yet...four skeins into knitting it, it was so hard to go backwards. So there it had sat, all summer long, just hibernating.
Now, ripping out five skeins worth of your own knitting is best done with a deep breath, not a lot of eye contact with the yarn, and a distraction of one kind or another. A movie, a book, a cute baby. If you're so inclined, I'd also suggest a martini. It does help.
And with that freshly frogged sweater, and now a great big pile of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter to use, I cast right on for another. This time, to Lady Marple, which I'm enjoying so much. Some of the ballet girls - a little curious but also little concerned about 'how long it takes' to knit something - asked me when I thought I might be done with this sweater. Wanting to encourage the knitting (because the knitting is good, yes?), "before Nutcracker season is over" slipped out of my mouth. And so there it is. I said it outloud, and made myself a little challenge. A bit of sweater knitting - for me - this holiday season. A perfect indulgence.
